Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce – How to Make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I have been making this roasted tomato pasta sauce for years. It is rich and chunky and one of the best tasting homemade spaghetti sauces I have ever tried.

The recipe is just full of flavor. The key ingredient to the taste and texture of the sauce is that I use roasted garden tomatoes.

I have a garden full of fresh ripe tomatoes that is producing well right now. I eaten a boatload of them and we still have them lined up waiting for a new recipe.

This homemade marinara sauce is the perfect way to use fresh tomatoes when you have more than you need for normal meals.

I have made this recipe with all types of tomatoes, from beefsteak tomatoes to patio tomatoes that are much smaller. It always turns out well.

I have discovered many recipes for homemade spaghetti sauce on the internet, but when I look at them, they ask for canned tomatoes. Sorry…but that is not my idea of home made.

I call that type of recipe “semi home made”, and while there is a place for this in the kitchen, for me, it doesn’t extend to sauces. I love to make my sauces from scratch.

You might think that this type of sauce will take hours and hours to prepare, but that’s not actually the case. Roasting the tomatoes is quick and easy in a hot oven and cooking the sauce can be done in about 15 minutes. Then the pasta sauce just simmers in the stock pot for 2 hours on the stove over a low heat while you get on with something else.

Make a big batch of this! The homemade spaghetti sauce gets better every time you reheat it!

No need to go to the store to buy pasta sauce! Make your own with fresh garden tomatoes that are roasted in the oven. Get the recipe on The Gardening Cook. 🍅🍅🍅 Click To Tweet

How to make a fresh tomato sauce for pasta

My raised garden bed is producing ripe tomatoes now and they are perfect for using in this recipe. Any type of homegrown tomatoes work well.

If you don’t grow your own tomatoes, large vine ripened grocery store tomatoes or beefsteak tomatoes also work well.

Originally I made a beefsteak tomato sauce. Beefsteak tomatoes are super big and you only need 6 of them to make the sauce.

Today I made the sauce using patio tomatoes, since that it what I am growing this year. I used 24 small to medium sized ones to make a batch of sauce.

Roasting the tomatoes is the reason that this sauce has so much flavor. Home grown tomatoes are sweet on their own, but when you roast them, it brings that natural sweetness to a new level that is amazing.

The roasted tomatoes give this sauce a flavorful base, but it is enhanced by the use of a generous helping of fresh herbs. I used fresh basil, rosemary, thyme and oregano.

These fresh herbs gives the tomatoes a lovely Mediterranean flavor that goes well with any protein.

My recipe also calls for a splash of red wine but this is totally optional and the sauce tastes wonderful without it.

The version of home made marinara sauce is my most often viewed recipe on the site for a very good reason. It tastes amazing!

The recipe is vegan, and gluten free and fits into a Paleo and Whole 30 diet plan.

Roasting the tomatoes only takes about 10 minutes. During that time, you can cook the onions, fresh herbs and garlic in olive oil so that they are ready to go into the sauce with the tomatoes. 

I added a few tablespoons of tomato paste to thicken the sauce.

From that point, it’s just a matter of letting the sauce gently simmer for a few hours.

Variations on the basic roasted tomato pasta sauce

Once you have this basic marinara sauce made, the sky is the limit as to what you can add to change it up for a new taste.

Every time I make this sauce, I tinker with it. Sometimes I am more in a Meatless Monday mood, and I turn it into a vegetarian style dish with mushrooms and fresh herbs from my garden. Check out my mushroom marinara sauce here.

Other times I get in a spicy Italian mood and my recipe for Italian sausages and noodles recipe hits the table.

Our family loves pork, as well as ground beef. When I am in the mood for comfort food, this roasted tomato sauce for pasta gets a heaping addition of both beef and pork for a meaty homemade spaghetti sauce recipe that is out of this world.

Add some corn kernels, and a jalapeno chili pepper for a Mexican flavor. The sauce is versatile for all types of flavors.

With my basic homemade marinara sauce with fresh tomatoes as a base, your next spaghetti night will be a huge hit. You will never buy store bought pasta sauce again!

This recipe freezes well too. I just put the roasted tomato sauce into wide mouth mason jars and freeze it. They take the cold of a freezer well and the sauce is just as good when thawed as when I first make it.

Pin this post for my roasted tomato pasta sauce recipe

Would you like a reminder of this post for making a tomato sauce with fresh roasted tomatoes? Just pin this image to one of your cooking boards on Pinterest so that you can easily find it later.

Admin note: this post for roasted tomato sauce recipe first appeared on the blog in July of 2013. I have updated the post to add all new photos, and a video for you to enjoy.

Yield: 6 servings

Homemade Pasta Sauce with Roasted Tomatoes

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This recipe for fresh tomato pasta sauce beats any bottled sauce hands down. It is made with freshly roasted tomatoes for a full bodied flavor that is amazing.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 24 patio tomatoes or 6 medium sized fresh beefsteak tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup of good quality dry red wine (optional)
• 1/2 cup of beef stock
• 2 tablespoons of fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano
• 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut the tomatoes into half and place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
3. Roast for 10-15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool slightly and use tongs to peel the outside skins. (Mine came right off with a pair of tongs quite easily.)
4. Crush the tomatoes well. (I use my hands but you can use a potato masher or whatever you like.)
5. While the tomatoes are roasting, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions until translucent - about 5 minutes. Add the diced garlic and cook another minute.
6. Chop all the herbs together. Pour the wine and stock into the onion mixture, still well and add the spices. Cook over medium heat until the liquid has cooked down to about half.
7. Add the roasted tomatoes, making sure that any really big chunks are chopped up.
8. Add the tomato paste and stir to blend well.
9. Simmer over a low heat for about 2 hours. Serve with pasta or use in any dish that asks for tomato sauce.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 200Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 261mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 11g

Nutritional information is approximate due to natural variation in ingredients and the cook-at-home nature of our meals.

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