They’re finicky little buggers…
…tomatoes, that is.
It’s near impossible to predict which years will result in bumper crops, and which years will be complete flops… And let me tell you, I’ve definitely had both! (I’m hoping this year’s deep-mulch method will improve my odds!)
My tomatoes usually like to stay green and rock-hard until late September–right up until the first freeze. The plants must get some sort of evil enjoyment from watching me frantically strip the vines on the crisp autumn afternoon before the first frost is predicted. It’s pretty common for me to have boxes upon boxes of green tomatoes sitting in my house as I wait for them to finally ripen.
Because of that, I usually cave and buy boxes of tomatoes from my farmer’s market to satisfy my summer tomato craving, and making simple sun-dried tomatoes is one of my favorite ways to preserve them for later.
I especially like making sun-dried tomatoes when I don’t have enough ‘maters to justify breaking out the canning equipment to make sauce. Some sun-dried tomato tutorials add a lot of extra steps, but I like to keep my method simple and quick.
Two Caveats to This Post
1) I know, I know… I call ’em “sun-dried” tomatoes, but you don’t really need the sun to dry them. Although I suppose you could stick them in your car on a hot, sunny day if you wanted too. But, the dehydrator is much simpler.
2) I bought these ‘maters from Bountiful Baskets, I didn’t grow them… My tomato plants hardly even have flowers on them yet, so if you were starting to feel bad about not having homegrown tomatoes yet, please don’t. 😉
Simple Homemade Sun-Dried Tomatoes
You Will Need:Â
- Firm tomatoes (I prefer to use paste-type tomatoes for this (like Romas), but really, any tomato will work)
- Dried basil or oregano (optional)
- Dehydrator (like this one)
Instructions:
Wash the tomatoes, cut off the tops, and slice them into roughly 1/4″ slices (you can totally eyeball this–no need to measure). Some sun-dried tomato tutorials call for you to peel and seed the tomatoes first, but I have’t found that to be necessary.
Place the tomato slices on your dehydrator trays, and sprinkle with dried oregano or basil (if desired).
Dry the tomatoes at 140-150 degrees for 8-10, or until they are leathery, yet still pliable.
Remove the ‘”sun-dried” tomatoes from the trays and store in an air-tight container. Store in the freezer or fridge to maximize shelf life.
Depending on how much moisture you removed, your tomatoes should last quite a while–especially if you store them in the freezer or fridge.
How to Use Sun-Dried Tomatoes:
Add your sun-dried tomatoes to pastas, stews, casseroles, soups, and whatever else you can think of! I will sometimes even rehydrate mine in a bit of boiling water, and then puree them in the food processor to create various sauces and pestos. They are a special treat in the dead of winter when all the tomatoes at the store a anemic-looking and flavorless…
Prairie Girl likes to eat them plain as an afternoon snack too. 🙂
Notes
- Select the firmest tomatoes you can. The mushy ones take forever to dry!
- The thicker the slices, the longer the tomatoes will take to dry.
- Your sun-dried tomatoes will last a looooong time, depending on how much moisture you removed. I’ve had my bags of sun-dried tomatoes last for over a year in my fridge.
- Don’t have a dehydrator? You can also dry them in your oven at 150 degrees for several hours–or until they are leathery.
Simple Homemade “Sun-Dried ” Tomatoes
Ingredients
- Firm tomatoes (I prefer to use paste-type tomatoes for this (like Romas), but really, any tomato will work)
- Dried basil or oregano (optional)
- Dehydrator
Instructions
- Wash the tomatoes, cut off the tops, and slice them into roughly 1/4″ slices
- Place the tomato slices on your dehydrator trays, and sprinkle with dried oregano or basil (if desired).
- Dry the tomatoes at 140-150 degrees for 8-10, or until they are leathery, yet still pliable.
- Remove the ‘”sun-dried” tomatoes from the trays and store in an air-tight container. Store in the freezer or fridge to maximize shelf life.
