Making your own homemade tomato sauce is actually really easy and is a great way to control the flavor and quality of the food you’re eating. This homemade Roasted Tomato Sauce just tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff and freezes great!
Let’s see how many of your favorite dishes call for tomato sauce...
Sweet Potato Lasagna? Check. Pizza? Check. Stuffed Spaghetti Squash Bowls? Of course. Chicken Parmesan Meal Prep? Yaas. Any Italian dish ever? Yep, that too.
When fresh tomatoes are ripe and delicious and bountiful, it's a great time to make your own homemade roasted tomato sauce and freeze it so you'll have it when it's actually cold outside and you want to bake lasagna in the oven.
Every summer, when the markets are full of ripe tomatoes bursting with flavor, I buy a lot of tomatoes and make a lot of tomato sauce. Like, really a lot.
Instead of forcing Dustin to eat one tomato dish after another the entire summer, I oven roast them and make my own Roasted Tomato Sauce. If it sounds fancy, don't be worried - it's so incredibly easy and simple. It’s the perfect way to preserve tomatoes and (bonus) it freezes exceptionally well. That way, you know you’ll never have to reach out for the store-bought tomato sauce again.
What Tomatoes Are Best For Roasted Tomato Sauce?
I like using Roma tomatoes for this tomato sauce recipe because they don't have a lot of seeds and are very flavorful, though many other types of tomatoes work great for marinara sauce. Here are some great options for what tomatoes to use in your sauce:
- Roma tomatoes (my fave)
- San Marzano
- Margherita
- Big Mama
- Heirloom
- Amish Paste
- Opalka
In general, you can look for what's called a "paste" tomato, which, like the Roma and San Marzano tomatoes, are meatier, have fewer seeds, are firmed, and have less water content, making them flavorful and rich for making sauce.
Why Oven-Roast Tomatoes for Tomato Sauce?
If you want to get more flavor from your tomatoes, roasting them is the way to go! Yes, it’s a slow process, but luckily not a very painful one. Roasting tomatoes (and, well anything, for that matter) intensifies the tomato flavor and brings out a richness you just don't get from cooking them on the stove.
That being said, if you didn't want to roast your tomatoes (or need to speed up the process), you could always cook this sauce on the stove.
What To Use Tomato Sauce In:
Roasted tomato sauce is a great base for so many amazing recipes, like:
- cream of tomato soup
- homemade enchilada sauce
- homemade chili
- ground turkey meal prep
- sweet potato lasagna
- cauliflower pizza
- chicken parmesan meal prep
- eggplant parmesan
It’s so versatile! When making Roasted Tomato Sauce, I tend to get a bit carried away and make a lot of it, all at once. Dustin claims no one in their right mind could use up all that tomato sauce. Little does he know how many recipes call for this Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce! Homemade tomato sauce just tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff and is also much healthier.
How To Store Homemade Tomato Sauce
To store homemade tomato sauce, just add it to a tightly sealed mason jar (like these mason jars) or a re-usable storage bag (like these bags). Properly stored in an air-tight container like a mason jar or sealable bag, homemade tomato sauce can be stored in the fridge for up to 7 days. If you don't get to using it within that timeframe, the good news is that this sauce freezes very well.
How To Freeze Homemade Tomato Sauce
Believe it or not, you can also freeze homemade tomato sauce for up to 6 months.
Here are some tips for how to freeze tomato sauce:
- allow the tomato sauce to fully cool to room temperature before placing in the freezer
- try freezing it in 3-4 cup batches so you can grab it and let it thaw in the fridge overnight when you wanna use it for a specific recipe
- use air-tight re-usable storage bags, like these ones
- Once you have your bags filled with the tomato sauce, lay them flat in the freezer so they freeze as flat as possible to save space. Once they've frozen, you can stand them up and consolidate them
- To thaw frozen tomato sauce, remove from the freezer and either let set in the fridge overnight or place, sealed, in a bowl of cold water to speed up thawing
Why is My Homemade Tomato Sauce Orange (Not Red)?
It is totally normal when you make homemade tomato sauce for it to be a little more orange than red because, when you blend it, you introduce air into the sauce, which turns it from red to orange. Rest assure, it doesn't alter the flavor, just the color. If it really bugs you, you could use try one of the following:
- use canned (no salt added) whole peeled tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes
- blend the tomatoes, carrot, garlic and onion ahead of time and cook in a sauce pan
- hand mash everything once it’s roasted using a potato masher to avoid introducing extra air into the sauce
- add a little tomato paste to deepen the red color
Personally, I think that’s kinda the beauty of homemade sauce is that the color varies. It tastes the same - even though the color is a little orange.
Roasted Tomato Sauce Recipe Video
Roasted Tomato Sauce
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Roma tomatoes, cut in half
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into large chunks
- 1 carrot, cut into large chunks
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper plus more to taste
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3-4 basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or you can use a large casserole dish.
- Lay out the tomato halves (skin-side up), onion, garlic and carrot and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Try to make this only one layer to allow for maximum roasting. Drizzle olive oil all over.
- Bake for 60 - 75 minutes, or until the edges of the tomatoes and onions begin to pull away from the tomato flesh.
- Allow to cool and then remove the peels using your hands.
- 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 tomato paste, and pulse until smooth.
- Add additional salt and/or pepper, to taste.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend.
brian
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.
Lacey Baier
Yay! So happy to hear you liked the sauce, Brian! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Christi
Love it! I don't think I will ever buy jar sauce again 🙂
Lacey Baier
Awesome -- that's exactly what I like to hear, Christi! Thanks for sharing 😉
the wicked noodle
Okay, I have been all over your site today! Loving this tomato recipe!
Lacey Baier
Haha! That's totally fine -- I'm glad you're liking what you see 🙂
Anthony
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.
Lacey Baier
Glad to be of help, Anthony. Good luck with your signature sauce!
Jess
It's a very strange color, but it's absolutely to die for. Thanks again!
Lacey Baier
Yay! Thanks for sharing how it went -- I'm so glad you like it (green and all!). 😉
Jess
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!
Jeff
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!
Lacey Baier
Hi Jeff! You're very welcome. Glad you enjoyed it!
Jamie
Interesting! Good to know, thanks!
Lacey Baier
You're very welcome!
Jamie
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.
Lacey Baier
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.
Katie
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?
Lacey Baier
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.
Amy
Just tried this over spinach/mushroom/feta cannelloni = SO delicious!! Roasting definitely makes all of the difference. Thank you!
Lacey Baier
You're very welcome, Amy! Your spinach, mushroom and feta pasta sounds delish, too!
Lindsay
Looks absolutely wonderful, I can't wait to make it! Can you freeze and save this sauce also?
Lacey Baier
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.
Dylan
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!
Lacey Baier
Thanks, Dylan! I certainly hope the final result lived up to your expectations 🙂
Jun
I love tomato sauce, but usually i had mine store-bought. Yours look way tastier
Lacey Baier
Thanks, Jun! 🙂
Charissa
The colours are so vibrant...I love this...and garlic! Good call. Tomato sauce without garlic is like...pathetic.
Lacey Baier
I totally agree, Charissa. Garlic is an essential for me too 🙂