How to Make Tomato Powder out of tomato skins! You’ll never throw away tomato skins again!
It’s raining tomatoes! Don’t I always say that during July and August? Well it’s true. You won’t believe how many pounds of tomatoes we grew this year and I’m not going to tell you because I will save it for the big Summer harvest weight chart post coming sometime in September. You guys know I love my Stewed Tomatoes recipe but with that comes alot of extra tomato skins. I’ve been composting them for years but this year I was set on using them in a recipe.
How to Use Tomato Skins
I wanted to use the tomato skins in a unique way that can be enjoyed in different recipes and ways throughout the seasons. So making tomato powder and tomato flakes it is!
What can you do with tomato powder?
-Sprinkle on slices of pizza.
-Use on sandwiches on subs.
-Throw in soups, stews and chili.
-Use as a meat seasoning.
-Throw in tomato sauces for more tomato flavor!
-Popcorn. (Thanks Kelly!)
It’s up to you if you want to make tomato powder or tomato flakes. Both are dried the same way, but the decision comes in how you process it. Do you want it flaky? Or fine powder? For a powder use a coffee grinder, and for flakes use a food processor (or even a mortar and pestle would work).
So let’s do it!
Tomato Powder Recipe
So after you blanch your tomatoes you’re usually left with a bunch of tomato skins and tomato juice. I have a great way to use up tomato juice that’s coming to the blog soon.
We usually have a ton of tomato skins and I hate just not doing anything with them. Here’s some size comparison to see how many tomato skins we had one afternoon.
Throw them on your food dehydrator sheet, separating them so they are in one layer. If they are layered on top of each other they are going to take forever to dry.
Now throw in your food dehydrator. We have this dehydrator and it’s great at doing a bunch of vegetables/fruits at once. A funny story is one Summer were were up to our ears in vegetables and suddenly it came to my mind that we needed a dehydrator. We would usually order online but we wanted one right then so Matthew rushed off and got one and then walked home with it. It’s 25 pounds and he walked about 4 miles. He’s a great boy.
And then after hours in the dehydrator, crisp tomato skins come out.
Now to turn into powder or flakes, it’s up to you. If you have a bunch of skins why not do both?
For flakes, throw into your food processor and pulse a few times.
For powder, throw the skins into a coffee grinder and grind until they’re turned into a powder. I have a small coffee grinder (that I specifically bought for vegetables/herbs as I don’t drink coffee!) so this takes me forever. If it takes you forever a good secret is to turn these into flakes first and then put into the grinder, you’ll be able to grind a bunch more at once then.
Beautiful and delicious powder!
I can basically open a seasoning shop with all the powders I’ve been making this Summer!
Right after I made the powder and sprinkled it on a grilled cheese sandwich (with jalapenos!). It was perfect.
I throw my powder in a mason jar and keep on the counter top with the rest of the Summer seasonings.
I also made my dad one (along with some jalapeno powder!) that I sent to him in the mail. These make great gifts!
Hope you enjoyed this recipe and I hope you put your tomato skins to use!
Looking for more tips? Learn how to store cilantro to make it last for weeks!
How to Make Tomato Powder From Tomato Skins
PrintIngredients
- Tomato Skins
Instructions
- Gather your tomato skins.
- Place on dehydrator sheets.
- Dehydrate at 135 degrees for 8-12 hours until brittle and no longer wet.
- For powder: Put dried tomato skins in coffee grinder and grind until powder. Store in jar.
- For flakes: Put dried tomato skins in food processor and pulse a few times until flakes. Store in jar.
Ugo chidinma says
Can I use an oven for drying the tomato skin and still get the same results?
Pamela says
Yes you can. Please read up in the comments, Jen give perfect instructions there. Hope this helps!
Ugo chidinma says
Can your tomato powder be used to make stew or jollof rice?
Pamela says
Hey Ugo, you can absolutely use tomato powder in stew and rice! I do it often. Enjoy!
Heather Maske says
This is amazing. Could I do this in the oven some how?
Jen says
Yes! Lay them out on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 3-4 hours until dried. I just did it today. I had one pan that took way longer as I had put too many skins on it, so definitely don’t overlap!
Pamela says
Hey Jen – thank you so much for helping and sharing this information!
Pamela says
Hey Heather, you could. Just put them in at the lowest temperature and watch them closely until crisp.
Chef Ed says
Hey Emily, I do my tomato powder with a twist. I roast and can 40-50 quarts of Roma tomatoes every fall. I use my outdoor gas grill to get a good char on the tomatoes and also help with removal of skins. I usually have a ton of skins. I then cold smoke the skins in my electric smoker. I use a fruit wood like apple or peach to smoke them. Them flavor profile is amazing with a ton of umami. Fresh tomato basil pasta dishes never tasted so good! One tip is just make enough to use over the winter and freeze the rest of the roasted skins in baggies. Pull out a bag of skins and smoke them and your good to go! I call it “Essence of smoked tomato skins”
Emily says
Any idea how long the shelf life would be on tomato powder? I too have it in a mason jar in my spice rack.
Pamela says
Hey Emily, I’ve had some for over 2 years and it’s fine! But then again I’m not the first to throw out spices! 😉