Roasted Tomatoes with Olive Oil

Jar of roasted tomatoes with olive oil

I recently received an abundance of multi-colored cherry tomatoes and while I absolutely love tomatatoes, I knew I couldn't eat them all quick enough not to lose any to spoilage. I can't bear the thought of tomatoes going waste, and after my own dear garden plants croaked early with this intense summer heat, I really wasn't willing to forgo getting to savor even one of these tomatoes. So, I decided to preserve them for use over the next few weeks and created this Roasted Tomatoes with Olive Oil recipe. I'd love to share the steps with you!

First I washed and cut all of the cherry tomatoes in half. Next I spread them out on a large baking sheet and gently drizzled them with some extra virgin olive oil. I have a large basil plant growing in my garden, so I harvested a bunch of fresh leaves. I then roughly tore up and sprinkled the basil leaves over the tomatoes. I decided to add a few minced garlic cloves, and then a pinch of salt and pepper. After adding everyting, I used my hands to gently encorporate all of the flavors together and then rearranged the mixture across the baking sheet so it could slow roast evenly.

Roasting Tomatoes

To roast the tomatoes, I preheated my oven to 240F, and it took about two and a half hours for them to be done. The aroma that filled the house while they were roasting was amazing! I did pull the baking sheet out once during cooking, and gave everything a good stir, and then spread it back out to finish roasting.

Once fully cooked, I removed the baking sheet from the oven and allowed the tomatoes to cool. It was during this time that I couldn't resist sampling the roasted tomatoes with olive oil, so I cut off a piece of crusty homemade sourdough bread (look for that recipe in my blog), and slathered it with the still warm roasted tomatoes. It was DELICIOUS!

Once everything cooled, I scooped it into a large mason jar, and then topped it off with more olive oil. I used a chopstick to remove air bubbles, and continued to add more olive oil until I was certain the tomatoes were submerged. That's the trick to freshness...we don't want any of the tomato mixture to be poking out of the oil. I am not pressure canning these, but instead will be refrigerating it for up to a month. As with any preserves that are just kept in the refrigerator, you always want to check and make sure there is no mold growth prior to each use. As long as the oil is covering the tomatoes, they should be fine.

Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

I truly hope you give this recipe a try because it is absolutely delicious. Roasting the tomatoes with herbs like this gives such a rich flavor profile, and is so simple to do.

Use them as a topping for warm bread, on a pizza, or even tossed in with cooked pasta and freshly grated parmesan. A small jar of these would also be a lovely gift for a friend too. Enjoy!