Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

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This easy roasted tomato sauce is perfect for using up excess summer tomatoes. Use it immediately or freeze to enjoy later!

There’s always a point in the summer where the tomatoes go from one or two just barely ripe enough to eat to absolute piles stacked up in every booth at the market.

This is the time to be canning and “putting up,” but when I don’t feel ready to tackle big batches of salsa or pizza sauce, I make this simple oven-roasted pasta sauce for the freezer.

Freezing (or just eating right away) means this sauce is incredibly easy, and incredibly customizable. Have a mix of paste, heirloom, and slicing tomatoes? That’s fine. Want to add summer squash? Toss it in!

Everything gets roasted in one pan and then blended together for a simple, savory sauce with minimal ingredients and peak flavor. Make it now, and pat yourself on the back in November.

Ingredients for roasted pasta sauce

You’ll need:

• Tomatoes
• Zucchini
• Onion
• Garlic
• Fresh oregano
• Fresh basil
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

The zucchini is optional for making this sauce, but always like to add it for an extra boost of veggies. You can use other varieties of summer squash too—if they are very seedy just scoop out the seeds before chopping.

This recipe is perfect for using those tomatoes that are looking a little sad—maybe they’ve started to get too ripe, or have tons of cracks. Check if your farmers market vendors have seconds to sell!

How to make this recipe

Grab a 9×13-inch casserole dish and add a small amount of olive oil on the bottom. Note that this dish will get very full, but the vegetables will cook down. If you want to use a roasting pan instead, that will work too!

I prefer to cook the sauce in a casserole to catch all of the juices, just in case you find you want to add more liquid into the sauce after blending. Having the ingredients mingled together in the baking dish will also prevent the garlic and herbs from burning, which can happen when roasting on sheet pans.

Cut the vegetables into approximately equal sizes. No need to peel! Just pile them all into your casserole dish.

Drizzle on olive oil and season liberally with salt, then tuck in the fresh oregano.

Place in the oven and roast for 60-90 minutes, stirring halfway through. The vegetables should be very soft, with caramelization on the edges, and it should smell incredible!

Let it cool slightly, then carefully scoop into a blender ^* or food processor ^*. Add a handful of fresh basil and a few cracks of black pepper.

Blend until smooth, or leave it a little bit chunky if you prefer. Make sure to taste and add any extra seasoning. I like to add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes!

Pour the sauce into jars or freezer trays like Souper Cubes ^*, let cool to room temperature, then store in the fridge or freezer until ready to use.

Recipe suggestions

If you prefer to peel the tomatoes for this sauce, you can read my post on how to peel tomatoes. However, since everything is blended, I don’t bother fussing with it!

I don’t recommend using cherry or other small tomatoes for this recipe. Use them for tomato confit instead, if you have lots to use up.

For a naturally sweeter sauce, swap one zucchini with a red bell pepper.

Use fresh herbs you have on hand: thyme, sage, parsley, and marjoram are all good substitutes for the oregano. Don’t skip the basil though, it’s classic for pasta sauce!

Storage tips

If you plan to use the sauce within a couple of days, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

I make and freeze this roasted pasta sauce every summer. Freezer bags work great because they stack flat in the freezer to save space and thaw easily.

I also like using Souper Cubes, which are silicone freezer trays. These come in different sizes for perfect portions, and you can either keep them in the trays once frozen, or pop out and put into bags.

If you’re freezing in mason jars ^*, make sure to leave an inch of head space in the jar, or you’ll run the risk of the jars cracking in the freezer.

Serving suggestions

Obviously this sauce is great served with any pasta and some garlic rolls for mopping up the extra.

Use it as the base sauce for eggplant rollatini, or try it as a stand in for pizza sauce in pepperoni calzones.

You can even thin it out with vegetable or chicken broth to make a simple cheater tomato soup!

Whether your garden is overflowing or you can’t resist grabbing more tomatoes at the farmers market, this roasted tomato sauce is a summer must!