Strawberry Marinara
Strawberry marinara on fresh pasta? I know it sounds crazy, but it actually works! The sweet strawberries go great with basil and the delicate homemade pasta. Some walnuts and red onions are great in the mix! I ws somewhat inspired by a strawberry spinach salad when working on this recipe, but the other inspiration is from a TV Show
The inspiration for this recipe – Food Party!
Hello friends and lovers! Have you guys seen the show Food Party on IFC? It’s pretty much the best show of all time. Think Pee Wee’s Playhouse, meets Aqua Teen Hunger Force, meets Food Network. Really. Anyway, Thu Tran generally cooks gross looking, inedible things on the show, but on one of my favorite episodes, she off-hand mentions using strawberries in place of tomatoes for their acidity and sweetness. This sort of stuck in my head and now that strawberry season is imminent, I finally got around to making a marinara sauce replacing the tomatoes with strawberries.
So let’s recap the episode I’m talking about. It’s season 2, episode 1, and it’s called “Thu has a normal day.” ย In the photo above you can see her watching a soap opera about a baguette and a hamburger bun and their torrid love affair. While she watches, she is eating a burnt pancake that is filled with pasta and covered with pineapple puree (that was made by ninjadog). Later on, she realizes she has the power to spit unlimited strawberries, so she spits like 5 into a jar, purees it (with the leaves still on), and adds horseradish, paprika, pepper(she likes the brand with the dog on it), and celery seed to make a cocktail sauce. This is when she mentions the line about the strawberries replacing tomatoes and I thought about making marinara.
I first made this recipe in 2011, and the picture is above, along with the baguette character that I recreated at home. I revisited it in 2025 with a new fresh and tasty approach!
Food Party will NOT be back for a third season (Sad face!), but you can buy the episodes digitally on amazon. It’s absolutely completely ridiculous and cracks me up every time!
On to the recipe – Start with the pasta
Roll out your pasta dough to the third thinnest setting, then roll it into a log and slice it into thick noodles. The thick past will be perfect for soaking in the strawberry marinara.
Make the strawberry marinara
I mentioned strawberry salad as an inspiration for this so I started with red onions and garlic, then added the strawberries, then some balsamic and honey.
The strawberry marinara cooks for only about 15 minutes total, then you add the cooked pasta and a little pasta cooking liquid.
Once it is all tossed together, add some basil and lemon and serve!
Serving the strawberry marinara
I toasted some walnuts with dehydrated strawberries, lemon zest, and chili flake and used it as a topping for this strawberry marinara. It was the perfect crunch on top!
I was surprised the first time I made this at how good it was, and I was even more surprised this time that it was even better!
Twists on strawberry marinara
I ate this strawberry marinara hot but it also tasted great room temp or even cold. You could also add parmesan cheese to this and it would be excellent. I didn’t use it because I was trying o challenge myself to keep it vegan, but then I remembered later that there are eggs in the pasta. Ha!
For more recipes inspired by shows and movies, check out my churron, everything (everywhere) bagel, or this BB8 cheeseball!
Strawberry Marinara
Equipment
Ingredients
Pasta
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1.5 cups flour
- 2 eggs
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons diced red onion
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon gochugaru or other chili flakes
- 1.5 pounds fresh strawberries leaves removed, chopped
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- juice of one lemon
- 30 basil leaves torn
Topping
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- zest of one lemon
- 1/2 cup dehydrated strawberries crushed
- 1 teaspoon gochugaru, or other chili flake
Instructions
- Make the pasta by adding the flour to a large bowl and stirring in the salt. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and then add them to the flour. Stir to combine, then knead the dough with your hands for 5 minutes. If it feels too soft you can add some flour. Wrap with plastic and set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.
- Roll the pasta out with a pasta roller at the thickest setting. Fold onto itself and repeat as needed until it rolls out smooth. Continue to roll thinner, going down by one or two settings each time, until you reach the third thinnest setting.
- Cut the dough into foot long segments and cover with a good layer of flour. Roll into a log, hen use a knife to cut tagliatelle sized noodles from the log. Unroll and coat with flour. Lay on a clean kitchen towel until ready to use.
- Bring the pasta water to a simmer and season heavily with salt.
- Add the olive oil, onion, and garlic to a hot pan over medium heat. Cook 3 minutes, stirring often.
- Add in the strawberries and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Season with salt. Reduce heat to a low simmer and stir in the vinegar and honey. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes while you cook the pasta.
- Drop the pasta and boil it for about 3-5 minutes until tender.
- Strain the pasta, reserving about half cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Add the pasta right to the strawberries and toss to coat, adding as much of the pasta cooking liquid as needed to form a nice sauce.
- Remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice and basil.
- To make the topping, add the walnuts, dehydrated strawberries, lemon zest, and chili flakes to a pan and cook over high heat for 5 minutes, tossing often. Stop when the walnuts get slightly toasted.
- Serve the pasta and top with the walnut mixture.
I’m so shocked there won’t be a third season…it’s such a great show…
You are so funny Missy! Does your hostility toward Food Party stem from the few months we lived together and I used to make you watch it late at night?
That so was so awful, that it was good.
hahahaha at the baguette :))
this post is full of all kinds of brilliance! I’m feeling compelled to try this recipe just for curiosities’ sake.
Yum…regurgitated strawberries!
I love strawberries and basil and strawberries and balsamic but have never thought to make a strawberry marinara sauce. Definitely a very interesting way to top pasta, and I wonder if it would pair with chocolate cake as well, once it cools. Sort of like a strawberry coulis but more flavorful.
Do you think any other type of cheese besides the pecorino romano would work for this recipe? I’m really interested in giving it a shot, but I don’t know where I would find the cheese in my home town!