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    Home > Blog > Seasonal > Fresh Tomato Sauce

    Fresh Tomato Sauce

    by Teri Lyn Fisher · Published: Jul 7, 2024

    Jump to Recipe
    It's hard to beat the flavors from a Fresh Tomato Sauce! This summer, take full advantage of all the delicious, ripe tomatoes and make our sauce! Everyone will be so impressed by the flavors! Toss it with your favorite pasta or use it for dipping delicious bread, for the best tomato sauce experience!
    Fresh tomato sauce pasta in bowls ready to be served.

    Let’s dive right into this Fresh Tomato Sauce recipe, shall we? Seriously, we love this recipe so very much. There’s nothing quite like making a batch of tomato sauce using FRESH tomatoes! The results are light, sweet, tangy, slightly acidic, and incredibly flavorful!

    I love to hang onto a few roasted tomatoes, before blending the rest into the sauce, to top each serving with a little burst of goodness. We simply toss the sauce with some pasta (our favorite is bucatini) and then top it off with the roasted tomatoes, fresh basil, a lil freshly grated Parmesan and that’s it! A true summer in a bowl sort of meal!

    How to Make Fresh Tomato Sauce

    Ingredients

    Tomato sauce pasta ingredients ready to be cooked with.

    Process

    1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a ceramic or glass baking dish combine tomatoes, garlic, shallot, and thyme. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss together.
    2. Place tomato mixture into the oven and roast for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and toss together. Place tomatoes back into the oven for another 15 minutes or until tomato skins have begun to shrivel and the tomatoes themselves have slightly burst.
    Cherry tomatoes in a baking dish with herbs and butter ready to be roasted.
    Cherry tomatoes roasted in a baking dish.
    1. Remove tomatoes from oven and discard thyme sprigs. Pour roasted tomato mixture into a blender, reserving about 1 1/2 cups roasted cherry tomatoes for garnish.
    2. Blend tomato mixture until “chunky-smooth”.
    Roasted cherry tomatoes in a blender.
    Fresh tomato sauce in a blender.
    1. Pour mixture into a skillet. Place over medium heat and simmer. Stir in tomato paste and basil and season with salt and pepper.
    2. Stir and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
    Tomato sauce in a skillet being cooked down.
    Tomato sauce in a skillet with a wood spoon being simmered.
    1. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
    2. Add pasta and toss together until well coated.
    Tomato sauce in a skillet being cooked down with butter being added.
    Fresh tomato sauce recipe being tossed with pasta.
    1. Top with reserved roasted cherry tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, and grated Parmesan.Serve.
    Fresh tomato sauce with pasta in a bowl.

    Is Tomato Paste Necessary?

    Yes! I know it seems strange to add tomato paste to a fresh tomato sauce, but the tomato paste is actually what gives the sauce body. Without it the tomato sauce would resemble something closer to a watery, thin sauce. Not only does it help to give the sauce body, but because it’s so concentrated, it also gives the sauce a nice depth of tomato flavor.

    Tips and Tricks for Success

    • As mentioned above, add tomato paste! It will really help add body and depth of flavor to your sauce. Otherwise you may end up with more of a ‘tomato water’ than sauce.
    • Although you don’t have to reserve some of the roasted cherry tomatoes for garnish, I think it makes a huge difference, especially when serving with pasta. The bursts of concentrated fresh tomato is the best!
    • Although we don’t do this, if you want a smoother consistency with your sauce (and you want to omit the seeds), instead of blending it up, you can run the tomatoes through a food mill.
    Tomato sauce pasta in a bowl with a fork on the side.

    Canning Fresh Pasta Sauce

    Fresh pasta sauce can have a pretty long shelf life, especially when properly canned. When properly canned, you can also keep your pasta sauce in the pantry for 12 to 18 month at a time! We love using this step by step guide for basic canning!

    Once you open/unseal the jar of sauce, any unused sauce should be refrigerated in an airtight container and used within 4 to 5 days.

    What to Serve with our Fresh Tomato Sauce (Pasta)

    We obviously love this tomato sauce tossed with some pasta, but we also love using it as a dipping sauce for a variety of things like:

    • garlic bread
    • fried ravioli
    • mozzarella sticks
    • polenta fries
    • pizza stuffed breadsticks
    • baked asparagus fries
    • fried squash blossoms
    • fritto misto
    Tomato sauce pasta in a bowl.

