This tomato confit recipe slowly roasts cherry tomatoes in olive oil with garlic and herbs until they become luxuriously soft, jammy, and bursting with sweet-savory umami flavor. The low-and-slow heat concentrates the tomatoes’ natural sugars, creating melt-in-your-mouth tomato jewels and a deeply flavorful infused olive oil.
Tomato confit is a quick and easy way to preserve the best of summer’s fresh tomato bounty – a perfect condiment to store in your fridge when the warm days of summer are gone. Keep a jar in the fridge to spoon over pasta, bruschetta, grain bowls, roasted veggies, sandwiches, eggs and more.
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.
Low-and-slow roasted in olive oil.
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 confit to store in your fridge when the warm days of summer are long gone.
- Bursting with Umami! Slow roasting concentrates the tomatoes’ natural sugars, for a sweeter, deeper and richer tomato flavor bursting with 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 for countless other dishes (ideas below).
- Flexi Confit Recipe. The recipe can be halved or doubled and the herbs, spices and alliums customized for a create-your-own-tomato-confit-flavor-adventure!
Summer is when heirloom tomatoes, in all their colorful bounty, arrive to the farmers’ markets.
Motto all summer long: all the colors of the tomato rainbow, all the time!Tomatoes come in all sorts of sizes, flavors and colors – there’s a whole whole wide colorful tomato world out there! And I am here for it.
How to Make Tomato Confit
Making tomato confit couldn’t be easier. Place the tomatoes in a baking dish, add garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper, then roast in the oven.
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.
How to Use Tomato Confit (Serving Suggestions)
- Serve tomato confit 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 tomato confit as an umami-packed condiment or a foundation ingredient in countless dishes.
What is Confit
The word confit comes from the French verb confire, which means “to preserve.” A classic French cooking method where food is slow-cooked at a low temperature in fat or oil.
Traditionally made with meats like duck or chicken, the technique works beautifully with veggies and fruits too.
Here, the food is a fruit (tomatoes), and the fat/oil 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.
This tomato confit recipe 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, creating a deeply fragrant and flavorful oil you’ll def wanna to soak up with hearty bread.
Herbs & Spices: Fresh basil or other fresh herbs like oregano and thyme all pair beautifully. Dried oregano and crushed red pepper flakes for some heat. Herb and 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 the kitchen: a very good fruity oil for drizzling on finished dishes and a simpler, milder oil for cooking with.
How to Store Tomato Confit & Cooking Tips
- When possible, buy local organic cherry 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 oil since its nuanced flavor will be lost in this process.
- Tomato confit will last up to 1 month in the refrigerator and up to 3 months in the 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 refrigerator or freezer.
More Confit Recipes
Love low-and-slow-roasted flavor? Try these other easy confit recipes:
- Shallot Confit – jammy, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth shallots with equally delicious infused shallot oil
- Garlic Confit – meltingly tender, caramelized, spreadable garlic cloves with fragrant infused garlic oil
More Tomato Recipes
If you’re looking for more tomato inspiration, check out rainbow tomato guide and recipes below.
- Tomato Galette - a savory galette filled with juicy heirloom tomatoes and creamy cheese.
- Tomato Watermelon Salad - sweet, juicy, crunchy, salty, briny, and tangy summer salad.
Gazpacho - a watermelon strawberry twist on the classic Spanish cold tomato soup. - Baked Feta with Tomatoes - A quick and easy baked feta appetizer bursting with bright, bold Mediterranean flavors.
- Tomato Puff Pastry Tart - Crispy, buttery puff pasty topped with a lemony, creamy ricotta and fresh, juicy tomatoes.
- Cherry Tomato & Burrata Pasta – roasted tomatoes with creamy burrata makes the ultimate summer comfort pasta.
If ya tried this recipe, I'd love to hear about it — leave a comment below and let me know, and tag me on IG, @danielagerson, so I can see too!
If you enjoyed this recipe, explore more seasonal recipes and colorful produce guides here on the site — there’s plenty more inspiration waiting for you.
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 the oven to 300°F. Place the cherry tomatoes in a single layer in a baking dish.
- Add the garlic and basil. Pour the olive oil over the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Bake until the tomatoes are wrinkled and fragrant, about 1 hour.
- Let the tomato confit cool to room temperature before storing in an airtight container in the fridge with the oil and pan juices.
Notes
- When possible, buy local organic cherry 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 oil since its nuanced flavor will be lost in this process.
- Tomato confit will last up to 1 month in the refrigerator and up to 3 months in the 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 refrigerator or 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 :).