# what to do with frozen tomatoes



## mom2accjk

I had so many tomatoes in 2012 that I started putting them in Ziploc bags and freezing them whole. I am cleaning out my freezer and need to do something with them. I had also canned salsa and canned tomatoes so am good there. What would you do with them? I was thinking about putting them all in a stock pot and boiling them down and making a spaghetti.sauce but have not made my own sauce before so I don't want to end up wasting it. Help!


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## Cajun Arkie

You could just boil them down and can them and then use according to what dishes you are preparing. I do this and then use for soup, chili, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, just whatever the occasion calls for.


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## mom2accjk

cajun Arkie, Can you give me some tips as to how long to boil down. Do I add and spices? I've canned a lot by just blanching and removing skins and then canning. I did that when they were fresh tomatoes. I then was getting so many I couldn't keep up so started freezing whole.


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## 7thswan

I froze tomatoes this summer. Just thawed them still in the gallon zip locks then ran them thru the kitchen aide attachment, which removed the skins and seeds. I heated the result and canned it.Added 1 teaspoon salt per quart.


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## Vosey

7thswan said:


> I froze tomatoes this summer. Just thawed them still in the gallon zip locks then ran them thru the kitchen aide attachment, which removed the skins and seeds. I heated the result and canned it.Added 1 teaspoon salt per quart.


This is what I did with last years frozen tomatoes to make room for more this year! Right in the middle of being overwhelmed with tomatoes. This years goal is to get them out this winter.....

I will also just bring out a bag and cook them down for sauce that evening with garlic and onions. Then I don't bother to strain the skins and seeds, especially if it's for lasagne or some dish where the little bit of bitterness from seeds is covered up. 

I do often add a dash of brown sugar to sauce.


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## PlicketyCat

If you have a crockpot, the best way I've found to cook down a lot of tomatoes into sauce or paste is to slow cook them on low all day/overnight giving an occasional stir. Then either strain them (the "broth" is great for canning red meat) or zuzz them with a blender to the chunkiness you prefer. You can add whatever seasonings you want while cooking, or none at all. You shouldn't need any additional water.

Another slowcooker method is chili. Just chunk up (and skin if you haven't already) the frozen tomatoes, add dry beans, raw meat (if you want chili con carne), some additional liquid and your spices and then let it cook on low all day.

You can do the same thing for pre-cooked "mexican" ground beef, just put tomato chunks, raw meat and seasoning together in a skillet to brown and then can/freeze. Tomatoes can go in pretty much any soup, stew or gumbo.

Tomato soup and juice is even easier. Just put the partially thawed tomatoes in a blender and zuzz until it's the texture you like and strain out any skin or seeds with sieve, or put them through a food mill if you have one.

If you plan to can the results, season a little less than normal and limit sage and rosemary since those go uber-potent/bitter when heat processed.

If you're into freezer meals, use the tomatoes to make a ton of sauce and make up a few baked lasagna or other stuffed pasta casseroles.

PickYourOwn has a really good starter recipe and canning instructions for Italian pasta sauce from fresh tomatoes without meat or with meat... it's not that different using frozen, especially if they're already peeled. You can either use pre-mixed seasoning packets or make your own, the mix of seasonings in the PYO instructions are good start for the average American palate (you can always tweak it later).


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## chickenista

Let them drain a bit or you will be boiling them down for all of eternity.
You can use the tomato water in soups etc..
Then cook them down to whatever you would like them to be.. a sauce, or diced tomatoes etc..
The hand held blender is your friend!

This is how I do my tomatoes every year.


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## PlicketyCat

chickenista said:


> Let them drain a bit or you will be boiling them down for all of eternity.


That's for sure! Tomatoes are mostly water, so it's much easier to strain off the extra (before or after cooking) than to try to cook it off. For most dishes with whole/fresh tomatoes, I rarely need any additional liquid unless I'm adding something that soaks up a ton (like dry beans, rice or thick pasta).


