How to Freeze Stewed Tomatoes

Enjoy the summer freshness of tomatoes even in the cold of winter.

Preserve your summer tomato harvest throughout the year by stewing and freezing your tomatoes. Whether you picked them from your garden or the market, freezing stewed tomatoes gives you a healthier option to the salt-laden cans of stewed tomatoes. Whenever you want to make a quick tomato sauce or soup, you will have a fresh supply of pre-cooked tomatoes in your freezer. Unlike canned products, you get to choose the spices and seasonings added to your tomatoes, or leave them au natural for a ready ingredient.

Things You'll Need

• Cooking pot with lid
• Fresh tomatoes
• Slotted spoon
• Bowl of cold water
• Serrated knife
• Ladle
• 1 pint freezer-safe containers with lids
• Labels and marker

Instructions

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat.

2. Add the whole tomatoes to the boiling water for one minute.

3. Immediately pull the tomatoes from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and drop into cold water to loosen their skins.

4. Pull the skins off the tomatoes, cut the stem and core out and quarter the tomatoes.

5. Pour the water out of the pot and return the tomatoes to the empty pot.

6. Cover and stew the tomatoes for 10 to 20 minutes on medium heat or until cooked through and tender. Add spices and seasonings to the tomatoes if desired.

7. Remove the pot from the heat and set the bottom of it into the bowl of cold water to cool the stewed tomatoes to room temperature.

8. Ladle the stewed tomatoes into one-pint freezer containers, filling each to one inch below the lid.

9. Seal the containers, label with the date packed and freeze for up to one year.

References

• City of Holland: Freezing Stewed Tomatoes
• Mother Earth News: How to Dry and Freeze Tomatoes
• Atco Blue Flame Kitchen: Tomatoes

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Diana's Kitchen: Stewed Tomatoes Recipe