Although summer is over, my tomatoes are still going strong–especially the cherry tomatoes! I have been scratching my head. What do I do with all these tomatoes? Sure, you can those tomatoes but how many cans of tomatoes can you use? (Sounds like Peter picked a pepper.) Listed below are some creative ways to use your tomatoes to keep summer lasting forever. Or at least, until next summer’s growing season.
Be sure to watch the video!
Roast the Tomatoes
I love roasting cherry tomatoes and then blending them into a sauce.
Quick Recipe
Be sure to watch the video on how to roast your cherry tomatoes.
1. Cut your cherry tomatoes in half.
2. Drizzle with grapeseed oil ,or stir in some coconut oil. ( love organic grapeseed oil. You can purchase HERE.)
2. Sprinkle dried organic basil, oregano, and thyme on the tomatoes. I tend to have a heavy hand in the sprinkling department.
3. Cook in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
4. Once the tomatoes cool, blend them. I put them in my indispensable Blendtec. (You can purchase one HERE.)
5. Since you used oil, you can’t can these tomatoes. I either freeze them in glass jars or use the sauce in any recipe that call for whole tomatoes or tomato sauce.
Canning Tomatoes
I do can a ton of tomatoes. However, I take a couple of short cuts in canning. When you can tomatoes, you are supposed to de-seed them and take off their skins. Here are my shortcuts:
- Freeze the tomatoes. (See HERE for more information.) When you defrost them the skins are so easy to peel.
- Use a tomato press to de-seed the tomatoes. Read HERE about the one I use.
- Throw the tomatoes in a crockpot WITHOUT the lid until the sauce is to the consistency that you like. Generally this takes a day or two.
- Store in the freezer or can them. Be sure to watch the below video on how to can your tomatoes.
Lastly, Use Them! More Recipes for Tomatoes
Just want to can them and use them later? Or simply batch cook them? I turned to my fellow bloggers and told them to give me their BEST tomato recipes. You won’t be disappointed.
Drum role, please.
I mean it.
Drum roll, please.
1. Tomato Peach Salsa–Health.com
2. Black cherry tomato poppers (raw and vegan) by Jarohoney.
3. Grain free pasta salad Raising Generation Nourished.
4. Marinara in the Crock Pot Life Currents.
5. Sun dried tomato Pesto Pasta: Life Currents.
6. Baked Tomato Bites with Bacon and Portobello Mushrooms. Oh Snap. Let’s Eat.
7. Tomato Basil Garlic Butter Sauce Recipes to Nourish.
8. Zucchini noodles with Ginger and Tomatoes. Organic Kitchen.
9. Caprese Skewers with Basil Spinach Pesto A Happy Heathnut.
10. Chermoula Chicken Legs with Cumin Roasted Beets and Cherry Tomatoes The Paleo Network.
11. Roasted Spiced Salmon Fillets with Cherry Tomato and Mint Salsa The Paleo Network.
12. Garden Fresh Salsa Attainable Sustainable.
13 Vegetable Fettuccine with Heirloom Tomatoes, Zoodles, and Avocado Organic Kitchen.
14. Fresh tomato Pesto: How to Make it, Use it and Put it Up. Farm Fresh Feasts.
15. 67 Things to Make with Tomatoes Richly Rooted.
16. Caprese Salad Bites Girl Meets Nourishment.
17. Lacto-Fermented Rustic Salsa Food Renegade (Recipe written by Girl Meets Nourishment.)
18. Homemade Slow-Cooker Tomato Sauce Food Renegade. (Recipe by Girl Meet Nourishment.)
19. Tomato, Avocado and Goat Cheese Salad Our Small Hours
20. Cherry Tomato Salsa (Probitoic!) Little Owl Crunchy Momma.
21. Pico de gallo. Paleo Gone Sassy.
22. Paleo Quiche Paleo Gone Sassy.
23. Paleo Pizza Paleo Gone Sassy.
24. Beet salad Paleo Gone Sassy .
25. Paleo Side Salad Paleo Gone Sassy.
26. Tomato Candy Paleo Gone Sassy.
27. Roasted Pepper and Eggplant Gazpacho And Here We Are.
28. Cauliflower Cherry Tomato Soup. Green Talk
Join the Conversation:
What are your favorite ways of dealing with your tomato glut?
Green Bean says
I am so totally pinning this!! I do the roasted cherry tomatoes and, like you, I usually freeze them in a glass jar. They taste like summer in the middle of winter. Wonderful! Oh, and I also just freeze tomatoes in halves (on a cookie sheet) or whole if cherry tomatoes for use in stews, sauces and soups in winter.
Anna@Green Talk says
I love cherry tomatoes all year round. Thinking of trying to grow a plant in the winter indoors! Anna
Megan Stevens says
This is actually my first time seeing a recipe round-up! It’s great!!! I love being able to come here and to find recipes when I have too many tomatoes that I don’t want to go to waste! Thanks for all the work of compiling these and your specific advice in the article too!!
Anna@Green Talk says
Megan I am so glad you liked it. Anna
green diva meg says
nice! I am still getting cherry tomatoes. they are like candy this year! had several volunteer plants that are extremely productive!
Anna@Green Talk says
Meg, I don’t know why I bother to plant cherry tomatoes. I always have volunteers and their cousins. Anna
Betsy (Eco-novice) says
Roasted cherry tomatoes — yum! My kids love cherry tomatoes. I really ought to plant some.
Anna@Green Talk says
Betsy,
I love them. I eat them right off the vine. Anna
emily @ Recipes to Nourish says
Such a great collection of recipes! Thanks so much for including mine it it. I pinned it. This is a great one to have around for those delicious summer tomatoes.
Anna@Green Talk says
Emily, thanks for the great recipe. Anna
aNDREW says
OH we do all this! Early Girls just wrapped up, we have a LOT to go through
Nicole says
Awesome suggestions Anna! We had an abundance of tomatoes (not cherry) this year and I made an awesome salsa with them. I’m glad I found this post because it gives me some awesome ideas for next year. Thanks!
Oh and here’s a link to my salsa recipe: http://organicsunshine.net/rec.....sa-recipe/