Freezing Tomatoes
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Freezing tomatoes is a great way to preserve tomatoes. Do you have tomatoes getting over-ripe but don’t have quite enough for a canner load or recipe? Freeze them.
Or if you are not planning on canning them, simply keep them in the freezer until ready to use in your recipes.
Freezing tomatoes is a great way to store your tomatoes if you don’t want to can them, or if you have some that are getting too ripe and will go bad before you have enough to can.
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How to Freeze Tomatoes
How to freeze the tomatoes is so simple: Just wash, pull off the stems, stick them in a zip lock baggy, and pop in the freezer! Be sure and label the bags and squeeze as much air out of the bags as possible. Here are 2 gallon Ziplocks of Roma tomatoes ready for the freezer.
Thawing Out Frozen Tomatoes – The Fun Part!
The fun part is when you thaw your tomatoes out to use them. Just pull out the amount needed. Run them under warm water and the skins slip right off in your hands. You don’t even need to blanch them. Allow them to thaw the rest of the way, and you are good to go.
If you are adding them to a soup or stew, they can thaw right in the dish while it is cooking.
I have images of smaller tomatoes on this page, but it works with any tomato, big or small.
You can even peel the cherry and pear tomatoes if you want.
Freezing those cherry or pear tomatoes that are overflowing in your garden is a great idea too! I always had a lot of waste with these tiny treats. My kids and I love to snack on cherry and pear tomatoes, so I always plant one bush each. They are so prolific that there is no way we can keep up with the bushes. So now I freeze them. Pull them out when I need for a recipe.
The tomatoes will be softer than fresh tomatoes, so this method works best for tomatoes used in recipes for sauces or directly in casseroles etc.
Recipe Card
Freezing Tomatoes
Equipment
- Freezer Bags or containers
Ingredients
- Tomatoes
Instructions
- Wash tomatoes and pull off the stems.
- Place tomatoes in freezer bags/containers.
- Remove air, seal, and label.
- Freeze.
Freezing Tomatoes Tips & FAQs
Freezing & Peeling Tomatoes Part 1 – Super Easy-to-Peel Tomatoes. No Blanching Involved.
Freezing & Peeling Tomatoes Part 2 – Bonus! Get a Thicker Tomato Sauce.
If you like these videos you might be interested in Simply Canning YouTube.
Canning Questions and Answers
Technically yes you can. But I’d strongly suggest you cut them out now. It will be much more difficult to do later. As the tomatoes thaw they are very soft and it will more difficult and messy to get them cleaned up later.
Yes, you can freeze them then thaw and can them all at once. I’ve heard it does affect the flavor, but I have not noticed it. I figure it is because I’m using the tomatoes in cooking so maybe the seasonings, etc. cover it? It has not been a problem for me.
Related Pages
Dehydrating Tomatoes in a Food Dehydrator
Learn how to dry tomatoes in a food dehydrator.
Canning Tomatoes Recipes
This canning tomatoes recipes collection will get you started preserving the harvest.
How to Can Tomatoes Safely
How to can tomatoes? Well, there’s a lot of misinformation with regard to safe and best practices out there. Learn how to properly can tomatoes at SimplyCanning.com.
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Page last updated: 6/3/2021
I am a beginner to canning my own vegetables but have a question that I cannot find any answers. I need to split up my canning tomatoes over several days. Question is: how long can tonatoes that have been blanched and skinned be in a bowl in refrigerator before becoming tainted and unsafe to use for waterbath canning??
Mickey I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that officially tested but in my opinion a day is fine. So peel and cut them up one day… can them the next. I’ve done this often. I personally wouldn’t leave them more than a day or two at the most.
I have ran tomatoes through a food mill and have a bunch of juice that I want to make sauce with. But it’s not enough to make it worth canning right now. My garden still has a bunch of tomatoes that need to ripen. I was wondering if it would be safe to freeze the juice to cook down later, make into a sauce and then can when I have a worthy amount?
Yes freezing the sauce now to use later is just fine.
Hello Sharon. When defrosting the tomatoes to use for canning, do you reserve the tomato liquid that accumulates and use it in the jars, particularly for crushed tomatoes? I filled a vessel with frozen tomatoes and as they defrost the bottom is full of tomato water. Thanks.
You can do that. It would be similar to what I do here…. Canning Tomatoes Tip