    More Delicious Fresh Tomato Recipes You Will Love

    • Heirloom tomato tart on a plate with fresh basil.
      Heirloom Tomato Tart
    • Tomato salad on a plate with herbs on the side.
      Tomato Salad
    • Bruschetta on toasted baguette with wine on the side.
      Bruschetta Recipe
    • A platter of roasted cherry tomato and whipped feta toast.
      Roasted Cherry Tomato and Whipped Feta Toast Points

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    Fresh tomato sauce pasta in bowls ready to be served.

    Fresh Tomato Sauce

    5 from 3 votes
    PRINT RECIPE Pin Recipe
    It's hard to beat the flavors from a Fresh Tomato Sauce! This summer, take full advantage of all the delicious, ripe tomatoes and make our sauce! Everyone will be so impressed by the flavors! Toss it with your favorite pasta or use it for dipping delicious bread, for the best tomato sauce experience!
    RECIPE BY Teri & Jenny
    Prep Time: 10 minutes mins
    Cook Time: 40 minutes mins
    Total Time: 50 minutes mins
    Servings: 4

      INGREDIENTS  

    fresh tomato sauce

    • 2 3/4 pounds cherry tomatoes
    • 4 garlic cloves gently smashed
    • 1 shallot roughly chopped
    • 5 thyme sprigs
    • 3 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
    • 2 tablespoons minced basil leaves plus more for garnish
    • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • salt and pepper to taste

    serving suggestion

    • 8 ounces cooked bucatini (or pasta of choice)
    • fresh grated parmesan garnish

      INSTRUCTIONS  

    • Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a ceramic or glass baking dish combine tomatoes, garlic, shallot, and thyme. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss together.
    • Place tomato mixture into the oven and roast for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and toss together.
    • Place tomatoes back into the oven for another 15 minutes or until tomato skins have begun to shrivel and the tomatoes themselves have slightly burst.
    • Remove tomatoes from oven and discard thyme sprigs.
    • Pour roasted tomato mixture into a blender, reserving about 1 1/2 cups roasted cherry tomatoes for garnish.
    • Blend tomato mixture until “chunky-smooth”. Pour mixture into a skillet.
    • Place over medium heat and simmer.
    • Stir in tomato paste and basil and season with salt and pepper. Stir and simmer for 4to 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
    • Remove from heat and stir in butter. Add pasta and toss together until well coated.
    • Top with reserved roasted cherry tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, and grated Parmesan.Serve.

      NOTES  

    **Nutritional Information does not include pasta or Parmesan garnish**
    Tips and Tricks for Success
    • Add tomato paste! It will really help add body and depth of flavor to your sauce. Otherwise you may end up with more of a ‘tomato water’ than sauce.
    • Although you don’t have to reserve some of the roasted cherry tomatoes for garnish, I think it makes a huge difference, especially when serving with pasta. The bursts of concentrated fresh tomato is the best!
    • Although we don’t do this, if you want a smoother consistency with your sauce (and you want to omit the seeds), instead of blending it up, you can run the tomatoes through a food mill.
    Calories: 232kcal Carbohydrates: 16g Protein: 4g Fat: 18g Saturated Fat: 5g Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g Monounsaturated Fat: 10g Trans Fat: 0.2g Cholesterol: 15mg Sodium: 972mg Potassium: 806mg Fiber: 3g Sugar: 9g Vitamin A: 1935IU Vitamin C: 76mg Calcium: 54mg Iron: 3mg
    CUISINE: Italian
    KEYWORD: cherry tomato recipes, fresh tomato recipes, summer recipes
    COURSE: dinner, lunch, sauce

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    July 7, 2024 / 2 Comments

    About Teri Lyn Fisher

    Teri Lyn Fisher is half of Spoon Fork Bacon. She is also a food and cosmetics photographer. She is a big fan of hot dogs. #sfbTERI

    Previous Post: < Previous Post Crab Dip Recipe
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    Reader Interactions

    July 7, 2024 / 2 Comments

    Comments

      5 from 3 votes (1 rating without comment)

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    1. G

      July 08, 2024 at 9:57 am

      5 stars
      I saw this recipe this morning and it looked tasty. I had most of the ingredients except for the fresh basil, thyme, and shallots. I subbed with red onion, dried basil, and dried thyme. I used half the amount of the dried herbs that the recipe called for. This dish turned out great! It will be in my regular rotation. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.

      Reply
    2. Tina

      July 07, 2024 at 11:36 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious! and so easy to make!

      Reply

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    Fresh tomato sauce pasta in bowls ready to be served.
    Close up on a bowl of fresh tomato sauce pasta.
    Tomato sauce pasta in a bowl.
    Tomato sauce pasta in a bowl with a fork on the side.

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