So, I’m pretty sure you are aware by now that I love me some pizza.
And lasagna. And spaghetti. And anything parmesan. And Italian food in general. And, well, most food for that matter — but that’s neither here nor there.
So, you can imagine we go through our fair share of tomato sauce in our house. Whether it’s for pizza or lasagna or spaghetti or chicken parmesan or something else, I use homemade tomato sauce. Trust me: it’s so much better than anything you’ll get in a jar from the store. I even make extra each time so I will have some stored away in my freezer for just those occasions.
Well, I started to realize I should try my hand at my own recipe for tomato sauce. True, I do absolutely love Giada De Laurentiis’ recipe for Simple Tomato Sauce, which is why I posted about it here on my blog. But, as delicious as it is, it is quite simple. Hence its name.
I love these ingredients when roasted because they release a sweetness and a richness you wouldn’t otherwise get.
While I still love Giada’s recipe, I think this one came out pretty darn good too and it will for sure remain in my Sauces file for my various and frequent Italian meals.
- 2 lbs Roma tomatoes cut in half
- 5 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 medium yellow onion quartered
- 1 carrot unpeeled and chopped into large pieces
- 2 tsp kosher salt plus more to taste
- 1 tsp ground black pepper plus more to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3-4 basil leaves
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp sugar
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Line a baking sheet (with sides at least 1-inch deep) with parchment paper. Lay out the tomato halves (skin-side down), onion, garlic and carrot and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Try to make this only one layer to allow for maximum roasting. Drizzle olive oil all over.
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Bake for 60 - 75 minutes, or until the edges of the tomatoes and onions begin to turn black. Carefully transfer the roasted contents to a food processor or blender (or a large mixing bowl, if using a stick blender), add the basil leaves and pulse until smooth.
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Transfer the pureed contents to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add thyme, unsalted butter, sugar and more salt or pepper, to taste.
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We should get some of our tomato sauce back in the freezer.
I added chopped grilled back bacon to the skillet after the roasting and blending. (added also celery n beet root to the roasting) … It turned out really well with pplp saying its the best pasta sauce they have ever tasted! Awesome! Used a mixed of sweet white and purple onions.
This was pretty amazing. I used fresh ripe tomatoes from the garden, a combination of varietals, a bit more crushed garlic and didn’t remove the skins before blending. Oh, a small pour of marsala and lots of fresh thyme during the roasting stage. DELICIOUS!! Then I browned some italian sausage and ground beef and added the sauce. Super good. Loved this recipe. I served it with spinach linguini. Thanks for a great recipe!
Very good and actually fun to make…..
Will do this over and over again…
thanks
i noticed the thyme was to be added before and after the roasting. As I have not made this yet, was curious if I was to add the same amount of thyme twice, or was this an oversight? Looks great and I have a whole bunch of tomatoes to use up. Thank you…
Thanks for catching that! It was an oversight. Just add the thyme prior to roasting and not once you remove from the oven. Thanks!
About a month ago I had SEVERAL packages of Roma Tomatoes that were about to go bad-as I desperately searched the Internet for a sauce recipe I came across this page. So simple and soooo delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!
I had a very late tomato crop this year from a few of my plants. I decided to use your recipe to ensure that they did not go to waste. My sauce came out great! I added a little balsamic vinegar during the roasting process but otherwise followed the instructions. Thanks for the delicious and easy recipe.
With an abundance of tomatoes and too little time for the kitchen tonight, I set my teenager onto making this, and was it ever good! He and we loved it more than you can imagine after a cold evening working outside on an urgent project.
i just made this tonight…i seeded but did not peel the tomatoes and also added a bit of carrot…then fresh basil in the food processor…butter added when reheating the portion i am had tonight (froze the rest)…served on top of homemade linguini with parmesan and a hunk o bread…simple pleasures
This is almost MY recipe! I don’t use the carrot, but will try. I drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar,no sugar. I freeze batches of this. I have used brandywine tomatoes with good results too.
FYI… I tried roasting two kinds of tomatoes…the roma’s we’re sweet and yummy even without any sugar. The early girls a little bitter so I added maple sugar crystals and that helped a lot.Great fun…thanks for all your help.
