An easy chef-tested recipe for Roasted Tomato Sauce made with fresh summer tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. This is the same technique I relied on for years as a restaurant owner and caterer to make the most of summer's harvest. It can be made ahead and frozen or canned to enjoy all year! Video.
Back in our restaurant and catering days, we would end up with lots of extra tomatoes from our farm delivery-so many, in fact, that we had to get very creative with them! We learned quickly that roasting brought out the deepest, richest flavor, and soon we were filling our ovens with sheet pans of summer tomatoes. The result was heavenly, and this is how our roasted tomato sauce came to be.
As a chef and recipe developer, I've made this sauce countless times over the years, both for clients and at home, and it never disappoints. Oven-roasting concentrates the natural sweetness of tomatoes, intensifies their flavor, and makes a sauce that's far superior to anything store-bought. Tip: If you're looking for a faster, stovetop version, take a look at this Fast and Easy Marinara Sauce!
Why You’ll Love this Roasted Tomato Sauce Recipe
Back in our restaurant and catering days, we would end up with lots of extra tomatoes from our farm delivery-so many, in fact, that we had to get very creative with them! We would load up our ovens with sheet pans full of summer tomatoes, and the result was heavenly! This is how our roasted tomato sauce came to be.
Oven-roasted tomato sauce completely transforms summer tomatoes, concentrating their sweetness and intensifying their flavor even more! Tip: If you are looking for a faster, stove-top version, take a look at this Fast and Easy Marinara Sauce!
Roasted Tomato Sauce Ingredients
- Tomatoes: This recipe is perfect for summer’s bounty of vine-ripe fresh tomatoes. Use your favorite types of tomatoes: cherry tomatoes, heirlooms, Romas, grape tomatoes, or plum tomatoes.
- Shallots and garlic: Enhance the sauce with savory goodness.
- Fresh herbs: Fresh oregano and basil are the go-to, 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: blend the sauce or mash the sauce. The method depends on the size of your tomatoes.
1. Prep the pan. Preheat the oven to 400F. Drizzle a large roasting pan with olive oil and sprinkle with the garlic and shallot. Place the sliced tomatoes cut-side down.
2. Roast the tomatoes. Roast the tomatoes for 30 minutes. Add the oregano and basil, then roast for 10 more minutes, or until the skins have lifted off the tomatoes. Let cool.
3. Blend or mash the sauce. Pull off the skins, then pour all of the tomatoes and their roasting juices into a bowl to mash (for a chunkier sauce) or into a blender (for a smooth sauce). Alternatively, you can use a food processor for a sauce that is mostly smooth but with some remaining texture. Pulse until desired consistency. To mash, use a fork or potato masher. Once the sauce is either mashed or blended, season with kosher salt and pepper. Taste and adjust, adding a little sugar if needed to bring the flavor around-some tomatoes have enough natural sweetness and won’t need sugar. Start with 1/2 a teaspoon, then taste and adjust.
4. Reheat or store. To use right away, reheat the sauce in a saucepan or pot. Or store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This sauce can be frozen, too.
Chef’s Tips
- Mash, blend, or use a food processor. For a chunkier sauce, use a fork or potato masher to mash the sauce in a bowl. For a smooth sauce, use a blender. Or for a smooth sauce with some remaining texture, use the food processor.
- If using small tomatoes: They take quite a bit longer to peel off the skins. You can always toss them in the blender with their skins on to save time.
- Tomato seeds: I leave the seeds in the sauce, but some people like to remove the seeds before mashing or blending. Up to you!
- Make it spicy! Add red pepper flakes to the sauce if you prefer more heat.
- Add more veggies: To pack in a little extra nutrition, add veggies like carrots, onions, or red bell peppers to the pan.
How to Store Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce
- Refrigerator: This recipe makes about 4 cups, enough for one or two meals, and keeps in the fridge for 5-6 days.
- Freezer: 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. The sauce will keep in the freezer for 3-4 months.
