Best Tomato Preserving Recipes

Here are nine of the best tomato preserving recipes I've found for when your garden is pumping out tomatoes in record time or when you found a box of seasonal tomatoes at a market.

Tomatoes might be my favorite vegetable (technically a fruit, but you know what I mean...) to preserve.

First of all they are SO versatile - you can make a spicy salsa, a smooth marinara, and plain tomatoes or sauce to use in lots of other recipes.

Second, homemade tomato products really shine next to store-bought - they capture that height of the season flavor in a way commercial canned just can't.

But mostly for me it's because tomatoes are just so easy to preserve.

After dipping my toes into boiling water canning with small jars of jam, salsa was the next thing I tried when I wanted to attempt more.

And having jars of food we actually used and didn't need to buy on the shelf is the thing that encouraged me to keep trying more recipes.

Plus, there are many tested tomato recipes which you can bottle without a pressure canner, which for me is a big plus.

However, if you don't want to can, you can freeze tomatoes, too.

Sauces freeze the best, though I have also frozen salsa and diced tomatoes (without blanching) with good success.

In fact, freezing is the way to create your own recipes for salsa and sauces without worrying about the safety of the recipe - anything is safe for the freezer!

I've learned there are LOTS of produce that freezes well without blanching - grab this one-page guide to help you decide what you can freeze this way:

You can also dry tomatoes and below you'll find my favorite way to keep them.

So no matter how you get your tomatoes - from your garden, your friend's garden, a farmer's market, or the grocery store - there's an easy way to preserve them here.

Tomato Preserving Recipes

The Best Thick & Flavorful Salsa for Canning

This is not the first salsa I tried - there were many, though most were too thin and too vinegary - but it is definitely the best canned salsa.

Like all canned salsa recipes, you can't deviate from the fresh ingredients, but you can add dry flavorings as you like. And you can always add more fresh garlic, cilantro, etc. when you open and serve it!

Garden Harvest Roasted Tomato Sauce

SO good you may just eat it with a spoon - as I have done many times.

You won't believe how fast this comes together, the smells in your house as it's cooking, or the flavor when it's done.

This is one for the freezer, so you can add lots of low-acid vegetables (onions, peppers, the last of the zucchini, etc.) without worrying about safety.

Canned Roasted Tomato Sauce (Boiling Water Safe)

When you want a more flavorful sauce that's able to be stored on the shelf, this is your recipe. The roasting adds a depth of flavor simple simmering can't provide.

Plain Roasted Tomato Sauce to Freeze

Up your tomato sauce game with roasted sauce that's ready to use in all your recipes.

It's nice to have sauces ready to be used on pastas and things, but it's also great to have some plain sauce too, plus it's super easy when it's just tomatoes!

Easy Canned Pizza Sauce (From Frozen or Fresh Tomatoes)

Just what you need to have in your pantry to go along with $1 pizza dough - pizza nights will never be the same.

Again, stick to the recipe for fresh ingredients, but play with the dry herbs and spices as you like.

Canned Tomatoes & Chilies (Rotel Copycat)

I created this knock-off Rotel recipe because I have a few recipes that call for this type of canned tomato and I always had to make a special trip to the store.

Not anymore- queso dip and spicy soups are at my fingertips!

Addictive Tomato Chutney

If you've never had chutney and you doubt this could be addictive, I challenge you to make it and see. You may never want plain old ketchup again.

This is one of the recipes my family makes sure I have made enough of with our tomatoes before I'm allowed to make anything else!

Balsamic Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

Yep, after you've eaten your fill, this is what you can do with all those cherry tomatoes!

This is a freezer-only sauce I created when we had so many cherry tomatoes I didn't know what to do with them all. It's slightly sweeter than sauce made from regular tomatoes, and a great addition to your sauce list.

Canned Bruschetta Tomato Topping

I didn't know that canned tomatoes could taste this good - in the depths of winter, it's like summer in a jar. Use it to top toasted bread, cheese toast, or even salads when store tomatoes are sad.

Dried Tomatoes Stored in Olive Oil

Yes, you can safely store fully dried tomatoes in olive oil (only) at room temperature! It makes them SO easy to use for salads, pasta, pizza, and more.

Is your head spinning with how you want to preserve tomatoes to have throughout the winter? I hope so! Being able to open a jar or defrost a container in the middle of February and release all those scents of summer and harvest is the BEST.

Do what you can to get your hands on as many tomatoes as you can during harvest when they're at the height of their flavor and you won't be sorry!