Easy Tomatoes Recipes for Salads, Sauces, and Healthy Meals

Fresh and canned tomatoes are not interchangeable in serious cooking. Fresh tomatoes are best in summer when actually ripe, in winter, the supermarket varieties are picked green and gas-ripened, which produces watery, flavorless results. For most home cooking from October through May, San Marzano canned tomatoes outperform fresh winter tomatoes by every measure. For summer when tomatoes are actually ripe, fresh wins.

For marinara sauce, the technique depends on the season. Summer marinara uses chopped fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil. Winter marinara uses canned San Marzano tomatoes (crushed by hand) with the same other ingredients. The garlic infused into the olive oil at the start is the defining technique, the oil carries the garlic flavor into every part of the sauce. parmesan cheese grated over the top at serving completes the dish.

For roasted tomato soup, the technique is to halve 2 lbs ripe tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder, roast at 425°F for 30-40 minutes until caramelized at the edges. Transfer to a pot with chicken or vegetable broth, simmer 15 minutes, blend smooth. The roasting concentrates the tomato flavor in a way fresh-blended cannot match. Finish with a swirl of heavy cream for richness.

For storage, fresh tomatoes keep 5-7 days at room temperature, never refrigerate ripe tomatoes (the cold kills the flavor and texture). Refrigeration is fine for already-cut tomatoes (3-4 days) or to slow the ripening of nearly-overripe ones. For meal prep, oven-roasted tomato halves keep 5-7 days refrigerated and brighten salads, grain bowls, and pasta dishes for the full week. The salt, olive oil, and roasting concentration carry the tomato flavor through the storage period. Other reader picks that build on tomatoes include Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce and Easy BBQ Chicken Naan Pizza. Browse basil, olive oil, and salt for closely related cooking applications.