Best Thing Tomatoes are truly the easiest and best way to preserve all of your ripe tomatoes. This intense, concentrated puree of tomatoes, garlic, onions, and herbs gives serious depth of flavour to every dish its in and on.
My friend Caroline and I tend to talk food. We have ample opportunity to gab while our sons are in ballet class together.
We both drive from quite a distance for the kids to attend the conservatory; far enough away that it is not merely inconvenient for us to drive home while the dudes dance, but rather ridiculous. We use our time wisely.
She is a fiendishly talented baker/cake decorator and cook, and so we use our time to make each other horribly hungry by talking food. One day she shared an accidental success with me.
She had plunked a couple of trays of tomatoes she got for a song into the oven to roast them and then promptly forgot them. She went about her day, leaving the house and running errands until she realized that it had been hours upon hours since she put them into the heat.
When she took the trays out and saw the blackened areas around the edges of some very sad and dried out looking tomatoes, she thought she’d wasted the whole lot. In a fit of yankee thrift and ingenuity, she tossed the contents into the blender with a little balsamic vinegar and wine just to see if it could at least be salvaged to the point of edibility.
Not only was it edible, but Caroline had -according to her account- just discovered The Best Thing to Do with Tomatoes. Ever.
Best Thing Tomatoes? Really?
She brought me a sample. If anything, she had underrepresented the power of Best Thing Tomatoes.
It was intense. It was full of concentrated tomato paste. It was like tomato paste, if tomato paste were a seriously beautiful thing that people craved.
While she had been generous enough to give me enough Best Thing Tomatoes to play around a bit, I needed more. I had to make my own, so I procured the ingredients and and set about firming up quantities and times.
The truth is that it was every bit as simple as coring and quartering a bunch of tomatoes, chopping a couple onions, peeling a head’s worth of garlic, and tossing it all together with some salt, pepper, and olive oil, then banging the whole tray into the oven and basically forgetting it.
The only problem is that I stayed home to observe the process whereas Caroline had been running around doing stuff. Why is this a problem?
Because, in short, it smelled so good while it roasted and concentrated that I wanted to gnaw off my own leg to settle the brutal hunger it inspired. I’m here to tell you that you have a good 2 hours before you need to even consider looking at the goods (as long as your oven is pretty well calibrated temperature-wise.)
So you can do yard work, run a quick errand or two, or otherwise extricate yourself from temptation’s way while it does its thing. Don’t worry. It’ll work out.
…I’m also here to tell you that even though Caroline warned me, I did indeed wonder whether I had cooked them too long and let them go a little too far. You can see how dark they are. The answer?
No. It was perfect. Perfectly perfect.
It was absolutely The Best Thing to Do with Tomatoes. Ever. They WERE Best Thing Tomatoes Amen.
Are you wondering what to do with Best Thing Tomatoes? Oh boy… do I have a list for you.
How to use Best Thing Tomatoes:
Use in any recipe that calls for tomato paste. Simply sub in an equal amount for a far greater depth of flavour.
Use as a stand alone pizza sauce, or thin slightly and use as pizza sauce as desired. Use as a dip for bread sticks, too!
Toss 1/4 cup of Best Thing Tomatoes into a hot sauce pan and thin with a little pasta water. Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce, and garnish with a scandalous handful or three of your favourite grated cheese.
Pop on a fistful of chopped fresh parsley for a ridiculously easy pasta dish. Oh hey… you can even throw some leftover shredded or cubed chicken if you want to go nuts.
Add a spoonful or three to your soups near the end of cooking. Heck, add 1/2 cup to soups and stews at the beginning of cooking for REAL tomato goodness.
Spread on toasted Italian bread, top with a fried egg and a sprinkling of grated Asiago or Romano cheese for a hearty breakfast or serve with a salad for a light lunch.
Use as a dip for Fried Mozzarella Sticks, Prosciutto Arancini, or Crispy, Gooey Fresh Mozzarella Steaks. Dollop on top of Baked Pizza Frittatas.
… How would YOU serve Best Thing Tomatoes?
Cook’s Notes
PLEASE NOTE: This recipe is designed to be made in a standard oven. If you have a convection oven (as a couple of cooks have discovered), this will cook on average 30% faster, so you will need to check your tomatoes much earlier and much more often.
I’m telling you, if you do this right, you are VERY likely to wonder whether you’ve ruined a perfectly good bunch of tomatoes and wasted all that time in the oven. See the photo higher up in the post for proof.
It’s okay. Put it in the blender with the wine and you’ll be a happy camper.
Speaking of wine… I love this made with Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Grigio. I also love it made with a little diluted balsamic vinegar.
