Easy Slow Roasted Tomatoes
Incredibly sweet and intensely flavorful slow roasted tomatoes. A wonderfully tasty – and easy – method for transforming peak-season tomatoes (and even lackluster grocery store varieties) into a crave-worthy Summer condiment. Use them in soups, pastas, tomato sauce, on homemade pizza, tossed into salads, or on simple crostini. Grape and cherry tomatoes, as well as plum or campari all work well. Vegan and gluten free.
The easiest slow roasted tomatoes
There we were, all excited for fall baking… but with a week-long stint of temps in the nineties, our new locale begged to differ. So while I still turned on the oven, I’m taking a brief departure from all things cinnamon-spiced, and celebrating the last of the Summer season with one of my very favorite sweet (and savory) treats: slow roasted tomatoes.
A long stint in a barely warm oven caramelizes the natural sugar in the tomatoes, teasing out additional layers of flavor and sweetness, until the tomatoes become wonderfully jammy and intensely flavorful, and something so much greater than just tomatoes, olive oil, and salt.
Why you’ll love these roasted tomatoes
It may be more method than recipe – and it’s a super simple one at that – but write this one down and put in your back pocket. You’ll want to squirrel these slow roasted tomatoes away, because they are out-of-this-world, addictively good. In everything.
It’s hard to beat peak-season tomatoes, as is. Growing up, we plucked them straight off the tangly vines in my parents garden – cheerful red, orange, and yellow jewels bursting with summer flavor.
Don’t you wish someone would bottle that distinctively intoxicating smell of tomato vines and warm sunshine??
Admittedly, grocery store tomatoes can often be… lacking. But a couple of hours in a warm oven under a glossy sheen of olive oil makes magic, and can transform even the most stubbornly bland tomatoes. And for home-grown (and already perfect) tomatoes, the results are sweet, tangy, flavorful transcendence.
The ingredients you’ll need to make roasted tomatoes
These slow roasted tomatoes are as simple as it gets, taking advantage of peak season, super flavorful tomatoes and the transformative roasting process. Here’s what you’ll need:
- cherry or grape tomatoes: of course! I prefer to use small cherry or grape tomatoes, which are often sweeter with more concentrated flavor, but you can use any variety you prefer. Just be sure to adjust the cooking time according to the tomato’s size and water content.
- olive oil: a light drizzle keeps the tomatoes from drying out while roasting.
- salt and pepper: to intensify the natural tomato flavor. You can add some fresh herbs if you’d like – thyme is a favorite, along with garlic – but it’s truly not necessary.
Yep, that’s it. Summer simplicity at its finest.
Basically replace regular old tomatoes in just about any dish with some of these flavorful babes and you’ll seriously elevate your tomato – and cooking – game.
I love adding these to tomato soup and Italian red sauces, or as a simple appetizer, topping toasted or grilled crostini with a few roasted tomatoes nestled atop a smear of goat cheese or ricotta. I may also have been known to simply eat them straight out of the jar…
How to make roasted tomatoes
While yes, this method will coax flavor out of the saddest of grocery store tomatoes, for pure, tomato bliss, start with the best tomatoes you can find. Use a mix of cherry and grape tomatoes (as I did here), or a larger, full-bodied small to medium-sized variety such as plum or Campari – the oven time may vary a bit, but the results will be nonetheless delicious.
- Preheat the oven to 300℉. Add your sliced tomatoes to a parchment paper lined sheet pan.
- Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and bake for 2-3 hours, until the tomatoes are shriveled and jammy. The timing will vary depending on the size and variety of tomatoes.
- Tent the tomatoes with aluminum foil while they cool to lock in even more moisture and flavor.
Find all the exact measurements and full recipe instructions below.
Then start down your list of ways to use these slow roasted cherry tomatoes. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Make crostini! Top toasted or grilled bread with creamy goat cheese or ricotta, a few roasted tomatoes, and a drizzle of fresh pesto or good balsamic vinegar.
