ROASTED Cherry Tomato Sauce is sweet, creamy and SO EASY to make! This is the best recipe for growing garden tomatoes! You can serve immediately on pasta, can it or freeze it! Find out why thousands of people love this sauce!
My life has officially been taken over by tomatoes. Is there anything else to talk about except tomatoes right now? Tomato this, tomato that, do the tomato dance.
The Best Cherry Tomato Sauce
This is my absolute favorite cherry tomato sauce. I’m a bit biased, but it’s been made by thousands of people, so trust those people and make it too! Pretty much once you make it, you’ll come back to it time and time again!
This homemade sauce doesn’t require you to simmer over the stove for 2 hours. I really love this creamy sauce over pasta, with lasagna and stuffed shells. It’s also pretty fantastic to add to pizza as a creamy sauce.
The key to this recipe is first we oven roast the tomatoes – oh yeah, baby. Then after that we throw them in a food processor with some fresh basil and season them. Then it’s made! It’s that easy.
Update: This recipe is now available as a slow cooker tomato sauce recipe too!
Recipe Video
I made this video to show you how to make this recipe. 🙂
Tomato Sauce Ingredients
- cherry tomatoes
- onion powder
- basil
- garlic powder
- salt and pepper
How to Make Cherry Tomato Sauce
Gather your tomatoes, make sure to take the stems off.
Put them in a pan, single layer. I was making a few batches so I had multiple pans.
Drizzle your olive oil over the tomatoes. Take a picture and completely miss the olive oil coming out of the bottle. Oops.
Sprinkle your onion powder over the tomatoes. Take a picture and completely miss the onion powder being sprinkled. Oops.
Bake for 35 minutes until your tomatoes are all wrinkly and bursting.
Let them cool for a few minutes, then put them in the food processor with your other ingredients. Give it a few pulses until creamy, it doesn’t take more than that!
And you are left with some creamy, amazing smelling cherry tomato sauce!
This makes 3 cups of sauce. Feel free to use immediately after, put in the fridge for tomorrow, or freeze (in a freezer bag) for a few months later.
How to Freeze Tomato Sauce
Once the sauce cools down, add the sauce into freezer bags. I like to separate each bag into 2-3 cups of sauce, knowing that’s how much I’ll need fora recipe.
Whenever I freeze sauce, puree, diced/stewed tomatoes, I always put in a freezer bag and lay flat while pressing it out, so it’s as thin as possible. Then once it’s frozen, I stand it up. This saves space and lets you have a better organized freezer.
To deforst, place in the refrigator the night before. Alternatively you could defrost it in the microwave in a few minutes.
I hope you enjoy this Roasted Creamy Cherry Tomato Sauce – it’s one of my favorite Summer recipes! If you’re looking to add a kick, check out my Spicy Tomato Sauce with added in jalapeño peppers.
Need more Tomato Recipes?
Stewed Tomatoes
Diced Tomatoes
Whole Peeled Tomatoes
Tomato Pie
Freezing Tomatoes For Year-Round Use
Slow Cooker Cherry Tomatoes
Sun-dried Tomatoes
100 Cherry Tomato Recipes
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Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce
PrintIngredients
- 4 cups cherry tomatoes stems removed
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt + pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Spread tomatoes single layer in a pan. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with your onion powder.
- Bake for 35 minutes, your tomatoes should be wrinkly.
- Let cool for a few minutes, then put tomatoes in food processor. Add fresh basil, garlic powder and salt + pepper to taste in food processor.
- Blend to smooth and creamy. Enjoy!
Melissa says
Have you ever canned this recipe? Curious how that would be done
Lauren Start says
I love this recipe! So easy and delicious. It’s my second year making it. Such a great way to use an abundance of cherry tomatoes.
Pamela says
So happy to hear you like it! Thanks for commenting Lauren! 🙂
Nicole says
I do love this recipe. I am rarely surprised when it comes to tomato sauce. It was so simple and one of the best sauces I’ve ever had. Nice job. Thanks for sharing.
Betty says
I followed the recipe exactly and the sauce came out so delicous and sweet! I know it’s going to become a favorite. Thank you!
charlene says
I’m not going to leave stars just yet:) It smells amazing! However, when I tasted it, it has a really bitter taste to it. I’m assuming it’s the seeds in the tomatoes. Straining as we speak to see if I can salvage it. That said, I do plan on trying again with a different batch of tomatoes. I’m sure it will be delicious.
