I will show you how to make restaurant-worthy Cherry Tomato Confit at home. So easy, all you need is cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and a little patience!
Not nearly as hard as it sounds, my cherry tomato confit recipe is flavoured with some fresh herbs and will be your favourite condiment to make this tomato season.
This recipe is embarrassingly easy to make, and will give you rich and sweet little tomato bites that can be used in so many different ways.
Plus by using a whole head of garlic to flavour up our tomatoes, when they are finished cooking you will also have some gorgeously sweet garlic confit too. Mmmmmm.
As they cook, some of the tomatoes will burst (some won't) and that's fine - actually I think it's pretty great because they let out some of their juices into the oil to flavour it even more.
Table of Contents
What is confit?
In modern cooking, the term confit means to slow roast something submerged in oil (or sugar syrup for sweet) at a low temperature over a long period of time.
Why you will love this recipe
- Super easy.
- But seriously impressive!
- Taste amazing too.
What you need to make cherry tomato confit
*Please see the recipe card below for exact ingredient quantities and detailed instructions
- cherry tomatoes
- extra virgin olive oil
- a head of garlic - halved
- fresh rosemary sprigs
- fresh thyme sprigs
- salt and fresh black pepper
*Please see the recipe card below for exact ingredient quantities and detailed instructions
How to make this recipe
- Place cherry tomatoes in a baking dish in a single layer, along with rosemary, thyme and garlic halves (cut side up).
- Sprinkle with salt and black pepper.
- Drizzle over olive oil, making sure everything gets a coat of oil (a pastry brush is good for this).
- Turn garlic halves cut side down, then place in the oven to roast.
Top tips
- Try to find a baking/casserole dish that fit the tomatoes and garlic halves fairly snugly.
- The olive oil probably won't completely cover the top of everything - that's ok.
- Some of the tomatoes will split as they swell a little, and some will wrinkle slightly towards the end of the cooking time. This is normal - once they start to cool they will wrinkle more.
- You can leave the stems on the tomatoes or take them off, it's up to you. I like to leave them on for presentation - fancy!
- I like to bake this dish with the garlic halves cut side down, so the exposed part of the garlic cloves are completely submerged in oil for maximum flavour.
Variations
- Use a coloured cherry tomato mixture, or use cherry tomatoes still on the vine (even more visually impressive!).
- Change up the fresh herbs and replace them with chopped fresh basil or oregano.
- Add a pinch of red pepper flakes before they go in the oven for some heat.
Storage
Once they have cooled to room temperature transfer tomatoes and oil to an airtight container or glass jar and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Make sure that the oil completely covers the top of the tomatoes, if not top up with more olive oil.
How to use cherry tomato confit?
- Add these tomatoes to a pasta dish or a pizza.
- Serve a little bowl of these on your next grazing platter.
- A side for grilled meat, fish or chicken.
- Use them for the best ever bruschetta.
- Spread some sourdough toast with ricotta or cream cheese then spoon some of these confit cherry tomatoes on top with a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar for good measure.
- Glam up your next smashed avocado breakfast (or dinner) toast with these little gems.
Other recipes you may enjoy
Fire Roasted Tomatoes - slow roasted plum tomatoes (roma tomatoes) with garlic and fresh herbs. Use as a flavour packed substitute for the usual tinned tomatoes.
Miso Butter - a seasoned compound butter packed with umami to enhance almost anything from vegetables to protein.
📖 Recipe
Cherry Tomato Confit
Ingredients
- 500 g cherry tomatoes
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2-3 springs fresh rosemary
- 1 head of garlic halved
- ¾ cup olive oil more as needed
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- fresh ground black pepper
Watch me make this recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 100c.
- Place cherry tomatoes in a baking dish in a single layer, along with rosemary, thyme and garlic (cut side up).500 g cherry tomatoes2-3 sprigs fresh thyme2-3 springs fresh rosemary1 head of garlic
- Sprinkle with salt and black pepper, then pour olive oil over tomatoes and garlic.½ teaspoon fine saltfresh ground black pepper¾ cup olive oil
- Make sure everything has been coated in the oil, turn garlic halves cut side down, then place in the oven to bake.
- Bake (uncovered) for 1 hr 45 minutes - 2 hrs, or until the tomatoes are soft and slightly wrinkled (some will have burst) - they will collapse a little as they cool in the oil.
- Allow tomatoes to cool in the oil, then place them (and the oil) in an airtight container and refrigerate, adding more olive oil (if needed) to cover the tomatoes.
Notes
- My baking dish is 20cm x 26cm and the tomatoes and garlic fit pretty snugly in a single layer which is what you want.
- The olive oil doesn't need to completely cover the top of everything to bake - if some of the tomatoes are poking out the top that's fine.
- Some of the tomatoes will split as they swell a little, and some will wrinkle slightly towards the end of the cooking time. This is normal - once they start to cool they will wrinkle a bit more too.
- You can leave the stems on the tomatoes or take them off, it's up to you.
- I bake this with the garlic halves cut side down, so the exposed part of the clove is completely submerged in oil for maximum flavour.
Wow I love these. I have been putting them on everything. So easy too. Thanks.
My pleasure Adrien, I have been eating a lot of these too! L x