roasted cherry tomato confit

One more way to enjoy those abundant summer tomatoes. Make this amazing Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit a part of your next antipasti tray. Toss those roasted beauties with some pasta. Or use them as a topping on grilled meat or fish.

We recently enjoyed them as a topping on sautéed broccoli rabe. And don’t forget about finishing off your pizza with some. The possibilities are endless.

The roasting time is lengthy at about two hours. It’s a slow roast. But the hands-on time is just ten minutes. That works for me.

roasted cherry tomato confit

So what does the term – confit – mean?

Confit comes from the French word confire, which literally means “to preserve.” It refers to any type of food that is cooked slowly over a long period as a method of preservation. When referencing it as a cooking term, confit describes when food is cooked in grease, oil or sugar water, at a lower temperature, as opposed to deep frying.

There’s an interesting article at Serious Eats that details the preservation benefits of this type of food preparation.

The list of ingredients is a short one with very little prep.

  • Assorted cherry and/or grape tomatoes
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Garlic cloves
  • Fresh thyme sprigs

Really, slicing the garlic cloves is the most extensive task on this one. Here’s a little hint on peeling that garlic …trim the ends of each clove, place them in a lidded jar or container and shake vigorously for about a minute.

You’ll find that the skin literally falls away from each clove and they’re ready to be sliced up.

roasted cherry tomato confitroasted cherry tomato confit

  • Spread the tomatoes out on a baking sheet.
  • Then add the remaining ingredients.
  • Mix it all up – right there on the tray.
  • Place in the preheated oven and in two hours, you have a tray of deliciousness.

Check out the before and after images…

roasted cherry tomato confitroasted cherry tomato confit

After two hours in a low oven…

roasted cherry tomato confitroasted cherry tomato confit

Pretty amazing, right?

  • Serve them right away if you like.
  • Or save them to be used over the next month.

roasted cherry tomato confitroasted cherry tomato confit

  • Discard the thyme sprigs along with any random tomato stems.
  • Store the tomatoes in a jar along with the accumulated pan juices.
  • If necessary, top off with additional olive oil to ensure that the roasted tomatoes are fully immersed.
  • At this point, feel free to add your favorite fresh herbs to the mix, such as oregano, basil, thyme and/or parsley.

How long will your Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit last in the fridge?

As long as the tomatoes are stored in an airtight container, fully immersed in olive oil, the confit will last for up to one month in the fridge. Be sure to bring the roasted cherry tomato confit to room temperature before serving.

roasted cherry tomato confitroasted cherry tomato confit

If you have a large summer crop of cherry tomatoes, you need to give this a try.

Store the Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit in smallish glass jars and share with your family and friends. They’ll most certainly thank you for it.

roasted cherry tomato confit

roasted cherry tomato confit

Adapted from Cooking Light

Flavorful topping for bruschetta, pasta or pizza.

Servings 5 cups
Author Rosemary Stelmach

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds assorted cherry and/or grape tomatoes
  • 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more, if necessary for storing)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 10 garlic cloves, peeled & sliced
  • 8 large thyme sprigs
  • additional fresh herbs, if desired

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 275°F.  Spread tomatoes onto a large rimmed baking sheet. Add oil, salt, pepper, and garlic; toss gently to coat.  Tuck thyme sprigs into mixture.  
  2. Bake at 275°F until tomatoes are wilted but not all have burst, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

  3. Cool tomato mixture to room temperature; discard thyme and any random tomato stems. At this time, additional fresh herbs can be added, if desired. Can be served immediately.

  4. To store tomatoes, transfer the mixture with the accumulated pan juices to an airtight container. Top off with additional extra virgin olive oil so that all tomatoes are fully immersed. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Be sure to bring to room temperature before serving.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit

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Wondering how to use those plentiful tomatoes?

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Recipe Rating




  • This is a terrific recipe, easy to make and incredibly versatile. I love it! I have a question, though: if I pull in my last giant harvest of cherry tomatoes and freeze them whole, can they be defrosted and used in this recipe? Has anyone tried.
    Thanks again!

    • Jim, I’m so glad to know that you love this recipe! You are so fortunate to have a giant harvest to enjoy! I haven’t personally tried this recipe using tomatoes that had been previously frozen but I suspect that you could with some success. I have frozen the roasted tomatoes and they were fine …just not quite as firm in texture as the ‘just-from-the-oven’ version. I would love to hear from you if you give it a try!

      • Thank you for the response, and I’ll keep
        you posted. Another question, re: your Tomato jam recipe. Won’t the sugar on the bottom layer burn & stick to the pan/Pyrex baking dish? Should I line with foil? My fear is that the jam will taste like aluminum foil if I do that ?

        • Hi, Jim. I haven’t had an issue with the sugar burning at all. During the roasting process, quite a bit of juice is released from the tomato slices which helps to keep the sugar moistened. I use my 5 1/2-quart le creuset dutch oven and it cleans up so easily afterwards …no sign of a burnt residue at all. Another thing – I place it on the shelf in the middle of the oven. Definitely don’t have the shelf positioned too close to the oven floor. And I would not recommend using aluminum foil! Happy roasting!

          • Ultimately turned out great, just needed a little extra time. Once it starts to thicken from juice into jam, the process moves quickly! I was wondering if you ever tried to sub a dried chipotle or Morita for the guajillo or New Mexico dried Chile in the photos? I think it would lend a nice smokiness; might be a little too spicy. For some, though…

          • So glad the end result was a good one! As far as the peppers go, we tend to lean toward milder versions in my household. If you like to heat things up a bit more, I would go for it!!