You choose. It’s hard to go wrong.
If you’re sharp-eyed, you’ll notice that my “before” photo shows herbs that haven’t been stripped from the stems but that I advise you to do just that before roasting. This is because I spent a few minutes POST roasting stripping now toasted herbs from their stems.
I’m here to tell you it is significantly easier and less messy to do so before roasting. Live and learn, right?
When the Best Thing Tomatoes have been puréed, you have a couple of options. My preference is to add about 1 cup to each of several sandwich sized zipper top bags.
I squeeze out as much air as possible, flatten the bags and freeze until solid. I transfer those frozen bags to a gallon sized zipper bag for storage.
Another handy option is to divide the Best Thing Tomatoes between little, 8-ish ounce sized jars or tupperware/gladware containers, fix a lid in place, and freeze. Whichever way you do it, please be sure to label either the large zipper top bag or the small containers.
Things that are frozen look surprisingly similar to completely different frozen things. Strawberry Puree and Best Thing Tomatoes? Not interchangeable.
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Best Thing Tomatoes
Rate RecipeIngredients
Per Half Sheet Pan:
- 3 to 4 pounds roma tomatoes cored and quartered
- 3 to 4 pounds beefsteak or vine ripe tomatoes cored and quartered
- 2 onions peeled, root end removed, cut into wedges
- 1 head garlic peeled and left whole
- 1 bunch thyme leaves stripped from the stems
- 1 bunch oregano leaves stripped from the stems
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Also needed:
- 1 cup to 1 3/4 cups pinot noir or pinot grigio or 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar mixed with 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Put the tomatoes on the rimmed half sheet pan. Scatter the onion wedges, garlic cloves, stripped herb leaves, salt, and pepper over the tomatoes. Drizzle the olive oil evenly. Place the pan (or as many sheet pans as you can do at once) in the oven and turn the heat to 350F. Roast for at least 4 hours and 30 minutes* (see notes), or until the tomatoes have shriveled and are deeply caramelized and smell strongly, there is some blackness around the edges, and the onions and garlic are caramelized. Remove from the oven and scrape the contents directly into a blender or food processor. Pour in the wine or balsamic and water mixture. Blend or process on high until smooth. Divide between small freezer bags or snack sized re-sealable containers and freeze for up to a year.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Reader's Thoughts...
Kacie says
Should have listened to the comments. Took mine out after 2.5 hours and it was burnt. I even had it on 325 instead of 350. Bummer.
Rebecca says
Did you try blending it, Kacie? And did you keep your eyes/nose on it while it was roasting?
Rebecca says
Also, you can see the tray in my photos and how very scorched it looks around the outside edge. It yielded a perfect puree. How dark was your batch compared to my tomatoes?
Jennifer Coghlan says
I tried this recipe last year and I made it into a sauce instead of a paste. My daughter loved it and my stash was depleted quickly! My tomatoes are finally ripening and I am prepared to make this again soon! I am recommending this recipe to anyone who asks what to do with too many tomatoes!
Rebecca says
Thank you so much for taking the time to rate the recipe, Jennifer, and let me know both that you loved it and that it makes a great sauce, too!!!
Peggy says
Will this work if I don’t use Roma’s
I have Beefsteak and Early Girls.
Will that be enough pulp or too much liquid ? I love roasted tomatoes ❤️❤️
Rebecca says
I’d say go for it, Peggy! You may want to cook them down a little more or add less liquid at the end when you blend them, but roasted tomatoes are delicious whatever variety they are!
Peggy says
Will this work if I don’t use Roma’s
Bethany says
It’s too soon for comment, but comment yet I am. I just pulled this from the oven and whizzied it with the immersion blender with the wine and some oo. I only seasoned with thyme and s/p because I didn’t want it to taste like spaghetti sauce. Oh, I also forgot the garlic. Will be serving it over cream cheese with crackers tomorrow. Didn’t pre-test this idea so we’ll just see how it goes. I also made the bacon jam which is FLIPPING RIDICULOUS; I cannot believe I didn’t know about this sooner! I also made the jalapeño gold, but then got paranoid about the canning process (I’ve canned for years, but only tomatoes and pickles- the pickles never did turn out- but this was my first time canning tout seul as my mom passed two years ago) so I just bought a jar and will be using that.
Rebecca says
You are a machine, Bethany! I hope you enjoy it and check back in with me to let me know what you thought!