- Reheat: Reheat the homemade marinara sauce in a saucepan on the stovetop. Avoid the microwave unless you want a mess!
What to do with Roasted Tomato Sauce
Serve the roasted cherry tomato sauce over your favorite pasta, polenta, sautéed zucchini noodles, roasted spaghetti squash, or with meatballs, like our Italian meatballs or turkey meatballs, roasted vegetables, or in lasagna. Or use as pizza sauce on our sourdough pizza crust! The possibilities are endless!
Homemade Roasted Tomato Sauce FAQs
Yes, when using fresh tomatoes, the tomato skins are often tender and full of vitamins and nutrients! You can also slip the flesh off after roasting the tomatoes.
The seeds don’t impact the flavor, but if 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!
The tomato sauce must be acidified (with bottled lemon juice or citric acid) and processed in a boiling water bath or pressure canner. This recipe is not tested for canning, so for long-term storage, we recommend freezing instead. Follow a trusted, tested source if you'd like to can it.
Hope you love this Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce recipe, highlighting juicy ripe summer tomatoes! A fun, simple way to extend summer’s harvest!
You may also want to check out our Simple Pan Sauce for an easy sauce recipe to elevate any dish! And don’t miss our easy pesto pasta!
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
More Tomato Recipes You Might Like
- Grilled Tomatoes
- Fast & Easy Marinara Sauce
- Roasted Enchilada Sauce
- Simple Homemade Tomato Soup
- Summer Tomato Risotto with Saffron
WATCH: How to Make Roasted Tomato Sauce
Oven 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. Watch the video!
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:
- 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
This is so good. My only addition was extra basil, also have a sweet tooth so I did add the sugar. Making it tonight for the sauce for some stuffed green peppers
I just made this with San Marenzo (sp?) tomatoes from my garden. The flavor is really great, but very thick and intense because of oven issues. I don’t need sugar and I will need to dilute it, either with water, pasta water or some kind of wine. Thank you for the recipe and general guidance.
thanks Jan!
This is a fantastic recipe- the first time I have loved a homemade tomato sauce. I couldn’t bear to part with the yummy browned skins, so I pulled them off and used my immersion blender to make a sauce with some of the juices. After that was smooth, I dumped in the rest of the tomato chunks and used a potato masher to finish.
Great to hear~so happy you liked this!
An over abundance of tomatoes this year left me scratching my head ! What am I going to do with all these? You’re recipe rescued me! Absolutely delicious!
Awesome Suzanne!!!
Oh mine! I’ve always found homemade tomato sauce to be disappointing and ususally a bit watered down no matter how long I cooked it for. Last night I needed tomato sauce for my hot dogs (Yes, in Brazil we eat hot dogs with tomato sauce, bell peppers, onions, and condiments), but I didn’t want to get another pot dirty and a subpar sauce. It ocurred to me I could try making this is the oven, since every vegetable tastes better and sweeter when roasted and your recipe was the first one to pop up on my search. Delicious! Simply delicious. Thicker, smokyer, and sweeter than any sauce I’ve had so far. Thank you!!!
Yay! Glad you liked it!
This was an amazing recipe. I always make my traditional stewed tomatoes. This year I had box and box of little tomatoes that have been ripping over the fall. This was an excellent way of using them. I went in line to see what people were doing and your recipe popped up first. I looked no further. I make 4 very large commercial baking pans. I am so excited about this recipe because it just changed my canned sauce. Way easier then traditional. My tomato skin got nice a blacken and was so yummy but mushed up. Gave a real roasted flavour. I modified a bit as well add pepper and hot pepper. I had lots of red onion from my garden. I super happy with the out come. Today I am just wondering what the best option is freezer or canning. What do you like?
I’m not great at canning so I usually freeze. Just leave space at the top of the jar for expansion.
Hi, i’m about to follow your recipe to roast small tomatoes. I’m curious why you recommend roasting cut side down versus up?
All the other roasted tomatoe instructions I’ve read say cut side up? I’m going with your recipe though because I like your website and recipes!!
