Roasted Tomato Sauce
Here’s a homemade roasted tomato sauce recipe for discerning eaters. Roasting Roma and sweet tomatoes alongside onions create a savory base, intensified by garlic, oregano, and a hint of lemon. Perfectly balanced and bursting with natural sweetness, this roasted tomato sauce makes any dish special. Follow our recipe steps to roast, blend, and simmer your way to your new favorite pantry staple.
Ingredients
- 2 lb. Roma tomatoes (900 g)
- 2.5 lb. Sweet juicy tomato variety, such as Campari or Cherry ( 1,133 g)
- 1 lb. onions (450 g)
- 5 cups water (650 ml)
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp. salt
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. oregano dry
- ½ small lemon juiced
Instructions
Roast Roma tomatoes and onions:
- Preheat the oven to 450° F first
- Wash and core Roma tomatoes.
- Cut the cored Roma tomatoes into quarters or halves.
- Wash and remove skin from the onions
- Slice onions into ½ inch thick rounds
- In a large bowl, mix the halved or quartered Roma tomatoes and sliced onions with 2 tbsp. of olive oil, and all of the salt and sugar until coated.
- Spread the tomatoes and onions onto a parchment-lined roasting pan.
- Roast in the preheated oven until the tomatoes blister and collapse, and the onions char slightly, approximately 40 minutes. Make sure to check after about 25 minutes as some ovens tend to burn food faster than others. If the onions are charred but the tomatoes did not start to blister, turn the onions over and continue roasting.
- Once done remove the roasting pan from the oven and let it cool till it is safe to touch.
Prepare sweet tomatoes:
- Wash and core Campari tomatoes.
- Cut them in halves or quarters and crush them in a blender.
Cook roasted tomato sauce:
- Transfer the roasted tomatoes and onions along with their juices to a food processor or blender. Add half of the measured-out water and blend until smooth. Set aside in a non-reactive bowl.
- Peel, wash and finely chop garlic.
- Use the pot large enough to hold all of the ingredients. Add all of the remaining oil to the pot and warm it up over medium-low heat for a minute or so. Then, add chopped garlic. Sauté till translucent, about 2 minutes.
- Add the crushed Campari tomatoes followed by the tomato-onion mixture to the pot. Stir well.
- Add the remaining water and freshly squeezed lemon juice to the mixture. Bring it to a boil. Remove foam-like impurities from the surface of the sauce.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer the tomato sauce for 1 ½ hours. Stir it regularly and try to reach to the bottom of the pot when you stir.
- After 1 ½ hours the roasted tomato sauce should reduce by about ½. At this point, it's ready to be used immediately. However, as this is a canning recipe, proceed to the next step for instructions on how to preserve this roasted tomato sauce for future use.
Can roasted tomato sauce:
- Pack the roasted tomato sauce into the clean and freshly sterilized canning jars. Next process in a boiling water bath as per table below.
- Once finished, your freshly made roasted tomato sauce is ready to be stored in the pantry.
Notes
Boiling Water Bath Processing Times for Tomato Sauce
Style of Pack: Hot Jar Size: 1 pint = 16 oz = ~500 ml| Process Time at Elevations of: | |||
| 0 - 1,000 ft | 1,001 - 3,000 ft | 3,001 - 6,000 ft | Above 6,000 ft |
| 35 min | 40 min | 45 min | 50 min |