Want to punch up the flavor in your next pizza or pasta? Try adding roasted tomatoes! They're deliciously chewy & tart with an irresistible umami flavor.
Have you ever tried roasted tomatoes? If you haven’t, I’m here to tell you that you have to make this roasted tomato recipe before summer ends. While I love using juicy fresh tomatoes in recipes like pico de gallo, Caprese salad, and panzanella, roasted tomatoes transform into something totally different. As they roast, they lose moisture, and their flavor intensifies. They come out of the oven chewy & tart, with a super-concentrated, intense umami flavor. These little guys are totally irresistible!
Make sure you roast a big batch – you’ll find endless ways to use them. Around here, we can’t get enough of them on pizza, in pasta, or on their own straight out of the oven!
How to Roast Tomatoes
Luckily, making oven-roasted tomatoes couldn’t be easier. All you need is olive oil, salt, and tomatoes. When you’re choosing tomato varieties, choose small to medium-sized ones. I especially like to roast cherry tomatoes, but grape tomatoes, or plum tomatoes work too. The hardest part is waiting for them to cook! Here’s how to roast them:
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice the tomatoes in half, and place them with their cut sides up in a single layer on the baking sheet.
- Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, and transfer the baking dish to the oven. Roast the tomatoes until they’re shriveled and browned around the edges. That’s it!
At 250 degrees, my cherry tomatoes took 2 to 3 hours to get totally shriveled and brown around the edges. The time will vary depending on the size and juiciness of your tomatoes – roasted grape tomatoes can take as little as an hour, while larger tomatoes will need longer.
When I have time to let them cook, I love to do a really long, slow roast like this. But some days, I don’t have all afternoon to make roasted tomatoes. When I’m in a hurry, I roast them at 300 degrees to help them cook faster, or I’ll start at 250 and turn up the heat to 350 partway through, once the tomatoes have begun to wilt down. They come out great just the same! Just be sure not to start with too high a temperature – if the oven is too hot, the tomatoes will burst, not shrivel.
What To Do With Oven Roasted Tomatoes
With their concentrated umami flavor, roasted tomatoes are an excellent addition to pastas, salads, soups, tomato sauce, and more! Here are some of my favorite ways to use them:
- Load them onto a sandwich or toast with avocado, ricotta, or hummus.
- Blend them into tomato soup or pasta sauce.
- Bake them onto a loaf of homemade focaccia.
- Add them to a salad. This couscous salad and this eggplant salad are two of my favorites.
- Stir them into scrambled eggs.
- Toss them into pasta.
- Use them in a big veggie lasagna.
- Top them onto homemade pizza. I like to use them instead of the sun-dried tomatoes on my favorite vegan pizza!
- Eat them right off the pan. 🙂
How do you like to use roasted tomatoes? Let me know in the comments!
If you love these oven roasted tomatoes…
Try roasted red peppers, cauliflower, asparagus, beets, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, or delicata squash next!
Roasted Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- fresh thyme, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the cherry tomatoes cut side up on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and fresh thyme, if using.
- Roast the tomatoes until they’re well shriveled around the edges, 2 to 3 hours. The time will vary depending on the size and water content of your tomatoes.
Notes
I tried the recipe and unfortunately my tomatoes burnt, I tried 250C degrees… :(. So I assume it was 250F maybe worth specifying in the recipes.
Hi Alejandra, yes, it’s °F in the recipe (at the bottom of the post), we’ll start listing it in the writing too.
I made these last night and the pesto pizza that goes with them. It was so delicious I ate too much and don’t feel good today. I will definitely be making these again. Thank you so much for sharing. One question calling do you think these could actually be done in a dehydrator? My first inkling is that they would not turn out as delicious because they would not get the Roasted, caramelized flavor.
Hi Tom, I think they’ll still be great in a dehydrator.
Can u use cherry tomatoes if they’re slightly shriveled but not rotten
Hi Bonnie, that should be fine, yes.
How long do these last/store after baking? Of course they may be too delicious to have leftovers 😉
Hi Joyce, I store them for 1-3 days in the fridge, if you store them in olive oil, the’ll last a little longer. I don’t usually have many left after that!
So tasty and easy…I didn’t expect roasting them to add so much flavor. I love using them as a topping for grain bowls. My fave is farro + salmon + roasted tomatoes + other roasted veggies depending on what I have on hand + walnuts + caramelized onions. Then either just olive and balsamic vinegar on top, or generous spoonful of bitchin sauce. There’s a batch in the oven as I type this!
I’m so glad you loved the tomatoes!
This was so easy and delicious! I paired with sautéed spinach, grilled chicken and just a little bit of pasta. My husband couldn’t stop talking about how delicious it was.
Thanks for a perfect and simple way to roast tomatoes that is so yummy.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Salsa!
What is the best way to store them?
Hi Betty, you can store them in the fridge or freezer.
Served a version of these last night- roasted with garlic, basil and black olives. I served them on zucchini “pasta”. So delicious!! Will make this posted recipe and try freezing in olive oil as suggested. I love tomato season!
I’m so glad you loved them!
Scrumptious!!!
Can you freeze them?
you can!
I love the roasted tomatoes on top of cottage cheese. Delicious.
I roast mine until there is a lot of that carmelized gooiness. 250 degrees for up to 3 hours. I usually add big cloves of smashed garlic to roast along. I freeze then in cup batches in small containers, or ziplocks.
Can you freeze these after you’ve roasted them?
yep!
This is one of the first recipes I made after discovering Love & Lemons and my entire family LOVES it! My son, who hates tomatoes and picks them out of every food, actually snacks on these and sprinkles them onto the meals I make now. I had so many tomatoes in my garden this year that I also roasted my larger tomatoes this way (they’re almost as awesome as the cherry tomatoes!)and I use them on top of everything from quinoa bowls to roasted veggies to make them look pretty and add that tangy zip to the foods I prepare. The only problem is that these won’t be so readily available once tomato season is over!
I’m so happy to hear that everyone has been enjoying these too 🙂
you make tomatoes look so beautiful!! Our garden tomatoes are about ready to be plucked, can’t wait to try roasting them like this 🙂
Have a batch in the oven right now. Make them every weekend in summertime until no longer available. I pack them into 1/2 pint jars, fill with olive oil and freeze. I use them all winter in pastas, soups, you name it. 3 pints of tomatoes yields about 2 half pint jars.
A kitchen staple.
ooh, I’d love to have these stashed in my freezer for winter – thanks for the tips!
If i roast them and put them in olive oil do they have to be froze or could i just keep them in the fridge?
I keep them in the fridge for a few days.
Can this recipe be done with an air fryer instead of an oven?
Hi Hannah, yes, they turn out great in the air fryer, just make sure they have enough space between each other in the air fryer basket. They cook much faster so just check them earlier.
I just made this and I will be lucky if any of these will make it into the frig for later. Super yummy! Thanks for the easy and delicious recipe.
I let mine get more brown than what you pictured above.
Thanks again!
Hi Christine, I’m so glad you loved them!
Wow, this makes it way easier than sun drying them, thanks.
great idea to get more flavor out of my tomatoes, thank you
Great, easy recipe that I will be using but without the oil as that is a no-go zone for me medically.
Your pictures on this one are gasp-inducing! Truly stunning and worthy of hanging proudly on any kitchen or eatery wall. The combination of colours really make them sing!
Are your photos ever made available for purchase?
Keep doing what you are doing. You inspire people to eat in new ways every day! Than-q! You are appreciated! XO
What is the best way to store these and how long will they stay good?
Hi Blythe, I store them in a glass storage container in the fridge for about 3 to 5 days.