Tomato confit is the easiest, meltiest, most delicious tomato recipe. Soft, juicy, packed with oregano and garlic aroma.
Tomatoes made this way can elevate any kind of meal; as a juicy side dish, a starter served with toasted bread, or as a topping to a bowl of pasta.
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What to expect
Tomato confit is a very simple recipe that you can make with just 5 minutes of preparation with any type of small tomatoes, like cherry, plum, or date tomatoes.
Confit is a cooking method where the food is cooked slowly, at a low temperature, usually with fat or/and sugar. It comes from the french "confire" which means to preserve.
Cherry tomatoes are particularly suitable to be made confit. The process of baking them slowly, at a low temperature, will boost their flavor.
In fact, those confit tomatoes have an intense, sweet, and yet salty, garlicky flavor, and they are a perfect umami booster on top of many other dishes.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Tomatoes: any type of small tomato is suitable for this recipe. Our favourite are cherry tomatoes, but you can also pick date tomatoes, plum tomatoes, and grape tomatoes. The tomatoes should be ripe.
- Olive oil: best if extra virgin olive oil. The flavour will be a lot richer with that. As an alternative you could use regular olive oil.
- Sugar: helps caramelize the tomatoes and it adds loads of flavour. It also balances the acidity of the tomato.
- Garlic and oregano: that's all we use to season the tomatoes. If you don't have oregano you could use dried or fresh thyme, or even other fresh herbs that you have at hand.
- Salt: sea salt and kosher salt are best, but you can also use table salt. We do not add black pepper to this recipe, but you are free to do so if you like.
How to make tomato confit
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit or 150 degrees celsius. Prep your baking tray. If you want you can line your baking tray with parchment paper, although that's not necessary.
I use a round baking tray but you can use any shape or any baking dish, as long as it fits all tomatoes comfortably, not one on top of the other.
Rinse the tomatoes, then cut them in half and arrange them on the baking tray, facing up. They should be placed close on a single layer, without overlap.
Season each tomato with salt, oregano - dried or a few fresh sprigs - and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Then add a pinch of sugar on top of each tomato. It's important that each tomato gets a bit of everything so that every bite is as delicious as the next.
Crush a couple of garlic cloves and add them to the baking tray with their peel.
Slow roast in the oven for about 1 hour and 30 minutes at 300F or 150C.
Do this if you love garlic
If you love tomato confit with a deeper and richer garlic flavor, then mince the garlic finely or mash it with a garlic masher, mix it with olive oil in a small bowl, then with a teaspoon apply the garlic-oil mixture on top of each tomato.
Season with the other ingredients and slow roast as instructed.
This way is more time-consuming, but your tomato confit will have an even more intense flavor. If you are a garlic lover, like me, you've got to try them this way.
They are so so tasty, the garlic literally melts in the tomatoes, and it gets all sweet. Let me know what you think if you do try.
Serving suggestions
The tomatoes are a perfect pairing with a freshly baked focaccia, dip the bread directly into the tray with the tomato confit - it's delicious! You can also eat them:
- As a starter: We like to serve tomato confit as a vegan starter with our caramelized onions when we have people over, for brunch or dinner.
- As a topping to a meal: But they're also a great addition to a vegan cacio e pepe or aglio e olio as an easy dinner topping. They are divine on tofu cream cheese, with our homemade ricotta, or on top of our mushroom pasta.
- For brunch: They are also perfect to spice up simpler dishes, on top of our zucchini pie, vegan frittata, socca or farinata, on bread with steamed artichokes, on a toast with tofu scramble, or on top of a white bean dip.
Get ahead
Cherry tomato confit keeps well in the fridge for a few days so you can definitely make them in advance.
For example, you can roast the tomatoes on a Sunday and use them for meal prep throughout the week. That's a super-easy way to flavor boost your salads, bruschetta and sandwiches, wraps, and pasta.
Similar recipes
We are big fans of tomatoes in our family! If you want more ideas on how to cook with tomatoes, here are some of our faves:
- Italian bean stew
- One-pot chickpea stew
- Lentil bolognese
- Sundried tomato pesto
- Creamy tomato risotto
- Baked tofu
- Tofu cacciatore
- Tomato cucumber salad
What are your favorite ways of cooking with tomatoes? We'd love to hear, let us know in the comments below!
Storage
Tomato confit keeps in the refrigerator for up to 6 days. To store them, put them in a clean jar and add a little olive oil to keep them moist. Do not store longer than that.
If you want to preserve them for longer I would recommend freezing them in small airtight containers. Let them cool down completely before freezing the tomato confit for up to 6 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Do not freeze multiple times.
Important: I do not recommend preserving confit tomatoes completely submerged in oil in a sealed jar for a long time unless you know exactly what you are doing.
Preserving food in oil, if done incorrectly, can create the right environment for botulism bacteria to grow, which we don't want to encourage.
For many more side dishes ideas, check out our sides category page.
Recipe
Tomato Confit Recipe
Ingredients
- 20 ounces cherry tomatoes or other small tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano or thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit or 150 degrees celsius. If you want you can line your baking tray with parchment paper, although that's not necessary.I use a round baking tray but you can use any shape or any baking dish, as long as it fits all tomatoes comfortably, not one on top of the other.
- Rinse the tomatoes, then cut them in half and arrange them on the baking tray, facing up. They should be placed close on a single layer, without overlap.
- Season each tomato with salt, oregano - dried or a few fresh sprigs - and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
- Then add a pinch of sugar on top of each tomato. It's important that each tomato gets a bit of everything so that every bite is as delicious as the next.Crush a couple of garlic cloves and add them to the baking tray with their peel.
- Slow roast in the oven for at least 1 hour and 30 minutes at 300F or 150C. The confit tomatoes should be very soft when they come out of the oven.
Video Recipe
Notes
Nutritional Values
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Linda Vestergaard
I loved this recipe. The tomatoes are very easy to cook, you just prepare them and leave them in the oven. Very tasty, we used them as a side dish to a hot meal.
Nico
Amazing, Linda! Very happy they were easy to prepare - thanks so much for taking the time to comment. Have a wonderful day, Nico
Catherine
I really like this recipe! I’ve made it 3 times in the past month because I love tomatoes cooked this way. I’ve substituted Greek oregano,thyme, and genovese basil in the recipe (because I grow all three in my garden) and they all worked very well.
Nico
That sounds just delicious, Catherine! Especially with the herbs from your own garden, yum! Cheers, Nico
Rachel
The smell while these were cooking was amazing, and the taste - wow! Making the focaccia to go with it tonight, can't wait to try them together. I love your recipes because they do not complicate or overwhelm the food but allow the flavours to really come out.
Nico
Thank you soooo much for your message Rachel. We are very happy you liked the confit tomatoes 🙂