Simple, easy, and healthy roasted cherry tomatoes are a great side dish. Use it on bruschetta, mash, and add it to pasta or serve alongside roasted meat.
Bursting cherry tomatoes, floating in olive oil, are incredibly flavorful and can be used to make a delicious tomato bruschetta. Scoop it with the golden sauce and serve it hot over grilled tilapia for a tasty lunch. It’s a great topping to add to whipped ricotta dip.
Jump to:
Oven-roasted cherry tomato sauce
Roasting tomatoes in the oven is one of the best things to do when you have tomatoes available fresh and abundant! Cherry tomatoes are great when roasted in the oven. It gets mushed away releasing all its flavors, making it full of flavors.
The juicy, clean flavor in the tomatoes makes it go with roasted meat as a side dish, you can scoop it over bruschetta and serve it as a starter.
Ingredients
- Tomatoes: use fresh red ripe cherry tomatoes. I used cherry tomatoes on the vine and roasted them directly. Feel free to remove tomatoes from the vine before roasting. You can also use other tomato varieties like ripe Roma tomatoes or heirloom tomatoes. Note you might have to adjust the roasting time for Roma or heirloom tomatoes.
- Fresh herbs: I have used fresh thyme in the recipe, not seen in the above picture. Don’t skip fresh herbs, it enhances the flavors. You can use fresh basil or dried herbs like Italian seasoning.
- Garlic: Use it generously, according to your taste preference. Do not skip garlic. You would love the flavor of garlic with tomato.
- Olive oil: Olive oil does two things, prevents it from getting stuck to the pan (hence prevents burning) and enhances the flavors.
- Seasoning: sea salt and fresh ground pepper as per taste. If you have homemade seasoning salt, feel free to use it for seasoning.
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Rinse tomatoes well. Cover a baking tray with aluminum foil. You can remove the vines and arrange tomatoes on baking tray before roasting. Or leave tomatoes on their vine and roast them. It’s easy to remove vines later once tomatoes are roasted. Arrange cherry tomatoes in one layer. Spread garlic cloves over tomatoes.
Step 2: Spray/drizzle olive oil all over. Season with salt and pepper. Spread fresh thyme on top. You can use fresh basil leaves instead of thyme. Note if using fresh basil leaves, add it towards the end of baking to prevent it from burning.
Fresh herbs can be substituted with Italian seasoning.
Roast cherry tomatoes in a preheated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes.
Step 3: Tomatoes are cooked when their skins start to burst. Remove the tray from the oven, and let it sit for a few minutes.
Step 4: Carefully remove the vines. Note after roasting vines will be crispy and can break off into powder. To make it easy to remove tomatoes, use a fork and carefully pull off all squishy tomatoes and then remove vines and discard them.
Lightly mash the roasted cherry tomatoes along with garlic and thyme to turn it into a sauce.
Step 5: You can serve this sauce in many ways like poured over pasta.
Useful tips
- Use a rimmed baking tray so you don’t lose those delicious juices and line the tray with parchment paper so it’s easy to clean.
- To prevent fresh herbs from burning, add them towards the end of roasting time, 5 minutes before tomatoes get cooked.
- Don’t skip garlic. I highly recommend fresh garlic.
- Leave the whole, no need to cut them in half. It makes it easier and quicker to roast whole cherry tomatoes.
- Do not over-crowd the tray, arrange cherry tomatoes in a single layer so they caramelize well.
Ways to use roasted cherry tomatoes
Roasted cherry tomatoes can be served as an appetizer or as a topping over main dishes such as grilled chimichurri chicken, grilled tilapia, or pork chops.
For a quick appetizer, you can top it over sliced baguette to serve as tomato bruschetta.
Use it as a topping for pizza, top it over chicken pesto pasta, and serve it over salads.
I’d also like it served on top of scrambled eggs for a delicious breakfast. If you haven’t tried eggs and tomatoes for breakfast I highly recommend you try tomato egg stir fry.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can use other tomato varieties. Instead of cherry tomatoes use grape tomatoes or you can use regular Roma tomatoes cut into quarters.
Grape tomatoes are shaped differently, resembling grape shape – oblong in shape. Whereas cherry tomatoes are round. Cherry tomatoes are juicy, grape tomatoes aren’t that juicy.
There are so many ways to use roasted cherry tomatoes. It’s a great side dish for a summer BBQ party, with grilled meat. You can top it over bread to make bruschetta, add it as a pizza topping, and stir it in your salads or pasta and soups. You can also use it to make marinara sauce.
