When tomatoes are coming in hot and heavy from the garden and I can’t keep up with eating them fresh, I turn them into delicious roasted tomato sauce. This recipe can be used on pasta, pizza or as a basis for other recipes. Best of all, it freezes beautifully.
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Canning (or preserving) homemade tomato sauce can sound daunting. Sterilizing jars, special equipment and bad bacteria can scare even the most seasoned cook. Guess what? This easy roasted tomato sauce recipe is not meant to be canned.
It can be eaten straight away, stored in the fridge for up to a week or frozen for up to a year. It is versatile, adaptable and straightforward to prepare.
Ingredients
This recipe is very adaptable and comes together with a few fresh and simple ingredients.
- Fresh Tomatoes
- Garlic
- Herbs
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Tomatoes: You can use any type of tomato here, but I recommend using plum, paste or Roma tomatoes which have much more flesh and less water content and fewer seeds. If you only have cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes on hand, check out my Roasted Cherry Tomato Recipe instead. Try my homemade marinara sauce too.
- Garlic: A key component to this delicious sauce, it gives it its balance and earthiness. Use as much or as little as you like.
- Fresh Herbs: I’m a supporter of using what you have on hand. This recipe is written with thyme in mind, but you can certainly use other woody herbs like sage, rosemary, oregano or marjoram. Want to add fresh basil flavor to the sauce? Blitz in a handful of basil at the end.
- Olive Oil: Since this recipe has very few ingredients, it’s key to use the best quality products you can get your hands on. A good quality extra virgin olive oil will make all the difference here.
Other additions: You can add red or white onions, chili peppers or red pepper flakes to your roasting dish. You can also use garlic powder or Italian seasoning.
How to Prepare Roasted Tomatoes
- Preheat your oven to 350F/175C and line baking sheets or roasting pans with parchment paper. Arrange tomatoes in an even layer. Large tomatoes can be cut up into rounds or chunks. Add peeled garlic cloves to roasting pans. No need to chop them up. Place sprigs of thyme over the tomatoes evenly. No need to strip the thyme leaves. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool. Discard thyme sprigs. They did their job.
- Transfer tomatoes, garlic and all the juices to a blender and blend on Med-high until smooth.
- Optional – Sieve the mixture to remove seeds and skins
- Optional – If your sauce is too thin, transfer it to a pot and cook down to the desired consistency.
- Adjust seasoning and transfer to storage containers.
Make Ahead and Storage
This recipe can be made up to a week before you want to use it. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge. I like to freeze this sauce in reusable plastic deli containers and in wide-mouth mason jars.
A note about freezing a mason jar. Wide-mouth jars are a must as they prevent breakage. You also need to include head space to allow for expansion. I usually leave 1 inch of head space when freezing mason jars. Freeze the sauce for up to one year.
You can also freeze this sauce in freezer bags. The great thing about using freezer bags is that they will freeze flat allowing to you really save space. They also defrost very quickly.
How to Use This Roasted Tomato Sauce
Although pairing this sauce with your favorite pasta is probably the first thing that comes to mind, there’s a plethora of ways you can use this roasted tomato sauce:
- Pizza (flavorful base for your cheese and toppings)
- Chili (why use canned tomatoes when you can use a roast-y tasty sauce instead)
- Curries (many curry recipes call for crushed or pureed tomatoes… use this instead!)
- Tomato Soup (dilute the sauce with broth or water)
- Ratatouille
- Eggplant Parmesan
- And much more!
Expert Tips
- Use fresh ripe tomatoes. The riper the tomato, the better the sauce. If your tomatoes are not quite ripe, leave them on the counter to ripen for a few days before making this recipe.
- No blender? No problem. Use a food processor or food mill. You can also use an immersion blender. A potato masher works too for a rustic homemade marinara sauce.
- Not all tomatoes are the same! There are hundreds of types of tomatoes. This recipe can be made with any variety, but I prefer using large or plum tomatoes.
- To sieve or note to sieve! Honestly, the choice is yours here. You can sieve your sauce to remove any tomato skin pieces or just leave the sauce rustic.
- Glass jars! Tomatoes have acid so the safest container to use to store the sauce will be one made of glass. Avoid metal and plastic containers.
Recipe FAQs
This recipe is not tested for water bath canning. I recommend you freeze the finished product if you would like to extend its life.
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Roasted Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- Baking sheets
- Blender
Ingredients
- 3-4 lbs Fresh tomatoes – can be any variety, shape or color but paste/plum tomatoes perform best
- 5 Cloves of garlic – Peeled
- 2-4 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Fresh Thyme Sprigs – As many or as little as you like/have on hand. You can also use sage, rosemary or other woody herb of your choice.
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F/175C and line baking sheets or roasting pans with parchment paper. Arrange tomatoes in an even layer. Large tomatoes can be cut up into rounds or chunks. Add peeled garlic cloves to roasting pans. No need to chop them up. Place sprigs of thyme over the tomatoes evenly. No need to strip the thyme leaves. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool. Discard thyme sprigs. They did their job.
- Transfer tomatoes, garlic and all the juices to a blender and blend on Med-high until smooth.
- Optional – Sieve the mixture to remove seeds and skins
- Optional – If your sauce is too thin, transfer to a pot and cook down to desired consistency.
- Adjust seasoning and transfer to storage containers.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
I have been doing this weekly with the abundance of tomatoes I have. The only difference is I remove the skins and save them before blending. The skins are added to my vegetable scraps and frozen. When I collect enough vegetables scraps I make broth. It’s the best homemade broth ever.
Nice and simple recipe. They are usually the best.
So happy with this recipe . The only other thing I did with my roma tomatoes was to remove the seeds prior to roasting
I made this recipe – it was fabulous! Making more to use up tomatoes and freeze for later.
Made your recipe exactly as written and it turned out perfectly! Made 7 trays (!!) and now have incredible sauce to share. Fresh herbs really put this over the top. Super easy and well written – thank you for sharing!
What flavor! I was really only looking for oven temperature and time to roast. Didn’t I find a gem by adding thyme to the mix! I didn’t have fresh sprigs but had dried homegrown thyme so I lightly crushed and sprinkled on top before roasting. The aroma coming from the oven was heavenly! Great recipe! Thank you. I do this all summer as my tomatoes ripen and roast about 2 trays at a time.
Thank you, Jennifer!
Love this recipe. The texture is thick,smooth with a lovely mild flavor that will enhance any dish calling for tomato sauce.
The flavor of this sauce is deliciously intense! And I really appreciate not having to grate tomatoes…usually end up getting cut. Do put the sauce through a sieve (after blending). It is worth the extra few minutes. This will be my summer go-to for extra tomatoes. Thank you!
Thank you, Carolina!
Can you can this as well? Or, would it be too much cooking?
This recipe has not been tested for water bath canning.
Hi Jan,
I was curious to know if you had tried canning this recipe?
This recipe is fantastic! There is such a complexity to the flavor with the roasting and the puréeing. And I cannot thank you enough for saving me from my overly ambitious tomato plant which seems to have put out at least 10,000 cherry tomatoes this season. 🙂
So glad you liked this recipe!