- Depending on how much moisture you removed, your tomatoes should last quite a while–especially if you store them in the freezer or fridge.
I was totally feeling bad about not having tomatoes yet! So glad to hear yours are bought. 🙂 We had 22 great looking tomato plants, lost them all to a sudden frost. Grr. We had to start all over and we are just hoping that maybe we will get some tomatoes this year. If we do, I shall try this!
If you will hold the water from the tomatoes it will help ripen them. Not to the point of wilting but just a bit dry. Also use tomato set on early blossoms to set the fruit.
why do my tomatoes stick to the trays I think I do everything correct just wash slice and place them on trays but when I start to remove them they are stuck and have to scrape off. help please
Good Morning…
Try spraying the racks LIGHTLY with Pam or brush with olive oil.
Good Morning…You’re making me DROOL so early this morning !!!!
I LOVE sun dried tomatoes and/or roasted tomatoes.
The only thing I do differently is I slice mine from top to bottom.
They may take a bit longer to dry but they are meatier.
When Roasting, I toss with oregano, basil, garlic powder and a small amount of olive oil. Put on a cooling rack set on a cookie sheet and Roast at 350F till a bit charred. I eat them like candy ! And in salads, on pastas etc.
Thx for a Wonderful view of what’s to come out of our gardens.
Oh my– now you’re making ME drool! yum!
In my ignorance, I thought sun dried tomatoes required placing the tomatoes in the sun, where it would take days to ripen them and they’d be exposed to every curious critter and insect of the outdoors (ick!) I just got my dehydrator and am so excited I can make wonderful “sundried” tomatoes in the confines of my home! My tomatoes aren’t even flowering yet so I may have to trek off to the local farmers market. Thanks for the great post! I look forward to trying this!
You are welcome Brenda–enjoy those maters!
Do we need to put in oil after to preserve?
If you just want dehydrated tomatoes, you can keep them dried.
I love to make “sun-dried” tomatoes in my dehydrator. Last year, we had an excess of cherry tomatoes and I sliced them in half to dehydrate. It was so simple! They were delicious! I hadn’t thought of adding basil directly to them though. Love that idea! Thanks!
We like to sun dry small grape or cherry tomatoes so we don’t have to do any slicing, and they’re perfect little dimes to put on salads.
Can’t wait to try this! It may be October before we had tomatoes though as we got a really late start. Bountiful Baskets — I miss them since we moved to the farm in Kansas. Those baskets were full of deliciousness!
We solved our green tomato saving before the frost hits problem. We just pulled up the tomato plant, roots and all and hung the plants upside down on our attached garage where the temp usually stays above freezing. We were eating “vine ripened tomatoes” well into December.
That should read “in our attached garage” and not “on our attached garage”. Excuse my fat fingers.
That is such a great idea Helen. I will def try that this year. Thanks for the tip.
Helen Corey, I didn’t know you could do that. Definite addition to my harvesting plans!! Thanks much.
I had the same problem last year of not having my tomatoes ripen. I read (somewhere that I, of course, do not remember) that it comes of being too generous with watering . I lightened up on the watering, and the tomatoes started turning red within the week!
ooooh… good to know!
My Goodness! Gorgeous picture of the bard rock below! Looks like my Princess Fianna whom I’m taken to calling Fifi. She & I are having our afternoon snack now hiding from the rest of the heifers…. I mean hens. Looking at the picture of your basket of eggs I’d say we have a lot of the same heritage girls. Anyhoo, I’m wondering after this wonderful post about preserving the sun dried (yes, call them sun dried if the sun is out when you put them in the dehydrator!) tomatoes would preserve well in olive oil. Potentially also since you mentioned putting them into sauce, pressure canning a few jars w/ them in there for the winter mths. Plus what about a food saver bag? See we do broiler chickens & can have 25 chickens in our freezer & have yet to buy a deep freeze! Space gets a little tight & I cook & freeze ahead of time! Just seeing if you have any knowledge.
