Freezing Tomatoes Whole the Simple Way
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Freezing tomatoes whole requires very little effort. No blanching or peeling required! After a year in my freezer, my frozen whole tomatoes have great flavor. They are So easy to use. Learn how it’s done!
Our tomatoes are ripening daily and giving us amazing garden fresh flavor and nutrients. My counters are filling up with bowls of these gorgeous vine ripened tomatoes.
If you have a load of perfectly ripe tomatoes what do you do with them?
I have water bath canned them plain and as salsa. Juiced them. Dried them. And, in the past, blanched, peeled and frozen them.
Today I will share how to freeze whole tomatoes the EASY way.
At the end of this post you will find the links to some of our contributors posts on the Fall garden theme. Be sure to click on them all and have a good morning garden read. What could be better than that?
UPDATE: After several years of using this simple method of preserving tomatoes I am still a fan. It’s so easy to get them in the freezer and I LOVE just dumping them out of the ziplock freezer bags frozen solid and adding them to soups and other recipes.
Dave keeps the garden in pretty good shape most of the year so his Fall Garden chores are rather simple anymore. We wind the garden down after our summer harvest.
Since our summers are trending warm, dry and sunny, the Tomatoes are very happy. And since Dave (our tomato gardener) planted Borage in with the tomato vines… HOLY COW. Borage is a Bee’s Dream plant. Borage draws them in and keeps them working on our tomatoes too. Nasturtiums are also good bee magnets for tomato plants.
Honey bees, mason bees and even bumble bees are ALL over those tomato flowers making us TONS of beautiful juicy flavorful tomatoes that will produce fruit clear to the first frost.
Dave’s tomato plants grow in his greenhouse and the vegetable garden. In our milder winters the greenhouse will keep us in tomatoes to Thanksgiving. Tomatoes grow well in both locations in our temperate climate. When we get full sun. That is iffy some years.
Tomato preserving is my department. Salsa, dried tomatoes, Tomato sauce and soups are all great ways to use them up.
But sometimes there are just too many of these gorgeous fruits. That’s where the ziplock bag and indelible ink pen come in. NOTE: If you have a vacuum packer use that. Just follow the tomato freezing preparation guide in our recipe card.
I like the ease of throwing my tomatoes in a Ziplock bag and sucking out the air. Also they are easy to reseal if I just want a few tomatoes out of the freezer. I reseal the bag with minimal air in it and put it back in the freezer. Easy Peasy.
How I Learned to Freeze Tomatoes Whole: The Story:
Several years ago, on a lovely Fall day, my mom came over and took a look at the MASSES of tomatoes in boxes all over my counters. My food dehydrator was loaded to the top with lovely drying tomatoes. It was not keeping up with them!
I looked her in the eye and said. “More come in from the greenhouse every day!” The dear woman immediately offered me her food dehydrator and a tip.
“Why don’t you freeze them?” She asked. “Well, it’s over 90 in my kitchen and I hate blanching and peeling tomatoes,” I replied.
She told me her friend Marge, an excellent longtime gardener and harvest preserver, just froze her tomatoes whole. No blanching. NO peeling!
I was stunned….and suspicious. How long will they hold without freezer burn? All year… she said. Hmmm.
I waited the ENTIRE year before I shared this method of freezing whole tomatoes with you. I wanted to be sure I had the method correct (it just seemed too easy) and that it would work. It DID.
The flavor is fine. The tomatoes are perfect. I have used my frozen tomatoes in several soup and crock pot recipes. I made German Borscht with them the other day. What a fabulous tomato base.
Why have I never known this???? Whoever is keeping the secret just got outed. Thanks, Marge!
Freezing Tomatoes Whole-NO Blanching or Peeling:
I put all the instructions in the printable recipe card for you at the bottom of this post.
Note: The variety of tomato you freeze matters.
- Slicing and beefsteak tomatoes are full of juice and break down when defrosted. This makes them great for recipes needing stewed tomatoes. Use these for soups stews and casseroles. They will not hold their shape very well once defrosted and you can’t slice them. They tend to disintegrate.
- Roma and other paste type tomatoes freeze well and will hold their shape. They can be sliced once defrosted. These tomatoes can be used for cold pasta salads and other dishes that require more tomato substance.
One more thing…
If you are completely swamped with garden tomatoes and your season is done. You can freeze tomatoes at any stage of ripeness. I have frozen them green.
I mix the green ones into my soups and sauces with the ripe ones and the y work out fine. If you have green tomato recipes try this and see if it works for you.
Finally you can cheat this method. You can freeze tomatoes with the stems on straight of the garden unwashed. IF you are not planning to use them straight out of the bag once defrosted.
I have done this. As you run the warm water over the frozen tomatoes stem and peel them. They are perfect and ready to use in your recipe.