Bethany says
Would this be good over a block of cream cheese, or do you have a different recipe you’d recommend? I’ve just finished making your candied jalapeños and am stoked to take them to thanksgiving as an appetizer over a block of cream cheese, along with a cream cheese covered in bacon jam. I’m looking for a third option to round it out, and am leaning toward tomato-ey goodness. I’ve found a couple of options but haven’t decided. Is this TOO flavorful? Too much of a paste? Would love your thoughts. I’m also not wanting something overly sweet, maybe more on the tangy side, since the jalapeños will be plenty sweet and the bacon jam is semi-sweet.
Rebecca says
Hi Bethany! That sounds lovely to me. I might thin it a bit with olive oil, perhaps. I would make a batch and taste test it if I were you 😀
Theresa says
This is an excellent way to use leftover tomatoes. I made this today and it turned out great! I made two sheet pans and ended up with about 4 cups of paste. I did take one pan out at 3 hours and the other at 3 1/2 hours, but my oven tends to run hot. I used Balsamic vinegar and it added just the right flavor. This would be perfect as a pizza sauce.
Michelle Akers says
There is something wrong here — either the oven temperature or the cooking time. You say, “I’m here to tell you that you have a good 4 hours before you need to even consider looking at the goods (as long as your oven is pretty well calibrated temperature-wise), so you can do yard work, run a quick errand or two, or otherwise extricate yourself from temptation’s way while it does its thing.” This is absolutely not true. My oven is quite accurate, and I’ve never had a problem with any other recipe, which of course is mostly ones that require a lot more precise timing than this one.
I followed the recipe exactly EXCEPT that I checked them an hour early and stopped there, because everything on the cookie sheet but the onions was SOLID black charcoal. (The onions were almost entirely charcoal, too, but not 100% solid through and through.) Nothing like your “this is what it will look like” photo.
Nonetheless, just for the sake of thoroughness, I did go ahead and blend half and tasted. No surprise — it tasted like a blended, moistened charcoal briquet.
So that’s 6 pounds of tomatoes, a couple of onions, etc., straight into the compost bin.
It would be nice if you’d actually try your recipes USING THE DIRECTIONS YOU’RE ABOUT TO PUBLISH before publishing them.
Rebecca says
Michelle- I am very sorry you’re having a bad day, but I assure you this recipe is thoroughly tested not just by me and my oven, but by several others and their ovens. It is simply not possible that a standard oven set at 350°F turned 6 pounds of tomatoes and the attendant onions and herbs to solid black charcoal in an hour. If you have a convection oven it is possibility because they cook things an average of 30% faster than a standard oven, or if your oven is set to 350°C, but this recipe is designed for a standard oven and Fahrenheit. It would be nice if you’d be sure of your facts before accusing me of publishing untested recipes. Despite that, I wish you well.
dixie Legge says
I should be able to hot water bath these shouldn’t I?
Rebecca says
Hi Dixie- I wouldn’t advise it. The primary concern here (beyond acidity, which is questionable when we’re developing so much sweetness in the recipe) is that it is far too thick to safely water-bathe or even pressure can. I think you’re best off just freezing it as instructed.
Dianna says
Would adding a red bell pepper or two change it drastically?
Rebecca says
Hi there! I think that sounds like it might work. My only concern is how the flavour of the bell pepper would concentrate. Would it trend toward bitter? I’m not sure. I’d probably play with that on one pan and see how I like it before committing the entire batch!
Dianna says
I’m confused as to why you add the wine after everything has been cooked. Don’t you need to cook it in the recipe or at least do a reduction? I’m not a wine drinker but love cooking with it. In every recipe I’ve used wine in, you cook it either along with the sauce or reduce it first and add to the sauce to get rid of the alcohol. In your recipe, you are adding it after cooking and processing and then freezing. By doing this, your wine is uncooked. You also have a wide range (1 to 1 3/4 cups) listed. How do you figure out how much to add?
Rebecca says
Excellent question, Dianna. It’s true that in most recipes you cook wine to get the ‘raw’ wine taste out of it (more than it is to remove the alcohol). One reason it’s added at the end is to help move things around and create a beautifully smooth paste in the blender. Another reason we don’t add it at the beginning is that we want to control the degree of caramelization the tomatoes and onions and such get while roasting. That said, I know that many people have real concerns about consuming alcohol, so if this is an issue you can boil the wine separately to do that before adding to the tomatoes.
Margo says
I made this tonight only using ingredients from our garden: Oregon Spring tomatoes, Walla Walla onions, Musik garlic, oregano, thyme and basil. Fantastic recipe! I love the simplicity and the fact that I didn’t have to blanch and peel tomatoes.