Don’t forget to Subscribe to CurryTrail Recipes below to get our newest recipes delivered straight to your inbox.
If you love this recipe, keep in touch and don’t miss out on any of Currytrail recipes. Follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.
📋Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. ripe cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic (use more if you love garlic)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt adjust to taste
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground pepper adjust to taste
- 5-10 sprigs fresh thyme (can use fresh basil instead of thyme)
Instructions
- Cover a baking tray with aluminum foil. Rinse tomatoes well.
- You can remove the vines and arrange tomatoes on baking tray before roasting. Or leave tomatoes on their vine and roast them. You will remove vines later once the tomatoes are roasted.
- Arrange cherry tomatoes in one layer. Spread garlic cloves over tomatoes. Spray/drizzle olive oil all over. Season with salt and pepper. Spread fresh thyme all over the tomatoes.
- Roast cherry tomatoes in pre-heated oven at 400 degree Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes. Remove tray from oven, let it sit for few minutes.
- Carefully remove the vines (note after roasting vines will be crispy and can break off into powder). To make it easy to remove tomatoes, use a fork and carefully pull off all squishy tomatoes and then remove vines and discard them.
- Roasted cherry tomatoes can be served as an appetizer or as a topping over main dishes such as grilled chicken, grilled tilapia, or pork chops. You can also top it over pizza, for bruschetta, over pasta, stirred with soup.
Video
Notes
-
- Use a rimmed baking tray so you don’t lose those delicious juices and line the tray with parchment paper so it’s easy to clean.
- To prevent fresh herbs from burning, add them towards the end of roasting time, 5 minutes before tomatoes get cooked.
- Don’t skip garlic. I highly recommend fresh garlic.
- Leave the whole, no need to cut them in half. It makes it easier and quicker to roast whole cherry tomatoes.
- Do not over-crowd the tray, arrange cherry tomatoes in a single layer so they caramelize well.
Nutrition
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
Thank you for stopping by.
I’m Jyothi Rajesh (Jo for short) and i’m the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail where I share my culinary Adventures. I live in Bangalore, India. I’m a mom of two beautiful kids. My passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. I have been blogging since 2014 and many of my recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
Comments & Reviews
Evelyn says
Just wanted to let you know that tomatoes grow on vines, not veins…looking forward to trying this recipe😋
Jyothi Rajesh says
That was a pure typo mistake, sorry about it! Corrected and thanks for bringing it to my notice
Julia Disser says
can the end product be frozen for future use?
Jyothi Rajesh says
They are best made right when you want to eat/use them. If you want to keep, store in air tight container in fridge for 2 to 3 days.
I haven’t tested freezing these, my best guess YES, you can freeze.
To freeze, let them cool completely after it’s roasted. Then pack them into freezer bags & pop in freezer. Use in recipes that call for tomatoes
Natalie says
Such a lovely recipe. I can’t wait to make this and put all over my pasta. Looks so delicious and flavors are amazing.
Heidy says
This was a great recipe for roasted tomatoes and it came out perfect! I appreciate the details in the recipe and the tips. You have no idea how much easier it was to follow this outstanding recipe than some of the other ones I have seen on the night! I wish I could give it a 10-star rating.
Jyothi Rajesh says
Glad you enjoyed it
Sam says
I am obsessed with roasted tomatoes, they are so good! I haven’t yet tried with cherry tomatoes, but I am planning to. Will be picking up some tomorrow to try it. Thank you!
Alena says
This is such a helpful and useful recipe for roasting tomatoes! I can’t wait to include these cherry tomatoes on bread, pasta, and whatever else I have on hand!
Eileen Kelly says
Our garden was so full of cherry tomatoes, thyme, and basil and this was the perfect recipe for them. Super flavorful and perfect over pasta
Tara says
I don’t like tomatoes raw, but I can eat roasted tomatoes all day long. I love how simple this recipe is, but so flavorful. Can’t wait to add this to my homemade marinara sauce!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Glad you liked it
Anna says
Roasted tomatoes are my favourite! They have so much more depth of flavour and can be used in so many different recipes! I can’t wait for my tomatoes to ripe so I can cook with them!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you
Paige says
This is such and easy and delish way to dress up the plate! Love it !
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you
Ramona says
There isn’t a better option to cook tomatoes if you really want the most flavour out of these little red gems. This was the best idea to use these for a beautiful tomato soup. Absolutely delicious!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you
Amy says
This recipe is so flavorful and delicious, but simple enough that it can be used for so many different things! My favorite is as bruschetta, but I can’t wait to try it in sauce, too. Thanks for sharing such a yummy recipe!