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How to Dry and Preserve Tomatoes {Plus My FAVORITE Dehydrator}

Name: How to Dry and Preserve Tomatoes {Plus My FAVORITE Dehydrator}
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 600 min
Total time: 620 min
Ingredients: Tomatoes

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If you have an abundance of tomatoes, consider preserving some of them by the means of dehydration! Use them later in pasta dishes, salads, bagels, and homemade pizzas!

Aug 10, 2018 The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure

Tomatoes. I am currently swimming in tomatoes. Everywhere I turn I see round (and not so round) balls of red, orange and yellow. After making a few batches of sauce (and packing them away in the freezer) I have now moved on to sun-dried tomatoes. Except I think you could call them dehydrated tomatoes. Do you own a dehydrator? If you don’t… I think you should. 🙂

Tomato season is from July-October! That means we have a few more months to just completely FILL our stock pile with them. You can use tomatoes for so many things, but today I am going to show you how to dehydrate them and have plenty of tomatoes to use for pizza, salads, sandwiches, pasta dishes, and even bread! The options are endless!

And not to mention, tomatoes are SO good for you! The health benefits include:

Improves Vision
Helps Manage Diabetes (some types)
Prevents Gallstones
Good for Digestion
Reduces cholesterol
Protects Heart
Lowers Hypertension
And much more!

My family LOVES tomatoes and right now, while they are in season, you can head over to Costco or your local farmers market and stock up for CHEAP. The key to saving is to shop when things are in season! Well it is your lucky day because tomatoes are in season!

How To Dehydrate Tomatoes

Besides drying fresh herbs, potato slices, zucchini and onions (which I use for winter soups) I also dehydrate all my excess tomatoes. My recipe is rather simple. Slice tomatoes in half (or quarters if they are the large Roma type tomatoes) sprinkle with a bit of Italian seasoning and toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil. That is it! I love to make things simple! I am a busy mom, just like all of you, and I know that I cannot devote an entire day to dehydrating! So, I have come up with this recipe to share with you so that you can throw them in the dehydrator and be done, just like that!

You’ll Need:

Tomatoes (whatever kind you choose!)
Olive Oil
Italian Seasoning
Dehydrator
Knife
Cutting Board

Step By Step Guide

First you will need to cut up the tomatoes. If they are small ones like the picture, just cut them in half! If they are large Roma tomatoes, cut them in quarters! You don’t want them to be too thick. Afterwards, I add mine to a large bowl, sprinkle a little Italian seasoning and add some olive oil so they are I can spread the seasoning all over. Toss the tomatoes until every tomato is covered!

After all the tomatoes are covered and have a little seasoning and oil on them, add them to your dehydrator tray. Spread them out evenly. I try and make sure each tomato has its own space and is not touching the others.

Turn on the food dehydrator and go about your day. PS – this is the dehydrator I’m using. I love mine! But I hear there are better ones out there. The best part about a dehydrator is that you just simply leave it and it does all the work for you.

After you’re finished with work, errands and helping kids with their homework… Open the lid on the dehydrator take a deep breath and smile. Your tomatoes will be all done and perfectly “sun-dried”. It is that easy. The total prep time, depending on how many tomatoes you do shouldn’t be over 30 minutes! Afterwards, you just need to store the tomatoes and wash the tray!

Wait awhile for the tomatoes to cool and then pack cooled dehydrated tomato slices into jars (or plastic containers) and store in the freezer until you are ready to use. Personally, I like to add sun-dried tomatoes to pasta dishes and use them on homemade pizzas.

How do YOU use them?

I can’t wait to hear! Be sure to try this out. There is no need in having to go to the store and purchase out of season yucky tomatoes when you can prepare a little and dehydrate enough to last you all year!