Mia Bella Copycat Recipe

Creamy Garlic Tomato Sauce (Mia Bella Cleveland Copy Cat Recipe)

8/17/2017

Little Italy, one of my favorite neighborhoods in Cleveland is on the east side of town and it's home to one of my favorite dishes of all time. Since I live on the west side of town, it's kind of a treck - but always worth it for Mia Bella's cheese tortellini. Cheese stuffed pasta is a no-brainer but the sauce that it's served in is this amazingly rich blush pasta sauce - and it may or may not come with enough of it to save some and put over more pasta right when you get home. :)

I've tried to recreate it several times and it just wasn't happening. The other day I was cooking tomatoes in a skillet with some olive oil + garlic and decided to randomly added in a few different things and ended up with the literal same sauce that's served with the tortellini at Mia Bella. Funny how that kind of stuff always seems to happen on accident.

What You Need

3 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 thick slices of butter
3 large garlic cloves, minced or grated
2 cups of cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup white wine (I used chardonnay)
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Pasta - whatever kind you want

Optional:

1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup sliced bacon or pancetta
Parmesan cheese for topping

What To Do

Warm the olive oil and butter in a large skillet on low-medium heat.
Add in the garlic and whole cherry tomatoes and let things simmer for about 8-10 minutes.
The cherry tomatoes will start to wilt a bit. Pour in the wine and heavy cream and gently press down on the cherry tomatoes in order to "pop them" aka, get their juices out into the sauce. (Things should turn a really pretty orange color when you stir.)
Add in salt and pepper, then stir and cover with a lid. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat and then it's ready for the pasta! (If you're using peas and pancetta you can put them in before you simmer.)

29 Comments

Bill Busso

3/2/2018 04:04:29 pm

wow omg i thought i was in Cleveland again at Mia Bella. you know it is good if everyone sops the sauce with the bread. thank you . 4 stars

Jane

3/5/2018 07:23:53 am

YAY! So glad you enjoyed. :)

Amy

4/11/2018 08:09:35 pm

How many does this serve? Can I halve for two?

Janey

4/13/2018 11:56:10 am

Hi Amy, I think the sauce would be good for 2-3 servings so you might want to stick with what I have on here! You can freeze whatever's leftover and use another time!

nancy court

3/25/2021 08:06:54 am

what would be the best way to thicken it

Anna

7/23/2018 06:59:27 am

I’ve made this a few times and LOVE it! In the picture you posted, your sauce is much more orange than mine and I don’t see the tomatoes. Did you put them in a food processor? If not, do you think it would help make the sauce more tomato-y?

7/23/2018 07:04:49 am

So glad you like it! In step 3 of the directions I mention popping the cherry tomatoes once they start to wilt. I use a fork to do this repeatedly so that the tomatoes are really ground up. You could do this step in a food processor too. If you want a more tomato-y sauce, I would add more tomatoes, or a tbsp of tomato paste!

Lesley

7/31/2018 06:49:24 pm

Omggggggg.... where have you been all my life!

Gabrielle

9/21/2018 02:56:28 am

Could canned (whole) cherry tomatoes work in this recipe or should I buy fresh?

Jessie

9/25/2018 10:57:37 am

My daughter cannot eat things cooked with wine. What would you sub for the wine in this recipe? Thank you!

Angela

2/11/2019 11:28:23 pm

I usually use chicken stock! I remember seeing it somewhere once and it’s always worked out for me :)

Joy

8/29/2019 10:21:27 am

This was. So. Good.

We had bits of tomato skin floating around but it was very delicious

8/29/2019 12:46:19 pm

Thanks for letting me know! Sometimes I puree the sauce to reduce the amount of tomato skins! :)

Megan

9/18/2019 08:40:20 pm

Thank you so much for this. I recently moved from Cleveland to California and have been craving Mia Bella so this means the world to me!

Christina

9/22/2019 06:49:01 pm

I’m not from Cleveland and have no clue who or what Mia Bella is.... but this. was. delicious!! The only change I made was to scoop out the chunks/skins and give them a quick turn in the blender. After that I added it back to the sauce and also tossed in a few handfuls of fresh spinach. Perfection!! Thank you. :)

Alex

1/16/2020 12:20:05 pm

Hi Jane, I was just wondering how much pasta this recipe is for? Would you use ½ lb of pasta or a full box? Thanks!

1/17/2020 08:15:41 am

Hi! Hard to say with tortellini since I usually use fresh tortellini that comes in different sized packaging and quantities. I would say about 3-4 cups of fresh tortellini!

Alix

6/11/2020 08:55:32 pm

I've made this 2-3 times so far. So good. I had several mini-bottles of prosecco from a bachelorette party which I've been using, since I don't drink a lot and a bottle of chardonnay would just sit in my fridge. Super yum!

Brisa

8/24/2020 07:29:46 pm

So good! I made this with gluten free pasta and added chicken! Making it again, no question about it.

9/6/2020 11:40:36 am

Thanks so much! I'm so glad to hear that!! <3

Maggie

9/4/2020 09:19:56 am

This was Uber easy and equally yummy!!

9/6/2020 11:39:59 am

So glad to hear that! Thanks for leaving a comment!! <3

Claudia Kent

9/22/2020 03:06:08 am

This was so simple to make and the best thing I have ever cooked. I was waiting for my family to be full so that I could finish theirs but they all ate every last bit. So good!! Thank you.

Krista

1/3/2022 05:22:53 pm

Delicious, thank you!! Have you ever tried to recreate the Verde (pesto) pasta from Mia Bella? It’s my absolute favorite!

Katy

2/11/2022 06:43:06 am

This is one of the easiest and most delicious pasta sauces I've ever had. I added a shallot, peas, and bacon. I actually doubled the recipe and added about a pound of pasta. It seemed like too much sauce at first but the pasta soaked it all up. So. Good.

Anant

9/6/2022 09:56:19 pm

Loveddddddd the recipe, but heavy cream is usually not something I regularly have in my kitchen. Would milk + corn starch or a Roux or something else be an acceptable replacement?

9/7/2022 07:39:36 am

This is a pretty heavy cream crucial recipe! I would not suggest a roux. You could buy one of the very small pints of heavy cream if you won't use it for other things!

Julie kremer

9/7/2022 05:50:41 am

Should The tortellini be cooked before putting it in the sauce?

9/7/2022 07:40:00 am

Yep!

Creamy Garlic Tomato Sauce (Mia Bella Cleveland Copy Cat Recipe)

What You Need

What To Do

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