Finally, a Fresh Tomato Sauce!
I’ve promised you a fresh tomato sauce for years now, and you’ve patiently waited while I shared vodka sauce, marinara sauce, pizza sauce and even a tomato soup recipe–all using canned tomatoes. But not today! Today, you’re getting a fresh, sun-ripened cherry tomato sauce that is BURSTING with flavor, but still very simple to make.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
No slicing or peeling. We’ll leave the tomatoes whole and cook them down until they are jammy and irresistible. This is a minimal effort, high reward recipe! Uses up (quite a lot) of fresh tomatoes. I love saving this recipe for the summer when my garden is overflowing with cherry tomatoes. Finishes in just 30 minutes, and that includes time for boiling pasta, if that’s how you choose to serve it. Speaking of serving… So many serving options! Can be served over pasta, but would also be tasty spooned over fish or chicken, on pizza, or as a dipping sauce with garlic knots and breadsticks. If you do decide to pair your sauce with pasta, consider adding some garlic butter shrimp or seared Italian sausage on top–yum!
What You Need
This is a super simple dish that heavily relies on the flavor of a few ingredients. Because of this, you need to make sure each one is high-quality!
Cherry tomatoes. This recipe is perfect for using up a big crop of cherry tomatoes from the garden or farmer’s market! Use fresh summer tomatoes that are tasty enough to eat plain. These will significantly impact the flavor of your sauce, so choose them wisely. Dull tomatoes = a dull sauce! Fresh basil. Do not use dried basil; this is critical! Tear (don’t slice, which can bruise them) your basil leaves just before adding them to the sauce for the best flavor. And make sure you save some along with your larger tomatoes for making my tomato basil soup! Garlic. Don’t mince or chop this. Instead, we will smash the cloves, sweat them well in the olive oil to infuse their flavor, and then remove them. Crushed red pepper. Just a pinch adds flavor and a tiny kick to this cherry tomato sauce. If you love spice (have you tried my arrabiata sauce?), you can make this sauce spicier by adding more crushed red pepper. Sugar. You may not need this, or you may need more; it really depends on how sweet your tomatoes are. Taste your sauce and add the sugar accordingly. A little bit goes a long way.
SAM’S TIP: Always taste-test and add sugar, salt, and pepper to taste/as needed. Some tomatoes are more flavorful than others, and some are super sweet while others are not. Trust your taste buds and if you need to add more or less, do so! This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Cherry Tomato Sauce
SAM’S TIP: If you choose to top your sauce with parmesan (I highly recommend you do) use freshly grated for best flavor. So good! Keep scrolling for more cherry tomato recipes! Enjoy! Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
More Cherry Tomato Recipes