Using your frozen whole tomatoes:
As you see in the printable recipe method, I just pull them out of the bag and put them whole into soups and stews, Like canned tomatoes.
Here is what happens when you do that:
- The tomato skins fall off the tomato when they cook down. So you need to fish the skins out of the pot if that concerns you.
- OR run the whole frozen tomatoes under warm water before adding them to your recipe. The skins will slip off and peel off easily.
- The whole tomatoes taste EXACTLY like whole canned tomatoes and make an excellent tomato base for soups or crockpot recipes like this Chicken Stuffed Pepper Soup recipe below.
Let me know in the comments section how you use them. I’m so curious!
This method of freezing whole tomatoes is incredibly simple.
Here is the printable recipe card for you.
Freezing Tomatoes Whole the Simple Way
This is the EASIEST method for freezing whole fresh tomatoes. They hold well in the freezer up to 6 months if properly prepared with no freezer burn.
Ingredients
- 12 tomatoes/ gallon bag OR As many surplus tomatoes as your freezer will store
Instructions
For small freezer spaces:
- Prepare your perfectly ripe, blemish free whole tomatoes by simply destemming, washing and patting them dry.
- You will need a large freezer space for the baking sheet. If you don't have a large freezer with space, you could use your refrigerator freezer in a pinch using this method.
- Lay the tomatoes on a piece of level heavy cardboard with space in between.
- When they are completely frozen; Bag them in labeled freezer bags.
- If you're not able to lay the perfectly dried tomatoes flat Just bag them loosely and freeze them that way. Next day suck the air out of the bag as much as possible. This is NOT ideal. The tomatoes may stick together and get misshapen. But the food quality should be fine.
The Preferred freezing Method with a chest, or large freezer.
- Place perfectly ripe, blemish free, de-stemmed, washed and dried tomatoes on a large baking sheet. NOT touching each other. You can core the tomatoes if you desire but it is not necessary.
- Place the baking sheet in your chest freezer flat and level.
- After the tomatoes are frozen hard several hours later; Bag them in heavy duty zip lock freezer bags.
- Push or suck out as much air as possible. Use a paper straw if necessary)
- Label the bags with the current date.
- Store in the freezer for up to one year.
- To use the tomatoes, simply pull out as many as you need at a time and thaw them or put them frozen into your soup pot or crock pot. Use frozen whole tomatoes just like canned whole tomatoes in your recipes.
DEFROSTING:
- Take the frozen tomatoes out of the freezer bag as you need them. (Reseal the bag with minimal air and stick it back in the freezer.)
- Put the frozen tomatoes either directly into your soups and stews or other whole tomato recipes skins on.
- OR put the frozen tomatoes under running warm water. The skins will release and split. Slip off the skins and use as you wish. (see video)
Notes
This method of freezing tomatoes DOES take a lot of room in your freezer. I find it worth it but you will need a roomy chest or upright freezer with a large capacity for large amounts of tomatoes.
Note: The variety of tomato you freeze matters.
- Slicing and beefsteak tomatoes are full of juice and break down when defrosted. This makes them great for recipes needing stewed tomatoes. Use these for soups stews and casseroles. They will not hold their shape very well once defrosted and you can't slice them. They tend to disintegrate.
- Roma and other paste type tomatoes freeze well and will hold their shape. They can be sliced once defrosted. These tomatoes can be used for cold pasta salads and other dishes that require more tomato substance.
One more thing...
If you are completely swamped with garden tomatoes and your season is done. You can freeze tomatoes at any stage of ripeness. I have frozen them green. I mix the green ones into my soups and sauces with the ripe ones and they work out fine. If you have green tomato recipes try this and see if it works for you.
Finally you can cheat this method. You can freeze tomatoes with the stems on straight out of the garden unwashed. IF you are not planning to use them straight out of the bag once defrosted. I have done this. As you run the warm water over the frozen tomatoes, stem and peel them. They are perfect and ready to use in your recipe.
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Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 62Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 17mgCarbohydrates 13gFiber 4gSugar 9gProtein 3g
Ways to Use Frozen Tomatoes
Frozen tomatoes are a great substitute for canned tomatoes. You can drop them straight into the pot — the skins slip off easily as they thaw and cook.
Try them in:
Soups:
Stews & Chili:
Skillet Dinners (when you’re out of fresh tomatoes):
Thaw a frozen tomato, chop or crush it, and stir it into skillet meals or quick pan sauces for instant tomato flavor.
Tip: If you don’t want extra liquid, thaw tomatoes in a bowl and pour off some juice before adding to sauces.
