Tomatoes Confit with Garlic and Herbs are tomatoes cooked in low heat for a long time to preserve their shape. This creates a mix of olive oil with flavor concentrate from the tomatoes, garlic and herbs that can be used over toast, pasta and fish!!
I love roasting tomatoes, marinating tomatoes, fire roasting them, making salsas or dips as well as using them in salads, soups or stews. Tomatoes are one of the few items that I buy in every grocery trip.
If you like to cook just garlic confit, feel free to check out my 1 minute video on how to make garlic confit!
What are the best tomatoes to use for this recipe?
This recipe is perfect for end of season when you get cheaper tomatoes with lots of flavor. You want to use ripe tomatoes that haven’t gone soft yet. They have the most flavor!
I love using cherry tomatoes for this recipe. I have also tried grape tomatoes, campari tomatoes and plum tomatoes.
On cherry and grape tomatoes, I just use them whole. While on plum and campari tomatoes, I roast them sliced with little oil then add them to a jar and cover in oil. So it’s a slightly different process for bigger tomatoes.
As per cherry tomatoes, you can use regular cherry tomatoes, medley cherry tomatoes or the ones I used for this recipe called Sugar Bomb Cherry Tomatoes. They are so sweet
Ingredients
So you can adjust some of these ingredients to your taste as recipe is not ridgid. Feel free to use this recipe as base and tag extra ingredients or change quantities.
- Cherry tomatoes – use red, ripe tomatoes but not soft. I used sugar bombs cherry tomatoes.
- Olive oil – use a good quality olive oil.
- Garlic – I used elephant garlic, but regular garlic cloves work just as well.
- Fresh herbs – I made a little bouquet with fresh herbs and tied it with kitchen twine so it makes it easier for removal later. I used rosemary, thyme and oregano.
How to cook tomatoes confit?
I love cooking tomatoes confit slow and in low heat for a long time. Garlic becomes soft and spreadable, oil becomes fragrant and infused with garlic and herb flavors, tomatoes become soft and flavor concentrate while still maintaining their shape.
While it is customary to add salt and pepper, I don’t add them to the baking dish. I tend to season afterwards once I know how I’ll use the confit.
How do you serve these tomatoes?
The main ways I serve these tomatoes confit are as follows:
- topping toast
- topping pasta
- as a side to grilled fish
Then I use them in soups or stews that require any form of tomatoes (anything from diced, sauce, paste etc). Both the oil and the tomatoes add so much flavor to these type of meals.
Finally, when tomatoes and garlic are finished I still have oil leftover. That oil, while doesn’t look as clear in color as regular olive oil does, it’s an amazing flavor add on.
Tomatoes Confit with Garlic
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 ozs cherry tomatoes
- 1 elephant garlic about 10-15 regular garlic cloves
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- 5 thyme sprigs
- 3 oregano sprigs
- 1.5 cup olive oil extra virgin
Instructions
- Peel garlic cloves, set aside. If they're too big, you can slice them too. Make a bouquet with fresh herbs and tie them together with kitchen twine.
- Rinse tomatoes and let them air dry in a colander. You can try to preserve the vine part so they look prettier but the stems and vine are not necessary.
- Add tomatoes to a shallow baking dish. A dutch oven like the one pictured or a cast iron dish work best, the heavier the better it absorbs heat and it keeps it.
- Add garlic, herbs and if you want salt and pepper. Cover the tomatoes in oil.
- Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Place baking dish inside the oven once it has reached the temperature. Let the tomatoes slowly cook for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let rest when done and add to a jar as soon as tomatoes confit are cool enough to handle. Serve as desired!
Notes
- Salt/pepper optional – you can add them to tomatoes confit as they roast and the flavor will be better incorporated. Or you can keep them out and add as needed based on how you’ll use these tomatoes.
- Store in an (affiliate) airtight glass jar in the refrigerator.
- Use over pasta, fish, grilled meats or over sourdough bread etc etc.
- ***Calories – please note that you’re not consuming the whole oil in your serving, it mostly spill over the bread and onto the plate etc.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
When I make tomatoes confit, we usually consume the quantity in this recipe within a week or so and I store them in an airtight glass jar in the refrigerator. If stored properly they’re safe to use for up to a month. Separate what you’ll use on daily basis and let that come to room temperature, while the the rest of the confit stays stored in the refrigerator.
If you would like to save this recipe for later, please save one of the pictures from this post to your boards in Pinterest. Let me know in comments if you made the recipe or if you have any questions. Any alterations or combinations you make are welcome:). I love learning from my readers.
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More Mediterranean Inspired Recipes
Feel free to check out some of my other Mediterranean inspired recipes:
- Roasted red peppers with feta cheese dip
- Oranges and leeks salad
- Bucatini cacio e pepe
- Lettuce and dill salad with feta cheese
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