Oven Dried Tomatoes Recipe

Mmmmmm. Do I have a treat for you today. I’m sharing my Oven Dried Tomatoes Recipe. You are in for such a treat. These are sweet, chewy, moist, little pieces of goodness.

I hadn’t planned on sharing this today but when I went to the grocery store this week they had grape tomatoes on sale for 99 cents a container! That is unheard of here. Even in the summer we usually pay about $3.00 a piece for them. Sometimes we are lucky enough to find them for 2 for $5.00, so when I saw the 99 cents sign I quickly added 4 containers to my cart.

I first started making this recipe when we had an overabundance of tomatoes from our garden. This is a fabulous way to preserve the fruits of your garden for all winter long.

Ingredients:

-Tomatoes (grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, I’ve only made these with small tomatoes but you could probably do it with bigger tomatoes too)

-Olive oil

-Kosher salt or sea salt

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil and preheat your oven to 300 degrees

2. Cut your tomatoes in half, place them in a bowl and toss them with a bit of olive oil (enough so that your tomatoes get a nice even coating but not so much that they are drenched in oil) and a sprinkle of sea salt

3. Pour tomatoes onto your baking sheet and put them in the oven. I usually set the timer for 45 minutes and then start checking on them every 10-15 minutes after that. You want the outside of the tomato to be crinkled and chewy but the inside to still be moist. I find that depending on your oven and how many tomatoes you have this usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half. I’ve had it take up to 2 hours though. (I made these in my new convection toaster oven yesterday and it only took an hour but my oven often takes 2 hours.)

4. When you think your tomatoes are getting close drop your temperature to 250 degrees and check on them every 5 minutes. You don’t want them to burn or they are no good.

5. When they have reached your desired level of chewiness take them out of the oven and let cool. I occasionally toss them with a bit of pesto at this point. I left them as is yesterday. You can then freeze them in a freezer safe container or freezer bags or eat them all right away.

What To Do With Your Oven Dried Tomatoes:

What can’t you do with your oven dried tomatoes? These things are so delicious. Our favorite things to do with them are put them on pizzas, add them to scrambled eggs or frittatas, throw them in salads, add them to pasta and grind them up to spread on sandwiches. You could use these anywhere that you would normally use sun-dried tomatoes.

Please let me know if you make these and what you think of them. Do you preserve fruits and vegetables from your garden or grocery store?