This easy tomato sauce is made with six ingredients and is a great basic tomato sauce for all of your favorite pasta dishes.
I think our cherry tomato plant missed the memo about it being the end of September. Despite the chilly mornings and evenings, it keeps producing lots of little red globes– we picked almost two pounds this past weekend! These little guys are so good it takes a lot of willpower to not eat them all while picking them– luckily, we were able to resist and I was able to put them all to good use in a simple tomato sauce.
Tomato sauce is something I used to overthink. I’ve made plenty of sauces that were too sweet or too salty or too acidic or just downright weird because I overcomplicated the process. Now I’ve learned and in my humble opinion, you only need six ingredients for a successful sauce.
Ingredients for Tomato Sauce
- Cherry tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes are sweet and their skins are so thin you don’t have to worry about peeling them for the sauce.
- Olive oil
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Salt
- Fresh Basil
How to Make Tomato Sauce
- First, I like to roast the tomatoes at 425°F for 20 minutes or until their skin breaks.
- I like to soften the onion and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes before adding the roasted tomatoes, plus all of their juices.
- I only cook the tomatoes for about 15 minutes. You can simmer them longer, but I like keeping some of the freshness of the tomatoes, so I prefer a shorter cook time.
- I add the basil at the end of the cook time.
- I like the puree the sauce using an immersion blender. You can also transfer the sauce to a blender to puree. If you use a blender you may want to cool the sauce before pureeing it.
Serve your sauce with your favorite pasta or freeze it in an airtight container for up to six months.
Happy sauce-making!
💌 Sign up and get your free guide: Gourmet Made Simple: 5 Secrets for Making Fancy (but Not Fussy!) Meals delivered to your inbox!
More Simple Pasta Recipes
- Shrimp Penne with Vodka Sauce | This Shrimp Penne with Vodka Sauce is an easy dinner for two. My version uses a simple short-cut – no chopping required! – so it’s ready to serve in less than 30 minutes.1
- Fettuccine Alfredo | You’ll never overpay for Alfredo at a restaurant again after you make this version at home. It’s so quick and easy and tastes just like one you’d over off a menu!
- Bucatini all’ Amatriciana | Bucatini all’ Amatriciana is a delicious pasta dish that takes less than 30 minutes to make. My version for two has pancetta, tomato sauce, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a generous pinch of crushed red pepper. Serve the sauce with bucatini for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
Simple Tomato Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
When tomatoes are in season this simple tomato sauce will put them to good use. It’s cooked just long enough to develop a richness without losing that summer-fresh flavor of the tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of cherry tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
- 4 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet lined with foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Roast the tomatoes for 20 minutes, or until the skins break and they start to release their juices. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- In a pot heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened. Add in the garlic and cook for additional 2-3 minutes. Add the roasted tomatoes (plus any juice accumulated in the pan) to the pan with the onion and garlic.
- Reduce the heat, add the salt, and allow the tomatoes to simmer for at least 15 minutes. Stir in the chopped basil. Puree the sauce until smooth and toss with your favorite pasta.
- Category: Sauces
- Method: Saute
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 149
- Sugar: 8.1g
- Sodium: 596.6mg
- Fat: 11g
- Saturated Fat: 1.6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7.6g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 13g
- Fiber: 32.g
- Protein: 2.6g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: easy tomato sauce, cherry tomato sauce, easy pasta sauce
The nutrition information in this recipe is an estimate only and was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.
Simply Life says
Just gave you a blogger award! 🙂
The Klutzy Cook says
I agree, people do tend to over think tomato sauce. This is a nice recipe and I love roasted tomatoes in sauce. Thanks for sharing.
Fearless Kitchen says
Roasting the tomatoes is an interesting touch. This looks like a great recipe.
Jessie says
you cannot go wrong with simple homemade tomato sauce. The tomatoes in the first photo looks luscious and very vibrant, I love it
Olive says
Hello, April 🙂
I love tomatoes but I have never tried making it your way – roasting first, I think your way is better, I make my own tomato sauce and next time I make a batch, I will take a cue from you, I’ll roast my tomatoes first and maybe this will cut my cooking time coz mine usually takes 2-3 hours even longer when I use fresh tomatoes. Thanks for sharing this really great tip 😉
Mardi @eatlivetravelwrite says
Sadly we did not have enough tomatoes to make sauce this year but next year I think we will plant cherry tomatoes since they seem to have flourished this year. Beautiful pictures!
Nicole says
i am so jealous of your tomato plants! We live in the city and don’t have outdoor space. The only time I can get fresh tomatoes is at my grandma’s and she did not have a good crop this year!
April Cavin says
Denise– you are right-roasting tomatoes brings out their natural sweetness. More important than that is making sure you use fresh tomatoes when they are in season, which will make a big difference in the quality of the sauce. When tomatoes are not in season I have made this recipe using good quality canned tomatoes– just drain them before roasting them in the oven. This recipe is so easy– you should definitely try it and let me know what you think! Thanks for your questions 🙂
Denise says
I will have to try this! I’m not big on tomatoes…as far as eating them when they actually taste like tomatoes 😉
But I do like them in sauces (spaghetti, marinara, pizza) and ketchup, salsas. Well basically as long as they don’t taste like a TOMATO. funny, huh?
Does the roasting help to sweeten them up a bit? I guess I lean more toward sweet sauce rather than acidic. I usually buy the Bertolli Tomato and Basil spaghetti sauce when on sale because I’m not brave enough to try my own. I have a lot to learn about tomatoes. Any tips?
I make my pizza sauce from scratch, but that is made with tomato sauce not actual tomatoes so it is less scary for me.
Simply Life says
Gosh, those tomatoes are just beautiful!
jenn says
Using cherry tomatoes in tomato sauce – so simple, and in many ways obvious, but somehow I would never have thought to try that!