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How to Freeze Tomatoes

Overhead of open zip-lock freezer bag filled with cored and individually frozen tomatoes.

Learning how to freeze tomatoes is one of the easiest ways to preserve a windfall of tomatoes—no blanching or peeling required! Just freeze and go. The tomatoes that come out of the freezer work perfectly in place of canned tomatoes in soups, stews, and casserole dishes.

Freezing tomatoes is also perfect for when you are trying to stockpile enough tomatoes for canning. As you harvest tomatoes, pop them in the freezer, and once you have enough for a batch of tomato puree or spaghetti sauce, you bring them out and get to canning! Let’s freeze some ‘maters!

How to freeze tomatoes

Collage of three simple steps to freeze and store tomatoes. A text overlay reads, "How to Freeze Tomatoes."

Step 1: Prepare the tomatoes for freezing.

Prepping your tomatoes for freezing is way less labor-intensive than preparing for canning tomatoes. After you give them a rinse and pat them dry, there’s only one step! Grab a small, sharp knife and cut around the top of the tomato at an angle to remove the core at the stem end. That’s it!

Protip: No need to peel the tomatoes!

Freezing makes it super easy to get the skins off when it is time to cook, so why spend the time trying to peel them beforehand? Instead, when you are ready to use your frozen tomatoes, just rinse them in water for about 10 seconds, and the peels should slip right off!

Step 2: Flash-freeze the tomatoes.

Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and freeze until solid.

Step 3: Transfer to freezer containers or bags.

There are lots of ways to store your frozen tomatoes! Here are four of my favorites:

  1. Glass Food Storage Containers—While these take up a fair amount of space, they are reusable and stack nicely in a chest or upright freezer.
  2. Glass Canning Jars—While I often use straight-sided mason jars (these are the safest for freezing!) to freeze fruits and vegetables, they aren’t my favorite for freezing regular tomatoes whole. Because bigger tomatoes like Romas don’t pack well in a jar, there is just too much air space left in the jars to retain the tomato quality. This would work well for cherry tomatoes, though!
  3. Zip-top Freezer Bags—Freezer bags are easy to find, affordable, and save a lot of space compared to glass. But they are also a single-use plastic, so I try to balance out my bag use with some of the reusable glass containers.
  4. Vacuum Sealing Bags—This is by far the most space-efficient storage option for frozen tomatoes, though you will need to buy a vacuum sealer first.

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Six frozen roma tomatoes vacuum sealed and labeled.

How long do frozen tomatoes last?

Without vacuum sealing, you’ll want to use your tomatoes within about 8-12 months. If you have vacuum sealed your maters, you can get as much as 2-3 years out of them!

When you’re ready to thaw the tomatoes, just place them in a bowl on the counter or in the fridge and let thaw. The skins will slip right off, and you can then dice or smash the tomatoes to use them. Make sure to toss the juice into whatever you are making—that’s packed full of flavor!

Can I use them frozen?

Sure can! There are lots of recipes where you don’t even need to thaw the tomatoes before using them! Just run the frozen tomatoes under cool water for about 10 seconds to slip off the skins, and then toss them whole (and still frozen) into soups, stews, or sauces. Depending on how you’re cooking them, the tomatoes may fall apart, or you might need to smash them with a spoon or potato masher.

Close up of how easily the skin slips off from a partially thawed frozen tomato.

How to use frozen tomatoes:

Now that your freezer is stocked with vine-ripened tomatoes, let’s put them to good use. We love tossing them in wherever you’d use canned tomatoes. Here are some of our favorite options:

 
Overhead of open zip-lock freezer bag filled with cored and individually frozen tomatoes.

How to Freeze Tomatoes

Frozen tomatoes work perfectly in place of canned diced tomatoes in recipes. Learn how to freeze tomatoes in our easy tutorial!
4.42 from 36 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Side Dishes
Cuisine: General
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Freezing Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 5 servings
Calories: 33kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds tomatoes

Instructions

  • Rinse the tomatoes under cool water and pat dry. Use a sharp knife to core the tomatoes.
  • Spread the tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet, and freeze until solid.
  • Transfer the tomatoes to freezer containers and bags, and freeze until use.

Video

Notes

This can be done for any amount of tomatoes, as long as you keep them in a single layer on your baking sheet for the initial freeze. This may require you to do the freezing in batches.
To peel your tomatoes, rinse the frozen tomatoes under water for about 10 seconds, and the peels should slip right off.
Frozen tomatoes will be good for 8-12 months with most freezer containers or bags, though they will last for 2-3 years if vacuum sealed.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 33kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 0.4g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 9mg | Potassium: 430mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1511IU | Vitamin C: 25mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 0.5mg

4.42 from 36 votes (36 ratings without comment)

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12 Comments

  1. Hi, can I possible use my frozen tomatoes to make tomato chilli jam. I have a load of frozen tomatoes from last year and need the freezer space, I thought may be good to make the chilli jam for Christmas. What do you think. If you advise no then I wont.

    1. Hi Mo! It really depends on the recipe. If your chili jam requires the tomatoes breaking down or getting mashed, then it’s likely fine. We use frozen fruit in jams all the time because the texture isn’t important. But we don’t recommend using frozen tomatoes in something like salsa because they’ll just turn to mush between the freezing, thawing, then canning. So! If your tomato chili jam recipe doesn’t rely on the finished texture of the tomatoes, then using frozen should work out.

      1. Thank you so much for your reply. I am in the UK and have just discovered your web site. I am going to give it a go , as they say, and we will see, I am sure if I reduce any liquid by simmering slowly it may do the trick.

  2. Can I trim less than perfect tomatoes & freeze them? I have lots of tomatoes with splits that I won’t use when bath canning. Can I trim them, use them in salsa, soup, etc & then freeze the product?

    1. Hi, Yvonne! We recommend using frozen tomatoes wherever you would normally use canned tomatoes. So if your tomato tart usually has slices of fresh tomatoes in it, then swapping in these frozen tomatoes won’t give you the same pretty results. We like these best in soups, stews, and sauces. We also use them when canning our salsa and tomato sauce, too! Once frozen, the peels slip right off when you defrost them making the whole canning process that much easier! I hope this helps!

    1. Hi, Pam! It’s fine if you didn’t core them first. You’ll just need to defrost them before using, and then core them. We recommend you do it before you freeze them because it’s easier to do it when they’re fresh! Also because if you core them before freezing, you don’t always have to wait for the tomatoes to defrost before using them. Hope this helps!

  3. Bless you for this post, Cassie! I bought a 20 lb box of tomato seconds and went to buy some jar lids and lo and behold! There’s a nation-wide shortage thanks to the pandemic. I’m going to freeze my tomatoes until I can find some lids to use with your diced canned tomato recipes. I was in tears thinking all these tomatoes would go to waste. You saved the day!!

    1. I definitely should have stocked up on flat lids earlier in the season, because I can’t find them here either!