The stovetop version uses red cherry tomatoes in a skillet with oregano, thyme, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper, low heat, and patience. The direct heat means the tomatoes soften and burst more readily, caramelizing as they go and releasing their juice into the oil to create a sauce that is part confit, part compote, fragrant with herbs. The oven version uses small multicolored tomatoes with rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. The all-around heat produces evenly plump tomatoes with a slower burst, but this hands-off approach results in an equally jammy end result. Both methods produce something genuinely worth having in the fridge.
Confit is a classic French preservation technique, traditionally used for meat, but applied to vegetables and fruit as well. It means slow-cooking vegetables submerged in oil until they become something far more concentrated and complex than their raw form suggests. The oil itself is part of the result: it absorbs all the flavor of the tomatoes, garlic, and herbs as they cook, and becomes something worth saving for dressing a salad or finishing a dish.
The uses are almost too many to list, which is the point of making a jar rather than a spoonful. Spooned over burrata, tossed through pasta, spread on toast, stirred into eggs, served alongside grilled fish or chicken; tomato confit finds its place without being asked. It keeps for about a week in the fridge covered in its oil, and the oil itself picks up all the flavor of the tomatoes and herbs and becomes something worth saving for dressing a salad or finishing a dish.
Why You Keep Making This
Because once you have a jar of tomato confit in the fridge, you reach for it constantly without planning to. It goes on toast in the morning, into pasta at lunch, alongside a piece of fish at dinner, and each time it lifts a simple recipe into something that tastes like more thought went into the meal than it actually did. It is one of those preparations that requires very little effort and returns that effort many times over, which is the quiet argument for making it regularly rather than treating it as a special occasion condiment.
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Key Ingredients in This Recipe
You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.
- Tomatoes – I like using small tomatoes, but normal sized ones will work as well. Make sure they are ripe and flavorful.
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- Garlic
- Fresh herbs – I used fresh thyme and oregano in the confit made on the stovetop and fresh rosemary in the oven version.
How to Make Tomato Confit
Simmering tomatoes slowly in olive oil can be done in the oven or on the stovetop, either way, the results are similar, but the hands-on time differ.
Step 1A– Transfer the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs into a skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until the tomatoes start to burst. Lower the temperature to a very low simmer for about 1 hour. Stir every 10-15 minutes to prevent the tomatoes from sticking to the bottom. Turn off the heat and allow the tomato confit to cool down.
Step 1B– Transfer the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs into an oven-safe dish or baking sheet. Place dish in an oven (250°F) and roast for 1-2 hours. No need to stir.
Step 2A – After about an hour, most of the tomatoes have burst, partly due to the stirring. Remove the skillet from the heat and let cool in the skillet before serving.
Step 2B – At the end of the cooking time the tomatoes are wrinkled and completely tender but not falling apart yet. Remove dish from oven and allow to cool.
Storage & Reheating
- Tomato confit can be stored in an airtight container in your refrigerator and consume within 1-2 weeks. Make sure the tomatoes are submerged and never store garlic-infused oil at room temperature. Garlic is a low acid ingredient and when combined with oil and stored in a warm environment, it can produce the toxins that cause botulism..
- Tomato confit can be frozen. It may be handy to transfer it into ice cube trays for single serving easy use. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Reheat your tomato confit gently in its oil on a stovetop or in your microwave.
Alternative and Substitutes
The simplest form of a tomato confit would be a combination of tomatoes and olive oil, but there are various ways to add flavor to this delicious condiment. How to choose which flavor to add? That may depend on whether you make the tomato confit for immediate use or for future use. If it’s the first you can adjust the flavor for that particular dish. If you make confit to store it for future use, think about your cooking style and types of recipes to decide whether, e.g. you cook with a lot of garlic or rosemary would fit in many of your future recipes.
- Tomatoes: in principle any type of tomato will do, color or size-wise. I would recommend to use not tomatoes that are very juicy, watery – they may not get the same jammy result.
- Oil: olive oil is my oil of choice; very Mediterranean (as is tomato confit), but other oils are perfectly OK as well, like canola oil, or a vegetable oil.
- Garlic: Garlic is added for flavor, and the amount of garlic will totally depend on your preference. You can do without or add 10 cloves or even more if that’s you thing.
- Fresh herbs: You can choose which herbs you want to add and you have lots of choices; thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, sage, tarragon or majoram.
- Chili peppers, shallot, or saffron: all flavor additions that are worth trying.
What to Do with Tomato Confit
This list can become endless, as tomato confit can literally go on anything. That is the beauty of this condiment. Here are some suggestions:
- Pasta: Tomato Basil Gnocchi, Summer Corn Tomato Pasta with Basil, Spaghetti and Mini Meatballs
- Polenta: Creamy Cheesy Polenta, Polenta with Roasted Tomatoes.
- Rice & Grains: Tomato & Shrimp Risotto, Savory Steel-Cut Oats, Creamy Grits with Halloumi & Tomatoes
- Chicken: Pine Nut-Crusted Chicken Parmesan
- Sandwich: Salami Caprese Ciabatta
- Olive oil: the left-over olive oil is perfect to use in any dish that requires olive oil. This can be as simple as cooking meat, fish or vegetables. This means no waste.
Tomato Confit
Pin Recipe FacebookIngredients
- 1 pounds cherry tomatoes, one or multicolored
- 1/2 cup olive oil, (NOTE 2)
- salt & pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, optional
- fresh herbs, thyme, oregano, rosemary
Instructions
On the Stovetop
- Transfer the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs into a skillet.
- Cook over medium-high heat until the tomatoes start to burst. Lower the temperature to a very low simmer for about 1 hour. Stir every 10-15 minutes to prevent the tomatoes from sticking to the bottom.
- Turn off the heat and allow the tomato confit to cool down. After about an hour, most of the tomatoes have burst, partly due to the stirring. Remove the skillet from the heat and let cool in the skillet before serving.
In the Oven
- Transfer the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs into an oven-safe dish or baking sheet.
- Place dish in a oven (250°F) and roast for about 1 hour. No need to stir. At the end of the cooking time the tomatoes are wrinkled and completely tender but not falling apart yet.
- Remove dish from oven and allow to cool.
Notes
- When looking at the estimated nutritional value, you’ll see that the fat content is high. This is because all the olive oil is calculate, but you will not use most of it.
- The left-over olive oil is perfect to use in any dish that requires olive oil. This can be as simple as cooking meat, fish or vegetables. This means no waste.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.