Tomato confit is an absolute must each and every single summer! Roast the very best of the seasons fresh tomato bounty in olive oil until they’re busting with sweetness and umami!
Published in 2019, last updated 2020.
The long, slow roasting brings out their natural sweetness and concentrate their flavor.
Why this Cherry Tomato Confit Recipe Works
- Quick & Easy! Prep this tomato confit in only 10 minutes! The oven does the rest!
- All the Umami! Roasting tomatoes intensifies their umami flavor!
- The Infused Olive Oil! The tomatoes, garlic and herbs infuse the oil in the oven for a frangrant and deeply flavorful result!
- Multi-use 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 and with it all the heirloom tomatoes arrive at the farmers market! And how colorful the bounty is!
pre-oven post-oven pre-oven post-oven
Tomato confit is the tomato treat you don’t want to miss out on! The tomatoes transform into luxuriously soft, melt-in-your-mouth tomato jewels bursting with a savory sweetness!
Motto all summer long: all the colors of the tomato rainbow, all the time!
How to Make this Tomato Confit
Place tomatoes on a baking dish with garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.
add tomatoes and herbs add seasoning and drizzle with olive oil roast and all done!
That’s it! So simple to prepare and packed with so much punch! Minimal work delivering maximum results!
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 You’ll Need: Tomatoes & Olive Oil!
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.
Tomatoes: preferably heirloom tomatoes (as opposed to hybrid).
Tomatoes come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, flavors and COLORS!
And heirloom tomatoes really DO come in every color of the rainbow!
It’ a whole wide colorful tomato world out there! I love celebrating rainbow tomatoes!
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.
*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.
Serving Suggestions for Tomato Confit
use it as an umami-packed condiment or a foundation ingredient in countless recipes!
- 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
Heirloom tomatoes really do come in every color of the rainbow! There’s red, pink, orange, yellow, white, green, purple, almost black and practically infinite shades in between!
Let’s celebrate summer with all the rainbow tomatoes all the time!
If you’re stoked on tomato season,https://wavesinthekitchen.com/rainbow-tomatoes/
Check out these deliciously colorful and creative tomato recipes:
Tomato, Strawberry & Watermelon Gazpacho, Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes & Burrata, Tomato Galette, Tomato Puff Pastry Tart, and Chicken with Tomatoes!
Cooks Tips
- 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.
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 #chefdanielagerson. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Let's make waves in the kitchen!
Cherry 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.
And if ya made it this far... I have more tomato-vicious pics to share!
Check out this Tomato Confit & Burrata Pasta!
tomatoes and garlic 
with basil and salt post-oven tomato confit!
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 :)?