More garden & food preservation guides
- Garden & Greenhouse hub:
- Freeze Drying category
- freezing Corn on the Cob
- Freezing Peppers-How To Roast Peppers For the Freezer
- Freezing Zucchini
- Freezing Blueberries
- Homemade Sun Dried Tomatoes
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Tuesday Garden Blog Hop
If I freeze garlic with the tomatoes will the flavor infuse into the tomatoe?
Hi Deanna, Probably not a lot of your freezing whole garlic bulbs, but Garlic being garlic, I’m sure there will be some transfer.
If you’re hoping for the flavors of the garlic to infuse into the tomatoes, I’d try peeling the garlic before your freeze them together.
Or go all the way and blend them together with the fresh tomatoes in a food processor before freezing.
To prolong the life of the frozen blend beyond 3 months, before freezing, boil them together, add spices if you prefer and you have a wonderful base for sauces, soups and other recipes. Hope this helps!
How long can they stay frozen in the freezer?
Hi Ashley, I have had some in the freezer I found a full year later and they were still fine. If you freeze them as suggested in this post they will easily last 6 months or more. Enjoy!
So beef steak tomatoes tend to disintegrate would it be better to freeze them in larger chunks?
Hi Deb, Thanks for the question. Yes, high water content tomatoes will most probably dissolve at least partially as they defrost. Not ideal for salads or hamburgers but great for sauces, soups and stews.
I run my frozen whole tomatoes under warm water and the skins fall right off. Then I drop the whole tomatoes into soups, stews or sauce recipes. As the tomatoes thaw they should just kind of dissolve into the other ingredients. If you’re making a smooth texture sauce, pulse them lightly in your food processor, or mash them to give you that smoother texture.
The thing about freezing tomatoes in chunks is the skin. The skin will float around in your soups, stews and sauces which is not ideal. You’ll want to blanch the whole tomatoes and run the tomatoes whole under water and let the skins slip off before cutting them. Then flash freeze the pieces on a baking sheet in separate pieces without touching. Now place them in a freezer bag or container and suck all the air out of the bag. Label and freeze up to a year. This is a great way to freeze high water content tomatoes and save a ton of space in your freezer, but pretty labor intensive.
I hope this helps. Have a wonderful day!
Hi, Diane! I’ve been freezing whole tomatoes for a couple of weeks, until I had enough to make a batch of sauce. When I thawed them today, they have an odd smell to them. Have you ever had this happen? I grew them, and when they were ripe, I removed the stems, washed, dried, and froze them. Some were in freezer bags, some in vacuum bags. I don’t know what went wrong!!! Any advice? Thanks in advance!
Hi Amber, I have been freezing whole tomatoes for all these years and have never had this issue. I’m wondering if it could be the variety you are growing. Some tomatoes do have a strong smell when they grow on the vine and may retain that smell during freezing. Can you tell me if they taste ok? Spoilage should not be the problem with tomatoes that are frozen whole like this. I’ve had whole frozen tomatoes stored in my freezer for years that were still in very good shape without a smell or apparent damage and when I sauced them the taste was still great! If you do figure it out I would love to know what happened. Best of luck!
@Diane, thank you so much for your response! They were San Marzanos. Logic told me that they were absolutely fine going INTO the freezer, so they should be absolutely safe to eat (especially after just a few weeks) – but I wanted to play it safe. Thankfully, it was only 4-5 pounds of tomatoes, and I still have 15 tomato plants in the garden! I’ll try again with a different variety and see if that makes a difference. Thanks!
Yes! Please let me know if you figure out what happened. Thats new to me. Wishing you all the best!
Fabulous thanks! Will use this soon.
Happy Harvesting!
Many of my tomatoes are blemished and split. Can I still freeze them?
Hi Leanne, If your tomatoes are blemished and split you need to cut out the bad spots. If the whole batch is that way I’d stew them in a big pot and then freeze them. Freezing them whole works best if air cannot get inside the tomatoes skin. I hope this helps!
I love to make marinara and garden salsa and can it. Would freezing my tomato’s work if I just want to freeze them for like up to a month until I have bigger batches of tomatoes coming off my garden to can?
Hi Danielle, Yes that should be fine. You’ll get different results with different ripenesses and variety but they all should work really well for salsa and sauce. I have been freezing my tomatoes for years now and find it to be a most convenient way to store up a bunch quick. Works with cherry tomatoes too. Happy gardening!
I’m a first time Gardner with just tomatoes and zucchini.. I had to find a way to freeze my tomatoes ..ill try freezing whole and see what happens…thanks
Your welcome. Best of luck with your garden!
Searched every where for the printable link at the end of this recipe – thank goodness for copy & paste. Thanks for the recipe. (Could be not compatible with my iMac.)
