I use my frozen tomatoes in soups and stews. But the big thing I do is save them until I have enough to can them and I make my own spaghetti sauce. I thaw them and make my sauce and then I have lots on hand. If I have extra I make some chili sauce also. You can use frozen tomatoes in canning just like fresh ones and once thawed the skins slip off nice and easy!
By Artena from Tahsis, BC
This page contains the following solutions.
It seems that tomatoes all ripen at the same time. If you know you cannot use your tomatoes before they go bad, freeze them whole in a freezer bag. They can be used for cooking or making sauce. When you are ready to use them, run them under hot water and their skins will peel right off. Use the skins for tuna melt sandwiches.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
My garden produced an abundance of Roma tomatoes, which I have frozen whole with skins on. I would like to make salsa and spaghetti sauce out of these. Most recipes I find use canned tomatoes. Any ideas or recipes? I would be grateful, thanks.
You can substitute the frozen for canned. I'd just blanch them and remove skins if they have them and use the same way. Maybe mash them up first and you might have to cook them longerand add some spices. That's what I do.
Hi, I always pick my romas, wash them, toss into a zip bag in the freezer till I have a day to do all my tomatoes on.
Then I thaw them in the bags, run them through the blender, dump in to the cooking pots on the stove, and then I can start making my different tomato items from the degree of cook-down. From juice to tomato paste. I process each desired consistancy into pint jars and seal them.
I also picked my cherry tomatoes, washed them, tossed into freezer bags and frozen. They can be used for all sorts of hot dishes, pizza, etc.
A Word about tomato skins: I prefer not to have the skin in a tomato dish, but it's SO EASY to just run each frozen tomato under hot water, the skin just slips off! Then you can let them thaw and handle accordingly.
From experience with Romas and a lot of them.....NO SKINS when canning or freezing. A simple boiling water process.....wash Romas from garden, boil a pot of hot water, drop Romas in boiling water for 15-20 seconds, put in sink full of cold water, peel Romas (they peel real easy), vut in half to make sure there are no bad spots and either can or freeze.
You can use them in any recipe. I figure ( eyeball) about 2 cups for each can called for. They make wonderful sauces.
It doesn't need to be hot water; cold works and is the only way I skin them.
About how long did you have them in the oven? I'm wondering about roasting frozen tomatoes? Will this work? High heat oven?
I put frozen tomatoes in the oven on 375. I let them roast until the skins seem to slide off and most of the tomato water is out of them. Then I run them in my kitchenaid strainer attachment and it gets the skins and seeds and I have a thick sauce to start cooking with.
My sister placed 2 one-gallon bags of tomatoes in my freezer without my knowledge. They still have the skin and seeds but she did cut them in quarters. Grateful as I am, what can I do with them? Thank you.
By sooz
Throw some into soups, stews, chili, or cook down all the tomatoes with some onions & garlic to make a pasta sauce.
Use them as you would canned tomatoes. Let them thaw, and the skins squeeze right off! (Sooooo much less work than skinning before freezing!)
I've been freezing a lot of tomatoes this year! Use them in any dish you'd normally use cooked/canned tomatoes, hot dish, soup, spaghetti sauce, etc. You can thaw them very easily in a dish with a little water in the microwave.
if they do still have the skin they will float to the top while u cook.. just skim them off.. makes great soup and chili...
What about the seeds? Should the tomatoes go through a food mill to get rid of them?
We froze tomatoes by accident in the refrigerator. Can I slice them for use on hamburgers?
I think they would be mushy. They would be great for cooking.
Frozen tomatoes work best in soups or stews or even a hearty chili. Or, it you have some jalepano and green peppers you can also make a quick salsa which would be yummy on your burgers!
I'm afraid you will have to save these for sauce or a stew as they will definitely be mushy.
No you cannot as they will be soft and mushy !!
How do you stew frozen fresh tomatoes?
Rinse them under the faucet and the skins slip right off. I cook mine down with onions and garlic and spices.
You should be able to thaw, peel and stew. I would use them quickly, NOT can them and NOT refreeze them as both of those will really affect the quality of the product.
Can I use frozen tomatoes to make canned stewed tomatoes?
As long as they are cooked before you can then the answer is yes.
People do it, but when I used to can, I never liked the taste after they were frozen. That is just me. I only liked fresh, right to the canning process.
I didn't mind frozen and then make sauce or stew or soup...but something about using frozen to can, they tasted weird to me.
You could always do a test batch to see if you like it. Some people swear by it.
Canning is a lot of trouble when the taste outcome may be "questionable".
I would suggest using only fresh tomatoes for canning - farmers market near you?
Frozen tomatoes can be used in everyday dishes and seem to retain a good "fresh" taste.
I am putting them in the microwave for hot salsa; will they spoil?
By Minnie
I am going to attempt to do this today; take some frozen tomatoes and make sauce. I let them defrost for a day; I eprsonally never use the microwave. We'll see though. It seems very watery to me I will probably have to add supplementary canned sauce
I have the best luck with fixing watery sauce by adding a can of tomato paste to help it thicken up after it has cooked awhile. Good luck. :)
My husband and I have a garden. We always plant way too many tomatoes, so we freeze them whole. My husband wants me to make some salsa and can it. My question is, are my tomatoes going to be good to use as they have been frozen?
By Jennifer from TN
I sure don't see why not. Many recipes that I have for salsa call for using canned tomatoes.
The only problem I can see is that they might be really watery and have lost some of their flavor but as long as you are not expecting chunky salsa you can compensate with adjusting recipe flavor ingredients.
I think it would be fine, especially if you are making cooked salsa.
I have the same problem with my garden. Not enough tomatoes to can but too many to eat fresh.
Pasta or spaghetti is enhanced by the addition of a creamy or savory sauce. Alfredo and marinara are the most familiar sauces but there are many variations.
Here is a recipe for making juice from some of those frozen tomatoes from your garden. This is a page about making juice with frozen tomatoes.
Whether fresh, canned, or dried tomatoes are a delicious in many different kinds of recipes. This is a page about cooking with tomatoes.
