This roasted tomato sauce is made with 6 simple ingredients and requires less than 10 minutes of hands-on prep work. Enjoy now or freeze it for later!
“Toast to the tomato roast!” Or in perhaps more trendy speak, “totes tomahhhto roast.” Either way, roasting tomatoes has a hold of my heart, and I’m not letting go any time soon.
I spent this past weekend rocking the nostalgic. It was my yearly girlfriend getaway with my college besties. I’m a sorority girl, and because of the amazing friends I made in it, I’m damn proud of it.
The trip is the same as it is every year. No boys. No kids. Just the girls with cocktails and Jell-o shots, trashy magazines, and corn hole, and there always seems to be some sort of water in the form of an ocean, a river, a lake, or even just a hot tub. This year it was the tropical pool that saved us from the Las Vegas heat.
We are a group of girls that know way too much about one another’s past, and know one another well enough to help navigate the present in hopes of a fulfilling future. We’re nothing if not happy to share our opinions in helping one another grow.
It’s all in the name of love.
It was an anniversary year, one of those numbers that you never in your life would think would come so soon, and yet when it does, you marvel at the fortune you’ve found in developing a level of friendship and bond that runs this deep for this long. And the reason it does is because — it’s simple. It’s easy. We all put in and we all draw from the well. We just always have and we always will, at each and every milestone.
Easy Tomato Sauce From Fresh Tomatoes
As I grow older I realize just how much more value simple has. How things in life, simply, have no reason to be overcomplicated. That a good foundation of friends, family and the basics is all that you really need. And that’s exactly why I love simple cooking.
Easting seasonal is one of the best ways to keep it simple. It only makes sense to draw from what’s fresh and put in on your table. My friend Becky of The Vintage Mixer has once again gathered a group of bloggers to partner with her in creating recipes that celebrate the philosophy to Eat Seasonal.
Check out her list of crops currently rotating through our local CSAs and farmer’s markets and make them a part of your dining plan. As Becky says, “Less cooking, more eating straight from the garden.”
Which leads me straight to the garden and my favorite tomatoes.
This recipe for simple roasted tomato sauce is the foundation for so many recipes I concoct, aka pull together, on a weekly basis. Of course it’s terrific in the Italian sense as a topping for pasta, but in its simplicity it’s so much more.
What’s in This Roasted Tomato Sauce?
In the spirit of simplicity, I kept the ingredients list for this easy tomato sauce as short as possible. If you’re using fresh, in-season tomatoes you really don’t need much else to make this sauce taste amazing.
Here’s what you’ll need to make roasted tomato sauce:
- Fresh tomatoes
- Garlic
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh basil leaves
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
What are the Best Tomatoes for Sauce?
Personally, I say use whatever fresh tomatoes you have on hand. If you’re buying your tomatoes from a farmers market (which will have better quality tomatoes than what you can find at a grocery store), ask the farmer which tomatoes he recommends making into a sauce.
How to Make Tomato Sauce
Roasting tomatoes is the secret to a sweet and fresh tasting sauce, even after it’s been jarred or frozen. And it’s beyond easy to do.
To make this simple tomato sauce, lather the tomatoes and garlic in olive oil, season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, sprinkle with fresh basil leaves, and roast low and slow. In cook speak, that means ignore them while they sizzle in the oven.
Once roasted, give the tomatoes a whir in the blender, and boom. You have homemade tomato sauce.
How to Store Tomato Sauce
I like to keep my sauce in the fridge until ready to use or I freeze them flat in freezer bags and then stack in the freezer for later use. Pour the sauce in muffin tins or ice cube trays to use in smaller portions.
Can I Can Tomato Sauce?
Yes, very easily! To make this as a shelf-stable, jarred sauce to can for later, add two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice and one teaspoon of salt to each jar. Add a teaspoon of sugar to offset the added acidity if desired.
My Favorite Tomato Sauce Uses
Like I said, there are so many ways to use this easy tomato sauce beyond the usual pasta and sauce routine. A few of my favorite ways to eat this roasted tomato sauce include:
- I add a cup or so of milk or half and half and warm it up for a flavorful tomato soup.
- Use it to bathe frozen meatballs on a solid sourdough bun to make a divine meatball sandwich.
- Of course it’s the base for a zesty lasagna. Or even for a shortcut lasagna soup.
- A cup of the sauce is perfect as dipping sauce for fritti misto or fried calamari.
- Spread it on french bread halves, top with mozzarella and any other toppings for a French bread pizza.
- Use it as the sauce for homemade chicken Parmesan.
- The kids go wild for stuffed pizza rolls.
- Polenta, gnocchi and ravioli. Need I say more?
Tips for Making Roasted Tomato Sauce
When roasting the tomatoes, make sure to use a baking tray with high edges. The tomatoes release a lot of juice while they’re roasting, and you don’t want any of it to get on the bottom of your oven.