- Add these to your favorite pasta dish.
- Use in tomato soup! Jammy juices and all.
- Eat them straight off the sheet pan with a spoon.
- In grilled cheese!
- Or on top of homemade pizza.
- Did I mention devouring them straight off the sheet pan?
Or, if you’re feeling impatient and want to go the *quick* roasted tomato route – make this roasted cherry tomato sauce. And then invite me over to share your spoils 😉
Looking for more easy summer favorites? Try these next:
- Quick roasted cherry tomato sauce
- Summer pasta with burst cherry tomatoes
- Summer squash grain salad with feta
- Easy pork chops with peaches
- A summer blackberry and blueberry crisp
If you make these roasted tomatoes be sure to tag me on Instagram with the hashtag #forkknifeswoon and leave a comment and rating below letting me know how you liked them! ★★★★★ Star ratings are especially helpful because they help others find my recipes too. xo, Laura
PrintEasy Slow Roasted Tomatoes
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 10 mins
- Yield: about 2 cups 1x
- Category: Vegetables
- Method: roasting
- Cuisine: italian, american
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Incredibly sweet and intensely flavorful slow roasted tomatoes. A wonderfully tasty – and easy – method for transforming peak-season tomatoes (and even lackluster grocery store varieties) into a crave-worthy Summer condiment. Use them in soups, pastas, tomato sauce, on homemade pizza, tossed into salads, or on simple crostini. Grape and cherry tomatoes, as well as plum or campari all work well. Vegan and gluten free.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs cherry or grape tomatoes (or other small, full-bodied variety such as Campari or plum)
- extra-virgin olive oil, as needed to coat
- kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300℉. Line a rimmed sheet pan (or two) with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Slice the tomatoes in half, lengthwise. Arrange on the sheet pan(s), cut-side up, so that the tomatoes are close together but not overly crowded.
- Drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil then shimmy around in the pan until all are just coated with oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Roast for 2-3 hours, until the tomatoes begin to dry out and shrivel in on themselves, but still retain some juice inside. The timing will vary depending on the size/variety of your tomatoes.
- Remove from the oven and cover the pan with aluminum foil until cooled, at least half an hour. Use right away, or cover with olive oil and store in the fridge.
Keywords: roasted tomatoes, slow roasted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, easy, crostini, oven roasted, tomato, how to slow roast tomatoes
Originally posted August 19, 2012. Updated with new photos and recipe notes.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I love it! (We’ve been blessed with an abundance of tomatoes in our garden, am harvesting at this time and using in recipes, including yours.) Again, thank you for sharing this recipe. 👍
★★★★★
Thank you so much, LP! So happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Hi Laura–delicious. been looking for this recipe for read in one of magazines that this is the way to freeze tomatoes to make anything at a later date. Have you tried that? Going to with the next batch of tomatoes. Also last year (and this) I turn the bushes up side down in my garage and the tomatoes will finish ripen (even from green) Great way to finish for this different climate weather we are having really make gardening very different for the ripening of vegetables at the “regular” time I have been accustomed to in Willamette Valley, Oregon. But thankfully, not having the southeast and north east weather. thanks mujch…..bonnie fromhold
Sounds amazing- cant wait to try. Could a person can these??
Hi KB! I’m not sure about traditional canning, but they will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks if you keep them covered in olive oil 🙂
So yummy!!! I had a lot of grape tomatoes in my garden. I made the recipe and came out great! Sharing the recipe.
★★★★★
Thanks so much, Ruth!!
Such a perfect way to extend the flavors of summer!
Thank you, Laura!!
Yum! These sound delicious!
★★★★★
Thank you, Louise!! They are 😉
We made these last week. They’re great! I can’t get enough of them!
★★★★★
Thanks, Jack!! We can’t get enough of them either 😉
I would love to make it over the weekend. Thanks for sharing!
I love roasting tomatoes. Their flavor becomes so intense and sweet, it’s the perfect end of summer treat.