8 Ways to Use Up All of Your Cherry Tomatoes
I, like nearly everyone else with a summer garden, am completely overrun with tiny tomatoes. The cherry and grape varieties are more than abundant this time of year, and their reliably sweet, tangy flavor makes them a great option for tossing in salads, pasta dishes, and braising liquids and sauces. Here are eight of our favorite ways to eat cherry tomatoes, including no-cook pasta sauces, streamlined chicken en cocotte and a fresh, vibrant salad that’s “more exciting than caprese.”
Blistered Tomato Orecchiette with Fresh Mozzarella
Tossed with olive oil, garlic and seasonings, cherry or grape tomatoes blister and soften in minutes under the intense heat of the broiler. We deglaze their caramelized juices with a little starchy pasta cooking water to create a simple, flavorful, no-simmer sauce for orecchiette. Chopped basil, grated Parmesan and fresh mozzarella are stirred in near the end to create this summery insalata caprese–inspired pasta dish. A final few minutes in the pot lets everything mix, allowing the mozzarella to warm and melt.
Chicken Curry with Tomatoes and Yogurt
A yogurt-based marinade tenderizes succulent pieces of chicken while bringing a rich creaminess to the sauce. The marinade is flavored with fresh ginger—or garlic, or, better yet, both—and warm curry powder to balance the richness. Cherry (or grape) tomatoes, cut in half readily break down into the sauce, adding bright-tart notes and a vibrant red hue. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with basmati rice or naan to soak up the sauce.
One-Pot Tortellini with Cherry Tomatoes and Salami
There’s no need to boil a large pot of water for this recipe; we cook the tortellini right in the sauce, first browning it in olive oil, a step that builds flavor in the dish. Then cherry (or grape) tomatoes go into the pot along with a little water, some garlic and chopped salami. As the tortellini simmer and soften in the mix, they absorb the seasonings. Fresh tortellini, the type sold in the refrigerator case of the supermarket, is what you’ll want to use here, not the shelf-stable variety sold alongside dried pasta.
Roasted Eggplant Pizza with Cherry Tomatoes, Za'atar and Feta
This eggplant pizza with a Middle Eastern flavor profile is all about piling on the vegetables. Meaty, browned roasted eggplant, juicy cherry tomatoes, and savory shallots are rounded out with creamy, briny feta and pine nuts. Earthy za’atar adds lots of depth. “I’ve made it as written several times and it’s delicious,” writes one reader. “It’s also very flexible. Lately I’ve been peeling my eggplant and cutting it into the 1-inch cubes before roasting. This turns it into the sauce for the pizza and is a lovely thing.”
Pasta with Pistachios, Tomatoes and Mint
“I wouldn't have arrived at this combination in a million years, but I'm glad someone did—different, delicious and weeknight-friendly,” a reader wrote about this surprise hit, pistachio-and-tomato-dressed pasta. Colorful, subtly sweet pistachios feature heavily in Sicilian cuisine, and this recipe is our take on one taught to us by Doriana Gesualdi, owner of Sicilia in Tavola, a stone-arched trattoria in Siracusa. With lemon zest and mint as accent ingredients, the flavors are fresh and bright. Just about any variety of pasta works well, but we particularly like long strands, such as linguine and spaghetti.
Grape Tomato Salad with Parsley and Dill
“Much brighter and more exciting than a caprese” is how recipe developer Rose Hattabaugh describes this summery salad. Grape tomatoes are halved and salted to soften them slightly and season them through, and steeping the garlic and shallot in lemon juice for 10 minutes mellows their bite. It’s all tossed together to create something that’s utterly simple, yet punchy and vibrant. The salad is especially good with grilled meats or seafood, or spooned into a pita sandwich.
Rigatoni with Cherry Tomatoes and Anchovies
At Osteria ai Promessi Sposi in Venice, Italy, chef Claudio Furlanis taught us how to make a dish of his own creation—pasta tossed with cherry tomatoes, sautéed onion and anchovies. Furlanis briefly roasted the tomatoes to render them soft and juicy and to concentrate their flavor before introducing them to the other ingredients. The umami quotient was deliciously high from the tomatoes and anchovies, and each bite was extraordinarily satisfying and flavor-filled. This recipe is our adaptation of his dish. We swapped rigatoni for the very large, short, tube-shaped noodles we had in Venice and added some garlic and pepper flakes for a little pungency.
Chicken en Cocotte with Cherry Tomatoes, Green Olives and Oregano
In this streamlined version of chicken en cocotte (French for “chicken in a covered casserole dish”), we stuff the chicken in an Instant Pot with olives, dried oregano and fresh orange juice to build a powerful Mediterranean flavor profile. After we remove the chicken, we cook the sweet, citrusy juice down with the chicken drippings and other ingredients until the tomatoes burst, and stir in grated zest at the end to infuse the sauce with citrus essence. It all melds into an intensely flavorful (and efficient) pan sauce.
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Claire Lower
Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.
