Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

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Inside: This easy roasted cherry tomato sauce is a great way to use an abundance of cherry tomatoes to make a delicious sauce to store in the freezer.

Every year I grow anywhere from 4 to 12 cherry tomato plants. I love the little orbs and I love trying different varieties. (My two favorites are Sungold and Super Sweet 100 if you’re curious. But I’ve recently fallen in love with the Jasper variety too.)

I snack on them straight from the garden, use them in salads, and love to mix them with cucumbers and mozzarella balls and top them with balsamic glaze.

But of course, growing that many tomato plants mean I have way more than I can eat. A large percentage of my family does not like raw tomatoes. (I know, I know…what’s wrong with them?)

So I decided to experiment with roasting the tomatoes and turning them into a flavorful sauce to use on spaghetti, pasta, and chicken or eggplant parmesan.

This recipe turned out better than I expected. Since I use a variety of cherry tomatoes, it has a depth of flavor you often don’t get from just a singular variety.

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Easy Sauce Recipe

The easiest way to make this sauce is to roast the tomatoes and other aromatics in the oven. You don’t have to constantly babysit it like you would with a pot on the stove.

The heat of the oven will also help drive off some of the moisture in the tomatoes to make the sauce less watery and more robust in flavor.

Two Ways to Turn The Tomato Mixture Into Sauce

When you pull the tomatoes from the oven, there will be lots of juice in the pan. You want to allow the mixture to cool slightly before turning it into sauce so you don’t get burned.

There are two ways to transform this mixture into sauce. The easiest is to pour the cooled tomato mixture into a blender and give it a whirl. You will get a bit more sauce this way, but the downside is you may be left with small pieces of seeds and skins.

And sometimes the skins and seeds can lead to a slightly bitter note in the sauce.

The other method is to use a food mill or an old-fashioned strainer and wooden pestle, sometimes called a chinois. This is the method I prefer as it gives you a tomato sauce with no seeds and skins.

The downside to this method is that the sauce can sometimes be a bit thinner and you will have less sauce overall. However, I think the flavor is much better.

Ways to Change Up This Cherry Tomato Sauce Recipe

Since you are freezing this recipe, it is very adaptable. You can add other tomatoes if you have them. Paste tomatoes work best, but even slicing tomatoes will do fine. Keep in mind that slicing tomatoes have more juice so the finished sauce will be thinner.

If you don’t have fresh garlic and onions, you can use garlic powder and onion powder in place of the fresh. I use 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder.

If you don’t have fresh basil, you can use 1 teaspoon dried basil.

Just remember, this recipe is a freezer recipe. It has not been tested to be sure it is safe for canning. And unfortunately, it is likely NOT safe for canning as cherry tomatoes, especially yellow ones, are usually less acidic than other varieties.

And the Ball Blue Book now recommends adding lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar to almost all of their tomato canning recipes, which we aren’t doing with this sauce either. Anytime you plan to can something it is important to follow a tested recipe to ensure you don’t get sick.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

You will find a printable copy of this recipe at the bottom of the post.

Ingredients:

• 10 cups cherry tomatoes, washed and stems removed
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, quartered or 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 4-6 garlic cloves, peeled or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 Tablespoon finely minced fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place tomatoes in a single layer on a greased sheet pan. Bake for 5 minutes to thoroughly dry the tomatoes from washing. Remove pan of tomatoes from oven. Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes, onions, and garlic, if using. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the tomatoes. If not using fresh garlic and onions, sprinkle onion powder and garlic powder over tomatoes also. Stir to coat.
2. Return pan to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Stir again. Return pan to oven and bake for 10-15 minutes more until tomato skins are wrinkled and starting to blister in spots. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. From here, you have 2 ways to proceed. You can blend the sauce in a blender, but small bits of seeds and skins will remain.
4. If you have a food mill, run the sauce through the food mill, using the finest screen or use an old-fashioned strainer (sometimes called a chinois) and wooden pestle. This method produces the best-flavored sauce since you are removing the seeds and skins that can sometimes make the sauce taste bitter.
5. Stir in oregano and basil. Pack in labeled freezer bags or containers. Freeze. Makes about 3 8 oz. jars of sauce.

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