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An easy recipe for Roasted Tomato Sauce made with fresh summer tomatoes, garlic and herbs. Extend summer’s harvest into winter- can be made ahead and frozen or canned. 
Back in the restaurant and catering days, we would load up the oven with sheet pans full of summer tomatoes. Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce was one of my favorite things to make because juicy ripe tomatoes are at their peak of flavor! And roasting them seems to concentrate their sweetness and intensify their flavors even more.
There’s really not too much that needs to be done to a good tomato. A few cloves of garlic, a shallot, a drizzle of good olive oil, a few sprigs of oregano or basil, and a sprinkling of salt… that is pretty much it!
FYI: If you are looking for a faster, stove-top version, take a look at this Fast and Easy Marinara Sauce!
Roasted Tomato Sauce | 30-second video
Table of Contents
Roasted Tomato Sauce Ingredients
- Tomatoes– this recipe is perfect for summer’s bounty of vine-ripe fresh tomatoes.
- Shallots and Garlic– enhances with savory goodness.
- Herbs– oregano and basil are the go-to’s but feel free to add or substitute with marjoram, rosemary or whatever you love.
- Olive Oil– use a light good quality one!
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How To Make Roasted Tomato Sauce
You can make this recipe one of two ways- either blend the sauce or mash the sauce, depending on the size of the tomatoes.
- Drizzle a large, rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic and shallot.
- Place the sliced tomatoes cut-side down on the sheet pan and roast 30 minutes. Add the oregano and basil and roast 10 more minutes, or until skins have lifted off the tomatoes.
- Let cool, pull off the skins, then pour all the tomatoes and their roasting juices into a bowl. Mash with a fork or potato masher. (Alternatively, you can blend the sauce.)
- Season with salt and pepper. Sometimes, to bring the flavor around I’ll add a little sugar. This depends on your palate and the tomatoes you are using ( some are sweeter than others). Start with ½ a teaspoon. Taste, adjust.
- To use right away, reheat in a pan or pot. Or refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze (see notes).
After roasting the tomatoes – slip off the skins and mash. They slip off very easily and only takes about 3-4 minutes. This works well for medium and larger tomatoes.
You can either mash the tomatoes with a potato masher for a chunkier sauce, or blend for smooth. Pulsing in a food processor allows some texture to remain with some uniformity- all good options!
If you want to use smaller tomatoes, you can still slip off the skins, but they will take a little more time since they are smaller. Or simply blend the tomato sauce, leaving the skins on.
I do both, depending on what tomatoes I’m using. Some people like to remove the seeds… up to you. I leave them in.
Serve the roasted tomato sauce over your favorite pasta, sauteed zucchini noodles, roasted spaghetti squash, or with meatballs.
How To Store Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce
- This recipe makes about 4 cups, enough for one or two meals, and keeps the fridge for 5-6 days.
- You may also freeze the sauce or can the sauce (see recipe notes) for a little burst of sunshine in the winter months which I try to do every year.
What to Serve With Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce
Use on pasta, polenta, zucchini noodles, roasted vegetable, in lasagna- the possibilities are endless!
Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce FAQS
Yes when using fresh tomatoes, the skins are often tender and full of vitamins and nutrients! You can also easily slip the skins off after roasting the tomatoes on a pan.
The seeds don’t impact the flavor but you want a smooth sauce you can remove them.
If the tomatoes are not fully ripe, such as near the end of the season, a pinch of sugar can cut the acidity and balance the sauce. Taste first! Your tomatoes may be sweet enough!
You may also enjoy:
More tomato Recipes!
- Fast & Easy Marinara Sauce
- Roasted Enchilada Sauce
- Simple Homemade Tomato Soup
- Summer Tomato Risotto with Saffron
Hope you love this recipe Roasted Tomato Sauce highlighting juicy ripe summer tomatoes! A fun, simple way to extend summer’s harvest!
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
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Roasted Tomato Sauce
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4– 4 1/2 cups 1x
- Category: Sauce, preserving, canning,
- Method: Roasting, canning, freezing
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
An easy recipe for Roasted Tomato Sauce made with fresh summer tomatoes, garlic and herbs. Extend summer’s harvest into winter- can be made ahead and frozen or canned.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4– 6 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 1 shallot, diced
- 3 lbs ripe (med-large) tomatoes, cored and cut in half ( for small tomatoes, see notes)
- —-
- 1 tablespoons fresh oregano ( or 1 teaspoon dried, or use Italian seasoning)
- 1–2 tablespoon fresh basil, torn or chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt ( or salt to taste)
- pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar ( optional)
Instructions
- Pre-heat ove to 400 F
- Drizzle a large, rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic and shallot.
