How to make your own delicious dried tomatoes

How to dry your tomato harvest to enjoy gourmet dried tomatoes all winter long

Like red gold

Like red gold

If you have a good crop of tomatoes in your garden, more than you can eat or give away, you can preserve them by drying them and enjoy delicious gourmet eating all winter long. Dried tomatoes are tasty additions to fresh pasta, sauces, sandwiches, salads, stir fry dishes and you can also enjoy them just the way they are, as a chewy tangy-sweet snack.

Fresh tomatoes from the garden are almost everyone’s favorite summer produce. Dried tomatoes are even better – their concentrated tomato flavor makes waiting for next season’s fresh crop easier during the long winter months.

Extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, and homegrown tomatoes

Extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, and homegrown tomatoes

You can make dried tomatoes in a commercial dehydrator, but did you know you can dry them in your oven as well as in the sun?

Tomatoes . . .. . . go into the oven for drying!

Tomatoes . . .. . . go into the oven for drying!

How to Dry Tomatoes in Your Home Oven

  • Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Arrange oven racks to allow air flow top and bottom. You can use 4 cooling racks, 2 on each oven rack.
  • Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise and arrange skin side down on the cooling racks side by side, not touching.  If you’re doing cherry tomatoes, just halve them. If you are doing larger tomatoes, cut them between ¼” and ½” thick. Arrange the slices crosswise to the wires on the cooling racks so they won’t slip through between the wires as they dry and shrink.
  • Sprinkle lightly with salt.
  • Arrange tomato-filled racks on oven racks, and start timing.
  • After 2 hours, start checking tomatoes for dryness. Remove tomatoes as they dry.
  • Cool on paper plates or towels, and then transfer to storage containers.
Half-way thru the process . . .

Half-way thru the process . . .

How to tell when the tomatoes are “done”
Drying tomatoes takes time, but you don’t need to stand over the stove or keep close watch for hours. They’ll dry slowly and won’t even need to be checked for dryness for a couple hours after you begin a batch.

After the first two hours, set your oven timer for half-hour intervals and check the tomatoes when the buzzer goes off, removing the finished ones to a foil-lined cookie sheet and then putting them into canning jars when they cool, covering them with extra virgin olive oil. You can add fresh garlic slices, which turn translucent and mellow in the oil, for a nice little added flavor.  Store the jars in the fridge.

Tomatoes shrink in size and get slightly darker as they dry, much like the way grapes do when they become raisins; the pulp will feel firm but flexible when they’re done.

Oven dried cherry tomato halves and fresh garlic slices basking in extra virgin olive oil.

Oven dried cherry tomato halves and fresh garlic slices basking in extra virgin olive oil.

Tips:

  • Dry tomatoes on a not too hot late summer or early fall day when you are planning to be home all day. It can take up to 12 hours to dry a larger, juicier tomato. Smaller, meatier tomatoes may dry in as few as 9 hours.
  • Keep the oven at about 200 degrees and you can do as many as three trays at a time. It takes up to four hours or more at that temperature, depending on whether you are drying cherry tomatoes, Romas, or regular large round tomatoes.
  • Every oven is different, and the key is really to watch them like a hawk after an hour or two—especially the tiny cherry tomatoes.
Fresh baby spinach leaves on roasted-garlic artisan batard, tomato-basil feta, oven-dried home-grown tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil, and fresh sliced garlic cloves.

Fresh baby spinach leaves on roasted-garlic artisan baguette, tomato-basil feta, oven-dried home-grown tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil, and fresh sliced garlic cloves.

Whole wheat pasta with oven-dried cherry tomatoes, basil ribbons, and grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Divine!

Whole wheat pasta with oven-dried cherry tomatoes, basil ribbons, and grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Divine!

 ‘Sun-dried’ Tomato Pasta
After boiling and draining pasta, add chopped sun- or oven-dried tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese (plain or tomato-basil), pitted and halved kalamata olives, several large fresh garlic cloves, chopped, extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil “ribbons” cut with scissors across the width of the leaves, salt and pepper to taste. The red, green, black and white ingredients look lovely together and it’s delicious.

Our own Bass Lake Farmer’s Market is still growing on until late in September. They have vegetables and fruit, flowers, nuts, honey, music and more.  They have tomatoes!

9 comments

  1. Desiree -

    What a marvellous post, Sue. I’m literally drooling over all the images you have shared here. The before & after tomatoes looked equally delicious and the pasta you made could go down so well right about now! With a glass of crisp dry white and seated on one of your charming patios! HEAVEN!

  2. daricia -

    i agree with desiree…my mouth is watering. will have to try this! just noticed you are near yosemite — i was just there earlier this month for the first time. i’m working on a post about it today. what a gorgeous state you live in!

  3. daricia -

    i agree with desiree…my mouth is watering. will have to try this! just noticed you are near yosemite — i was just there earlier this month for the first time. i’m working on a post about it today. what a gorgeous state you live in!

  4. Sue Langley -

    Thanks, you all, maybe because I’m growing tomatoes for the first time in a LONG time! I love making pasta(cheese tortellini) or bulgar wheat salads with anti pasta type ingredients lately. Basil, kalamata olives, marinated artichoke hearts, parma cheese, garlic, and these ‘sun’ dried tomatoes!

  5. Sue Langley -

    Thanks, you all, maybe because I’m growing tomatoes for the first time in a LONG time! I love making pasta(cheese tortellini) or bulgar wheat salads with anti pasta type ingredients lately. Basil, kalamata olives, marinated artichoke hearts, parma cheese, garlic, and these ‘sun’ dried tomatoes!

  6. Pam Link -

    Since I went overboard on buying tomato plants. I’m sure there will be an abundance. Thank you for the instructions for drying tomatoes. I have a easy roasted tomato pasta recipe. You make it with cherry tomatoes and it’s yummy. Last year I ate all of my cherry toms right off the vine and had to buy some. Can’t wait to try it with sun dried tomatoes.

  7. Pam Link -

    Since I went overboard on buying tomato plants. I’m sure there will be an abundance. Thank you for the instructions for drying tomatoes. I have a easy roasted tomato pasta recipe. You make it with cherry tomatoes and it’s yummy. Last year I ate all of my cherry toms right off the vine and had to buy some.

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