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If the end of summer has your garden overflowing with cherry tomatoes, this Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce uses up 4 pounds of cherry tomatoes, or really any tomatoes you have! Cherry tomatoes, onions, and garlic get roasted and blended with basil for a rustic sauce to use on pasta, pizza, or in any crushed tomato or marinara tomato sauce recipe. This recipe makes about 3 to 4 pint jars that can be frozen to preserve your tomato harvest for winter!
- From the Garden - Cherry tomatoes are a favorite, because one plant produces so many, and you can grow lots of varieties and colors! They are so useful in so many Summer Salads and dishes! We love to eat them fresh in Cherry Tomato Bruschetta and this Tomato Cucumber Orzo Salad.
- Preserving without Canning - But by the end of the summer, sometimes you just end up with more than you can use. If you want to avoid the whole canning process, this cherry tomato sauce is quick and easy to roast, blend, and freeze the sauce for winter.
- Want More Tomato Recipes? Use your tomatoes in a Caprese Salad or this Tomato Onion Salad and get lots of ideas with these 21 Ways to Use Garden Tomatoes without Canning!
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Ingredients & Substitutions
With lots of cherry tomatoes and a few other simple ingredients, roasting gives your sauce a delicious caramelized depth of flavor.
- Cherry Tomatoes - Use up 4 pounds of fresh garden cherry tomatoes in any color or variety. I used larger red cherry tomatoes, yellow pear-shaped tomatoes, and very tiny yellow currant tomatoes! The colors you use will give you a red to orange colored sauce. This is the perfect recipe for very ripe tomatoes that need to be used up quickly!
- Onion and Garlic - Roughly chopped a few pieces of any kind of onion and peel 5 garlic cloves but leave them whole to roast in the tomato juices.
- Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper - Season the tomatoes simply, salt just strengthens that tomato flavor. You can add a pinch of sugar if you like. I left it out, but a lot of tomato sauces use sugar to balance the acidic tomatoes.
- Fresh Basil - Blended in fresh at the end, garden basil adds that Italian flavor that pairs perfectly with tomatoes.
See recipe card below for full quantities.
Instructions
This recipe is quick and easy since the tomatoes don't need to be chopped. Just roast in the oven and blend!
Step 1 - Wash the cherry tomatoes, removing any stems and spread them in a single layer on a large sheet pan.
Add a few chunks of onion and whole peeled garlic cloves. Toss everything with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Step 2 - Roast in the oven at 425°F convection bake (this means the fan is blowing) for about 30 to 35 minutes.
You don't need to stir or check them.
Step 3 - Allow them to cool slightly and add to a blender.
I was able to fit the whole batch in my blender, but this could be done in 2 batches if your blender is smaller. Add a few leaves of fresh basil.
Step 4 - Start blending on low speed. You can blend as smooth or as coarse as you like.
I wanted to keep a little rustic texture so blending only took a few seconds.
Step 5 - Use your sauce on pasta, pizza or any way you would use marinara.
Recipe Notes & Tips
- Italian vs. Plain Tomato Sauce - This Cherry Tomato Sauce is very basic and versatile, while the addition of basil makes it Italian-flavored. This makes it great for pastas, pizza or soups. However, you can also choose to leave the basil out, making the sauce even more plain. The plain tomato sauce can be used in non-Italian dishes like Beef Chili, Chicken Tortilla Soup, or Mexican dishes (the tomato sauce could be a base for salsa or enchilada sauce).
- More Ways to Use this Sauce - The cherry tomato sauce with basil can be used on pasta, on Homemade Pizza, or add a bit of cream and it's tomato soup! You can also use it in pasta or soup recipes in place of crushed tomatoes, like in Pasta Fagioli Soup or this One-Pot Baked Tortellini with Italian Sausage.
Storage & Freezing
- Storage - Sauce can be stored in a jar or any container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freezer Instructions - Sauce can be frozen to preserve your tomatoes for up to 6 months! You can freeze sauce in glass jars for the perfect serving size.
- Important Precautions when Freezing in Glass Jars:
- You don't need to use canning jars, any glass jars and any size will work.
- Allow sauce to cool slightly before adding to the jars.
- Fill jars only ¾'s full to allow room to expand as it freezes.
- Cool your sauce filled jars completely in the fridge first before moving to the freezer, overnight is best.
- To use, thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating. Never submerge a frozen jar in hot water, it will crack!
- Glass doesn't like sudden temperature changes, so following these steps will avoid cracked jars. If a jar does crack, throw it out, do not try to save the sauce!
- Label and date jars with masking tape and a sharpie!
- Try all my 27 Homemade Foods to stock in your Freezer!
Recipe FAQs
Use your best judgement here. Garden tomatoes usually split after it rains. The tomato is ripe and ready to pick, and then it soaks up so much water from the rain that it outgrows its skin and splits with a crack down the side. If you pick your cherry tomatoes right after a rain and they've just split, they are probably fine to roast. The longer they stay split on the vine, the more likely they are to get black and moldy. If they do, don't use them.
Yes! You can really use any kind or size of tomatoes you have. Larger tomatoes can be cut into chunks before roasting. This recipe works for any combination of tomato varieties and sizes that you have.
Yes, cherry tomatoes do have seeds and it would be quite impossible to remove them all. They are edible and fine to eat. Some will get crushed up in the blender.
No, this recipe was not made or tested for canning. For most home gardeners, freezing is the easiest and fastest way to preserve this sauce with no special equipment needed.
More Garden Tomato Recipes
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Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce
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Print Pin RateIngredients
- 4 pounds cherry tomatoes
- ½ onion or a few small onions
- 5 cloves garlic peeled and left whole
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 grinds fresh black pepper
- 2 sprigs fresh basil optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425℉ convection bake.
- Wash and drain the cherry tomatoes and remove any stems.
- Add cherry tomatoes to a large sheet pan (or two pans), along with the onion cut into large chunks and the garlic cloves, peeled but left whole.
- Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and toss well with your hands to coat.
- Roast at 425℉ for 30 to 35 minutes, no need to stir or check on them.
- Add the roasted tomatoes, onions, and garlic, along with a few fresh basil leaves to a blender and blend as smooth or coarse as you like. Start blending on low speed, a coarser, rustic sauce is nice!
- The sauce can be used fresh on pasta, pizza, or in any tomato sauce recipe. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- To freeze, add the sauce to jars, filled only ¾ full, cool in the fridge completely, and transfer to the freezer for 4 to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using.
Notes
- Nutrition Info is for 1 pint jar of sauce.
- Tomatoes - Use any combination of different tomato varieties or colors. You can use all cherry tomatoes, or larger tomatoes can but cut into chunks before roasting.
- To Freeze - Fill jars only ¾'s full to allow room for expansion.
- Cool your sauce filled jars completely in the fridge first before moving to the freezer.
- To use, thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating. Never submerge a frozen jar in hot water, it will crack!
- Glass doesn't like sudden temperature changes, so following these steps will avoid cracked jars. If a jar does crack, throw it out, do not try to save the sauce!
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