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This has become a weekly staple in my fridge. SO YUMMY!! What a great idea, I never would’ve have thought of it.
Amelia Wallrich
Hey! I’m Lindsay.
I make a lot of garlic butter tomato sauce and put it on mostly everything.
What else do you wanna know?
It’s funny how this works, isn’t it? The week I made this tomato sauce for the first (and second) (and third) time, I had at least 500 neighbors and friends and relatives reach out to me and ask if I wanted some of their overflow garden tomatoes, knowing completely nothing of my new tomato sauce obsession. A little braggy of them, if you ask me, but yes, I would like your tomatoes. I may not be much good at growing my own, but I can rock the homemade garlic butter tomato sauce game.
And speaking of. Is it really tomato sauce or more of a luscious one-pan-magic type of situation? These are the important questions in my life.
How To Make Our Tomato Butter Sauce:
A week or so ago I made this garlic butter tomato sauce on my Instagram stories and a) LOVED your responses, and b) got asked this question: can you remove the skins and seeds?
This brings us to a very important fork in the road: if you are not big on skins and seeds, it’s time to swipe left.
I’m not saying it to be mean. I’m just saying that the entirety of the sauce is made from cherry tomatoes, which are made up of 95% skins and seeds, so if you were to take all of that out, there wouldn’t be much sauce left. Blessings for your journey, seed-hating friends. We will see you next time.
Meanwhile, those of us who fall more into the Humans Who Like Eating All The Things category will carry on with skins (blistered, just a little bit, because we fancy) and seeds in our “sauce” which, as we’ve established, is not really sauce.
Chutney? Spread? What exactly do we call something of this velvety texture?
As with most of my favorite recipes, this one is very forgiving and adaptable. So if you truly want this to be a garlic butter tomato sauce for your pasta, girl, get after it. Just use some broth or water (or this is just coming to me right now – RED WINE?) to spread it even further.
On the flip side, if you adore eggs on toast or roasted potatoes or grilled chicken or similar, and you like a little sumthin to thwap on top (think Magic Green Sauce style)? SWIPE RIGHT and let’s match. Is that what people say? I’m acting like I know dating apps right now.
Just…what I’m trying to say is you want this one. Exactly as written. It is thick, chunky, just a little tangy – hello there, balsamic – and packed with flavor thanks to some spicy garlic and a knob of butter to finish.
Bonus thing that deserves mention: everything tomato sauce + breakfast sandwich combo is not to be messed with.
Basic Garlic Butter Tomato Sauce
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup sauce 1x
Description
Basic Garlic Butter Tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes, garlic, balsamic, and butter. SO simple, good on everything.
Ingredients
- 2-ish cups cherry tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Place the tomatoes in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat with NO OIL IN THE PAN. We are trying to blister the outsides of the skins a little bit here.
- Once the skins get a little blistered and the tomatoes are looking soft, turn the heat down to avoid lots of splatter, and add the olive oil and garlic. Be careful not to brown the garlic.
- Press the tomatoes gently with the back of a wooden spoon so they break open and release their juices. Add the balsamic and let the whole mixture reduce until it’s thickened a bit, maybe 5-10 minutes.
- Finish with the knob of butter and season with salt to taste.
Notes
If you want a thinner sauce to go on pasta, add 1/2 cup or so of water just after adding the balsamic and just let it cook down a bit.
Fresh basil would be a good decision.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Sauce
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: garlic butter tomato sauce, butter tomato sauce, garlic butter sauce
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our Sauces That Make Everything Better roundup. Check it out!
I made this and added a small bit of shallots with the garlic. Absolutely delicious recipe that I’ll be adding to everything! I just discovered your site, “chef’s kiss”!
I tried this tomato garlic butter sauce recipe and it exceeded all my expectations. The flavor is incredibly rich, balanced, and comforting. The combination of sweet tomatoes, fragrant garlic, and creamy butter creates a sauce that tastes restaurant-quality yet feels homemade. Thank you so much for sharing, as from today this is a staple for me.
