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Have a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes in your summer garden? Use them in these sweet and scrummy oven ‘sun-dried’ tomatoes, which can be used on everything from homemade pizza to chicken cutlets in tomato cream. Best part is, the method is super easy and is largely hands-off!
Use these sun-dried tomatoes in this showstopping chicken cutlets with sun-dried tomato cream sauce and this creamy polenta with eggs and Mediterranean greens.
Quick Look: Oven ‘Sun-Dried’ Tomatoes Recipe
- ⏲️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- ⏲️ Cook Time: 3 hours
- ⏲️ Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
- 👨👩👧👦 Servings: 12 servings
- 🌽 Cuisine & Heritage: American
- 🍽️ Calories: 14 calories per serving (more nutritional info in recipe card)
- 🥦 Dietary Info: Vegan, Gluten Free
- 🟢 Difficulty: Easy
- 🔥 Cooking Method: Oven Baked
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: sweet, chewy, and zesty.
- 🔑 Top Tip: Don’t add a lot of peppercorns or red pepper flakes to the tomatoes; they can turn bitter as they sit in the oil over time.
- ❄️ Storage: Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Preserve Extra Tomatoes with Your Oven: This easy and genius method for preserving tomatoes uses your oven and is perfect for using up extra homegrown cherry tomatoes from your summer gardens.
- Easy, Versatile, & Keep Well: Oven ‘sun-dried’ tomatoes are sweet, easy to do, natural in color with nothing weird added, and keep for several weeks in the fridge. They’re a fragrant, intensified taste of summer’s sultry days.
- Perfect for Summer Gifts: If you want to give fresh tomatoes away to neighbors, consider “gifting” these jarred versions of summer’s friendliest member of the garden instead. I have personally found that friends LOVE receiving these as summertime gifts–especially with a jar of my easy fig jam!
“Thank you for sharing with us…I’m so going to try this when my harvest comes in this summer!”
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Fresh Tomatoes: You’ll need at least 2 pounds of fresh tomatoes for this recipe. If you have home-grown ones, that’s even better!
- Flakey Sea Salt: I recommend using Maldon Sea Salt Flakes, which have a fresh intensity and clean taste. They contain the perfect balance of natural minerals to enhance any dish with no additives, and have been made since 1882 with the same traditional artisan methods.
- Olive Oil for Preserving (Optional): If you’re not using the ‘sun-dried’ tomatoes right away, pack the tomatoes and any add-ins into jars and fill in the gaps with olive oil. This soon-to-be-flavored oil is a beautiful addition to other dishes!
- Optional Additions to Enhance Flavor: Garlic cloves, fresh herbs (such as basil, oregano, or thyme), red pepper flakes, and peppercorns are delicious ways to flavor your oven sun-dried tomatoes.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations & Substitutions
- Play up your oven ‘sun-dried’ tomatoes the best you can; add the ‘enhancements’ that you know your family enjoys. Keep in mind that anything you add, regardless of how much you add, will be very subtle.
- In addition to using summer’s loudest member of the garden, basil, I use thyme, and garlic for these tomatoes. Just snip off what you want to use, rinse, and then dry on paper towels or whirl up in your salad spinner. If you love fresh herbs as much as I do, here’s how to grow your own fresh herbs at home along with your tomatoes.
- For the garlic, smash a clove or two and pop into the jar as you are packing it. No need to even peel it. I also sometimes add micro-chives, bulb and plant, whole and intact. Any acid from the tomatoes will begin to break down the micro-chives, imparting their flavor in the process.
How to Make Oven ‘Sun-Dried’ Tomatoes
Scroll down for the full printable recipe or stick around for the step-by-step breakdown with photos to walk you through every delicious detail.
1
Prep Jars, Trays, & Oven
Sterilize the storage jars and tight-fitting lids in a hot water bath. Remove from the bath using tongs and allow to dry completely.
Line large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Place a drying rack over the parchment.
Preheat the oven to 250° F, or the lowest setting possible.
2
Prep Tomatoes
Cut each tomato in half lengthwise. Place each tomato half, cut side up, on the drying rack leaving room between each and every tomato. Sprinkle lightly with the flaked sea salt.
3
Dry Tomatoes in the Oven
Bake for 2½ to 3½ hours, or until the tomatoes are dehydrated and leathery, but not crispy. Check them every hour during drying. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
4
Store & Enjoy
Transfer the sun-dried tomatoes into the sterilized jars. If using garlic or herbs, tuck these in and around the tomatoes as you pack them. Pack the jars until full, but not too tight. Fill with a quality olive oil until the tomatoes and any extra ingredients are completely covered.
Fasten lids and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Alternatively, cooled tomatoes may be placed into freezer bags and frozen, without oil or additional ingredients, for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQs
Oven ‘Sun-dried’ Tomatoes are EASY in your home oven with a couple of baking sheets, some parchment, salt, and a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes! Low and slow is the name of this drying game, your oven only creeping as high as 250 degrees F. The tomatoes are slowly heated, then roasted, than dries to a sweet and leathery-likeness.
Placed into clean jars with tight-fitting lids, use garlic cloves, fresh basil, oregano, or hot red pepper seeds to enhance the olive oil you’ll use to preserve these gorgeous jewels of summer. In addition to kicking chicken up a notch for your family’s dinner table, these make beautiful gifts when coupled with a recipe for pizza and a ball of homemade pizza dough!
There is a whole lot of delicious natural sugar packed into each and every one of these bitty gems. To exploit this, use super fresh, super juicy small-ish tomatoes. Tomatoes which work fantastically include plum tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry berries, Campari’s, San Marzanos, and Roma tomatoes.