Ps I’m so glad to have bumped into your blog 🙂
go to rain country vlog on youtube. in the description look up brake bleeder. she has a vlog on how to use. game changer.
wow…this late in June and you don’t have but a few flowers? Where are you located and when did you plant? Are you starting seeds indoors and planting out or starting from seed after first frost? the latter may be the issue for you as they need more time to get growing. I haven’t had but one or two grapes that turned already but I certainly have plenty on the vine working hard! I’m in Central NJ and started with small plants around mid may. Also, consider when planting out (if you don’t already) burying them deep and only leaving about 2-3″ sticking up or even doing the horizontal planting method as both of these will encourage more root growth and better ground support. I hope you get a late bumper for your efforts! You may also consider the varieties your growing too may not be the best for your area.
In your directions for using a dehydrator you say 8-10..is that minutes, hours, days or weeks? Thanks! Hoping to try this. I must have 10 million tomatoes on my vines!
Haha, Lana! I was wondering the same thing… 8 to 10 (whats?)
8-10 hours.
I use my dehydrator all the time, and usually it is 8-10 hours. although I dry mine for longer…..
8-10 hours in the dehydrator.
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Happy 4th of July All !!! After you get a ton of dried tomatoes, pop them in your coffee grinder and make tomato powder ! Google it and you will be amazed at all you can do with powders !
I make green bean, corn, carrot, kale/greens, onion, garlic, (don’t throw away those garlic and onion tops, dry and powder them), celery, pumpkin/squash, lemon/lime, well almost anything you can think of powder ! Enjoy !
Only have 5 tiny green tomatoes right now but as soon as I get some ripe ones I’m trying this recipe. It sounds so yummy. I have a dehydrator so this is great, and I like the idea about adding the basil and oregano from the start. I just picked some basil to dry. Already have some oregano dried.
Love your blog. Happy 4th of July.
Jill, try adding parmensan cheese with basil and dry. Like eating a pizza. so good!
I love drying tomatoes in my dehydrator. I dry them totally and then grind them in a coffee grinder to make tomato powder. The tomato powder has a great shelf life when stored in airtight jars. I use the tomato powder like tomato sauce. It is so good.
We also buy from bountiful baskets. I am definitely trying this. Thanks.
Hi Jill
Love this and you made it sound soooo much easier than the other info I have read. I do have 1 ? for you.
How do you think they would taste and last if I put them in a mylar bag with a oxygen absorber. I really don’t have a big fridg.& freezer to be trying to store these in. Also do you know if I could just put them in EVOO as well and would I have to store them in the fridg. then too? Sorry I’m kind of clueless with some of this gardening info…BUT I’m learning. Thanks in advance
Hey Jill,
I thought it was only us Aussies who called every thing and every one Bugger, glad to see you have some good quality culture in ya.
We have more tomatoes than we know what to do with, I am not a tomato-ologist but have discovered that the little buggers need a PH of about 6 in the soil, and the soil needs to be warm enough when planting for the little darlings to get their act together. They do not like too much nitrogen, that creates foliage but maybe not much fruit.
They also don’t like water on the leaves, best to water at ground level, but I’m sure you all know this anyway,
They need a warm summer too, it may be too cold where you are.
Here in central Qld, they are going berzonkers with our warm spring weather.
Great web site Jill,
Bevan (an ole bugger)
I SO LIKE sundried tomatoes! Only have toaster oven..so how would I use that?
When I’ve dried tomatos I’ve had them stick. What l do is when they start feeling “dry” l flip them and then they do not become part of the drying rack. I’ve had tomatos and apples stick so hard that I’ve had to soak the trays in hot water to get them off (such a waste), so flipping works for me
Oh wow! Thanks for sharing your tips! Yeah that would really stink for your tomatoes and apples to stick that badly.
What is another way to store sun dried tomato if there is no room in the refrigerator, and how long will they keep?
The dehydrator is also great for making tomato ‘raisins’ out of the gazillion yellow pear and cherry tomatoes that overwhelm my veggie bins by June 🙂