I know this is a weird question because this is called Garlic Butter Tomato Sauce, but I genuinely don’t like the taste of butter. Like hate it. It’s one of those strange food aversions where the mere smell and sight of it makes me gag. What could I use as a substitute, or would it be possible to just make this without it?
Can you freeze this recipe?
Yes!
Will certainly try the garlic butter tomato sauce recipe and more!
this recipe was amazing to make and taste, I’d 100% recommend especially in either toasties or burgers. this creator is a genius.
I used this recipe for my culinary 3 class and my teacher loved it. she comented to me if I was thinking about being in the culinary field and that I should try it. Best compliment ever. Thank you for sharing this<3
Hi! Do you think this would work with regular sized plum tomatoes? It looks so good!! Thanks!
Yes, I think that would work just fine!
So many pop ups I could not read and get through any of this…couldn’t even see it cuz the pop ups covered up everything !
I served this on good bread with mozzarella and basil for dinner and my husband and I devoured it. Will definitely be making again!
If I have a picky eater and want to make this for a pasta sauce, can I blend the sauce to make it less “chunky?”
Sure!
Made this today, so delicious.I only made a slight change by adding some fresh cracked black pepper. Will definitely make again
I can’t stop making this unique condiment. The family is enjoying the savory/sweet on everything from burgers to eggs, even stirred into Mac n cheese. So I made and jarred for gifts!
How does it do if you freeze it? I love this sauce and have tomatoes to use up, but know we won’t go through multiple jars in the next couple weeks. Hoping to hold on to some for winter.
We haven’t tried freezing this sauce yet, but we’d love to hear how it goes! We’d just recommend storing it in a freezer-safe container and only filling the jar/container 3/4 full.
Great recipe! What is the best way to store and how long will it hold for?
Hi, Sarah! We’d suggest storing this in a sealed container in the fridge for about 5-7 days. Enjoy!
This sauce has become the one recipe I make almost every week. I have it memorized! It’s truly good on everything – love it for weekend breakfast on a bagel or with eggs. My friends call it the tomato jam, and it’s velvety and truly delicious and so easy to make!
Made this today and wow — fantastic. I was eager to taste it so put it on a tortilla with eggs and cotija cheese. Maybe not a normal combo but it. was. so. good. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!
I can’t believe I’ve missed out on 3 years when I could have been eating this sauce on my breakfast sandwiches, but didn’t know it existed. Fortunately, fate has now smiled upon me, and this sauce was everything that was claimed!
So happy to hear it, Laura! Thanks for the comment!
I was taken aback about your reply to commenter about removing seeds . I can not have seeds due to health reasons. I will no longer read your blog due to flipint attitude to a persons health
This was So Great! I had to use regular tomatoes, which required some care to get every piece skin side down and a longer cooking time, but it still turned out amazing! First use was for veggie burgers, so I decided to add some pepper, a dash of smoked paprika, and a wee bit of Aleppo pepper flake just to deepen the flavors a bit. It was so tasty! And really adaptable I’d think, if you wanted to add an herb for something specific. So cool! Can’t Wait to do the egg sandwich [again 😐 ]!!!!
I’m assuming I can can this!? Yesss please! Thoughts?
Don’t see why not!
OMG, I only eat my tomatoes cooked, saw this recipe and had old cherry tomatoes in the fridge! So made this – so so good and super easy! I then made this 3 more times – yes,because this is THAT GOOD!!! Thank you!!
Yay! So happy to hear this, Grace!
Hi Lindsay,
I too do not like the skins of the grape tomatoes, can I use regular tomatoes? Those are easy to peel off. Would that change the flavor?
Regular tomatoes should work here.
Thank you so much, you have been so helpful getting back to me. I really appreciate your help, every time.
Happy to help, Helen! 😊
Hy Lindsay, I like this recipe and I would try this recipe in my home
OMG! What exactly is in that sandwich? It looks amazing! Can’t wait to try this recipe. Have you tried freezing in small portions?
Hi, Janice! You can find the breakfast sandwich recipe here. We haven’t tried freezing the sauce yet, but it should work just fine. Enjoy!