Summer plum tomatoes roasted in the oven with garlic and herbs make an easy, delicious homemade tomato sauce that will fill the room with an intoxicating aroma.
Oven Roasted Tomatoes
The end of summer means using my garden vegetables and herbs before the weather changes. It seems I wait all summer long for my tomatoes to ripen, and then I wind up with so many I don’t know what to do with them. No worries, though, because over the years, I’ve developed dozens of tomato recipes for this
exact purpose. I also have an Easy Grape Tomato Sauce, great for ripe summer grape or cherry tomatoes, or this Garden Tomato Sauce with plum tomatoes.
Why You’ll Love This Roasted Tomatoes Recipe
One of my favorite things to do with tomatoes this time of year is roast them. The tomatoes’ flavors get concentrated, making a wonderful sauce for pasta or freezing for the future.
- Ideal way to Enjoy In-Season Tomatoes: The best time to roast summer tomatoes is when they’re at their peak.
- Nutritious: Tomatoes are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals and are low in calories.
- Fantastic for Using an Abundance of Tomatoes: If you think four pounds of tomatoes is a lot, you’ll be surprised! Four pounds reduced down to the contents of this jar. So, if you have more tomatoes than you
know what to do with, roasting them is the way to go.
Roasted Tomato Ingredients
Here’s everything you need for roasted tomatoes in the oven. See the recipe card for the exact measurements.
- Olive Oil prevents the tomatoes from sticking to the sheet pans and imparts flavor.
- Garlic: Peel and thinly slice garlic cloves.
- Herbs: Hearty herbs, like rosemary and thyme sprigs, hold up well in the oven when roasted and provide an amazing aroma and taste to the dish.
- Salt and Black Pepper season the tomatoes.
- Tomatoes: I used plum tomatoes, such as Roma tomatoes, but you can use whatever kind you have in abundance. The key is to make this recipe when tomatoes are in season and taste the best.
How to Roast Tomatoes in the Oven
Here’s how to make this oven roasted tomato recipe. The complete instructions are at the bottom of this page.
- Prep the Tomatoes: Cut the plum tomatoes in half and remove the stems.
- Season the Tomatoes: Pour olive oil onto 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Add the garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper. Toss the tomatoes with the oil, then lay them cut side down.
- How Long to Roast Tomatoes at 450°F: Roast the tomatoes in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until they wrinkle. The cooking time will vary, depending on their size.
- Remove the Skins: Once cool, remove and discard the tomato skins and herbs. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and adjust the salt as needed.
Variations
- Too acidic? Add a bit of sugar.
- Sprinkle fresh basil on the tomatoes after they roast.
- Roast a sliced onion with the tomatoes for a flavor boost.
What to Do with Roasted Tomatoes
- Tomato Sauce: These whole roasted tomatoes are excellent for any of my recipes that require tomato sauce, like these Italian Turkey Meatballs or Angel Hair Pasta with Scallops.
- Soup: You could also make my Tomato Bisque, one of my favorite soups. Instead of boiling the tomatoes, use this roasted tomato recipe and skip the first 3 steps.
- Serve over protein, like fish, shrimp, or chicken, and pair with zucchini, pasta, or asparagus.
- Bruschetta: Top toasted bread with sweet tomatoes for an easy appetizer or side dish. Try my Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil or Whipped Ricotta Toast with Roasted Tomatoes.
Storage
- Refrigerate the roasted tomato sauce for 5 days.
- Freezer: It also freezes well, so you can double or triple the recipe if you have a tomato surplus. Freeze it for 3 months in freezer-safe containers.
- How to Reheat: Thaw the sauce in the fridge overnight and reheat it in the microwave or on the stove.
Roasted Tomato FAQ
Roasting tomatoes causes the water content to evaporate and concentrates their flavor, making them sweeter.
No, I like to wait until after roasting the tomatoes because removing the skins is easier.
Salt tomatoes before roasting them. Once they’re done cooking, taste them and add more salt if needed.
I have many recipes that use fresh tomatoes, but these are some of my favorites.
Panzanella Salad – Using a good crusty bread is a must!
Easy Garden Tomato Sauce – Excellent for grape tomatoes.
Heirloom Tomato Sandwiches – So simple and delicious.
Tomato, Mozzarella, and Arugula Tower – An easy meatless Monday lunch.
Heirloom Tomato Salad – I eat this salad with some crusty bread and call it a meal.
Gazpacho – Don’t miss this chilled soup!
More Tomato Recipes You’ll Love
- Summer Tomato Salad
- Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes and Zucchini
- Summer Pasta with Corn, Tomatoes, and Zucchini
- Macaroni Salad with Tomatoes
- Candied Tomato Sauce
Oven Roasted Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 8 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
- 4 lbs plum tomatoes*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450º F.
- Divide the olive oil and pour onto the bottom of two large rimmed baking sheets; add the garlic, thyme, rosemary, and salt and pepper.
- Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally and remove the stems.
- Toss the tomatoes with the oil and seasonings, then lay them down cut side down on the dish.
- Roast in the oven until the tomatoes wilt and become softened, about 30-35 minutes, the tomatoes will start to wrinkle.
- Depending on the size of your tomatoes, cooking time will vary so keep an eye on them.
- When done, remove from oven and let them cool.
- The skins will come off easily; remove and discard skins and herbs then coarsely chop the tomatoes.
- Adjust salt as needed and place in a jar or use right away.
I made this with a variety of garden tomatoes. Once roasted, I dumped everything into a blender (skins and herbs include) and pulsed. I added a small amount of sugar and it was delicious!
This is a wonderful method. I used regular tomatoes out of the garden. I cored and cut into quarters. Didn’t peel.. Ran through food processer and froze. Delicious.
Thank you! I have a ton of plum tomatoes right now. This recipe is delicious! Do you know if it freezes well? Thanks!
Yes, it does!
I found myself doing this a lot towards the end of the summer with the smaller size tomatoes from my CSA. They are absoltely amazing and make a super easy sauce. Lat night I tossed a batch with leftover turkey meatloaf and pasta. YUM!
Just made this last night, and my kitchen smelled amazing! Quick question though: I did find that the resulting sauce is a bit acidic. What is your suggestion to cut that?
You can add some sugar to the tomatoes to cut the acid.
This was the most amazing idea ever and I plan on making a huge batch to freeze for winter! Coming from an Italian family, I actually find that I am sometimes tired of plain red sauce (no meat in or cooked in it, no cream, etc.) Thank you for something so yummy and different!
Thank you for making my kitchen smell amazing!!
This looks just delicious. I'm hoping we get a big batch from our community garden soon!
Deliziosa proposta, ciao
I love oven roasted tomatoes! I so need to get a chalkboard jar… it is soooooooo cute!
@Sara
Check Staples. Martha Stewart has chalkboard labels in different sizes and style. http://tinyurl.com/9dzgrbr
Yes please tell us where you got the chalk sticker!! I've been looking everywhere for them to put on mason jars for my wedding, and I don't want to resort to free-handing chalk board paint! PS this sounds delish!
I've seen the chalk board labels on Amazon. Hope that helps.
I am also interested in the chalk sticker on the jar – where do I get them?
Many craft stores offer spray and tin versions of chalkboard paint. You could probably save yourself some cash and make a bunch of your own. I don't know how dishwasher/handwashing sturdy they would be though.
do you have to peel them
Love this! I looked on the Ball Canning site and they even have a recipe for Basil-Garlic Tomato Sauce that they can. Now that I've read up on this, I wonder if this lucious recipe you have COULD be canned after all. I'm not an expert on these things…just inquisitive! I do plan to make and freeze some!!
Perhaps it can!
where do you get the mason jar with the chalk board?
Yes, what about canning them for preservation?
You shouldn't use garlic when you can from what I understand.
I wonder if that only applies to tomatoes? I know we use garlic in a lot of other jarred recipes (pickles, for example). I'll be researching this and jarring my heart out should this recipe be jarrable. Thanks Gina!!
I can and have lots of friends who can and we all use lots of garlic in all of our items from pickles to spaghetti sauce, tomatoes, tomato juice etc…never had a problem before! I also use whole cloves in my cauliflower that I can so not sure it would be an issue with these…
I made these this morning, the aroma was beautiful. I served some over whole wheat pasta for lunch. It was so easy too! I will be making lots of roasted tomatoes from now on. Thanks so much for this great recipe.
So easy!! Glad you enjoyed them!
Just wondering if I could use Field Tomatoes instead of Roma/Plum Tomatoes?
I'm sure they would be great.
Gina when is your recipe book coming out?
I will have it complete Sept 2013, but then it takes about a year to print, etc.
I roast them for 7-10 hours at 170. Yummm…
They're great in salads and pureed on a pizza
What do you do with your roasted tomatoes that you freeze? What recipes do they work best in?
Any of my sauce recipes in place of jarred tomatoes! Would be wonderful in the tomato bisque.
why not process in a canning bath?
I don't think you can use garlic if you can them, so you would have to make without the garlic.
Why not? When I used to can dilly beans they contained garlic – and garlic dill pickles.
With a small amount of garlic, you could still can them, but you do need to add lemon juice when home-canning tomatoes. It's important to make sure you have the right acid levels. You could ask SB Canning for help.
I'm not an expert in canning.
I didn't know you could freeze them! I have to do this! I have lots of tomatoes to pick today!!
Making this tomorrow morning!
yum yum yum! so yummy for summer.
Would work for Roma tomatoes? I did not plant plum tomatoew
Yes, actually mine were Roma this year too.
Plum and roma tomatoes are the same. Also known as paste tomatoes.