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## motdaugrnds

I froze a lot of tomatoes 3 yrs ago, which we are still eating. What I do is toss them in boiling water for a few minutes, then take the skins off. I toss the skins in the compost pile and chop up the tomatoe chunks for adding to left-over roasts from whic I make soups and stews.


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## bassmaster17327

You could dehydrate them and then blend them to make tomato powder, from there you can just add water to make it whatever consistence you want from tomato juice to tomato paste


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## unregistered65598

I just thaw them, remove the skins and use them in chili, soups and stews. I always use the frozen ones up before using the canned ones.


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## Cajun Arkie

mom2accjk said:


> cajun Arkie, Can you give me some tips as to how long to boil down. Do I add and spices? I've canned a lot by just blanching and removing skins and then canning. I did that when they were fresh tomatoes. I then was getting so many I couldn't keep up so started freezing whole.


I do basically what plicketycat said - I let them drain and then put them in the blender and from there cook down either in very large wide mouth pot or the crock pot. Strain and then can. If I am making spaghetti sauce I do add seasoning but carefully as some tends to change taste during the canning process. You can used just diced to make salsa after draining. Some I just keep plain for soup and such. The possibilities are endless.


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## Bret

Deleted by self. Taking out the garbage.


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## PlicketyCat

Other good uses for frozen tomatoes that are a little mushy is to make your own ketchup, bbq and steak sauce. I didn't have to buy any of those for at least a year after our tomatoes went crazy... and that was AFTER I made canned stewed/diced, salsa, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and chili.


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## unregistered5595

I did some sauce yesterday/today. It turned out the best ever.

5 qts of frozen tomatoes previously squeezed out (seeds and water)
Thaw and cook for 2 hours.
Added 1/2 cup dehydrated tomatoes but you could add paste instead.
let sit in the refrigerator overnight
blend with an immersion blender (or food processor)
heat
prepare 2 chopped onions and 3 chopped green peppers (mine were frozen)
Add:
4 t salt (taste and decide starting with less)
1/3 C sugar (taste and decide starting with less)
2 t dried basil and of oregano
1 T dehydrated garlic

Cook and stir for an hour or two. 
I ate it in a bowl with buttered bread, it was so good.
We also made spaghetti for it to go over.
Had italian sausages in buns with the sauce too.

It won't last more than another day or two here. It was a taste of summer and the best yet.


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## semimoonman

We freeze a lot of tomatoes during the summer and can them as it cools off. My favorite is roasted tomato sauce. Put them in pyrex pans (or something else non-reactive, as otherwise you will have metal flavored tomato sauce) in the oven for a day or so, until they are thick and saucy, bordering on dehydrated. Then run them through a food mill and can like tomato sauce. 
You can start the oven higher (up to 400) as long as you're willing to stir regularly. At 200 degrees, you can leave them going over night reasonably safely. 
The tomato sauce is delicious and can be used as pasta sauce or soup--plus it's a great way to heat the house in the winter...


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## Pony

I put the frozen tomatoes under hot running water in the sink to slip the skins, then into a big mesh strainer, put the strainer over the big roaster, and let them drain.

The juice from the tomatoes goes into a pitcher for use as beverage or broth or whatever during the next week or so.

The tomatoes get heated, put into jars (1/2 tsp salt and 1 tblsp lemon juice for pints, 1 tsp salt and 2 tblsp lemon juice for qts), and processed in boiling water bath.


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## PlicketyCat

We had a couple late bloomers that got caught in an early frost, and since they were already frozen we decided to keep them that way even if they were a little green still. Turned out that they were excellent hollowed out, stuffed, and battered... like chile relleno but with tomatoes instead of peppers.


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## mom2accjk

Thank you all for the ideas! I just cleaned out my main walk in pantry and this coming wrek hope to start going through my three freezers and do something eith the tomatoes. I need to can some more chili so I think that will be the first thing I use the tomatoes for.


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## Pioneer woman

Lots of ideas, V8 juice, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, chili base, tomatoes are such a blessing, but you can get tired of seeing them lol.


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