Pecorino I’m unfamilar with that cheese…tell me about it. I’ll let you know how it turns out won’t be for a while…planning ahead.
Hi Judi,
Pecorino is similar to Parmesan but has more “bite” to it. It’s a stronger flavor. Very tasty 🙂
Hi Lacey, I’m wanting to make a vegetarian casserole for a potluck and I don’t eat pasta. I’m wondering what you think about using this sauce over spaggetti squash, with a layer of eggplant and parmessan cheese? The sauce and squash may be to sweet to pair together, what do you think?
I think that actually sounds fantastic. You could maybe add a little more Parmesan or pecorino to offset the sweetness, but I’d bet it’ll be tasty 🙂
I just finished pureeing the sauce out of the oven and it’s fantastic. Looking forward to using it in other ways including my vodka sauce, awesome!
Smells, looks & tastes delicious! Thanks for a great sauce recipe!
I’m almost ready to pull by roasting pan out of the oven. I had a mix of tomatoes from the garden including yellow ones and was worried about the final colour of the sauce – so I included 1 red beet to the roasting pan. The beet will add a nice deep red to the sauce and I bet a nice flavour too. I’ll keep you posted on the results!
Hi Lacey. Can I “can” this sauce rather than freeze?
Hey Kathy! You know, I’ve never tried canning any of my sauces but I’d bet it would be fine. If you try it, would you let me know how it goes? That’s a great idea! I usually just freeze them, but canning is great for long term storage and tasty gifts 🙂
Hi, i just baked mine and will finish iit in the morning. I used tin foil and wondered if it will adversely affect the flavor. I noticed hard bits of thyme that bugged me a little, maybe they will soften up later. As those before mentioned it smells delicious. I also wondered why carrots?
I did this today with Romas from my garden. Absolutely fantastic! I put the garlic cloves in a foil packet with a drop of olive olive to keep them from getting dry or hard. I put the packet on the pan with the rest of the vegetables. I did everything else just as you suggested. Amazing!
Hello!
This recipe looks delicious and I cannot wait to try it! If you put the garlic cloves inside the tomatoes while roasting, they will not dry out as quickly, plus it infuses the tomatoes with garlic, yum!
How long is the frozen sauce good for?
I am trying this tonight! I have been looking for homemade sauce and yours is the best yet. All the reviews were super helpful and I am excited to go home and get started. One question….how long should I let it cook, after I blend together in the food processor? I was thinking about putting it in the crock pot and letting it cook for a few hours. Is this a good idea?
I found this to taste more like a roasted tomato soup.
I’m sorry to hear it didn’t turn out for you, Les. Did you follow the directions exactly?
This is in my oven right now!! Yum yum, can hardly wait.
HI Lacy! I just discovered your blog! I love it! I was looking for some tips on how to make a tomato sauce without taking the skins off and I found it! I just went to the Farmer’s Market for some tomatoes and will be making a sauce. I will post pics! Thanks~~
Julie
Glad to help, Julie! I’ve never seen the need to remove the skins if you’re just going to puree it anyway. Enjoy!
Heard about this recipe via a friend who made it and loved it. We just made it tonight with my bumper crop of tomatoes. I roasted it 65 minutes but may have been too long as some of my garlic was hard which I threw away but I had doubled it based on recmmdtn from friend so we were still good, and after food proc, the sauce was quite thick, but DELISH! No worries, thinned it out with about a cup of veg broth, and put it all over homemade pasta. We had made marinara a few weeks ago with canned tomatoes and thought it was good, but this recipe far outweighed it. This was wonderful. A must do, and SO EAsY!!! Thank you! PS – I forgot to add the sugar and butter in the end, and didn’t think it was missing anything so I think we’ll save the calories and fat, and go as is.
Thanks so much for the review of this recipe, Kristi. I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I just made pasta with your roasted tomato sauce and it was a huge success. It’s hard to find Roma tomatoes in Korea, so I just used whatever tomato I had at home and skipped dried thyme and fresh basil because I don’t have them (used dried basil). Also skipped sugar because I forgot, but I didn’t notice until now. I added two hot peppers and I think it had a nice kick to it.
Thanks so much for this recipe, and I’ll be making this over and over again.
