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Home » dehydrating » How to Make Sun-dried Tomatoes in a Dehydrator

How to Make Sun-dried Tomatoes in a Dehydrator

Published Aug 15, 2017 · Last updated Jul 15, 2021 · By Anna · 6 Comments

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If you love sundried tomatoes as much as I do, but hate paying high prices to buy a few ounces in the grocery store, you'll be delighted to know that they're a breeze to make at home. Here's how to make sun dried tomatoes in a dehydrator - super easy!!

how to make sun dried tomatoes

Glory be, it's tomato season!

It was such a long winter this year, and then spring and summer have been so cool and rainy - I was really starting to feel as though the days of eating warm tomatoes right off the vine in the garden would never come. Kind of like Narnia, you know? Always winter and never Christmas.

But thank goodness, proper summer weather is finally here. And with it, baskets and boxes full of beautiful heirloom tomatoes.

how to make dehydrated tomatoes

Truth be told, I actually still have a whole shelf full of tomato sauce from last year. So this year, I'm focusing my tomato preservation efforts on two things I never have enough of: ketchup, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Ok, I know. If I dry them in a dehydrator they're not really sun-dried tomatoes. But doesn't it sound like a taste of summer when we call them that? I'm going with it.

For the last couple of days, I've had my dear workhorse of a dehydrator going almost non-stop, working my way through several boxes of ripe tomatoes. I have to admit - the kids and I love them in their "sun-dried" form so much, I let us eat up the entire first batch before any even made it to my pantry shelves!

how to make sundried tomatoes in a dehydrator

Thankfully - we've got lots of tomatoes, and these are super-easy to make! Here's how you do it:

How to Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes in a Dehydrator

Take off the stem, and remove any hard core from around it.

For cherry tomatoes, just cut them in half and lay cut-side up.

For larger tomatoes, cut in even slices, about 1/4 thick. It's going to seem really thick the first time you make these, but trust me - as they dry they get much, much thinner, and it's a lot easier to remove them from the trays if they're not too thin.

How to make sun-dried tomatoes in the dehydrator

Lay the slices on the trays of your dehydrator. It's totally ok if the edges touch.

Set the dehydrator to 135 degrees, and then check in on them every few hours. When the edges start to really curl up, and the cut surfaces no longer look shiny (like in the photo above), I like to flip them over. I find that turning them while they're still a bit pliable makes it much easier to remove them from the trays. I also think it makes for more even drying.

They're done when they're dry to the touch, and feel like rough old leather. Tasty description, I know. But I really think it's a pretty accurate way to describe how they should feel when they're done.

how to make sund-dried tomatoes in a dehydrator with kids

Allow them to fully cool to room temperature before packaging them up. I find that there are always little hands very eager to assist me with removing them from the trays!

I like to store these in quart jars right on the canning shelves in our basement, and they last very well for several months this way.

For even longer-term storage, I pack them into pint-sized vacuum bags, and vacuum seal them. I've opened some that I've stored this way, and found that even 18 months later, they still tasted like they'd come out of the dehydrator yesterday.

How to make sun-dried tomatoes in a dehydrator

This year, I'll definitely be making more of these than ever before. Until having two active little cutie-pies running around, I had NO IDEA the sheer volume of healthy snacks a household can go through! This winter, these will be one of our go-to "snicky-snacks", as the kids say. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Read Next: Homemade Tomato Soup Mix

how to dehydrate tomatoes in a dehydrator

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Comments

  1. Cal says

    August 14, 2021 at 1:24 pm

    When you vacuum seal them do you put them in a freezer or just room temp to store?

    Reply
    • Anna says

      August 17, 2021 at 9:00 pm

      Hi Cal! I store them at room temperature. They keep well this way for months. I actually once had a vacuum-sealed package of these fall behind a storage basket and hang out there for almost a year - they were still as perfect as the day I'd bagged them up!

      Reply
  2. Tirish says

    December 28, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    Do you ever season them with Italian seasoning first?

    Reply
    • Anna says

      January 28, 2019 at 11:38 pm

      YES!!!!! They are so amazing that way! Also, a little malt vinegar and salt, creates a wonderful veggie spin on the "salt and vinegar chips" theme! Thanks so much for sharing the great idea!

      Reply
  3. Karen Merhalski says

    August 22, 2017 at 9:57 am

    Hi Anna, I'm doing my very first batch of dehydrated tomatoes! I can't wait to see how they turned out! Even with my poor garden this year, I did manage to get enough tomatoes for 4 trays. So I'm pretty happy about that! Thank you so much for this recipe/idea!

    Reply

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  1. 100+ Dehydrator Recipes ~ Food Dehydrator Recipes for Fruit, Veggies, Meat & More says:
    November 1, 2022 at 1:22 pm

    […] Sun-Dried Tomatoes […]

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