Sweet Cherry Tomato Sauce
Sweet cherry tomato sauce is the best way to use up a bevvy of garden fresh cherry tomatoes. This homemade tomato sauce is perfect for spooning over pasta or using on a pizza or lasagna. No matter how you decide to use it, you’ll end up enjoying every last drop of it!
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We all have our flaws.
One of ours is grossly overestimating the amount of cherry tomatoes we need to grow each year.
And I do mean grossly.
I could fill a room with the bounty of sweet little tomatoes and we can barely eat them fast enough.
So I find myself trying to use them in everything and anything like cherry tomato salsa, killer marinated tomatoes, or cherry tomato salad.
Of course, I had to make cherry tomato sauce.
And I’m so glad I did.
This sauce is loaded with flavor and sweetness that make it absolutely irresistible.
Ingredients
To make this spaghetti sauce you need:
- Cherry tomatoes– Preferably a sweet variety, since this sweetness will shine through in the sauce. Wash them and remove the stems.
- Extra virgin olive oil– Divided. Don’t substitute another kind of oil. You want the EVVO for maximum flavor and richness.
- Aromatics– Diced yellow onion and fresh garlic cloves with slits cut into them
- Herbs– Fresh basil leaves and fresh thyme leaves.
- Salt and pepper– To taste
How to Make
Think making homemade sauce is hard?
Think again!
To do it, spread the prepared tomatoes out on a large rimmed baking sheet and then drizzle the 2 1/2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil out over the tomatoes.
Stir the tomatoes gently to coat them in the oil.
Once they are coated, bake the oiled tomatoes at 400° for 25-30 minutes or just until some of them have burst and begun to shrivel.
At this point, remove the tomatoes from the oven.
Set them aside.
Then, heat the remaining extra virgin olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium until the oil’s hot and shimmery.
Once it’s hot, stir in the onions and cook them until they’ve begun to soften and turn in color.
Stir in the garlic, herbs, tomatoes and all their juices to the onions in the sauce pan.
Reduce the heat to a low so the tomato mixture just slowly simmers.
Cover the pan almost completely just leaving a small gap with a lid, and let the mixture simmer very gently for between 30 and 60 minutes.
Stir occasionally.
Remove the pot from heat, uncover, and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
Using an immersion blender blend the sauce until smooth.
If the sauce is too thick, add some vegetable or chicken broth to thin.
Serve over a bed of your favorite pasta with fresh herbs.
Enjoy!
Storing
If you’re not planning on using all of the sauce immediately, you can add the hot sauce to canning jars.
Then, add the lids and seal.
Let them cool on counter.
When they are cool, refrigerate them for up to two weeks.
Once you open the jars, it needs to be used immediately.
Can I freeze cherry tomato sauce?
Yes! You can add the cooled sauce to a freezer safe ziplocking bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
When you are ready to use it, thaw it and reheat in a sauce pan on the stove.
Then use as desired.
Can I can this sauce?
While you can can this sauce for short term storage, I don’t recommend it for long term canning because the sauce has olive oil in it.
How much sauce does this make?
This recipe will yield roughly 2-3 pints of sauce, but can easily be doubled or tripled as needed.
Tips and Tricks
- Want to incorporate other bounties from your garden or just take advantage of cheap seasonal produce? You can add mushrooms, squash, zucchini, carrots, or even peppers to this sauce.
- Don’t skip roasting the tomatoes! If you haven’t tried it before, roasting cherry tomatoes REALLY enhances their flavors!
- Looking for ways to use this sauce beyond just spooning it over pasta? It makes a great pizza sauce, a great base sauce for lasagna, soups, or even a base you can doctor up by adding meats such as cooked ground beef or sausage, and meatballs.
- Make sure you’re using sweet tomatoes. I’m not a fan of adding sugar to my sauces if it can be avoided. If you don’t use sweet tomatoes, you may find the sauce comes out a tad on the bitter side.
- You can add a little spice to the sauce with a pinch of cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes.
Other Sauce Recipes
Homemade sweet cherry tomato sauce is a delicious way to use up summer produce. Make it and enjoy!
Looking for other homemade sauce recipes? Try these:
If you’ve tried this CHERRY TOMATO SAUCE, or any other recipe on the site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!
Sweet Cherry Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 lbs sweet cherry tomatoes stems removed & washed
- 1/4 cup + 2 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil divide
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 5 cloves garlic each with a slit cut in it
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves stems removed
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the tomatoes to a large rimmed baking sheet, then drizzle the 2 1/2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil out over the tomatoes. Stir them gently to coat.
- Bake the oiled tomatoes at 400° for 25-30 minutes, just until some of the tomatoes have burst and begun to shrivel.
- Remove the tomatoes from the oven, and set aside.
- Add the remaining extra virgin olive oil to a large sauce pan, and heat over medium until the oil's hot. It will appear shimmery when ready.
- Stir in the onions, cooking for roughly 3 minutes- just until they've begun to soften and turn in color.
- Add the garlic, tomatoes (including all the juices in the pan), and herbs to the sauce pan. Stir to combine.
- Reduce the heat to a low simmer (low heat), cover the pan almost completely just leaving a small gap with a lid, and let the mixture simmer very gently for at least 30 minutes, but up to an hour. Stir occasionally.
- Remove the pot from heat, uncover, and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the sauce until smooth- you can leave it chunkier if desired. If too thick, add some vegetable or chicken broth to thin.
- Serve over a bed of your favorite pasta with fresh herbs.
Notes
- Want to incorporate other bounties from your garden or just take advantage of cheap seasonal produce? You can add mushrooms, squash, zucchini, carrots, or even peppers to this sauce.
- Don't skip roasting the tomatoes! If you haven't tried it before, roasting cherry tomatoes REALLY enhances their flavors!
- Looking for ways to use this sauce beyond just spooning it over pasta? It makes a great pizza sauce, a great base sauce for lasagna, soups, or even a base you can doctor up by adding meats such as cooked ground beef or sausage, and meatballs.
- Make sure you're using sweet tomatoes. I'm not a fan of adding sugar to my sauces if it can be avoided. If you don't use sweet tomatoes, you may find the sauce comes out a tad on the bitter side.
- You can add a little spice to the sauce with a pinch of cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes.
Nutrition
recipe adapted from Fork Knife Swoon
This post may contain affiliate links. As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. See my full Disclosure Policy for details.
