The BEST Tomato Pesto: this recipe combines roasted tomatoes, fresh basil, toasted pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese for an authentic flavor that beats raw or sun-dried variations. Best of all, it’s still so simple to make.
While I’ve been making a classic basil pesto for 20+ years, I started experimenting with a tomato version this summer. And let me tell you, I am kicking myself for not developing this when I was a personal chef. This ode to summer tomatoes would have been all over my summer party menus!
Trust me when I say it is the roasting takes this recipe from good to excellent. And I’ve got the foolproof instructions you need to make this perfectly the first time.
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Why Make This Recipe
- Roasting fresh tomatoes concentrates sweetness and savoriness
- Classic pesto ingredients deliver true Italian flavor (only 6 ingredients total!)
- Great as a pasta sauce, a spread for crostini or sandwiches, or even a dip
- The perfect way to use up extra tomatoes during peak tomato season!
🥗 Ingredients
- Tomatoes: Ripe summer tomatoes are key—plum or slicing varieties both work. I do prefer plum tomatoes though because they are meaty with fewer seeds.
- Olive Oil: I love extra-virgin olive oil for the best flavor and silky texture.
- Pine Nuts: Classic in a pesto recipe, but feel free to swap them out for other nuts. Almonds or walnuts would make good substitutes.
- Basil: Adds more summery flavor to the pesto. You can swap parsley for half of the herbs if you like.
- Parmesan Cheese: Use a high-quality parmigiano reggiano cheese, as you can really taste it in this recipe. Leave it out for a vegan version.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Halve 1 pound plum tomatoes or cut large tomatoes into thick slices.
Put into a large bowl, and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and ¼ teaspoon salt.
Lay out in a single layer on a foil-lined sheet pan or baking sheet and roast for 35-40 minutes, until tomatoes are softened and starting to brown around the edges.
Meanwhile, toast ½ cup of pine nuts in a small nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Watch carefully, as pine nuts turn quickly from toasted to burned. Let cool.
Scrape roasted tomatoes into food processor. Add in cooled toasted pine nuts, ½ cup packed basil leaves, ½ teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese, 4 tablespoons olive oil, and 1 peeled garlic clove.
Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Taste, and add more salt, as desired.
If you want a looser pesto, feel free to add more olive oil.
Storage Tips
Store leftover tomato pesto in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To make sure the color stays fresh, try drizzling a little bit of olive oil over the top. You can also freeze pesto in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
Try storing in ice cube trays so that you can pop out a cube whenever you need one. Great for adding flavor to soups!
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Tomato Pesto
Yes! Just halve them and roast as directed. They may cook a bit faster, so start checking around 25 minutes. Also, when you start to blend the ingredients together, start with only 2 tablespoons of olive oil since cherry tomatoes may produce more liquid when roasted. Add more olive oil as needed.
Absolutely. Walnuts, almonds, or even sunflower seeds can work in place of pine nuts, though the flavor will vary slightly.
Nope! Roasting softens the skins, and everything gets blended together smoothly.
Yes—just leave out the parmesan or replace it with a vegan alternative or a spoonful of nutritional yeast for that cheesy flavor.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
Use the ripest tomatoes you can find—they’ll give you the best flavor and color for this red pesto. If you don’t have super ripe tomatoes, try adding in a few sun-dried tomatoes for extra depth of flavor. This is particularly helpful in the winter months when tomatoes are at their worst!
Don’t blend for too long. You want a bit of nutty texture in your pesto, and some little specks of green from the basil are very pretty. If you blend for too long, the color will wash out a bit from blending the green into the red tomatoes.
If you’re making tomato pesto pasta with this recipe, be sure to save some pasta cooking liquid before you drain the pasta. Then toss the pasta with the pesto, stirring in some of the reserved pasta water to make a smooth sauce.
Of course there are lots of other uses for this pesto rosso besides pasta and gnocchi. Serve with some baguette garlic bread on the side. I also love spreading it on a crostini and topping with mozzarella cheese or burrata and slivered basil. It’s great for a sandwich spread or spread for a wrap as well.
Dollop some on grilled fish or roasted vegetables. Try it on a grilled cheese sandwich! You can also stir it into soup, or even use it as a pizza sauce. If you want to really get creative, try using it for a version of Oeufs Cocotte—just dollop some pesto in the bottom of each ramekin before adding the cream and eggs.
Other Tomato Recipes
Love summer tomatoes as much as I do? Here are a few of my other must-make recipes when tomato season rolls around:
If you try this tomato pesto recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Easy Roasted Tomato Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 pound ripe tomatoes
- 5 tablespoons olive oil divided
- ½ cup pine nuts
- ½ cup packed basil leaves about 20g
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 garlic clove peeled
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Halve plum tomatoes or cut large tomatoes into thick slices.
- Put into a large bowl, and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Lay out in a single layer on a foil-lined sheet pan and roast for 35-40 minutes, until tomatoes are softened and starting to brown around the edges.
- Meanwhile, toast pine nuts in a small nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently.
- Watch carefully, as pine nuts turn quickly from toasted to burned. Let cool.
- Scrape roasted tomatoes into food processor.
- Add in cooled toasted pine nuts, basil, remaining salt, parmesan cheese, remaining olive oil, and garlic clove.
- Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. If you want a looser pesto, feel free to add more olive oil.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this homemade pesto recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
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