Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce

My simple Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce is easy to make and an easy, delicious sauce to top any pasta. Save it so you can make it next time you need an easy red sauce! Perfect for canning too!

Each spring I tell myself not to plant too many Roma Tomato plants. And then I plant too many anyways. My first summer growing Roma tomatoes I had two plants and they produced so much that I knew I really needed to come up with an easy tomato sauce to use them in. No one at the farm stand was buying them because flavor wise they’re an underdog when compared to the heirloom tomatoes in the next bin. However, their flavor and texture makes them a perfect tomato for using in an easy Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce recipe.

Do you want to grow your town tomatoes? Check out these tips {HERE}!

Why Roma Tomatoes?

A Roma tomato is a plum sized tomato with a more oval shape. It’s often used in canning recipes and in tomato paste because it is more firm than other tomatoes. They have a meatier mass than other tomatoes and fewer seeds. This makes them an easy tomato to use in sauces and paste. When they’re cooked down they also produce a lovely, mild flavor that most people love in sauce.

My Roma Tomato Sauce

I decided to make my Roma Tomato Sauce recipe by first roasting the tomatoes. I love roasted veggies and I love the caramelization it brings out. Plus this is an easy way to bring out just a little water in the tomatoes so you don’t have to add a lot of additional liquid to the sauce. I start by broiling about 12 tomatoes along with 1/2 a yellow onion and 5 cloves of garlic for 15 minutes. I roast it all with a little extra virgin olive oil on each side and sea salt and pepper. Sometimes I’ll double this make several jars to save. When I do this, I roast an entire head of garlic. 

Add in an additional salt and pepper to taste and some basil and you have my basic sauce. However, there are some adds I like to frequently use too. They include a little chicken broth, which helps to smooth the sauce out, and Parmesan cheese that I like to melt into the sauce. You can also add some heavy cream if you like to make this more of a light red sauce. It then works perfectly with some nice Rigatoni and Italian Sausage! 

Tips for making Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce

• I like to use as much of the tomatoes as I possibly can so I cut off just the tops with the green stem attached and then slice down the center.
• After roasting, I will usually remove the tomatoes charred skin. It makes it easier to blend the sauce and I prefer not to have bits of it in my sauce. 
• I blend this sauce with both my blender and my immersion blender. If you like you can just use an immersion blender. However, then I recommend doing a couple pass throughs alternating boiling the tomatoes, turning the heat off and blending the tomatoes. you can find my immersion blender {HERE}.
• To get the sauce to a similar consistency as my photos I recommend blending 2-3 times with the immersion blender. 
• This is more of a chunky tomato sauce since it is made with fresh tomatoes. If you want it make it smoother, add additional chicken broth or heavy cream and keep blending. 
• If you want to have enough to can or to save, double this recipe. This recipe will serve 4-6 people with the pasta sauce.

Making ahead, storing and reheating

You can make my Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce and store it in the refrigerator for up to a month and long as you don’t open the jar. Store it in a canning jar with the lid that comes with the jar or use these re-usuable lids {HERE} that I really love. Once you open the jar I would then use the sauce within a week.

If you want to keep the sauce longer than that, I recommend water canning.

To re-heat the Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce you can put it in a sauce pan on the stove over a medium flame for about 5 minutes. You can also put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes. 

Looking for other pasta recipes or other sauce recipes?

If you’re looking for more delicious way to make pasta or more garden fresh recipes, try these!

• Parmesan Zucchini Pasta {HERE}
• Pasta with White Wine Butter Sauce and Blistered Cherry Tomatoes {HERE}
• Lemon Carbonara Pasta {HERE}
• Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken {HERE}
• Rotini Pasta Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing {HERE}

Thank you so much for coming by today, friends! I hope that you enjoy my Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce recipe and I hope you will come back again. You can find the full, printable recipe below. You can also find me on instagram @sugarmaplefarmhouse and @sugarmaplekitchen. Our YouTube channel is @sugarmaplefarmhouse. Happy eating!

Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce Recipe

My simple Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce is easy to make and an easy, delicious sauce to top any pasta. Save it so you can make it next time you need an easy red sauce! Perfect for canning too!

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: dinner, sauce

Cuisine: American, Italain, Italain American

Keyword: roasted roma tomato sauce, roasted tomato sauce recipe, roma romato sauce recipe, roma tomato sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 minute

Servings: 4 people

Author: Rachel

Equipment

• 1 large Baking sheet
• Stand blender
• large pot or Dutch oven
• Immersion blender
• Jars for storing if needed

Ingredients

• 12 Roma Tomatoes, tops removed and sliced in half
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, whole
• 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. course sea salt, divided
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
• 1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper, divided
• 2 Tbsp. fresh thyme of topping individual plates
• Optional: 1/2 cup chicken broth I have used this in the photos you see here.
• Optional: 1/2 cup of parmesan
• Optional: 1 cup heavy cream or just 1/2 cup if you add in the parmesan and chicken broth too.
• Additional salt and pepper to taste and Parmesan cheese for topping

Instructions

• Add the tomatoes, garlic and onion to a baking sheet and brush both sides with the extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle each side with half of the salt and pepper.
• Put the baking sheet in the oven on broil for 15 minutes.
• Remove the skins of the tomatoes if you prefer and put everything from the baking sheet into the blender. Blend on high for 2 minutes.
• Add everything to a large pot or Dutch oven and then bring to a boil over medium heat. This will take about 5 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and blend with the immersion blender. Turn the heat on and simmer for another 15 minutes.
• Add the chicken broth if desired and turn the heat off to blend again. Even if you don't add the chicken broth, blend again. Then simmer for another 15 minutes.
• *You can skip this step if not adding parmesan and/or heavy cream Turn the heat off again and add the parmesan and heavy cream now if desired. Stir until most of the parmesan has melted and then blend for a third time.
• Add in the basil and simmer again for another 10 minutes. Then serve with additional salt and pepper to taste, thyme, parmesan and enjoy!