Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce (Very Easy)
Learn how to make garden-fresh Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce from your backyard harvest with this easy recipe in only 30 minutes. No roasting required!
Servings: 5 cups (approx.)
Equipment
- Dutch oven or large pot
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil or butter (or 50/50)
- 2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic (use more or less to your taste)
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- ½ cup dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio
- ½ cup whole or hand-torn fresh basil fairly-packed, divided (See Notes.)
- 3 pounds cherry tomatoes
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- ½ tsp black pepper (or to taste)
- ½ tsp dried oregano
Instructions
- Gather and prep all ingredients according to specifications above. (Please see the section above in the blog post for Step-By-Step instructions with photos.)
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, combine the olive oil and/or butter, garlic and crushed red pepper over medium low heat and cook until the garlic has softened (about 5 minutes). Cover the pot for a couple minutes to speed up the softening process, if desired.¼ cup olive oil, 2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic, ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
- Move the garlic mixture over to one side of the pot and add the tomato paste. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.¼ cup tomato paste
- Next, pour in the wine in deglaze, scraping up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.½ cup dry white wine
- Then, add half the basil and all the cherry tomatoes, salt, black pepper and dried oregano and stir to fully combine everything.3 pounds cherry tomatoes, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp dried oregano
- Cover the pot and increase the heat to medium/medium-high. Bring the mixture to a light simmer, then adjust the heat to keep it at a light simmer. Do not boil the sauce as it may burn.
- Simmer, covered, for about 7 to 10 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft enough to easily be smashed with a fork. You should have a sweet-smelling, aromatic sauce that permeates your kitchen!
- Turn the heat off and carefully puree the sauce until smooth with an immersion blender.
- Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary, fold in the remaining basil and enjoy the sauce! Buon Appetito!
Video
Notes
- *Use olive oil to keep this recipe Dairy-Free.*
- This recipe makes 5 to 5½ cups cherry tomato sauce and can easily be doubled for a larger yield. It’s enough sauce to dress one pound pasta with about 2 cups sauce leftover to use for so many other things! (See Serving Suggestions above.)
- The sauce freezes really well in airtight containers for at least 3 months. It will also hold in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Note that this recipe HAS NOT BEEN tested for canning and it is not a canning recipe.
- Use a pot or Dutch oven with tall sides so that splashing will be controlled while using the immersion blender.
- BASIL: Use 1 Tbsp dried basil if you don’t have fresh basil and add all of it to the pot at the same time as the cherry tomatoes to give it time to rehydrate.
- I have also used frozen basil in various forms in this sauce. Just like my garden tomatoes that I freeze, I freeze basil either in whole leaves (flattened out between paper towels and stored in a freezer bag) or pureed with a little bit of oil throughout the summer to use throughout the year. Any and all forms of these basils will work in this recipe.
- IMMERSION (HAND) BLENDER TIPS:
- Immerse blender in the liquid before turning it on.
- Keep it moving for best results and do not hold it steady in one place. Immersion blenders do their best work when moved around and tilted while blending. This helps the blender to pick up all ingredients and purée evenly.
- Some people prefer to let hot dishes cool completely before blending (due to the fear of occasional hot splatters). This is up to you, but I promise that your comfort blending with the immersion blender will grow with each use.
- SAUCE CONSISTENCY: If you prefer a perfectly smooth sauce, use a tabletop blender or food processor instead of an immersion blender. With an immersion blender, you may still see some residual tomato skin and seeds. Just be very careful when transferring the hot sauce from the pot to the blender. Let it cool a bit first and then carefully ladle a few cups of sauce at a time into a blender or food processor and blend. Be sure to work in small batches (in other words, fill the appliance only halfway) to keep the soup from splattering or exploding in the blender or food processor, and be sure the lid is firmly in place and secure before you power it on. I do not recommend removing the center of the lid when puréeing hot items.
