Dairy Free Roasted Tomato Sauce
Roasting tomatoes low and slow — well, hot and patient — is the secret to a sauce that tastes like it simmered on the stove all afternoon. Plum tomatoes go into a 425°F oven cut-side up alongside onion wedges and whole unpeeled garlic cloves, and by the time they come out, the edges are caramelized, the flesh is collapsed, and the entire kitchen smells incredible. Everything gets blended with fresh basil, dried oregano, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and a touch of turmeric that adds warmth and a gorgeous golden depth to the finished sauce. The whole thing is naturally free of any dairy — no butter, no cream, no cheese — just good olive oil and vegetables doing exactly what they're supposed to do. That makes it a genuinely versatile base you can spoon over pasta, use as a pizza sauce, or stir into soups without worrying about hidden dairy sneaking in through a store-bought jar. The roasting step does all the heavy lifting, concentrating the natural sugars in the tomatoes and mellowing the garlic into something sweet and almost nutty. It's the kind of sauce that makes you wonder why you ever reached for a can.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
- 2 lbs plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 8 wedges
- 6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
- ½ tsp turmeric
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Arrange the tomato halves cut-side up on a large rimmed baking sheet. Scatter the onion wedges and unpeeled garlic cloves around the tomatoes. Drizzle with 3 tbsp of the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- 2
Roast on the center rack for 40–45 minutes, until the tomatoes are deeply caramelized at the edges, collapsed, and beginning to char in spots, and the onion wedges are softened and golden at the tips.
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