HOW TO MAKE diced tomatoes recipe from fresh tomatoes. Step by step instructions walk you through the beginning all the way up to freezing or canning them. This is a great way to preserve your garden tomatoes!
How to Make Diced Tomatoes
It’s raining tomatoes still. A ton of them! It’s time to make my favorite Diced Tomatoes Recipe!
Right now we have a explosion of cherry (hello cherry tomato sauce and spicy tomato sauce!), roma (hello roma tomato sauce, homemade tomato paste and fresh tomato salsa!) and beef tomatoes (hello tomato pie) of all sizes currently occupying our counter. I love seeing a kitchen full of fresh vegetables but it also gives me a slight overwhelming fear of anxiety because I know I have to go to work on them and start preparing our tomatoes to last the next few months.
We pretty much only buy tomato sauce or tomato products during the months of May and June. July, August and September gives us fresh tomatoes by the basket full while October-April supplies us tomatoes that were canned or frozen months prior.
It’s always a special feeling when its a cold Wintry day and you can still enjoy some fresh tomatoes you grew months prior when the garden wasn’t covered in snow.
Recipe Video
Here’s a video I made to show you how to make them. The video is only a minute long and will quickly show you the steps!
Homemade Diced Tomatoes
I tend to use a ton of diced tomatoes in recipes. Before having the garden I would buy a few cans of diced tomatoes a week to throw in casseroles, pasta dishes and soups. Since having the garden there is no more diced tomato can buying as now it’s all homemade. And we love growing our tomatoes from seed!
Not only is it incredibly easy to make homemade diced tomatoes but it’s just as easy to make them last. I tend to freeze my diced tomatoes (like I do our stewed tomatoes) instead of canning. That means if you are still a bit fearful of that pressure cooker you can still preserve and save your tomatoes to last months!
I have been meaning to make a Diced Tomatoes walk through for ages but somehow I always forget. This year I wasn’t going to let it happen. With a big supply of tomatoes I put a afternoon aside to make a few batches of diced tomatoes and document it for you step by step (no matter how dirty my camera got!).
I hope this helps you both make diced tomatoes and preserve them! I think after you see how easy and delicious this recipe is you won’t be buying the cans anymore!
Diced Tomatoes Ingredients
You will need 4 simple ingredients for diced tomatoes: tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil.
Diced tomatoes recipe
Step 1. You will need one pound of tomatoes for 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes. The best tomatoes to use are roma, plum and beef tomatoes. I always weigh my tomatoes to get a accurate amount.
I was making multiple batches below so that’s why it says 3 pounds. And yes, that’ a USPS scale. It’s very fancy in my kitchen! 😉
I almost always prefer using roma tomatoes for diced tomatoes for my diced tomatoes recipe. I think they are best for cutting and aren’t overly juicy. Every now and then I will also throw a beef with them if there are some other tomatoes I need to get rid of.
Step 2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop in your tomatoes very carefully to not splash. Let boil for 2 minutes.
The water and tomatoes will be extremely hot. Please be careful not to burn yourself. Even though I say this I usually always splash myself at least once.
You will notice the tomato skins are starting to peel open. That’s a good thing and exactly what we want.
Step 3: Prepare a large container of cold water with ice cubes in. This container can be a pot or a bowl, it doesn’t matter. Very carefully drop your hot tomatoes into this ice cold water.
You are giving them a ice bath to shock them and stop them from cooking. Let them sit in this water for a few minutes until you can touch them.
How to Dice Tomatoes
Step 4: Place tomato on cutting board.
Step 5: Carefully pinch the top of the tomato skin. You will notice it feels lose on the tomato.
Step 6: Peel the skin down on all sides of the tomatoes.
Continue to do this to all your tomatoes.
Step 7: Twist or cut off the peels where it meets at the other top. Now you will have a pile of tomatoes and a pile of skins. You can set aside the skins to compost them.
Step 8: Dice the tomatoes up into small sizes. I cut them to about the same size as they would be in cans. Do you see all the juices that came out of the tomatoes? Make sure you keep all these juices and put them in the saucepan below. These juices are like gold!
Step 9: Add your tomatoes and spices to a large saucepan. Now you’re going to cook them over medium high heat to a boil. Then you will simmer then for 10 more minutes.
Step 10: The diced tomatoes are done! Remove from heat.
Now you have a few options. You can eat them right away, throw them in a mason jar and refrigerate to serve tomorrow, or freeze them to use in a few months.
If you’re going to eat them right away, then serve them on up however you plan on using them!
Canning and Freezing Diced Tomatoes
If you’re going to freeze them, then put them in a freezer bag, label and put in freezer. I like to equal each freezer bag to a 15 oz can so I can easily grab a bag every time a recipe calls for a can.
To defrost the tomatoes run under warm water, then heat accordingly.
Here’s 4 bags ready to be frozen!
Enjoy this diced tomatoes recipe!
Diced Tomatoes Recipe
PrintIngredients
- 1 pound tomatoes roma, plum or beef
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Add tomatoes to boiling water and let boil for 2 minutes.
- Prepare large pot of cold water with ice cubes in to sit on your counter or in sink.
- With slotted spoon remove tomatoes carefully from the boiling water and put in the pot of ice water.
- Once you can touch tomatoes, pull their skins off.
- Dice the tomatoes up into preferred size.
- Put in sauce pan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper and basil. Stir.
- Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Enjoy immediately or freeze for later.
- If freezing place in freezer safe bag and put in freezer. This will last for months.
Lyn says
Super handy recipe! I live in Peru and it’s so hard to find canned tomatoes but there’s always tons of fresh!! This is super helpful for me to make a great substitute for recipes with canned tomatoes. Making them today!
Fred says
I have gobs of tomatoes (though not Roma) so I wanted to triple this recipe to get a start on using them up. You seem to get your 15 ounces of diced tomatoes from 1 lb. of tomatoes. I used 3 lbs. and only got one 15 ounce package. Since I used “regular” tomatoes I had a lot more juice than I would have with Romas. If I had used all that juice it would have be way too much. Anyway, what am I doing wrong?
Patti C says
Fred, She states way at the beginning of this post that she was making multiple batches at once and used 3 lbs of tomatoes.
Fred says
Thanks, Patti, but that doesn’t address my issue. Yes, she says she’s making MULTIPLE batches and therefore using 3 lbs. of tomatoes. As I said I used 3 lbs. of tomatoes BUT ONLY GOT ONE 15.5 oz. package. So, I’m still at a loss, but I do appreciate your reply.
Fred says
Well, I just tried it again but got the same result. Used about half Romas this time and a little over 3 lbs. of tomatoes. Still got just over one 15 oz. package. Also, my diced seem more like stewed. I totally accept that this must be my fault. I’m just eager to find out what I’m doing wrong.
Linda says
Hi Fred, I know this is a bit late, but maybe it will help for next season. You are trying to dice the wrong type of tomato. The reason Romas work so well is that there is very little gelatinous material in the membrains. Also if your tomatos are too ripe they will crush rather than dice. Try reducing the amount of time in boiling water and make sure your ice bath is mostly ice, it needs to be very cold as the tomatoes are quite hot. Dice only when tomatoes are cold it reduces the amount of running juices and crushing. This should provide you more mass and less juice or crushed tomato meat.