Smoke Roasted Tomato Sauce
On August 05, 2019 (Updated May 11, 2024)
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This Smoke Roasted Tomato Sauce is a simple and flavorful way to prepare delicious garden tomatoes. Taking the time to slow roast the tomatoes and vegetables over a wood fire concentrates and intensifies the sweetness of the sauce while infusing everything with a subtle hint of smokiness.
Homemade Roasted Tomato Sauce
If you’re like me, you often have a huge crop of fresh tomatoes in your garden in the late summer months. I had nearly 50 pounds of tomatoes from my garden this year, so I decided it was time to make good use of them and make some delicious homemade roasted tomato sauce. I love a good homemade tomato sauce, but by smoke roasting the tomatoes first, this sauce takes on a whole new flavor that is out of this world. Not only is this sauce delicious right after it’s made, but you can store it in the fridge or freezer for later use.
If you are a fan of the canning process, this sauce can be preserved in mason jars. I recommend following the safety guidelines in this document to help you safely process your tomato sauce. We often eat our way through the sauce before it will go bad in the freezer, so I opt for storing the sauce in quart-sized freezer bags. This sauce should last for 6 weeks in a regular freezer, or up to 6 months in a deep freezer.
How to Make Roasted Tomato Sauce
It is not difficult to make your own tomato sauce from scratch. Simply follow these instructions, and you’ll find yourself making your own fresh roasted tomato sauce over the store bought kind all the time.
- Preheat your grill. I used my pellet grill to smoke the veggies for this sauce, but feel free to use any grill that has indirect cooking abilities. Preheat to 300 degrees F.
- Prep your veggies. Cover two large baking sheets with tin foil. Place the carrots, onions, tomatoes, and garlic on top of the foil. Drizzle the veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir gently to evenly coat on all sides. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on the baking sheets to allow for even baking.
- Smoke roast the vegetables. Roast the veggies for 2-3 hours or until everything is tender and is crisp on the edges.
- Blend! Remove the baking sheets and veggies from the grill and allow them to cool. Add the roasted vegetables to a food processor or blender with the beef broth. Pulse a few times, and then add your favorite fresh herbs (I love basil, rosemary, and oregano!). Pulse again until sauce reaches your desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Cool and store. Allow the sauce to completely cool before transferring to an airtight container or zip top bag. This sauce can be stored in the fridge for a few days, in the freezer for 2-3 months, or in a deep freezer for up to 6 months.
Don’t own a smoker? No problem! This recipe can be adapted to cooking in your oven. Preheat to the same temperature and allow the vegetables to roast for 2-3 hours before blending them with the broth and herbs.
Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce
This tomato sauce makes the most amazing pasta sauce. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come home from a busy day and been relieved to have some of this sauce in my freezer ready to make into a big pot of spaghetti. This sauce can be used right after it’s made, and it’s easy to defrost for those busy nights when you don’t have a lot of time to spend on preparing dinner.
How to defrost frozen tomato sauce: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and slowly set in the frozen bag of sauce. In just a few minutes, the sauce will defrost enough to remove it from the bag and transfer to a sauce pan. Finish heating the sauce through in the sauce pan while you cook your noodles. I tossed the noddles and sauce all together with some freshly grated Parmesan and a little basil and the whole family was in pasta heaven.
This sauce is also absolutely amazing with Italian sausage or on a meatball sub or chicken Parmesan. Feel free to sub in this homemade tomato sauce anywhere you would use pasta sauce.
More Roasted Tomato Recipes
I’m a big fan of grilling and roasting tomatoes for a handful of my homemade recipes. Check out the links below for more tasty ideas on ways to use all your fresh backyard tomatoes.
Smoke Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil Cream
Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Burst Tomato Salad
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Grilled Tomatoes
Smoke Roasted Tomato Sauce Recipe
Follow the recipe below and let’s make something delicious! I’m all about helping you make better BBQ, feed the people you love, and become a BBQ hero. If you want to see more of my recipes, tips, and behind the scenes action, follow along on my social channels. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube!
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Smoke Roasted Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 pounds tomatoes quartered or halved until all roughly the same size
- 2 carrots peeled and cut into large chunks
- 2 medium onions cut into wedges
- 10-12 cloves garlic minced
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
- 1/4-1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup fresh herbs basil, oregano, rosemary are all good!
- Additional salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your grill/smoker to 300 degrees F. I used my pellet grill, but any grill that has indirect cooking abilities and the potential for you to add wood smoke will work. For this smoke I used a mix of alder, cherry, and maple woods.
- Cover two large baking sheets with tin foil and arrange the tomatoes, carrots, onions and garlic on top. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stir gently to coat everything. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on each of the baking sheets.
- Roast the veggies on your grill for 2-3 hours until everything is tender and starting to turn brown and crisp on the edges (I could have taken my pans off after 2 hours, but I left them on for 3 hours to develop a darker color and more flavor).
- Remove your pans from the grill and let them cool until everything can be handled. Place roasted vegetables in a food processor with the beef broth. Pulse several times and then add your favorite fresh herbs. Pulse again until desired consistency is reached. Season with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- Let cool completely before transferring to an airtight container. Will last a few days in the fridge or 2-3 months in the freezer. 4 lbs of tomatoes will yield 4-5 cups of sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
**This post was originally published 10/25/16. The copy has been updated to share more information about the recipe, but the recipe itself remains unchanged.
Made this a couple days ago, and froze it (2 batches). Did I do something wrong? I ended up with 16 cups of sauce from 8 lbs of tomatoes.
I have actually smoked my grown tomatoes, put the through a food mill to remove seeds/skin, and then cooked down until I reached my desired consistency. Then I water bath canned…turned out great. I added no salt or herbs, I’ll add when I use as needed.
Have you ever added some jalepeno in it? I think it would be a good addition for some heat. Love all your recipes. Everyone I have tried is amazing.
Yes and it’s pretty great!
Can you can this is a water bath?
I’m not an expert on canning, I usually just freeze mine, but I assume this would can just fine.
Remove skins from tomatoes?
I did not remove the skin from the tomatoes after cooking.
I’m in love with this recipe! Have my fresh garden tomatoes in the smoker right now! Can’t wait to try! The way you describe the recipe makes me actually imagine the flavor! So happy you posted this!
Please let me know how it turns out for you!!!