Thank you
Skin side up for med-large tomatoes… for easy removal of skin. For small tomatoes I usually leave the skins on so I just toss them whole.
Short prep time, simple ingredients, and a great way to use up the tomatoes (plum, red and is yellow cherry) generously given by my neighbors from their garden. Followed the recipe exactly as written and the aroma and flavor is great. The tomatoes were sweet enough that no sugar was required. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Just wish I had found it sooner.
Yay!!! Glad you liked it!!
This was delicious served over home made meatballs. I had been craving the aroma of roasted tomatoes and garlic when I stumbled across this recipe. I prepared the sauce almost exactly as written with the remainder of my tomato harvest. I had a green pepper on hand so I added it to the roasted vegetables and instead of adding sugar I splashed a little red wine vinegar in the sauce.
Thanks Cooper!
About to make a second Bach as first one disappeared in a blink. ? This time will add few chilli peppers, as we have an abundance of ?️ wonder would adding precooked carrots would be an option as well ?
Easy, economical, and a lovely bright taste that will be greatly appreciated this winter.
I think my tomatoes were too big. I followed the recipe exactly and they looked and smelled terrific, skin all brown and tasty but the tomatoes were still a bit hard. Finished them off in a pot on the stove.
I will definitely make this as soon as I have more ripe Roma tomatoes. Delicious!!
So wonderfully delicious and easy! It was my first time making it and I will definitely be making it again. I did not have a shallot so used 1 Walla Walla onion instead. Perfection. Did not need the sugar. Thank you!
The sauce is suuuper delicious! I will be freezing it for winter months. How much would you say will be enough for a 1 lb of pasta?
Outrageously delicious
Love how easy this recipe is!! It is also a great starting point to personalize. I reduced the juice w/a splash of balsamic. Also added a red thinly sliced red bell pepper to roasting pan. The original recipe gives a clean and crisp tomato taste – a little modification really changes it to a complex sauce.
Love it Jane, thanks for sharing your adaptions!
Couldn’t get through 5 second’s of the video without a commercial, I look elsewhere for another recipe.
Had to give a star rating to post.
Sorry about that.
So simple, quick, healthy and delicious. Can add whatever fresh spices, or roast extra veges ie. red peppers, with this recipe to make it your own. Ate the tomato skins, with salt on = vege candy! Chopped the roasted veges in my chopper instead of mashing them, wiped the chopper down with half a piece of multigrain bread and it was delish, too! This made my Italian heart sing and the house smelled like heaven!
Hello my awesome Sylvia,
I have made this wonderful oven-roasted tomato sauce so many times this summer and tonight. My husband loves it, our friends love it and I love you for sharing your amazing recipes.
Thank you for being in our lives with all your wonderful recipes and comments. We are going through a difficult time this year with numerous health problems for my husband, but cooking your healthy recipes will carry us through this..
All my love to you and your husband.
Hugs and love, Else
I have made this recipe several times and plan to make it again this week. I use small tomatoes and leave the skin and seeds intact. I use an immersion blender and it works great. I also add a littl parm cheese, but other than that I pretty much stick to the recipe. One time I did end up easily converting this recipe into a tomato bisque soup (before you posted the roasted tomato soup). The soup was well received. I highly recommend this recipe. It is super tasty and super easy.
This sauce is downright amazing!
I made 4 times the quantity, I had some for dinner that night and canned it for the remainder for the winter months. Excellent flavours! Thanks for sharing.
Yum! Tasty but kinda messy. i spilled the juices all over my oven. :p
Sooo delicious! Served it over Spaghetti Squash (Instant Pot perfect). I can’t make enough of your recipes!
I did that exact same thing! Used the instant pot for the spaghetti squash too! Funny. Maybe I should post that? I wonder if that would be helpful to people
excellent
Yay!!!
The perfect way to use up summer tomatoes! I did this last week with what was left of our tomato crop. It’s a great way to use up blemished tomatoes too!
Thanks Lindsay, yes a great way to use up blemished tomatoes….I agree!