Cherry tomatoes are great for making a tomato sauce – with a lovely sweet flavour.
The sweet homemade cherry tomato sauce is very easy to make and you can either make it when required, or in advance for re-heating at a later stage.
- Easy to make with a lovely flavour
- Great for using up extra cherry tomatoes
- Nice with pasta, chicken or even salad
How to make Sweet Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
- 500 g Cherry tomatoes
- 2 sprigs Basil
- 1Â Onion
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 2 tsp Oregano
- 5 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tsp Sugar
- Salt and Pepper
Equipment
- 1 frying pan
- 1 Rotary Food mill – see note
- 1 Large Bowl
- 1 Knife and chopping board
- 1 Baking tray
- Some Foil
Instructions
- Pick the tomatoes, wash & cut into half
- Put tomatoes into a bowl, add 3 tbsp olive oil, oregano and some salt, mix well.
- Put the tomatoes onto the foil lined baking tray – cut face down
- Place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees C for 25 minutes
- Add some olive oil into a frying plan and fry the chopped onion and garlic until soft (about 3 to 5 minutes)
- Add the baked cherry tomatoes and a bit of sugar
- Fry until the surplus tomato juice has dried up. (about 5 minutes)
- At the end add the chopped basil and stir well
- Put the rotary food mill on top of a bowl and add the cooked ingredients
- Simply blend until all the sauce has poured into the bowl
6 Questions about Sweet Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce:
1. Are cherry tomatoes good for making sauce?
Yes they are – but the key is to realise that all tomatoes will produce slightly different type of sauces.
Cherry tomatoes have a lovely sweet taste, and can have a more concentrated flavour than other types.
For example in Italy a variety like the Roma Tomato is often used in recipes like Bolognese sauce because they are more ‘meaty’ and give rich flavour.
However cherry tomatoes will produce a sweet ‘happy’ flavour that is completely unique.
2. Are home grown cherry tomatoes better than shop bought ones?
It all depends….
The picture shows the cherry tomatoes I grow at home – they tend to be slightly smaller than the tomatoes you will buy in shops but have a much stronger flavour (less ‘watery’)
If you buy cherry tomatoes in the shop the key is to compare them because they do tend to vary a lot.
For the more ‘watery’ ones then make sure you dry them in the oven for slightly longer to concentrate the flavour.
On the other hand growing them at home is easy, they look great and it’s very enjoyable when you start seeing the tomatoes appear on the plant – Cherry tomato growing advice & recipes
3. Why use oven-drying for cherry tomatoes?
The main reason is that oven drying will caramelize the tomatoes giving a more intense, concentrated flavour.
In addition, when adding oregano and a bit of salt this a very easy way to add some additional flavour.
4. Why did you use a rotary food mill and not a food processor?
When cooking with cherry tomatoes you can end up with more seeds and skin then other tomatoes.
Yes you can use a food processor but you might have to spin it quite long to get a smooth sauce.
On the other hand a food mill is a lot easier – the beauty is that you can simply select the disk type to make a sauce as smooth or ‘lumpy’ as you would like.
In the video I used the medium disk to get a quite thick, smooth sauce.
For price & to order visit the UK Amazon or the USA Amazon store
5. Can I make a creamy cherry tomato sauce?
Yes, you can.
All you do is put the sauce back in the frying pan after you’ve made it using the rotary food mill or processor. Then add some cream and reheat for 1 to 2 minutes.
There tend to be 3 cream options you can use.
Option 1 – double (heavy) cream
Add 200 ml of the heavy cream or if you prefer a non-dairy option:
Option 2– Coconut double cream
Personally I prefer the taste of coconut double cream, which is dairy free, soya free and low in sugar. However it does tend to be quite difficult to find in shops.
Option 3 – Oatly vegan cream
The alternative is to use Oatly vegan cream – which is quite easy to find in shops or online at Amazon. It is great to use as an alternative to ‘normal’ dairy based cream and tastes just as good.
For price & to order visit the UK Amazon or the USA Amazon store
6. What’s the best way to store it?
When made you should ideally use it within 2 day – keeping it in a fridge.
The best alternative is to freeze it, in which case it will keep 6 to 12 months.
When using it again add a little bit of water to get the best possible taste.
Sweet Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- 1 frying pan
- 1 Rotary Food mill – see note
- 1 Large Bowl
- 1 Knife and chopping board
- 1 Baking tray
- Aluminium foil
Ingredients
- 500 g Cherry tomatoes
- 2 sprigs Basil
- 1 Onion
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 2 tsp Oregano
- 5 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tsp Sugar
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients
- Pick the tomatoes, wash & cut into half
- Put tomatoes into a bowl, add 3 tbsp olive oil, oregano and some saltmix well.
Bake the cherry tomatoes
- Put the tomatoes onto the foil lined baking tray – cut face down
- Place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees C for 25 minutes
Combine all ingredients
- Add some olive oil into a frying plan and fry the chopped onion and garlic until soft (about 3 to 5 minutes)
- Add the baked cherry tomatoes and a bit of sugar
- Fry until the surplus tomato juice has dried up. (about 5 minutes)
- At the end add the chopped basil and stir well
Finalise the sauce
- Put the rotary food mill on top of a bowl and add the cooked ingredients
- Simply blend until all the sauce has poured into the bowl
Make your meal
- Simply add to cooked pasta when ready or you can make it in advance and re-heat when required
Video
How to serve sweet Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce
It’s lovely served with pasta, on chicken or with a salad.
The picture on the right shows it combined with spaghetti, some Parmesan cheese and garlic bread.
All you do is heat the sauce in a saucepan, cook the spaghetti and then combine the 2.
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More information
We have articles that provide ‘step by step’ advice on how to grow basil, oregano and/or tomatoes, which type to select and how to use it in recipes.