Annie says
I love how easy this recipe is! I have a green thumb, so loads of cherry tomatoes, but am not a natural in the kitchen. When the recipe calls for salt and pepper, I get stuck! I need specific measurements, and have never been able to “wing it”. How much salt and pepper should I use? Even a general guideline would help immensely! Thanks!
Pamela says
Hey Annie, sure, I would start with 1/4 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. I really love to taste the freshness of the tomatoes in this recipe, so it doesn’t need much. After you blend, then taste and if too sweet, add a bit more of each. Hope this helps, enjoy the tomato sauce! 🙂
Karen Ramsey says
This sauce is delicious. I did make a couple of small changes. I added a splash of olive oil, some Italian seasoning and more salt and pepper to cut a bit of the sweet.
Rachael Gildea says
Oh my gosh this is my go to recipe for my garden tomatoes. I can it too! Excellent flavor!
ona says
How can I can this ?
Marion says
Oh my!! This was so good. Instead of using onion powder and garlic salt I added 3 garlic cloves and 1/2 a large onion (cut into 2 chunks) to the tomatoes and roasted in the oven. The onions caramelized beautifully and added wonderful flavour and the garlic was perfect. Used my hand held blender to purée. Mmmmmm.
Pamela says
Yum, sounds delicious Marion! Thank you for commenting, enjoy the tomato sauce!
Jenessa says
I never want to buy store bought tomato sauce again!! Do I have to do anything special to it in order to can it?
Marlene Wilkins says
This is a great way to use up the tomatoes and tastes great. Thanks…
Nors says
It was like tasty summer on a cold winter night. I loooved this sauce!!
Lynn says
This was really tasty and easy. Used yellow cherry tomatoes,and fresh basil, both of which are plentiful in our garden at the moment. The colour was a a bit strange (dull yellow) but didn’t look so strange when mixed through the pasta. The smell during the roasting was so good,, but it was the flavour of the sauce that made this absolutely fantastic. Will definitely make again.
Velda Bottesi says
This was a good recipe, but I added fresh minced garlic and onion while roasting the tomatoes along with salt and pepper. I added the fresh basil before the food processor. Yummy!
Karen says
Very impressed. I have so many cherry tomatoes, and gave tried a number of recipes to use them up..but this is the best and so easy. Will definitely make it again.
Denise says
I absolutely loved this recipe you have changed my life I have not been able to eat spaghetti for a long time due to acid reflux. This will help me and I don’t even have to worry
Lauri Koch says
This recipe was so needed. I didn’t know what to do with all my cherry tomatoes. The recipe provided me with a new use. I used herbs and garlic from the garden. It was superb!! Will be making more batches. Thank you
andrea says
Your recipe was GREAT. I used it as a guideline and like other commenters below, I roasted the cherry tomatoes with onion and garlic. I blended it all in a VitaMix with the fresh basil and… mamma mia! This sauce is so good!
Didi Kolloff says
We have a ton of cherry tomatoes in the garden this summer and I’m so glad I found your recipe. It’s insanely easy, no peeling or chopping.
In fact the hardest part of the recipe was installing great composted dirt for our vegetable garden earlier this spring!
I just completed the first batch and it’s delicious!
Sandy says
Do you blend the liquid from the tomatoes into the sauce too?
Pamela says
Hey Sandy, add everything from the pan into the food processor – tomatoes and all those good juices!
Tracy says
I want to make this but I don’t have freezer space. Could this be water bath canned?
Marlene says
Tracy, I’m making this recipe right now and I’ll be canning it. I can everything.
The Few Farm says
Did you have to add lemon juice or do alter anything in order to safely can?
Mekayla Wright says
Have you canned this recipe? Any tips or modifications for canning?
Len says
Excellent. 8C of raw cherry tomatoes gave me 3 1/2C (a bit more than a “can” of sauce) but is oh so good. Fresh basil is the crowning touch to this.
Pamela says
Glad to hear you liked this sauce Len! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Kristen says
Delicious!! Next year I may grow another cherry tomato plant just to make this sauce.
ERIN says
I love using cherry tomatoes for this recipe but next time I’ll be roasting garlic and onion vs. using garlic and onion powder.
Pamela says
Absolutely Erin! I often do this when it’s garden season to make it as fresh as possible. You can even throw in a green pepper if you want to get wild! 😉 Thanks for commenting!
greg says
nice and easy recipe with tremendous flavor! The fresh tomato provide a lot of depth and flavor. I used two cloves of roasted garlic and it was delicious!
Pamela says
So happy to hear you liked this cherry tomato sauce Greg. Thank you for commenting! 🙂