By Andrea Rivera Wawrzyn
TheKitchn.com
There are any number of different sauces you can top your pasta with. You can go cheesy or meaty, or herby, to name a few. The one sauce that stands above the others and the undisputed pasta sauce classic is tomato sauce.
You can make great tomato sauce with tinned tomatoes. You can also get top-notch jarred sauce at the grocery store, but sauce made with fresh tomatoes is a special treat that is best left for peak-of-the-season summer produce. At least, that’s what I thought until I discovered the simple shortcut for the easiest fresh tomato sauce—the oven. This sauce is the epitome of low-effort high-reward cooking. It’s wildly easy to make. No need to blanch tomatoes and peel their skins before even getting to the sauce-making. Just toss tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs on a sheet pan with some olive oil, roast, and blend. It’s been my go-to sauce for years now, and once you try it, I bet it will be yours, too.
Why You’ll Love It
- It’s lightning quick. No shade to slow-cooked tomato sauce, which I love, but this sauce comes together in under an hour. And because the tomatoes and aromatics are roasted, it still delivers a deep tomato flavor.’
- Makes the most of less-than ideal tomatoes. You don’t need peak-of-the-season heirlooms to make this sauce. Even grocery store tomatoes taste like they came from the garden after getting the sheet pan treatment.
Key Ingredients in Sheet Pan Tomato Sauce
- Plum tomatoes. Plum tomatoes have a concentrated tomato flavor, thin skins, few seeds, and low water content which makes them ideal for turning into sauce. Don’t be tempted to substitute large slicing or beefsteak tomatoes here, since their thicker skins won’t break down as well when the sauce is puréed.
- Onions and garlic. These classic aromatics add even more flavor to the sauce when roasted.
- Thyme. Fresh thyme roasts in the oven with the rest of the produce, infusing the tomatoes, onions, and garlic with flavor. The leaves are then puréed into the sauce.
- Olive oil. Everything is tossed in olive oil before going into the oven, which helps with browning as well as bringing a rich flavor to the sauce. This sauce is very simple, so choose an olive oil with a good flavor (there are great options at the grocery store!)
- Basil. Fresh basil finishes the sauce with a bright, herby flavor.
