Tomato Confit is an easy way to preserve and use fresh tomatoes. One could call these slow-roasted tomatoes or tomato confit, but it really doesn’t matter what you call them. You’ll be calling them delicious once you try them. They take about 10 minutes of prep, 1.5 hours to roast, and 5-10 minutes prep for use or freezing. Make a small batch as shown here or fill up a sheet pan. This small batch of about 7-8 tomatoes yields almost 2 cups of roasted tomatoes.
Suggested Uses
There are several ways to use these tomatoes. Toss them with pasta and fresh herbs, add them to chowders, soups, and stews, or freeze a few batches for the winter. Below are a few ways we really enjoying using them.
- One of our favorites is using them in place of the tomato purée in this Tomato Risotto. Just break up the tomatoes using a fork or your fingers, and add the juices and pulp (and skin) to the risotto. Best risotto you’ll ever make!! Also, if you freeze some this confit in 1 cup containers, then it’s easy to make this risotto any time of the year.
- Toss about a cup of of squished tomatoes into a pasta dish. We especially love them in a pasta primavera with other fresh garden vegetables.
- Lightly blend 1 – 2 cups and heat in a sauce pan with some garlic. Once hot, melt about 1/2 cup feta cheese with a couple of tablespoons of cream. This sauce can be used over pasta or, one of our favorites – corona beans. Just before serving, toss in some fresh herbs like chopped parsley, basil, thyme, or chives or a combination thereof and sprinkle generously with black pepper.
- To create a sauce, add half an onion and several cloves of garlic to the roasting process.
- Make a pizza sauce by blending the tomatoes, onion and garlic into a sauce, then cooking it down with a little pizza herb mix into the consistency of a pizza sauce. You can use it as the pizza sauce on a squash pizza with fresh basil and toasted piñon or just about any pizza for that matter.
- Blend and cook down to make a light sauce for poblano rellenos. Once blended, carefully pour into a sauce pan with a little hot oil. Reduce to desired consistency.
I know that I have only touched the surface of the many ways to use these tomatoes as well as the ingredients / herbs with which they are roasted. If you’re not sure how you plan to use them, then keep it simple and just roast them with a little salt and olive oil (as shown right). For other flavors, change up the herbs and add some onion and garlic. No matter what you choose, they are going to be scrumptious.
An easy and delicious way to use sweet, fresh tomatoes. Just drizzle with olive oil and salt and slow roast to bring out the hidden sweetness of the tomato. Toss with pasta, add to risotto, make delicious sauces.
*See Kitchen Notes for more information.
- There are no exact amounts for this recipe. Use as many tomatoes as you want or need.
- Several fresh tomatoes, cut in half crosswise or into large chunks*
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Sea Salt
- Wedges of onion
- Several cloves of garlic, unpeeled
- Several sprigs of one or two fresh herbs
Preheat oven to 300F.
Line a oven safe dish or sheet pan with foil.
Lay the tomatoes, cut side up on the foil.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
Add optional ingredients if desired.
Transfer to preheated oven and slow-roast for 1.5 hours. Once roasted remove from oven and let cool.
Once cool, remove the skin by holding onto the skin and gently squeezing the pulp and juices into a bowl.
Using your fingers or a fork, break up the pulp pieces to the desired size. For freezing, leave pieces large and transfer pulp and juices into freezer safe containers. For pasta or risotto, break into smaller pieces. For sauces, continue to break up pieces until you have more of a sauce or blend. Use as desired.
Cutting the tomatoes – Round tomatoes can be cut in half crosswise. Knobby tomatoes (like the kind we grow), large chunks work great. You can core the tomatoes before or after roasting. Either way is pretty easy.
Optional Ingredients – Choose your optional ingredients based on how you are going to use the tomatoes. For example, for a sauce, I add garlic, onion, and herbs.
Uses – Pastas, pizzas, rice dishes, soups, sauces, vegetables, and many more. Some specific suggestions are given in the text at the beginning of this post.
