Chefs share their go-to sauce using tinned tomatoes: ‘One pan, four possible dinners’

No one needs to be convinced of tinned tomatoes′ value in the kitchen. They’re budget-friendly, costing as little as 95c a pop, plus healthy, easy to use and enormously versatile.

In fact, they might be the ultimate pantry staple, and not just for us humble home cooks – the pros love them too. As chef Andrew Ballard tells nine.com.au, “If you have onions, garlic and tinned tomatoes, you’re never really without dinner.”

“Fresh tomatoes can be glorious, but they can also taste like wet packing foam when not in season. Just because we can buy them 365 days a year doesn’t mean we should,” Ballard adds.

“A good tin is picked at its prime so is reliably ripe, rich and ready to work.”

Elliot Styche, aka The Singing Baker, goes so far as to call the ingredient the “best friend of a no-waste kitchen”, especially when paired with “whatever’s lurking in the veggie drawer.”

“A tin of tomatoes is the start of a hundred dinners: sauces, soups, curries, shakshuka, stews. It’s affordable and lasts forever in the pantry,” he says.

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If you’re after some new ideas for that tin of tomatoes sitting in the cupboard, look no further: here, four chefs share the sauces they love to make with theirs, and how they use them.

Elliot Styche

The baker and Great Australian Bake Off alum loves to whip up a no-waste roasted pasta sauce, promising, “It tastes like it’s been simmering all day, and nobody ever guesses it’s your fridge clean-out.”

“Raid the fridge for whatever veg needs using up: half a capsicum, a soft zucchini, the last carrot, an onion, a few garlic cloves,” Styche says.

“Chop it roughly, tip it into a baking dish with a tin of tomatoes, a glug of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 200°C for 30–40 minutes until everything is sticky and caramelised.

“Then blitz it smooth and toss it through pasta with a splash of the pasta water and plenty of parmesan.”

Brendan Pang

For chef, author and content creator Brendan Pang, a tin of tomatoes becomes a comforting dish that “always reminds [him] of home”.

“I love using tinned tomatoes to make a quick Mauritian rougaille, which is a rich, tomato-based sauce that I grew up eating,” the Masterchef alum, who always has “a few tins” in his pantry, says.

“To do that, I cook down some onion, garlic, ginger, thyme and chilli before adding the tomatoes and lots of fresh herbs, and letting everything simmer until beautifully thick and fragrant.

“You can add sausages, eggs or even seafood, and serve it with fluffy rice.”

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Andrew Ballard

“Whenever I open a tin of tomatoes, I’m usually making what I rather grandly call ‘red sauce’,” chef, event leader and culinary strategist Ballard says.

“In reality, it’s onion and garlic softened in olive oil, a spoonful of tomato paste cooked until it catches slightly, then tinned tomatoes, chilli and whatever herbs are threatening retirement in the crisper.

“Let it bubble away until it becomes sweet, rich and glossy. From there it can become pasta sauce, a braise, shakshuka or a landing pad for a few meatballs.

“One pan, four possible dinners – the sort of maths I can get behind.”

In a cost of living crisis, who can disagree with that?

Miguel Maestre

If you ask chef, restaurateur and TV presenter Miguel Maestre, tinned tomatoes are “a lifesaver” in the kitchen.

“Slow cook with onion and smoked paprika and suddenly you’ve got a rich, beautiful sauce, like a quick sofrito. Use it for pasta, baked eggs, anything,” he says.

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