Thick and delicious, this easy roasted cherry tomato sauce uses abundant grape & cherry tomatoes to make an amazing sauce that you can eat now and freeze to enjoy all winter!
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Oh my goodness, have you made tomato sauce with cherry tomatoes yet?
It's SO good - and roasting the tomatoes makes the sauce even better!
My family can't get enough of this balsamic roasted tomato sauce - which makes it a good thing that it freezes well - I'm making a lot now to freeze and eat this summery goodness all winter long.
What to do with LOTS of cherry tomatoes?
If you grow cherry tomatoes you know two things:
- They are delicious.
- AND they are plentiful.
As in, "what am I going to do with all these tomatoes?" plentiful. There's only so many salads and fresh eating you can do when they're pouring in by the bucketful.
Besides just regular salads, cherry tomatoes work great in recipes like these, too:
- A great main dish steak salad
- Pasta salad with Greek flavors (a favorite)
- Use in authentic Greek salad
- Slice to top a chicken-spinach frittata (or any frittata really)
- Greek style orzo and shrimp (one of my favorite easy dinners)
So obviously it's not hard to use cherry tomatoes in recipes, it's just that when you grow them - even just a single bush - there's usually a couple months where you just can't seem to keep up with them.
Do cherry tomatoes make a good sauce?
For the longest time, I didn't think you were 'supposed' to make sauce with cherry tomatoes.
It is true that the sauce won't be as smooth as with regular tomatoes because of the amount of seeds and skin-to-flesh ration. But if that bothers you, strain them out with a sieve, food mill, or Victorio food strainer.
We don't care, so I skip that step.
Balsamic Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce
Like my regular roasted tomato & vegetable sauce, making this cherry tomato sauce this is the easiest thing ever!
Wash the tomatoes well, cut them in half and throw them in a large roasting pan with the remaining ingredients.
Roast until it's all browning wonderfully. Not only is roasting vegetables easy, it just brings out an amazing flavor!
Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and use a hand-held immersion blender to whir it into a thick, smooth, completely yummy sauce. It's at this point that you can strain it if you want.
Alternatively, you can transfer to a blender to whir up, but be careful with the hot ingredients - I have had it spurt out the top in the past before I discovered hand-held blenders!
I always serve some of the sauce for dinner the night I make it over pasta or chicken and the rest I pour into freezer jars and freeze.
Can you just imagine how wonderful this will be in January?
Balsamic Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce (Freezer Friendly)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 to 5 pounds cherry tomatoes washed well, large ones cut in half
- 2 onions coarsely chopped
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning or a blend of your favorite Italian seasonings
- 2 teaspoons salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Heat oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle olive oil into a large roasting pan.
- Toss all ingredients into roasting pan and mix well.
- Roast about an hour, stirring once, until some of the tomatoes are starting to brown and they've broken down.
- Transfer to a saucepan and whir until smooth with an immersion blender (alternately, you can blend a bit at a time in a blender, being careful of hot splatters). If desired, pass through a sieve or food mill to remove seeds.
- Serve immediately or let cool, divide into freezer-safe containers, label and freeze to store.
Notes
Nutrition
More Cherry Tomato Recipes to try
Easy Main Dish Steak Salad with Creamy Garlic-Pepper Dressing
Greek Style Pasta Salad with Green Beans and Tomatoes
Janet T says
So after making one big pot of exceptionally good sauce from the Cherry Tomato sauce recipe my friend gave me 10 pounds of cherry tomatoes. My tomatoes were from my own collection and included lesser ripe cherries, and some romas, sweet yellow pear, and early girls. My friend's were all Sweet 100s. The sauce was just one dimensional and way overly sweet. I researched online and came up with the unlikely suggestion to use a tablespoon of cocoa powder. After reading the rave reviews of several cooks who had saved their sweet sauce I decided what could it hurt? After all it's bitter chocolate, and has a bit of an unami fragrance. Surprise!! It saved the sauce. I added just a bit of red wine vinegar, too and I'm quite pleased. My suggestion is if you know your tomatoes are really sweet add some others, or change to red wine vinegar instead of basalmic.
Jami says
What a great tip, Janet - thank you so much!
Janet T. says
Our pear tomato made a bumper crop and I'm so glad I found this recipe. I've made other roasted tomato sauces but this one is exceptional. The flavor is rich and multilayered. It's more flavorful than the recipes I've used for my Roma tomatoes. I'll definitely be using this recipe many times! Thanks!
Jami says
Yay! I'm so glad you found this, too, Janet - I know what it's like to have small tomatoes coming out of your ears. 🙂
I'm thrilled you found the flavor so good!
Marty says
Just made my first batch of cherry tomato balsamic sauce. Sealed it in bags for the freezer, after sampling, of course. It’s wonderful! It will be my new go-to sauce recipe from now on! Wondering if I could can it. Do you know if the pH is low enough to safely can?
Jami says
Glad you like it, Marty!
No, it's not safe to can as written and would need modifications and testing for that to happen.
Dot says
Because I am not able to have a gaeden this year I have relied on ordering from grocery store. I was sent 3 ctns of comppari tomatoes- very good- and was wondering I coul make your freezer tomato sauce?
Also interested in Tomato jam. I await your reply.
Jami says
Yes! The freezer sauce works with any tomatoes.
As for the tomato jam, I prefer my Addictive Tomato Chutney. 🙂
Brenda says
Love this sauce! It is my go to. Used my garden cherry tomatoes & fresh onions and have made 2 large pots. Froze in 3 to 4 cup servings. When I use a serving I add a can of chopped tomatoes. It's s big hit!
Jami says
It's a keeper recipe for sure, Brenda - glad you like it. That's a great idea to add tomatoes when serving, too!
Mary-Lyn Easter says
OMG....delicious.
Just had appetizer.....toasts...goat cheese...roasted tomatoes...like eating candy!!
My husband thinks we need to make lots more!
Thank you so much for the recipe...I did not purée.
Jami says
Ooo, that sounds so good - I'll have to try that, too!
AFS says
I don't have much freezer space can it be canned?
I'm looking forward to trying it.
my tomatoes weren't in a very sunny spot this year so they t ripened yet but there are LOTS of them.
Jami says
Sorry, no, this is not a tested recipe and I didn't base it on a tested recipe for canning. I have a roasted tomato sauce that is safe for water bath canning here: https://anoregoncottage.com/water-bath-safe-canned-roasted-tomato-sauce/ and you can use small tomatoes, though I personally haven't done that, although pretty sure it would be fine, just seedier.
Diane says
Jami,
You did it again! Hit one out of the ball park Girl! And what a good use of the many pounds of cherry tomatoes waiting to be picked. I have made your Roasted Tomato Sauce- excellent! And I have frozen tomatoes to make Tomatoes & Chilies, Pizza Sauce and your Addictive Tomato Chutney. Now I'm waiting for our Fall harvest of pumpkins and squash to be over so I can continue canning using your great recipes!
Jami says
Oh man, you just made my day, Diane - thank you!! I'm so glad you are happy with this - I'm always hopeful readers will like stuff as much as we do - and I wasn't kidding with this one, I think Brian DID eat it with a spoon it's so good. 🙂