- Place the sliced tomatoes cut-side down on the sheet pan and roast 30 minutes. Add the oregano and basil and roast 10 more minutes, or until skins have lifted off the tomatoes.
- Let cool, pull off the skins, then pour all the tomatoes and their roasting juices into a bowl. Mash with a fork or potato masher. Season with salt and pepper. Sometimes, to bring the flavor around I’ll add a little sugar. This depends on your palate and the tomatoes you are using ( some are sweeter than others). Start with ½ a teaspoon. Taste, adjust.
- To use right away, reheat in a pan or pot. Or refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze (see notes).
Notes
If roasting small tomatoes, feel free roast whole and blend the sauce with the skins on. They may not need as long in the oven, check after 20 minutes.
If canning the tomato sauce, follow these instructions:
- Prepare boiling water canner. Heat a quart-jar in gently simmering water until ready to use, do not boil. Wash lid in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.
- Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice to the hot, 4-cup, quart jar, (or 1 tablespoon to a pint jar) ladle hot tomato sauce into a hot jar leaving a ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe the jar rim clean and seal lid to fingertip tight.
- Place jar in boiling water canner and process for 40 minutes. Turn off heat, let jars sit 5 minutes in the water. Remove jars and cool 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal, they should not flex when center is pressed.
- This Canning Link is helpful!
If freezing in a mason jar, make sure jar and lid are clean and sterile. Let sauce come to room temperature. Fill jars leaving 2 inches headroom at the top of the jar, to prevent jar from breaking- because sauce will expand as it freezes. Thaw in the fridge for 24-48 hours.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ½ cup
- Calories: 63
- Sugar: 3.7 g
- Sodium: 389.7 mg
- Fat: 4.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 6 g
- Fiber: 2.9 g
- Protein: 1.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: roasted tomato sauce, roasted tomato sauce recipe, easy tomato sauce, easy tomato sauce recipes, tomato sauce recipes, roasting tomatoes, roasted tomatoes
I have loads of frozen tomatoes that I would like to use for this recipe. Will it work with frozen tomatoes? Would I need to roast them for longer?
I’m not usre Lisa. I would thaw them first and then when roasting just keep an eye on them. You want to roast them long enough that the skins pull right off.
Hello Sylvia, I’m very happy to have found your website and have tried a number of your recipes with success. I was just about to start making your roasted tomato sauce, but first to interrupt preparation to go back to my server to do the conversion to metric, when I thought to ask you whether you might consider adding the conversion function to your online recipes. I, as I’m sure many of your metric followers, would appreciate it. Meanwhile, thanks for all you share with us 🙋🏻♀️.
Hi Ingrid- do you see the metric converter tab at the top of the recipe card. It is there, but not always super accurate.
Hi, and thanks! But actually I don’t see it… 🙁
Not to worry. I’ll check again next time.
Ok that is strange Ingrid- now I don’t see it either! Let me work on this- and please check back in a couple days. 🙂
Fool proof excellent! I used sweet yellow cherry tomatoes, Roma slices, and mini yellow and red sweet peppers , all on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I had no garlic cloves, and didn’t have time for prepping onion, so I substituted a little garlic and onion granules when I added a sprinkle of oregano and basil. So delicious!!
★★★★★
So glad this worked out for you Mary! Love the variety.
This is now my go to recipe whenever I get tomatoes in my farm box. It’s great with ravioli or tortellini especially!
★★★★★
So happy you are enjoying this!
I cut the amounts in half and made a scant two serving “sauce” and we even had leftovers. But it was delicious! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed!
Oops, here’s the rating.
★★★★★
thank you!
Wonderful recipe. Made 2 batches tonight. Thank you!
Awesome Lisa, glad to hear it!
Delicious and super simple
★★★★★
Perfect Amanda, glad you enjoyed!
Mine came out super watery. Is that normal?
You propbably had extra juicy tomatoes. You can thick by cooking off the water on the stove it you like. 🙂
Thank you for this. I got a bucketful of assorted yellow and strange looking red striped tomatoes from a neighbour and had a ton of my own cherry tomatoes. I roasted them with garlic. The sauce was so sweet but I didn’t know what else to add to it or what I was going to use it for. Your recipe was perfect especially as I have home grown fresh basil and oregano. This recipe took a good tasting sweet roasted batch of tomatoes and put it over the top for pasta and meatballs. Thank you.
★★★★★
Awesome Zenovia!
Another wonderful and flavorful recipe, which is also fun to make. I’ve made and frozen many batches so far with my loads of freshly picked heirloom tomatoes. I’m looking forward to reliving the fresh taste of summer during the winter months.
★★★★★
thanks so much Karen!