Tomato Sauce Recipe – a Slow-Roasted Italian Style Classic

Difficulty:

2/5

Serves:

10 PEOPLE

Prep Time:

25 minutes

Skip to recipe

Tomato Sauce Recipe

This Tomato Sauce recipe is a rich, slow-cooked classic made with oven-roasted Roma tomatoes, fresh herbs, and red wine for deep, balanced flavour. Featured on A Is for Apple and hosted by Robert Jewell, this sauce highlights simple ingredients and thoughtful technique to create a versatile, kitchen-staple tomato sauce. Perfect for pasta, braising, or freezing for later, this tomato sauce recipe is a foundational dish every home cook should master.

The Inspiration

Tomato sauce is the backbone of countless cuisines, but Italian-style sauces remain the gold standard for letting tomatoes shine. In this episode of A Is for Apple, host Robert Jewell focuses on building flavour naturally by roasting tomatoes before simmering them gently with aromatics and herbs.

Roasting the tomatoes concentrates their sweetness and removes excess moisture, creating a deeper, more complex base than raw tomatoes alone. Garlic tucked into the tomatoes mellows in the oven, thyme perfumes the sauce subtly, and red wine adds structure and acidity. Finished with fresh basil and oregano, this sauce captures the essence of rustic Italian cooking—unfussy, seasonal, and deeply satisfying. It’s the kind of sauce that rewards patience and becomes more than the sum of its parts, fitting perfectly with the show’s ingredient-first philosophy.

Ingredients

5 lb (2.3 kg) fresh ripe roma tomatoes
3 tablespoons (45ml) olive oil
1 whole head of garlic
1 bunch of fresh thyme about 12 sprigs
2 medium Spanish onions diced ¼ inch (.31cm)
2 cups (500ml) Italian red wine
¼ cup (60 ml) fresh oregano
½ cup (125ml) fresh basil
Salt and pepper
Balsamic vinegar or sugar OPTIONAL – see note

Methods

Wash tomatoes and cut in half lengthwise.
Remove seeds using your fingers. Discard seeds.
Place all tomatoes cut side up on 2 baking sheets. Drizzle with half of the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Peel garlic.
Slice all the garlic cloves thin. Place garlic slices into the cavities of tomatoes. Scatter the thyme all over the tomatoes.
Preheat oven to 400F (204°C).
Place tomatoes in oven to roast for 15-20 minutes or until skin is blistered, golden and skin slips off with ease.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Discard sprigs of thyme.
Remove skins and squeeze any excess juice of skins into bowl. Reserve. Place all peeled tomatoes and slivered garlic in bowl. Using your hands mash up tomatoes to break up any big chunks.
Place a large pot over medium heat. Add the remaining olive oil to heat for one minute.
Add the onions and sauté until translucent. Add the tomatoes and reserved juice.
Deglaze pan with red wine and bring mixture to a simmer. Roughly chop the oregano and add to tomatoes.
Over low heat cook until slightly thickened about 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat. Roughly tear up the basil and add to the pot with salt and pepper.
Serve with your favorite pasta with parmesan cheese.
Note: if sweetness is needed to balance the acidity of sauce you can add balsamic vinegar or pinch of sugar to round out the taste.

Serving Suggestions

This Tomato Sauce recipe is endlessly versatile and works across a wide range of meals. Toss it with your favourite pasta and finish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese for a classic, comforting dish. It also makes an excellent base for lasagna, baked ziti, eggplant parmigiana, or meatballs.

For casual meals, serve it with spaghetti or rigatoni and crusty bread. For entertaining, use it as a foundational sauce for braised meats or seafood. Because the recipe makes a large batch, it’s ideal for freezing in portions, ensuring you always have a homemade sauce ready for quick weeknight cooking.

Final Thoughts

This Tomato Sauce recipe is a celebration of patience, simplicity, and high-quality ingredients. By roasting tomatoes and building flavour gradually, Robert Jewell delivers a sauce that feels both rustic and refined. Featured on A Is for Apple, this recipe proves that great tomato sauce doesn’t need shortcuts—just care, balance, and respect for the ingredients. Whether served immediately or saved for future meals, it’s a foundational recipe that brings warmth, depth, and authenticity to the table every time.

Find more recipes from A is for Apple here!