Oven ‘Sun-dried’ Tomatoes are so incredibly flavorful, especially made with juicy ripe tomatoes at the height of their season. They are irresistibly delicious. The riper the tomato, the sweeter the dried outcome.
Think homemade pizzas and flatbreads, chicken and pasta dishes, toppings for crostini appetizers, and simply for snacking. Because these tomatoes may be packed in oil and refrigerated OR packed into freezer bags without oil and frozen, it makes their usage flexible.
YES! And frozen for up to 3 months if packed into appropriate freezer storage bags or vacuum-sealed bags. If you plan to freeze sundried tomatoes, you may opt to freeze with or without olive oil. When ready to defrost, simply remove a pouch from the freezer and thaw overnight in the refrigerator or for about an hour on the countertop. Super easy.
Serving Suggestions
These easy oven-dried tomatoes are perfect to use in a wide variety of recipes, especially in any Mediterranean or Italian dish that calls for regular sun-dried tomatoes. They make a delicious pizza or flatbread topping, adding to chicken and pasta dishes like my creamy tomato and sausage penne or baked spaghetti casserole, as a garnish for crostini, or simply for snacking.
Try adding them to my smoky breakfast pizza for an extra touch of sweetness, or as a garnish for my prosciutto crostini with ricotta and Brussels sprouts or roasted tomato crostini with whipped feta.
Expert Tips
- If you like things hot, try a pinch of red pepper flakes. Oven ‘Sun-dried’ Tomatoes are meant to add tanginess and a slight sweetness to recipes. If you plan to add heat to a recipe, add it while you are cooking the recipe. Do not add it to the ingredients that go into the recipe. Those red pepper flakes tend to become bitter over time and could alter the taste.
- If using any tomato larger than a cherry tomato, scoop the seeds and pulp out and discard.
- I also recommend prepping as many tomatoes on as many baking sheets as will fit in your oven all at once. Any recipe for sundried tomatoes is a several hour long process. The more tomatoes you are able to dry, the more worthwhile the exercise will be.
- Store in olive oil in the refrigerator or pack into a freezer bag once dry and place in the freezer for up to 3 months. I find the olive oil method works for my household, as they do not usually last very long with everything we use them in.
Other Summer-inspired Recipes You’ll Love
Breakfast & Brunch
Smoked Salmon Brunch Frittata
Appetizers
Coosaw Island Creamy Cold Crab Dip
Breakfast & Brunch
Creamy Polenta with Eggs & Mediterranean Greens
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Oven ‘Sun-Dried’ Tomatoes
Equipment
- glass jars with tight-fitting lids such as canning jars
Ingredients
For the Tomatoes
- 2 pounds fresh ripe tomatoes , such as Campari, San Marzano, Roma, or cherry
- sea salt flakes, such as Maldon
Optional Ingredients for Flavor
- olive oil, good quality
- fresh herbs, such as basil, oregano, thyme, and chives
- fresh garlic cloves, peeled or unpeeled
- red pepper flakes, see notes
- peppercorns, see notes
Instructions
Prep the Jars, Trays, & Oven
- Prepare storage jars with tight-fitting lids by sterilizing in a hot water bath. Remove from the bath using tongs and allow to dry completely.
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet or sheets with parchment paper. Place a drying rack over the parchment.
- Preheat the oven to 250° F, or the lowest setting possible.
Oven Dry the Tomatoes
- Cut each tomato in half lengthwise. If using any tomato larger than a cherry tomato, scoop the seeds and pulp out and discard.
- Once all of the tomatoes have been sliced, place each tomato half, cut side up, on the drying rack leaving room between each and every tomato. Nothing should be touching. Sprinkle the tomatoes lightly with the flaked sea salt.
- Bake for 2½ to 3½ hours, or until the tomatoes are dehydrated and leathery, but not crispy. Check them every hour during drying. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Storing
- To store, transfer the sun-dried tomatoes to a jar or jars. If using garlic or herbs, tuck these in and around the tomatoes as you pack them. Pack the jars until full, but not too tight. Fill with a quality olive oil until the tomatoes and any extra ingredients are completely covered.
- Fasten lids and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Alternatively, cooled tomatoes may be placed into freezer bags and frozen, without oil or additional ingredients, for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Please note that the nutritional information above does NOT include the olive oil, as the oil is optional.
- I recommend prepping as many tomatoes on as many baking sheets as will fit in your oven all at once. Any recipe for sundried tomatoes is a several hour long process. The more tomatoes you are able to dry, the more worthwhile the exercise will be.
- Store in olive oil in the refrigerator or pack into a freezer bag once dry and place in the freezer for up to 3 months. I find the olive oil method works for my household, as they do not usually last very long with everything we use them in.
- If planning to use red pepper flakes or peppercorns as enhancements to flavor the packing oil, I recommend using very little/few of either. Red pepper flakes as well as peppercorns often become bitter over extended time and could potentially alter the taste of the tomatoes. If you are looking to add heat to a dish you are cooking, add the heat directly to that dish, and do NOT add the heat to the ingredients that go into that dish.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank you for sharing with us at the TFT party, Jenny! I’m so going to try this when my harvest comes in this Summer! I’m featuring you on Shoestring Elegance today at this week’s party! Congrats!
Theresa, oh my gosh! THANK YOU! They really are the easiest thing, and you feel good knowing they did not go to waste – let me know how you get on with them. I’d love to know how you use them in recipes 🙂 x – Jenny