Hi Happy Cooker, I have. Mac laptop and the print button is just under the description next to the save button. Glad the copy and paste worked for you.
help! last year I grew tomatoes-I have no idea what kind they are .. I washed them let them dry put them in the freezer then vacume sealed them,stored them in the freezer. Here it is a year later–i took a bag out thawed them in the refrigerator and they are nothing but soggy–and mushy. Are they still good to eat? Can I make a picodegallo with them or a salsa ? Also what if there are small bubbles in the bag ? Is that bad ?
Hi Susan, You can use them if the flavor is still good. The air bubbles may cause oxidation or freezer burn. That will impact the flavor. If you like the flavor and want to use them drain the juice off and use them as you prefer in a salsa, omelets, tomato sauce or stir fries. You can also marinate tomatoes like I did. They are so good that way. I have used frozen tomatoes that were frozen well over a year whole. When I remove the tomatoes I run them under warm or hot water FROZEN. The skins will spit and easily slip off. This make is very easy to use them. The variety of tomatoes do make a difference. Very juicy tomatoes will tend to mush when they defrost. But I have had tomatoes that I could cut up after getting the skin off.
I used muffin tins – both sizes to individually freeze tomatoes. Worked great.
Hello, I found 3 ziplock bags full of my fresh garden tomatoes at the back of the freezer from last years crop, do you think these are still safe to use?
Hi Jennifer, Yep I do. I have used tomatoes several times that are over a year old. If they are not freezer burned they will taste fine and will be safe to eat.
We use this method and it works very well. If you have small tomatoes where it’s tedious to peel them, purée them after cooking with an immersion blender and the skins will be undetectable.
Hi Jan, Thanks for the great tip on getting rid of those pesky peels on small tomatoes. We appreciate you sharing your experience!
My Mom always scored, blanched, and froze tomatoes in cheap plastic twist top bags. She did this with green beans, okra, squash, etc. My friends always told her that they didn’t really like vegetables unless she made them. She also used lots of bacon. Texas, you know.
I like your “do what you’ve got to do attitude.” One day I would love to get so organized and disciplined that I don’t need to do “crazy ” things like freezing tomatoes without washing them, but, until then…it’s nice to know it is possible.
😉
Hi Marie, I’m right there with you. Gardening and putting the harvest up is challenging. There are times…
This is pretty sweet, thanks for sharing. I’ve got a ton of ripe Roma tomatoes and of course my husband has our open concept home torn up replacing with (very lovely!) hardwood maple.
So this works perfectly !
Great idea as I burned myself canning and am not able to finish my porch full of tomatoes. Question-after freezing can I make salsa, tomato juice or spaghetti sauce when I’m able to? Also can I freeze them whole then use my foodsaver?
Hi Cyn, I’m so sorry you had a bad burn.
Freezing tomatoes is great if you have the freezer space. Simple and easy.
Your Questions:
1: You will have different results with different type of tomatoes. For juice, salsa and spaghetti sauce pretty much any type will be fine. Your juicier tomato types will break down when defrosted. Paste type will stay pretty firm as we show in the video. And peeling them is a dream. No need to blanch either.
2: Yes if you freeze them first they can withstand the vacuum pack process and stay whole.
Best of luck and I hope you recover quickly.
My grandmother did this for years. My mom and I have followed in her footsteps. We do exactly what you suggest. All winter, I will pull them out to toss into pasta sauces, soups, stews, and to layer on pizza, Nothing jazzes up jarred pasta sauce like a fresh frozen tomato, even really good wine and garlic. This year, I will try making a tomato pie with then in February or March. I’m not sure it will work and I’m not sure that it won’t! We also have frozen some cherry tomatoes and I am curious to see how they do.
Hi JShaw, Thanks so much for sharing your experience with this process. This is the slickest way to handle garden tomatoes I’ve run into. I’m picking up some ideas from you on how to use them too. All the best!
@JShaw, I saw your post from last year in September and was wondering how your frozen cherry tomatoes turned out. Our church as some tomato plants and when other people don’t take the cherry ones I hate for them to go to waste so I pick the ripest ones and leave those that are just turning red. This leads to several for me to eat so I thought I would start freezing some.
@Brenda McWhirter,I freeze cherry tomatoes to use in a roasted cherry tomato sauce. I just wash, let dry and then freeze in 2 to 3 lb portions (what I need for my recipe) in zip lock bags. When I need I just pull out a bag and pour into a pan to roast. The sauce turns out the same as when I make it with fresh. Hope this helps. I just discovered last year and enjoyed having “fresh” sauce this winter.
Use ice cube trays for cherry tomatoes! They don’t roll around and you can stack them in the freezer. Worked great. We froze some home grown cherry tomatoes and, believe it or not, they actually tasted sweeter and were more flavorful..
Mary, Thanks so much for sharing your excellent ideas on freezing those roly little tomatoes. They are so easy to squish before they completely freeze in a bag. And I agree some varieties do improve with freezing. Which is your favorite?