Freezing Tomatoes | How to Freeze Excess Tomatoes
The end of Summer / Early fall is when we are looking to use up all the excess tomatoes from the backyard garden. Freezing tomatoes has been my preferred method to store them for a prolonged period.
Late summer is a time when we, backyard gardeners, are bombarded with an overload of vegetables. Tomato is one vegetable that I always have an abundance of. I use tomatoes a lot, and hence when planting in spring, I plant many varieties of them.
When they are ready to pick, I usually end up having 10 - 15 lbs of them every week. I use fresh tomatoes to make thakkali thokku/pickle, salsa, oven-roasted tomato pasta sauce, and jams, but I still have a lot that I like to preserve. In winter, when the tomatoes are very expensive, the ones I store usually come in handy.
If you have a ton of cherry tomatoes, then you have to make this spicy spaghetti recipe. This is my go-to sauce in the summer months with garden-fresh tomatoes.
I have tried canning whole tomatoes, but I feel that it is more work, and I somehow do not like the texture of the canned ones. That is when I started freezing tomatoes. This technique for preserving tomatoes works exceptionally well.
I have been using this procedure for the past 8 years, and it has never failed me. Frozen tomatoes come in handy when making subzis and dals. They also work very well in making soups.
Certain vegetables could be just chopped and frozen, but for freezing tomatoes, we have to blanch them and then remove the skin. This way, the tomatoes are frozen inside out, and removing the skin also helps to keep them fresh and bug-free.
And if you grow your own potatoes and want to store them to use throughout the year, then try this process for Canning Potatoes. Best way to store homegrown potatoes!
The Roma tomatoes work great for freezing, and for this reason, I always plant plenty of this variety. I freeze these tomatoes in labeled gallon-size FREEZER bags. Please make sure that you use the freezer bags and not the storage bags. This will keep the tomatoes fresh and frost-free for up to a year.
Equipment Needed for Freezing Tomatoes
- Large vessel - to boil water
- Bowl with ice and water
- Long handle ladle
- Freezer bags
- Permanent marker
Procedure
- Choose ripe, firm tomatoes without bruises. Wash them well and remove the stems.
- Boil water in a large pot. The larger the pot, the more the tomatoes could go in in one shot. I usually do not add more than 6 tomatoes at a time just to keep the water temperature at a boil.
- When the water comes to a rolling boil, add the tomatoes slowly. Let the tomatoes sit in boiling water for 60 seconds.
- In the meantime, in a large bowl, add plenty of ice and about 4 cups of water. Keep it aside.
- With a slotted ladle, remove the tomatoes slowly from the hot water and transfer them to the bowl of cold water.
- Let it sit for 60 seconds and then slowly peel the skin. At this stage, the skin would come off very easily.
- Line the skinned tomatoes on a baking sheet. Make sure that the sheet will fit your freezer without any problem.
- Wait until the water comes back to a boil and then repeat the same steps with the rest of the tomatoes.
- Fill the sheet and keep it in the freezer for about 4 hours. By now, the tomatoes would be hard as a rock.
- Label gallon-size freezer bags with date and content, and keep them ready.
- Transfer the frozen tomatoes to the labeled bags and return the bags immediately back into the freezer. Make sure that you layer the tomatoes in a single layer. This way, they would stack up well in the freezer.
- Enjoy the tomatoes throughout the year.
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Recipes With Tomato As Main Ingredient
Freezing Tomatoes
Ingredients
- Large vessel - to boil water
- Bowl with ice and water
- Long handle ladle
- Freezer bags
- Permanent marker
Instructions
- Choose ripe, firm tomatoes without bruises. Wash them well and remove the stems.
- Boil water in a large pot. The larger the pot, more the tomatoes that could go in at one shot. I usually do not add more than 6 tomatoes at a time just to keep the water temperature at boiling.
- When the water comes to a rolling boil, add the tomatoes in slowly. Let the tomatoes sit in boiling water for 60 seconds.
- In the meantime, in a large bowl add plenty of ice and about 4 cups of water. Keep it aside.