Here are a few other versatile and delicious condiments you’ll enjoy:
Great, MJ! I made confit from my garden tomatoes the last few years. So nice to have an excess! I experimented with one batch and sprinkled on a hefty amount of brown sugar, along with sprigs of thyme and rosemary from the garden, several unpeeled garlic cloves, a BIG glug of olive oil and roasted them until they caramelized around the edges. WOW! They are now my favorite condiment and I always keep some in the freezer. They do wonders for a pot of white beans and ANY tomato sauce. But, I must caution that roasting on parchment paper is a much safer choice. When heated up, aluminum can (and does) react with acidic foods like tomatoes, vinegar and citrus. This reaction can make the food toxic and might also lead to stomach troubles and nausea, and it negatively impacts the taste. Also, it is a heavy metal that gradually leaches into your food.
Thank you Sharon. I to add herbs to my tomato confit at time, but never sugar. The tomatoes I grow are so sweet already, they don’t need anymore sweetener. Thanks for the information on aluminum foil. That’s good to know. Cheers, MJ
It’s a fantastic addition to so many dishes! It’s delicious even when I just simply eat it without adding anything!
Dennis, thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoy it and you are right – it’s just good by itself.
Oh how I miss having a garden with lots of fresh tomatoes. I too used to roast some for the freezer, especially the ones picked right before a frost that were not completely ripe. It definitely brought out their flavor.
Thanks Karen! I actually still have a few tomatoes ripening in the pantry from when I picked them before the first freeze. Those tomatoes make a fabulous bolognese. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
What a great idea! I wish I had the space an opportunity to grow a garden!
Thanks Jeff! Having a backyard garden is priceless and I’ve been lucky enough to have one all my life. My mother taught me how to garden when I was a kid and I’ve been doing it ever since.
I’m so envious! My parents had a garden, too, when I was a kid – and I loved it. Today, though, I live in a highrise in a huge city, with no easily way to do that. I do spend my summers in a more rural environment, but I don’t get there soon enough or stay late enough to really garden. So I take my gardening pleasures vicariously through adventures like yours!
A wonderful way of using tomatoes. I wish I could get as many from my garden, but I sometimes have the feeling that I only plant tomatoes to have plenty of green ones in autumn. 🙂 🙂
Thanks Adina! There have been a couple of years (like last year) that I felt the same way about my tomatoes.
We finally were able to grow tomatoes this summer, but alas, they’re all gone. This will be a great recipe to try when they’re ripening so fast next year that we can’t keep up….
Thanks Liz! We’re still getting a few tomatoes each week, but with cold weather moving in next week, that might end soon. Take care.
Hello, So glad to have found your blog with so many delicious recipes, with local, fresh ingredients being used. And this recipe is perfect for me, I have some leftover garden fresh tomatoes, and would love to try this method , seems great over pizzas , pastas , and even for instant curries. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you Aarthi for such nice comments. It’s been a good year for tomatoes for a lot of people. Hope you do give these a try. It’s a great flavor and does work on all the items you mentioned, although I haven’t tried it in an instant curry. Will have to remember that. Sounds wondrful
I just froze a bunch of tomatoes! Now I am kicking myself because I should have done this first!
Thanks Abbe! Maybe next time 🙂
I have never heard of tomato confit. This is a fabulous way to preserve them. And can be enjoyed all winter.
Thanks Evelyne! You can confit anything if you dare. 🙂
Made a version of these tonight… so simple, so yummy. Sprinkled the warm tomatoes with crumbled feta to finish (not a purist thing to do but was in the mood :). Yay for tomato season! We still have tons. Thank you for the inspiration Mj (thyme is divine 😉
Thanks Kelly for your feedback. So glad you enjoyed the tomatoes and the feta idea sounds awesome! Who isn’t in the mood for feta? 🙂 BTW, I’m trying this new method of freezing that bypasses the water bath peeling. I saw a video where one could just cut the tops off the tomatoes, freeze whole and when they thaw, the skin comes right off. I have some frozen but haven’t thawed one out yet to test. If it works, it’s so much easier than a water bath. 🙂
These tomatoes look beautiful and perfect for using on pastas and more. I dehydrated some cherry tomatoes and roasted some for sauce, but I like this slow roast here.
Thanks Amy! If I had a dehydrator I would love to dehydrate some of these tomatoes. Sounds great!
Hi MJ: Thanks so much for his post. I slow roast tomatoes often and have never thought about it as a way to preserve and freeze. And you bet I’ll be adding garlic and onion next time.
Thanks Lea Ann! I’m one to take the work out of a winter meal, so it’s nice to be able to pull out some already roasted and seasoned tomatoes, Try it, you’ll like. 🙂
OMG I love those tomatoes over pasta! looks really tasty
Thanks Raymund! Yes, over pasta is awesome!
