How to freeze whole tomatoes

Our tomatoes are starting to trickle in and while I have too many to eat before they go bad, I don’t have enough to make a run of salsa just yet. So, I started looking into some different preservation methods for small batches. The most intriguing is how to freeze whole tomatoes. Now, I’m hooked!

Freezing tomatoes is actually very easy and takes very little time or effort. This method is also a great way to preserve the tomatoes during a heat wave and revisit them after it cools down to can them.

My favorite way to can tomatoes is to make salsa which requires several tomatoes. By freezing them, I can get enough ahead to get a good run of salsa!

The extra perk to this method is that once you thaw out the tomatoes they are super easy to peel! That’s a win/win for me!

To get started with this preservation method, you will need ripe tomatoes. Wash the tomatoes and allow to dry completely. It’s important to cut out any bad spots and to core them. I just use a knife to cut the cores out.

Once you core the tomatoes, place them on a baking sheet. Make sure they are not touching each other.

Place the baking sheet in the freezer for at least 24 hours.

Transfer the frozen tomatoes to freezer bags and place back in the freezer.

To thaw them, place them in the fridge overnight or until thawed completely.

Pull the skins off and proceed with your recipe.

I feel like this is the perfect solution during tomato season for me! I know that I will get to them eventually and I don’t have to worry about losing any of the tomatoes while I wait to get enough to can.

If you give this a try let me know! See you soon!