In our latest box of reclaimed produce {I’ll post the pictures tomorrow} there were a ton of free tomatoes that needed to be dealt with right away. The quickest thing I could think to with them was to make a batch of dehydrated tomatoes.
If you have never dehydrated tomatoes before it’s super easy.
- Wash, dry and quarter tomatoes
- Season with olive oil and Italian seasonings
- Lay on dehydrator trays and turn on the dehydrator
- Tomatoes should be ready in 6- 10 hours depending on thickness
After the tomatoes have finished drying, store them in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator and use within 1 month. In years past I have also placed dehydrated tomatoes in glass canning jars and placed them in the freezer for up to a year.
Note- We like our dehydrated tomatoes a little on the chewy side. This means all the juice is not removed and therefore the dried tomatoes cannot be stored as long. If you want to keep them longer than a year, simply dehydrate them until all the moisture is gone and they’ll last you a lot longer.
Have YOU ever dehydrated or tried sun dried tomatoes before? What is your favorite way to use them? I like to chop them up and add them to pasta salads.
Do you have a food dehydrator but don’t know where to start? Check out the book The Dehydrator Bible: Includes over 400 Recipes
~ Looking for a dehydrator? Go HERE. Amazon has a ton of them in stock right now.
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Jamie says
Excellent!!! Another option for my tomato crop that’s chugging along, small and green, but hopefully big and red eventually. This PNW weather is killing me.
Mavis says
I know… when is it going to get warm?
Holly says
What temperature are you setting the dehydrator at?
Saralie says
Could I preserve them longer in olive oil?
Helen in Meridian says
On Martha or Lucina Scala Quinn Mad Hungry in the last 10 days, they used dried strawberries in meringue cookies (maybe it was Giada). I immediately thought…Mavis should dry some of those strawberries. They said that you needed the dried strawberry pieces in meringue cookies, because Strawberries would be too moist and ruin the texture of meringue.
Lady Bren says
I love sun-dried tomatoes but am too cheap to buy them
however
really ready to buy a dehydrator
which do you prefer and why
Mavis says
I have the Nesco Snackmaster and I love it! 🙂
Lady Bren says
Thanks it is actually available right here in town or I’d use your link.
Tina B says
I just turned a bunch of my homegrown tomatoes into “sun dried” tomatoes. I am too cheap to buy a dehydrator, but luckily my oven will do the same thing, and I can fit more into it at a time! I used 2 cookie sheets lined with foil, and 2 cooling racks the same size as my cookie sheets. I placed the tomatoes on the cooling racks in the oven. I have a convection oven, so used the convection setting, and turned it on 200 degrees. I turned the tomatoes over every few hours, and alternated the pans when I turned the tomatoes. It took mine about 8 to 10 hours, depending on the size of the tomatoes. I like mine a bit chewy, too. I have them stored in a quart sized ziplock baggie in my freezer.
susan says
I like to use my dehydrated tomatoes as one of the bottom layers in lasagna (often eggplant too) so that they rehydrate while the lasagna is cooking. (I put them in still dry – no rehydrating ahead of time. I use them as a bottom layer so they get any extra liquid soaked up).
I also add them to quiche. No more runny quiche for me! 🙂
Cynthia Skelton says
I dehydrate my tomatoes in thin (1/4″ thick before drying) with no oil or spices. They lasted 8 months with no deterioration. I ran out, so I didn’t get to see just how long they would last. By using no oil, they last longer and with thinner pieces, I get almost all of the water out.
Ann says
I have never tried dehydrating tomatoes and am wondering if you have to use the olive oil and seasonings. Can you just dry some plain, w/o anything added?
Tony says
Yes,
This is the way we do it here in Sicily,
Just plain dried. We add the salt, seasoning and oil later, when we want to use them. They keep longervthat way, and you have more flexibility in the ways you can use them as they are not pre seasoned.