My cooking time came in at 3 hours, I think because the variety of tomato we used has a higher flesh to liquid ratio than some other varieties. I kept and eye on them and as soon as the caramel-y parts started to flake in one corner of the pan I pulled them out of the oven.
We still have tomatoes coming on, so I’ll be making a couple more batches soon. Thanks much!
Rebecca says
Nice! Some tomatoes are deeeefinitely fleshier than others. I’m glad you adjusted!
MotorCityMich says
I have some grape tomato plants (red and yellow) that have gone insane. I think I’m going to try this with them, but obviously I’m going to have to modify the time in the oven. Wish me luck!
Jessica says
Can I do this with cherry tomatoes only?
Rebecca says
I think that should work but you will need to watch your timing!
Jennifer says
Hurry up and grow, tomatoes! Looks amazing. Already printed and taped to the inside of my cupboard door. Can’t wait to get bags in my freezer!
Laura says
I did this recipe as instructed, despite my concerns about the length of time in the oven and the temps. I now have 2 sheet pans of black tomato charcoal. I should have pulled them after 2 hours.
Rebecca says
Hi Laura- Is there any chance you cooked these in a convection oven? Because in two different standard ovens calibrated to the proper temperature at those quantities, that was exactly how long it took both me and my friend. I can imagine that using an oven set on convection that your results might occur.
Kel says
Ha ha! I loved this post and your sense of humor. I discovered something similar last year — I had tiny tomatoes from the garden that could not be peeled. I roasted them and then blended and froze. They were the best ever! I use it to thicken tomato based soups.
By the way – I still make your refried bean recipe – so good and cost efficient too! Keep up the great work.
Theresa M. says
Yum! Think this could be canned in boiling water bath like regular tomatoes? I never seem to have much freezer space available.
Rebecca says
Hi Theresa- I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you. This is not suitable for home canning for a couple of reasons. First, and most importantly, it doesn’t have the appropriate acidity to guarantee safety. Second, it is too thick to ensure the heat can penetrate to the center for the right amount of time. If you put it into the little sandwich bags, they take up very little space in the freezer, laying nice and flat!
Kim says
I WILL be making this AND I’ll cover my pan with FOIL! 🙂
Rie says
I’m with you Julie….foil it is (or at least a sheet of parchment.). Although I do appreciate the cleaning tip.
Rebecca says
I get the motivation behind the foil or the parchment, but I’m thinking you may end up having to extricate little bits of foil or parchment from the blender or pry it off of the sticky tomatoes. Plus, you want to be able to scrape all the good caramelized bits from the pan. I recommend against it!
Rie says
Ok Rebecca, if you say so. I trust ya. Especially since you provide the cleaning tip….xoxoxo
patricia says
Parchment usually doesn’t stick to anything
Rebecca says
I absolutely understand why you want to do foil, but I want to actively discourage you from it because those tomatoes STICK and you want to scrape up all the goodness to go into the blender with it. I’m visualizing having to pick a bunch of little pieces of foil off of sticky tomatoes. 😀 Or worse yet, foil in the blender. 😀
Robby H says
This looks like something that should happen very soon at our house. I can also tell you that frozen pureed chipotle in adobo, while terribly versatile, would not be interchangeable with these glorious tomatoes or strawberry puree. We’ll just add that was something that finally convinced me to be much more thorough in labelling every package that goes in the freezer.
Julie says
For those who don’t have the luxury of fresh tomatoes to spare, you can do this with fantastic results using whole canned tomatoes! Its a great way to get after the great flavor on the cheap.
Dawn says
How long did it take you to clean the pan??
Rebecca says
No time at all. 😉 My resident pots and pans experts did it for me. (A splash of ammonia in the pan, stick the pan into a black garbage bag, cinch it shut, sit it out in the sun for a few hours, then open and the stuff comes right off with a wooden spoon.)
Julie says
Wow! This little pan-cleaning secret is almost as good as this recipe sounds. I cannot WAIT to try this. Thank you for being so creative! I have 38 Heirloom Tomato plants in the ground as we speak so I WILL be making this at some point and I know it is going to knock my socks off. Thank you, again!
Rebecca says
Hooray, Julie! I know you’ll love it. And a word to the wise on our pan-cleaning secret… don’t place the black garbage bag in the driveway behind your vehicle or you may, um, drive over it. Says the voice of experience.
MotorCityMich says
This trick is how I clean the grody burners on my stove. It’s a miracle!
Rebecca says
It really is ridiculously handy, isn’t it?
MotorCityMich says
It works great!
Also, for those who were concerned about ruining pans, might I suggest some cheap disposable aluminum pans? I used them yesterday when I made these tomatoes and they worked out great. Then I just chucked them at the end.