I (Kiersten) have a food blog, but I have a terrible, terrible secret: I’ve never eaten a raw tomato. It’s one of those things that I just know I won’t like, even without trying it. But sun-dried tomatoes? Those are one of my favorite foods!
Sun-dried tomatoes from the store are good, but making them yourself is even better. (They’re not really dried in the sun, of course, but neither are the ones you buy!) It’s easier than you think and you can do it right in the oven–no food dehydrator needed! Read on to learn how to make sun-dried tomatoes at home:
Start with some small tomatoes. It’s best if they’re pretty uniform in size, too (unlike these!). Cherry or grape work best, but you could use larger tomatoes like Roma if that’s what you have on hand. Cut them in half through the stem side or, if you’re using Romas, cut into thick slices.
Spray a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil or line it with parchment paper. Place tomatoes cut-side up on the sheet and spray tops with more oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. You can add herbs or garlic cloves too if you like!
Bake at 225 degrees. After about an hour and a half, you’ll want to check the tomatoes every half an hour–the amount of time depends on the size of the tomatoes and how dried you want them to be. I like mine to be on the dry side, so I usually end up leaving them in the oven for 3-4 hours.
You’ll probably want to eat all of your tomatoes right away because they are just that delicious. But if you have any leftover, you can put them in a resealable container and pour olive oil over them to cover. This will last for about a week in the refrigerator.
So now you have sun-dried tomatoes! But what will you do with them? Well, you can put them on pizza, in sandwiches, on pasta (like my Mediterranean-Style Rotini with Toasted Garlic Panko), or even in bread.
What’s your favorite thing to do with cherry tomatoes?
Made these today! Delicious! The kitchen smelled delicious and they tasted delicious. I like mine on the dryer side also, so I ended up keeping them in there for about 2.5-3 hours. My husband loves them also!
I pick them and turn around and my husband has eaten them.If I can keep him away from them long enough I am definitly trying to sun dry them with your recipe.Thank-you
This looks delicious and so easy! I love tomatoes, both raw and sun-dried! :)
Oh yum they look delicious especially with all the different colours. I like to stuff chicken breast with them but you can’t beat topping a pizza with sundried tomato.
We eat them with pasta & pesto all the time but I need to try topping a pizza with these little guys!
Oh my goodness I love, love, love sun dried tomatos!! You just reminded me of a potato I once had with sun dried tomatos and blue cheese. YUM!
Ooh, that potato sounds awesome! I’m going to have to try making something like that.
OMG! Kiersten, I thought that I was the only one a vegetarian diet that didn’t like raw tomatoes! I cook with tomatoes all of the time, but when there are raw tomatoes in my dish I have to eat around them. Weird, I know! These sun dried beauties look amazing, I will be trying them soon.
High fives! I do the same. Well, if I’m with my husband, I give the tomatoes to him. :)
I’ve never made sun dried tomatoes but I love eating cherry tomatoes as they are!
So true! Cherry tomatoes never last very long around our house!
I have never thought about making one. Its a great idea- will let you know when I try it out :)
Thanks for the recipe. I just shared it on FB, Twitter and StumbleUpon.