Thanks!!
I’m glad you enjoyed the sauce — changes and all 🙂
Lacey, Lacey, Lacey – I LOVE THIS!! It’s the first time I’ve made it. Rob has a bumper crop of NJ hearty beefsteak tomatos and we had to figure out something to do with some of them today. I am SO glad we used two pounds of them for this yummy, full-bodied sauce. You ROCK!!
Kathy, Kathy, Kathy – I LOVE your comments 🙂
Making this as I type and man does that wonderful smell make me hungry! I do believe there is going to be some chicken parm in this family’s dinner plans tonight:)
Yay! I hope it was great, Amanda. It sure sounds good to me! Did you try my Chicken Parmesan recipe also?
Soooooooo awesome. This is absolutely one of the best and most simple, yet richly delicious sauces I’ve ever made. So glad I found your site. I love the Giada recipes as well – also big fan of Jamie Oliver too. I made my own turkey meatballs to go with it over spaghetti, so delish.
Yay! So happy to hear you liked the sauce, Brian! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Love it! I don’t think I will ever buy jar sauce again 🙂
Awesome — that’s exactly what I like to hear, Christi! Thanks for sharing 😉
Okay, I have been all over your site today! Loving this tomato recipe!
Haha! That’s totally fine — I’m glad you’re liking what you see 🙂
Loved this recipe. I come from a ver strong italian background and I am currently in the process of developping my own signiture sauce and it will now include roasted tomatoes and onions thanks to you.
Glad to be of help, Anthony. Good luck with your signature sauce!
It’s a very strange color, but it’s absolutely to die for. Thanks again!
Yay! Thanks for sharing how it went — I’m so glad you like it (green and all!). 😉
I have it in the oven right now, made with an early batch of heirloom tomatoes — it smells absolutely amazing! I’m just a little concerned about that the color of the final product will be, though, since I included a few green (but very ripe) and orange varieties in the mix… If it tastes as good as it smells, the color won’t matter! : )
Thanks for posting!
Just made this sauce tonight for my wife and I. It’s VERY good, and I even added a roasted red pepper to the mix with the carrots and onion. It added a sweet component to the sauce that was amazing. Great recipe!
Hi Jeff! You’re very welcome. Glad you enjoyed it!
Interesting! Good to know, thanks!
You’re very welcome!
This sounds amazing…I definitely have this planned for dinner this week with a salad and your homemade garlic bread recipe. Just curious about something- why do you use butter in the recipe? I’ve never seen or heard of a tomato sauce recipe that used butter.
Hi Jamie! Good question about the butter! I actually find adding a bit of unsalted butter at the end of the tomato sauce helps round out the flavor and cuts the acidity.
Thanks for sharing!
I just made this sauce so that we can simmer some Maryland Blue Crabs in it tomorrow! We then put it over spaghetti. “Sghetti Crabs”.
However, my sauce is orange. Is it supposed to be this color?
Wow — can I come over for dinner? That sounds amazing! The color of the sauce will depend/vary on the color of the tomatoes you roast but it shouldn’t affect the taste of the sauce drastically one way or the other.
Just tried this over spinach/mushroom/feta cannelloni = SO delicious!! Roasting definitely makes all of the difference. Thank you!
You’re very welcome, Amy! Your spinach, mushroom and feta pasta sounds delish, too!
Looks absolutely wonderful, I can’t wait to make it! Can you freeze and save this sauce also?
You most certainly can, Lindsay. I break it into serving portions of about 4 cups each and stick it in a freezer bag when I freeze it. It’s so useful to have tasty, homemade tomato sauce in the freezer any time you want.
So, I have to say–I’m only in the roasting part of this recipe right now and my kitchen smells fantastic! I wish I could bottle up the aroma. I’m sure it’s going to be delicious when it’s finished!
Thanks, Dylan! I certainly hope the final result lived up to your expectations 🙂
I love tomato sauce, but usually i had mine store-bought. Yours look way tastier
Thanks, Jun! 🙂
The colours are so vibrant…I love this…and garlic! Good call. Tomato sauce without garlic is like…pathetic.
I totally agree, Charissa. Garlic is an essential for me too 🙂