The amount of salt and pepper you add to the tomatoes is up to you. Tomatoes are quite acidic and need a generous amount of salt, but if you think the sauce needs more salt once you’ve blended it up you can easily add more in then.
Finally, you need to let the roasted tomatoes cool for a bit before pureeing them in your blender. Trust me, you do not want to accidentally splatter yourself with piping hot tomato sauce!
More Homemade Sauces You’ll Love
- Easy Basil Pesto
- The Best Chimichurri Sauce
- 3-Minute Blender Hollandaise
- My Mom’s Homemade Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
- Arugula Pesto
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #foodiecrusheats.
Simple Roasted Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 5-6 pounds medium or small tomatoes , stems removed
- 1 medium head of garlic , peeled (you can chop the garlic if you want but can keep cloves whole if you'd like)
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
- Place the tomatoes on large baking sheet with a raised 1-inch lip. Add the garlic cloves and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Use your fingers to mix well to coat. Top with torn basil leaves and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Bake for 4 hours or until tomatoes are soft and bursting.
- Allow to cool then pour into a blender in batches. Pulse 2-3 times then blend for 1 minute or until desired chunkiness. Pour into quart jars or pour into freezer bags to freeze flat.
- Will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week or 4 months in the freezer.
Just made this with garden Roma and San Marzano paste/cooking type tomatoes, it was delicious! I removed stems and any bad spots, but that was it (no peeling or chopping). Used a pretty big head of garden garlic (peeled but not chopped) and some garden basil. After about an hour and a half at 250 degrees the tomatoes were pretty browned on top and collapsed at a touch so I just turned it down for another half hour to under 200 and then blended it (I think my oven might run hot). Anyways it came out thick and no chunks were left. Next time I might add the basil a little later so they don’t blacken as much. The roasted flavor was perfect.
I hate the tomato skin taste in the sauce and I noticed you left the stems on as well. I would have to blanch and remove skin and stems before roasting.
I really enjoy the skin when roasted. Everyone enjoys it differently!
Used this recipe for my first attempt at homemade sauce! The garden is bursting with Roma and cherry tomatoes so I roasted both and made two sauces! They are both delicious! Cherry tomato sauce is a bit more sweet and trying it out on a baguette with fresh local mozzarella cheese.
Running out of what to do with an over abundance of tomatoes…2 pails every other day….thank you , will do this tomorrow….
WOW! That’s incredible!
I basically tripled this based on what I picked from my garden. I did seed most of the tomatoes to try to get ahead of how much water the tomatoes would give off. I also forgot to add the basil on top so I just added it in while I blended it up. To me, this tasted more like a tomato soup so I steered into the skid and added some half and half I had left over from another recipe and a can of evaporated milk. HEAVEN! I can’t stop raving about this soup to everyone. Even the crazy picky 4 yo liked it and he eats zero veggies.
Ah Megan! Sounds like you hit the picky eater jack pot. So glad you like the recipe, and I hope it becomes part of your regular rotation. Enjoy.n
This came out very watery for me. I had to add a fair bit of tomato paste and cornstarch to try to thicken it. I also added more seasoning in a few shakes of red pepper.
I’ve made this sauce several times however this year it’s very bitter/acidic. I don’t remember it having this taste the last time. I recall being able to just eat it from the blender but this time i think I’ll have to cut it with something….. any suggestions? Did I possibly cook it too long ?
What kind of tomato and about how many equals 5 to 6 pounds? I can’t wait to try this recipe using all our tomatoes from our garden. We have roma and cherry! Thank you.
last season I made sauce using the blanching technique it came out super thin and ended up staying in my freezer until I tossed it this year so im going home tonight to make this recipe. IM SO EXCITED
Sooooooooo Good!!!! Thank you for sharing.
I made tomato sauce using this method, we used 3 jars so far and just love it! I am making another batch as I type! lol This is my first time ever making tomato sauce and it isnt scary as I first thought it would be lol
Best idea ever, such a good way to preserve all those delicious tomatoes…
I’ve never made home made sauce before so this was super fun and easy to make! I will definitely make this again!
I have made this twice and absolutely love it!! I just used vine ripened tomatoes from the grocery store (I’m not a gardener) and it came out fabulous. So simple and delicious. Thank you!!
just picked some tomatoes but the next picking i will make this and thankyou so much for the recipe
How long do you hot water bath process?
Could you freeze the sauce instead of canning?
Absolutely! Put in gallon sized freezer bags and freeze flat so they can stack. Freeze for 3-4 months.
Tomatoes alone have enough acid in them to can. I’m not sure why you would put lemon juice in.
The acidity in the soil in recent years has been changes which is causing the acidity in tomatoes to be lower. Also with all the newer tomato varieties the acidity levels vary. Lemon assures safe canning acidity levels.