The 50 Most Delish Fresh Tomato Recipes
Their season is short, we're eating ALL the fresh tomatoes we can.
Is there anything that tastes more like summer than a perfectly ripe, bright red, juicy and sweet tomato? Okay, okay, maybe a perfect peach…or strawberry…or blueberry… We’re admittedly pretty obsessed with summer produce, and for good reason. We’re all about canned tomatoes and tomato paste year-round, but there’s truly nothing better than in-season fruit (yep, tomatoes are a fruit!). Check out our easy tomato recipes for ideas—and get on it quick, the season is way too short.
When it comes to tomatoes, you really can’t go wrong, but there are a couple recipes here where one variety will work better than another. Baby grape or cherry tomatoes are great for threading onto grill skewers, like in our tomato gnocchi kebabs or Caprese bites; slicing in half for salads, like our tomato salad or Greek salad; or pairing with noodles, like in our baked feta pasta or our cherry tomato pasta. You can also roast them all on their own, or turn them into sun-dried tomatoes. Bigger tomatoes like beefsteaks or even Romas are best for when a recipe needs whole tomatoes, like our taco tomatoes or breakfast tomatoes; good-sized slices, like for a BLT or our Caprese steak; or for diced pieces that will hold together well, like in bruschetta or homemade salsa. Our favorite, heirloom tomatoes, are best for recipes where the beauty and variety of tomato slices will be on full display, like our burrata salad, tomato galette, Southern tomato pie, or tomato tart. See if you can find some at your local farmer’s market or community garden for the best flavors and colors.
Looking for tomato ideas, but it’s not summertime? Don’t sweat! Canned tomatoes are picked at the height of ripeness and then canned, so they’ll work for a number of these recipes (particularly the ones that get baked or sautéed). Check out our Italian pasta recipes, our favorite casseroles, and our top winter soups too—a number of them utilize canned tomatoes, to great effect.
Bruschetta
Nothing screams summer quite like bruschetta. Start by rubbing the toasted bread with garlic for an extra kick of flavor, then top them with simple marinated tomatoes for the ultimate summer snack.
Get the Bruschetta recipe.
Avocado Tomato Salad
Don't confuse this colorful salad with guac—there's way more depth of flavor and variety of texture, which makes it one of our favorite summer sides of all time. You're totally welcome to still eat it with tortilla chips. (Just know it tastes amazing without 'em too.)
Get the Avocado Tomato Salad recipe.
Tomato Galette
This tomato galette uses an herb-speckled, savory pie crust and is topped with ripe heirloom tomatoes and fresh ricotta for an extremely easy, yet impressive looking dish. Serve it for a light summer dinner or as an appetizer at your next outdoor party.
Get the Tomato Galette recipe.
Grilled Tomatoes
The char from the grill add a slight bitterness that balances a tomato’s acidity and sweetness really well here. You can season simply with salt, black pepper, and oregano and eat as is, but we love topping this with a flavor-packed tahini-Caesar dressing.
Get the Grilled Tomatoes recipe.
Taco Tomatoes
We're all for a genius low-carb hack—and these tomatoes totally deliver. We had never thought to stuff them with taco meat, cheese, and sour cream, but we'll do anything in the name of ditching a tortilla for a low-carb meal. You can change up the fillings for cheeseburger tomatoes, too.
Get the Taco Tomatoes recipe.
Fresh Tomato Sauce
When summer tomatoes start popping up, we often find ourselves with too many than we know what to do with. One of our absolute favorite ways to us them is to turn all our bright red and plump tomatoes into a super fresh tomato sauce. Try this recipe, and you'll see why—you may never go back to the jarred stuff.
Get the Fresh Tomato Sauce recipe.
Tomato Gnocchi Kebabs
Sure gnocchi is amazing served in a bowl with a sauce, but have you ever had nicely browned gnocchi taken straight off the grill? We’re here to tell you that the crispy-chewy texture is something that you've GOT to try this summer.
Get the Tomato Gnocchi Kebabs recipe.
Caprese Salad
For simple caprese salad, you want to avoid any cheese labeled as aged or "low moisture." These cheeses won't give you the luscious creaminess needed to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes here. If you can get your hands on it, look for any mozzarella that is packaged in water or brine, which really helps to maintain the cheese's flavor and texture.
