Looking for a few easy ways to freeze all of those tomatoes? There is no faster or easier way to preserve an overly large tomato harvest than by freezing your tomatoes – and it couldn’t be simpler to do!
It always seems to take forever for those first tomatoes to ripen in the garden. You wait patiently as the plants grow, flower and finally begin to produce green fruit. But once those first tomatoes start turning red, the harvest can quickly go from a handful of tomatoes to more than you know what to do with. Before long, baskets, bowls and countertops can be overflowing with ripe tomatoes that need to be used before they begin to spoil.
Of course, canning is one of the most popular ways to preserve a large tomato harvest. Homemade salsa, pasta sauce, tomato juice and whole canned tomatoes are all wonderful ways to enjoy your garden long after summer is over. But canning also requires quite a bit of time and preparation – not to mention heating up the kitchen with boiling water on an already hot summer day.
That’s exactly where freezing tomatoes can save the day! Whether you want to freeze them whole, diced or prepared for use in your favorite recipes, freezing lets you quickly put away an overflowing harvest without all the work of canning. Best of all, there are three simple ways to do it, allowing you to preserve those extra tomatoes now and enjoy them in soups, sauces, chili and more all winter long!
3 Easy Ways To Freeze Tomatoes
Preserving Half Tomatoes
If you love growing, harvesting and preserving paste tomatoes, this method is an excellent choice for freezing! It works great with Roma, Amish Paste, San Marzano, and other paste-style tomatoes.
Paste tomatoes are the choice when it comes to making sauces, salsa and marinara. And this quick and easy method can help you preserve plenty for having ready-made sauce tomatoes on hand anytime you need.
Simply wash tomatoes in cool water and slice in half. Next, take a spoon, scoop out the inner seed core and discard. Then, using the method from above, place the half-tomatoes on a baking pan and freeze for two to three hours. Pop out of the freezer, remove the skins under cold water, and freeze!
You are left with ready-to-use sauce tomatoes that can be perfect for a quick sauce, a fast batch of salsa, or a ready to go marinara sauce that tastes like it just came from the garden. By slicing the tomatoes in half, you can also stack more together to save valuable freezer space as well.
So what if you are really overwhelmed with a big harvest and need to freeze lots of tomatoes fast? Then freezing them whole with the skins on is the answer!
Freezing Tomatoes Whole
One of the easiest ways to preserve a tomato harvest without canning is to simply freeze them whole – skins and all. It’s truly as simple as harvesting, washing, drying and freezing!
As with preserving any vegetables from the garden, it’s important to start by selecting only firm, blemish-free fruit for freezing. Even a small blemish or soft spot can quickly go bad when preserving a whole tomato, so always start with tomatoes that are fresh and free of any defects.
Wash in cool water and allow the tomatoes to dry thoroughly. Drying the tomatoes is critical before freezing to help avoid freezer burn. In addition, it keeps them from freezing and sticking together when you go to use them later.
Once dry, seal the tomatoes in an air tight freezer bag or container. Freeze in different size quantities to use as needed throughout the year. Freeze a few bags with just a few tomatoes for small dishes, and a few larger ones for family meals.
When storing, vacuum sealers work best. They remove the excess air and protect the tomatoes better for long term storage. Traditional zip up freezer bags will work, but the tomatoes will not keep as well or as long. Affiliate Link: FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer Machine, Automatic Bag Detection
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Freezing Tomatoes Without Skins
For many recipes, it’s best if the skins of the tomatoes are removed. And for this reason, freezing them without the skins can make using them later much easier.
The most traditional method is to place the tomatoes in scalding hot water, and quickly place into an ice bath. That process works, but it can be difficult. Even more, it can be hard and quite hot on your hands to peel the skins off. But there is an easier way. And better yet, it involves no scalding hot water at all!
To begin, wash the tomatoes in cool water and then slice off the top stem. Dry off the tomatoes and place in the freezer on a shallow pan. Baking pans work best for this but any shallow pan will do.
All you have to do then is wait. Allow the tomatoes to freeze for two to three hours. Remove them from the freezer and run under cold water over them. It’s quite amazing but the skins will separate and slip off easily from the tomato!
All that is left is to pack and freeze the now-peeled tomatoes in an air tight container or freezer bag. Again, it’s best to save some smaller and larger bags for small or large dishes so there is little waste later on. Affiliate Link : Gallon Freezer Bags
Don’t Forget Sun Drying Tomatoes
If you are still looking for other ways to preserve without canning, give sun drying your tomatoes a try. Although you can truly use the sun for the entire process, it’s also quite easy to use a low setting on your oven to accomplish the same result.
For more on the exact method, check out our article How To Make Sun Dried Tomatoes In The Oven – With Ease! It’s just one more way to preserve the amazing taste of fresh, homegrown tomatoes – without having to fire up that canner!
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This Is My Garden is a garden website created by gardeners, for gardeners. Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books and speaking for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. They publish three articles every week, 52 weeks a year. Sign up today to follow via email, or follow along!