- With a slotted ladle, remove the tomatoes slowly from the hot water and transfer it to the bowl of cold water.
- Let it sit for 60 seconds and then slowly peel the skin. At this stage the skin would come off very easily.
- Line the skinned tomatoes on a baking sheet. Make sure that the sheet would fit your freezer without any problem.
- Wait until the water comes back to boil and then repeat the same steps with the rest of the tomatoes.
- Fill the sheet and keep it in the freezer for about 4 hours. By now the tomatoes would be hard as a rock.
- Label gallon size freezer bags with date and content and keep it ready.
- Transfer the frozen tomatoes to the labeled bags and return the bags immediately back into the freezer. Make sure that you layer the tomatoes in a single layer. This way they would stack up well in the freezer.
- Enjoy the tomatoes through the year.
Notes
- Make sure to start with good quality tomato. If the tomato appears bruised or damaged, don't freeze them.
- Use only Freezer bags for freezing. Regular storage bags will cause freezer burns and the tomatoes would spoil.
- Removing the skin is very important, so the tomatoes don't get mushy.
This freezing tomatoes guide is a lifesaver! The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, and now I can enjoy the taste of summer tomatoes all year round.
Great and useful tips! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you so much for this tutorial. We had so many tomatoes from the garden last summer, and I followed your instructions here on how to freeze them. We're still using them, and they're perfect!
This was an informative post and so beautifully explained. Although we hardly get to freeze veggies in India becasue of our small refrigerators and availability of fresh veg and fruits throughout the year. I did freeze tonnes of strawberries this year though!
This is a great post Sandhya. I made some pure ans stored tomatoes but this looks like a better option.
I wonder how I missed this post! Looks like there is a gap and let me double check whether I have seen all the posts...dont want to miss any of the info!!
Great post Sandhya..You should do more of these, its very helpful!
That's agreat tip when you have loads of tomatoes.
How do you store your extra peppers?
Hi Vanitha,
If it is bell pepper, I wash them, dry them and the cut it into pieces and store. I usually do three different type of cuts for different ways to use in recipes. I slice them, cut it fine and also cut it in 1 inch pieces, so that depending on what I am making i use them.
The green chilies and any other kind of hot peppers, I either freeze them whole or chop them and the freeze. make sure you wash, dry and remove the stems before processing. Depending on their size I decide if I would freeze them whole or chop them. the tiny ones, i freeze them whole, so i can sue it in recipes that require grinding the chilies. Hope I answered your question!
Thanks Sandhya.
Btw I really envy your vege garden, especially the indian veges.
oh wow!!Never thought of freezing tomatoes...very useful1
Very useful post. Bookmarked!!
thankfully we do not need to use frozen tomatoes as yet, but with the rising prices of veggies, you never know..this is a recipe for that rainy day 🙂
Well written post Sandhya!Its nice toe preserve and use the garden produce.
Very informative.. Never knew that we can store tomatoes..
That is a very informative post. I have never tried freezing tomatoes...
That is an interesting way to preserve tomatoes. I usually cut them up and then freeze in small cups later transfer into ziplock bags.
oh this way you can have backyard tomatoes for the whole year... thanks for sharing this great info!!!
Sowmya
very useful info
Thanks for sharing such a useful post 🙂
very helpful post ..thank you.
Wonderful way to preserve veggies in this days when vegetables becomes so costly.
Thats an excellent and brilliant idea of freezing tomatoes, even i do the same way too.
Very useful for people growing their own tomatoes or when tomatoes are very cheap.
i mus say they look gorgeous. i wish i was ur neighbour and take some from the garden if u have so many 😉
https://goodeatstostyle.blogspot.com/
This is a wonderful post. .very useful and interesting. .very well explained.we normally buy organic tomatoes. .wonder which variety it is?.. never thought of finding.
very useful post dear 🙂 thats an wonderful idea to preserve tomato 🙂
Wow that's really cool..nice to see these frozen and stored..and lucky to get so much of fresh crop..very nice..
Very interesting post akka... nice...
Very useful post ! That's a good idea of preserving tomatoes..