Get the Perfect Caprese Salad recipe.
Homemade Salsa
A good, simple salsa is easy to make at home. To make ours the most flavorful ever, we use both cherry tomatoes and fresh off-the-vine tomatoes. We also roast some of the ingredients to intensify their flavors and make this salsa POP!
Get the Homemade Salsa recipe.
Baked Feta Pasta
This is the story about another viral TikTok trend that we kinda sorted wanted to hate...but didn't. Obviously roasting a block of feta with bursting tomatoes is going to be amazing. But is it good enough to break the internet? Our answer, begrudgingly, is yes. It's genius.
Get the Baked Feta Pasta recipe.
Easy Gazpacho
When late summer rolls around and the tomatoes turn juicy and sweet, we can't get enough of them. When we're not busy scarfing them down in caprese salad form, we love them in this classic summer soup. Our version not only has tomato, but also uses red bell pepper and cucumbers to really up that summer cornucopia flavor.
Get the Easy Gazpacho recipe.
Greek Salad
Known as horiatiki, this traditional Greek salad is made with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, kalamata olives, thinly sliced red onion, and feta. The easy dressing is a mixture of red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, dried oregano, and extra-virgin olive oil. Simply said, it's the best.
Get the Greek Salad recipe.
Southern Tomato Pie
Fillings for Southern tomato pies always include tomatoes, mayonnaise, plenty of cheese, and Dijon mustard, but our version's got a flavorful upgrade: chopped pimiento peppers, which lend the filling all the delicious richness of pimiento cheese dip.
Get the Southern Tomato Pie recipe.
Gnocchi Foil Packets
These foil packets trap in steam from the wine and juices from the tomato and corn as everything grills, which in turn cooks the gnocchi to perfectly tender while infusing the pasta with all the flavors of the dish. Bonus: Some of the meal browns a bit on the bottom right before it finishes cooking, adding extra flavor.
Get the Gnocchi Foil Packets recipe.
Burrata Salad
Think of burrata salad as caprese salad's fancy cousin. Peak-summer tomatoes are topped with this luscious cheese (think a shell of mozzarella filled with a soft, creamy filling) and garnished with a shower of peppery basil leaves and savory chives. 😍
Get the Burrata Salad recipe.
Classic BLT
A classic BLT doesn't need much to be good, but we added some special ingredients anyway! Here we really elevate the bacon by brushing it with maple syrup and a little cayenne pepper, and spice up the mayo with some chili powder and paprika for a little kick.
Get the Classic BLT recipe.
Cherry Tomato Pasta
This recipe is proof that a killer tomato sauce doesn’t need a long simmer on the stovetop. You'll create a robust sauce by concentrating the cherry tomatoes' flavor through bursting them in the skillet, along with other classic enhancers, like olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and red pepper flakes. Tomato paste intensifies the tomato flavor while also adding umami, which boosts the dish's savory qualities. Yum!
Get the Cherry Tomato Pasta recipe.
Summer Panzanella
Panzanella is one of those recipes that truly tastes like summer. It's one that you want to make in peak season—when the tomatoes are extra juicy, the squash slightly sweet, and the basil extra cheap. To give this classic dish more flavor, we grill the bread, zucchini, and onion until charred, then toss those with the remaining ingredients.
Get the Summer Panzanella recipe.
Roasted Tomatoes
These ultra-juicy roasted cherry tomatoes create their own sauce as they roast, an irresistible mixture of tomato juice and olive oil that’s every bit as good as the *actual* tomatoes. Don’t waste a drop–toss the entire tray into some freshly boiled pasta, spoon them over ricotta toasts for an A+ appetizer, or eat them straight up because they’re sweet and delicious. 😋
Get the Roasted Tomatoes recipe.
Tomato Jam
This jam is the perfect accompaniment for the ultimate cheeseboard—a charcuterie lover's dream! We love paring the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes with the earthiness of rosemary, but thyme or oregano would be delicious as well.
Get the Tomato Jam recipe.
Camille Lowder is the digital food producer at Delish, otherwise known as our resident queen of recipe galleries. Previously, she attended the Natural Gourmet Institute for culinary school and worked at/managed a number of New York restaurants. She loves anything vegan, foods masquerading as other foods (hello, cauliflower), and a well-used Oxford comma.
