Roasted Tomatoes with Herbs & Garlic

Have a pile of fresh tomatoes on hand? Roast them in the oven with simple ingredients like garlic, herbs, olive oil & vinegar to concentrate their sweetness & bump up the tomato flavor with hardly any work. Serve the delicious roasted tomatoes as an easy side dish or use them in a variety of recipes like appetizers, dips, soups, chili, pasta, pizza & more. (gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, low-carb & whole30)

Come late August and early September when you've had your fill of recipes with fresh tomatoes (and hopefully some hot Caprese cheese dip), you're probably wondering, what's the best way to preserve them? 

Roasting. Hands down.

This extra step concentrates the tomato's sweetness, makes your kitchen smell ahh-mazing, and captures the divine flavor of a tomato at its peak ripeness, so you can savor it a few months from now when your windows are covered in frost and you need a warm meal to fill your belly.  (I suggest a big pot of beef & chorizo chili for a hearty kick!) 

Or, if you're not the plan ahead to freeze stuff for fall & winter type you can eat these tomatoes straight away. Toss them directly from the oven into warm spaghetti, chunks of fresh mozzarella, a slice of toasted bread, or scrambled eggs. Heck, I even eat the leftovers straight from the fridge (still cold) with a fork. They're that good!

The beauty of this recipe is it can be made in small batches whenever you have fresh tomatoes on hand, which...let's be honest...it probably all year long since we frequently import tomatoes into the United States from Mexico during the winter months.

The off-season tomatoes won't taste as good as summer tomatoes (heirloom are the most flavorful), but they're still awesome when it's chilly outside and you're craving colorful veggies (errrr I mean fruit) with vitamin C, K & A + potassium.

How to Roast Tomatoes

This is such a simple technique that's very forgiving. You can eyeball all the seasonings and they'll turn out amazing every time (as long as you don't completely forget about them in the oven).

Here's all you need to do:

• Wash & slice the tomatoes into small chunks (halves, quarters, or eighths depending on the variety you're using and it's size - heirloom cherry tomatoes are my favorite). You don't need to peel the tomatoes! 
• spread them on a large rimmed baking sheet (it needs to be rimmed so no juices spill onto your oven) 
• top with chopped fresh garlic & herbs (fresh or dried) -- Basil and rosemary are my favorites when I'm using fresh herbs and when using dried it's usually basil & Italian seasoning. 
• drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar then sprinkle with salt & pepper
• roast in the oven until the tomatoes start to shrink (which concentrates their flavor & sweetness) but they still retain some of their juices

How Long Should You Roast The Tomatoes?

It depends on how juicy or concentrated you want the tomatoes to taste. The longer you roast them the more they dry out, which concentrates their sweetness and tomato flavor.

This recipe calls for slow roasting them for 45 minutes (you can go longer if you want) so they concentrate quite a bit but still retain some of their juices.

You can go as short as 20-30 minutes if you just want to cook the tomatoes for a side dish or a quick pasta where the tomato juices will create some of the sauce.

If you want to do a short cook time for 10-15 minutes, bump the oven temperature up to 425 or 450 so the tomatoes roast at a faster rate.

Ideas For Using Roasted Tomatoes In Recipes:

If you’re wondering what to do with your fresh roasted tomatoes, here are a few suggestions:

• toss them with freshly cooked pasta, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese & fresh basil (or pesto) + some of the starchy cooking water
• stuff them inside a grilled cheese sandwich with mozzarella, cheddar & parmesan cheese 
• use them to make creamy penne pasta with tomatoes & asparagus
• spoon them onto sliced fresh mozzarella (like burrata), goat cheese, or feta cheese as a side dish or as an appetizer as part of a charcuterie board
• use the tomatoes to make homemade pasta sauce or marinara sauce 
• use them as a topping for a piece of cooked protein like parmesan-crusted chicken, pan-seared mahi-mahi, chicken or turkey burgers, or a veggie burger
• add them to a hearty tomato-based dish such as cabbage roll soup or beef and chorizo chili instead of canned tomatoes
• make a bruschetta appetizer by toasting a few slices of crusty bread, rubbing the outside with a clove of garlic, then spreading them with ricotta cheese & topping them with these roasted tomatoes + a drizzle of olive oil
• use it as a simple topping for pizza or flatbread (like naan bread) along with your favorite shredded cheese and marinara sauce
• use them to instead of canned tomatoes to make creamy tomato basil soup
• mix them into scrambled eggs or use them as an ingredient in breakfast egg muffins or a baked egg casserole

roasted tomatoes, oven roasted tomatoes, how to roast tomatoes, cherry, grape

side dish

American

Yield: 6-8

Author: Elaina - The Rising Spoon

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Roasted Tomatoes with Herbs & Garlic

Prep time: 10 MCook time: 45 MTotal time: 55 M

Have a pile of fresh tomatoes on hand? Roast them in the oven with simple ingredients like garlic, herbs, olive oil & vinegar to concentrate their sweetness & bump up the tomato flavor with hardly any work. Serve the delicious roasted tomatoes as an easy side dish or use them in a variety of recipes like appetizers, dips, soups, chili, pasta, pizza & more. (gluten-free, grain-free, low-carb, whole30 & vegan)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs (about 3 dry pints) of cherry or grape tomatoes*
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs or 2 teaspoons of dried herbs (like basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, or Italian seasoning blend)
• 4 large cloves of garlic, peeled, smashed & chopped into chunks
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt & cracked black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash & dry the tomatoes, then cut into halves. If you're using larger tomatoes, cut them into quarters and then cut those pieces in half.
2. Spread the tomatoes on a large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the chopped garlic & herbs (fresh or dried) over the tomatoes. Drizzle everything with the olive oil & balsamic vinegar, then sprinkle sea salt and black pepper over everything (start with 1/2 teaspoon of each & increase if desired).
3. Roast in the oven for 25 minutes, gently stir with a spatula or wooden spoon, then cook another 20 minutes, or until the tomatoes have shrunken a bit but still retain some of its juices.
4. Serve immediately while still hot (as a side dish, mix-in, or garnish) or cool completely and store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.

Notes:

JUICINESS: If you want to use the tomatoes in a recipe where they need to be juicier (say in a pasta tossed with a bit of parmesan cheese & pasta water) then only cook them 20-30 minutes. *VARIETIES: You can use any type of tomato in this recipe (Roma, big beef, Brandywine, early girl, celebrity, super sweet, Campari, etc.) or a mix of grape/cherry tomatoes and large tomatoes. Just make sure to cut each one into smaller pieces. If it's a larger tomato that's in bigger chunks you may need to cook them a bit longer. FREEZING: You can freeze these tomatoes and use them within 3 months (maybe longer if you're using a vacuum-sealed bag) in recipes that call for canned tomatoes like pureed tomato soup or brothy soups, chili, pasta, and casseroles. Personally, I would only do this with heirloom tomatoes or ones I've grown myself since imported cherry & grape tomatoes are available year-round.

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UPDATE (August 2020): This recipe was originally published in August 2014, but I've recently updated the post with a new recipe card, updated measurements & more helpful tips on how to make the tomatoes.

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