Roast tomatoes in olive oil, low and slow, for luxuriously soft, melt-in-your-mouth tomato jewels bursting with umami flavor! The heat concentrates the tomatoes natural sugars for a sweeter, deeper, and richer tomato flavor.
A deliciously quick and easy way to preserve the best of the seasons fresh tomato bounty. And the perfect condiment to store in your fridge when the warm days of summer are gone.
Whether you’re dealing with an overwhelming abundance of desperately ripe tomatoes or a woefully bland bunch or simply want to hold on to summer just a little bit longer, this is the recipe you’ll want.
Ingredients: Tomatoes. Garlic. Herbs.
Note: the infused oil is equally valuable.
Why this Tomato Confit Recipe Work
- Quick & Easy. Prep the tomatoes in 10 minutes or less. With just minutes of prep and a little patience, you’ll have the perfect tomato condiment to store in your fridge when the warm days of summer are long gone.
- Bursting with Umami! The heat concentrates the tomatoes natural sugars for a sweeter, deeper and richer tomato flavor bursting with a savory-sweetness.
- The Infused Olive Oil. The tomatoes, garlic and herbs infuse the olive oil resulting in a fragrant and deeply flavorful infused oil that’s equally valuable.
- Multi-use Versatile Recipe! Use this sweet and savory tomato confit as a condiment or building block to countless other dishes (ideas below).
- Confit Recipe is Flexi! Quantiles can easily be halved or doubled. Herbs, spices and alliums can be swapped out for all sorts of flavor combinations.
Summer is here which means all the heirloom tomatoes arrive at the farmer’s market! And how colorful the bounty is!
Motto all summer long: all the colors of the tomato rainbow, all the time!
Tomatoes come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, flavors and colors.
And heirloom tomatoes really DO come in every color of the rainbow.
There's a whole wide colorful tomato world out there!
How to Make this Tomato Confit
Place tomatoes on a baking dish. Add garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper, roast in the oven.
The low and slow roasting brings out the tomatoes natural sweetness and concentrates their flavor.
Please enjoy these step-by-step shots for easy cooking.
The beauty of this condiment is in its simplicity. It’s what summer cooking is all about – highlighting fresh and local produce at the peak of their season in an easy way with minimal prep.
Tomato Confit Serving Suggestions
- On a cheese plate
- On bruschetta
- With top of labneh, ricotta or savory yogurt
- With pasta and pizza
- In sandwiches
- On top of steak, fish or chicken
- In whole grain bowls
- Spooned over veggies
- The infused oil can be used in a vinaigrette or finishing sauce
Use these tomatoes as an umami-packed condiment or a foundation ingredient in countless recipes!
Notes/Variations/Substitutions
What is Confit?
The world confit comes from the French verb confire and literally means to preserve.
Confit simply refers to any sort of food (meat, fruit, or veggies) preserved in oil or fat.
Here, the food is a fruit (tomatoes), and fat is olive oil. Done and done.
Ingredients:
Tomatoes: preferably heirloom tomatoes (as opposed to hybrid).
Support your local farms and source tomatoes directly from them if possible.
The recipe below uses cherry tomatoes. If using larger varieties, blanch and peel them first then follow the rest of the directions below.
Olive Oil: Not your best stuff! * Go with a mild, less expensive option in your cabinet. The tomatoes, garlic and herbs will infuse the oil in the oven. A more nuanced oil will end up losing its flavor in this process. And the result is a deeply fragrant and flavorful oil you’ll def want to soak up with hearty bread.
Herbs & Spices: Fresh basil or other fresh herbs oregano and thyme all pair beautifully as does dried oregano and crushed red pepper flakes for some heat. Herb & spice experiment away!
Garlic: add extra cloves if extra garlicky is your jam. Or swap with another allium.
*Note on olive oil: YES, every home cook should have two olive oils in their house: a very good and fruity oil for drizzling on finished dishes and a simpler, milder oil for cooking with.
More Fresh Tomato Recipes:
Check out: Tomato, Strawberry & Watermelon Gazpacho, Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes & Burrata, Tomato Galette, and Tomato Puff Pastry Tart!
Cooks Tips
- When possible, buy local and organic cherry organic tomatoes directly from a farm or farmer’s market. Use any color of the tomato rainbow!
- Use a mild extra virgin olive oil. The tomatoes, herbs and garlic will infuse it with a whole lot of flavor! Save your expensive stuff since it nuanced flavor will be lost in this process.
- Tomato confit will last up to 1 month in your fridge and up to 3 in your freezer. Store the tomatoes covered in olive oil (so air doesn’t reach them) in an airtight container.
- Bring tomato confit to room temperature before serving. The olive oil will harden and solidify in the fridge/freezer
Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with @DanielaGerson. You can also follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and awesome adventures!
Let's make waves in the kitchen!
Tomato Confit
Ingredients
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes
- 5 garlic cloves sliced
- 6 fresh sprigs of basil or other herbs
- 1/2 cups of extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place the whole cherry tomatoes in a single layer in a baking dish. If using larger variety of tomatoes, blanch and peel them first then follow the rest of the directions below.
- Add the garlic slices and basil sprigs. Pour the oil over the tomatoes and season generously with salt and pepper. Bake until tomatoes are wrinkled and fragrant, about 1 hr.
- Let tomato mixture cool to room temperature before storing with oil and accumulated pan juices in an airtight container
Notes
- When possible, buy local and organic cherry organic tomatoes directly from a farm or farmers market. Use any color of the tomato rainbow!
- Use a mild extra virgin olive oil. The tomatoes, herbs and garlic will infuse it with a whole lot of flavor! Save your expensive stuff since it nuanced flavor will be lost int his process.
- Tomato confit will last up to 1 month in your fridge and up to 3 in your freezer. Store the tomatoes covered in olive oil (so air doesn’t reach them) in an airtight container.
- Bring tomato confit to room temperature before serving. The olive oil will harden and solidify in the fridge/freezer.
The BEST easy recipe and makes a BIG difference in your dishes!!!!
Love it🙏🙏🙏😘
You are too adorable Jackie!!! Thanks so much for the super sweet feedback and I'm so stoked to her ya love it :)!
When you say to store in the fridge covered with olive oil, do you mean the oil it cooked in, or a fresh layer? Also, after being taken out of the fridge and the oil has been allowed to "un-freeze", can you put it back in if you don't use it all, or do you have to throw it out?
Hi Kenneth - I mean the oil the tomatoes cooked in and I'll update the recipe so it's clearer. You can take the tomato confit in and out of the fridge no prob at all! The oil wont freeze from being in the fridge. If your running low on oil you can always top the tomatoes with some fresh olive oil and restore in the fridge too. Did ya like them :)?
Hi! I would love to can my confit -- do you have any tips on that or how to ensure they are shelf stable?
Hi Rachel - don't have tips on caning the confit but if you're trying to preserve it for longer, freezing is definitely an easy option! Let me know how it goes :).