I made these a few nights ago, but I roasted them for 3 hours @ 300F before I was happy with how they looked. I used firm Roma tomatoes and a bakers dozen filled my baking sheet. They are quite tasty and I will make these again (soon). Today I made a grilled ham and cheese, and hid 3 of these guys in the middle. Fantastic!!
Ed – thank you so much for letting me know you tried these! I’m thrilled you enjoyed them. I can see how the Romas would take a little longer than the tomatoes I grew. Romas are pretty firm. The grilled cheese sounds wonderful! I plan to do another batch next week, so I will definitely be giving that a go. Thanks for the suggestion!
MJ
These are scrumptious,luscious and delicious. I love the very look of these roasted lovely looking goodies. Perfect for fall recipe.
Thanks Hasin! Scrumptious and luscious describes them perfectly. 🙂
MJ, I must say I’m jealous of those lovely looking (and I’m sure tasting) tomatoes you have there. Growing tomatoes here in a home garden is next to impossible. We’re relegated to the greenhouse variety which lacks flavor. As a matter of fact, about the only way I can find flavor in them is to slow roast them. Enjoy those tomatoes…
Thanks Ron! Sorry to make you jealous. 🙂 Agree that greenhouse, store bought tomatoes just don’t have the flavor of homegrown but roasting them does help. Once the home growns are gone I basically quit eating fresh tomatoes until the next summer. Our season is just long enough to get a good crop.
i have used these in a tomato tarte tatin. very delish!
A tomato tarte sounds wonderful. Thanks for the idea!
Oh my goodness, are those your home grown tomatoes MJ? They are gorgeous and will make the best tomato sauce. Roasting tomatoes brings out the sweetness that you don’t always taste otherwise. I can imagine so many delicious meals to make with your tomato confit!
Thanks Jan! Yes, those are my home grown. 🙂 They are a very meaty tomato with a thin skin and low acid, so yes, they do make a great tomato sauce, but also are so good, that you can get enough of them just eating them fresh with a touch of salt.
One serving is not enough for me! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Dennis! I know what you mean. 🙂
These are beautiful. I wish I had enough tomatoes to put up. All you and Bobby’s hard work in your garden certainly paid off.
Thanks Nads! Yes, the work certainly did pay off this year. Picked a bunch of poblanos yesterday and there are still a lot out there. Probably will stuff the ones I picked.
Great way to use up those garden tomatoes for use this fall and winter. Love how intense the flavors become with the slow roasting. Will have to try them in risotto as suggested.
Thanks Bobbi! Please do try them in risotto. The one we made was the best risotto ever!
I usually do something similar and have even added peppers to the roasting mix. Alas, I haven’t harvested enough tomatoes to do anything like this this year. 🙁 Love all the ideas for use. Happy Fall, M.J.!
thanks Debra! Oh, I like the addition of the peppers. Oh I wish we were closer because I could have shared some tomatoes with you. We had a bumper crop and there are still some out there turning. Hopefully they’ll make it before the first freeze, although I would love for a few to stay green for some fried green tomatoes. 🙂
Great way to use last tomatoes to be found at street markets ! Since we use them with almost everything I will definitely prepare a batch or two this way ! Thank you MJ !
Thanks Davorka! Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
I love confit anything 🙂 Just had some beef confit yesterday…so yum.
Slow roasting has definitely brought out the great flavour of these gorgeous heirloom tomatoes.
Thanks Angie and yes, I am with you when loving any confit. Whenever I see duck confit on a menu, I order it. 🙂 I’ve never had beef confit and it sounds wonderful. Can I ask what cut of beef you used? I’d like to try it.
Roasting tomatoes is so easy and really concentrates their flavor. Great way to use excess garden produce. Also a nice way to increase the flavor of ho-hum winter tomatoes. Nice post — thanks.
Thanks John! It takes some of the work out of the meal when you pull them out of the freezer in the winter. YAY! 🙂
I slow roast tomatoes all the time! They’re fantastic added to so many dishes! I love that you add garlic and onions to yours. I’ll do that next time!
Thanks Susan! The onion and garlic change it up a bit and actually can make it easier when added to pasta or rice because the onion and garlic flavors are already there. 🙂