The BEST Stewed Tomatoes Ever recipe! This easy to make recipe simmers tomatoes for 30 minutes to make homemade stewed tomatoes that can be served as a dinner side dish or can be canned. This how to make recipe shows you how easy they are to make! Find out why everyone considers them THE BEST! We always use this as a canning recipe for our Summer garden tomatoes!
Homemade Stewed Tomatoes Recipe
Stewed tomatoes, sigh.
Our tomatoes are turning red quicker than I’m able to pick. So between oven roasted cherry tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, slow cooker tomato sauce tomato pesto, slow cooker tomatoes, tomato soup… there’s lots of tomato dishes going on in our kitchen! Oh and I did mention Fresh Tomato Salsa too – because you know August always means fresh salsa!
I will have many more upcoming tomato recipes…get ready tomato lovers! But for now… stewed tomatoes!
These stewed tomatoes are the best, I’m not fibbing either. If you are having a tomato harvest soon or would like to make your own instead of the canned version, please please please please please make these!
How to Make Stewed Tomatoes Video
These are really the best stewed tomatoes ever!
This is a recipe that might cause you to faint, I’m warning you now. I was expecting average stewed tomatoes, but I ended up sitting at the counter with a spoon eating them out of the pot when they were done. Matthew was in another room, so I knocked on the door.
”Matthew? Are you there?”
”What? What’s wrong”
”Can you come here?”
”Why are you crying?”
”I just made the best stewed tomatoes.”
”Are you crying?”
”Yes”
”Why?”
”Because they are so good.”
This was a actual conversation over stewed tomatoes. Seriously, they are that good!
How to Make Stewed Tomatoes From Scratch
So what kind of tomatoes work best for stewed tomatoes? I find that beef and roma/plum both work well. Don’t worry about mixing them if you have to either. I do it all the time.
Beautiful beef and roma tomatoes, I love you. I was making a few batches of stewed tomatoes today.
Don’t be scared of this quick boil tomatoes, it will be over quickly!
And look at that.. now you’re in a ice bath! Think of it as a pool and relax.
Because of the quick boil, the skins will peel right off.
Disregard the skins (compost!), or come up with something to do with them. I like to use the skins to make tomato powder which can be sprinkled in soups, casseroles, sandwiches, etc.
So now we have all our tomatoes, naked and bashful! Throw them in a large pot.
Add all our ingredients, stir and put on the stove. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the consistency is how you prefer your stewed tomatoes. Be sure not to boil off all the juices, that’s one of the joys of stewed tomatoes.
When the stewed tomatoes are done, serve them up right away if you’d like…
They are quite pretty and delicious so they compliment so many dishes nicely!
Or throw them in a mason jar in the refrigerator for tomorrow…
Or throw them in a freezer bag and freeze them for dinner in December. How fun is it to grab homemade garden stewed tomatoes to add to a meal while it’s snowing out?
ENJOY!
Need more tomato recipe ideas?
Need help growing tomatoes? Here’s how to grow tomatoes from seed!
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The Best Stewed Tomatoes Ever
PrintIngredients
- 10 tomatoes beef or roma variety
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil, plunge tomatoes in for 30 seconds. Remove, put immediately in a ice bath.
- Peel the tomatoes. Discard the skins.
- Dice the tomatoes up to desired size.
- In a large pot on medium heat, combine all ingredients.
- Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Then serve fresh or you can freeze them.
Video:
Marsha says
First time making stewed tomatoes. I even thought I didn’t like them. but this recipe changed my opinion completely. Love them warm over eggs.
Monica says
I am 59 years old and I’m always looking for new recipes and I want to try them thank you very much for being part of the generation that carries on homemade cooking
Pamela says
Thank you Monica, I’m so happy you liked these stewed tomatoes. Thank you for stopping by and saying hi! 🙂
Debra Murtaugh says
I made this today and it was so easy and you are so right it is the best ever stewed tomato recipe. It is so delicious.
Debra says
This was so easy to use up extra tomatoes. I did add some celery and onion too. I just made a second batch. Love them so much
dianne says
so many tomatoes this year need use them up/
John Doe* says
I loved this recipe so much!
Pamela says
Thank you! So happy to hear you liked it! 🙂
Sharon MacDonald says
When you put stewed tomatoes in canning jars do you have to do the whole canning process too? If so I think freezing in bags would be easier.
LWNel says
This recipe looks great. You noted below that these can be canned. I am not confident this can be canned. To can tomatoes typically citric acid or jarred lemon juice is added. Is that needed to can these tomatoes?
Pamela says
We use lemon juice with our tomatoes when canning. Use 1 tablespoon for a pint, or 2 tablespoons for a quart. Enjoy these stewed tomatoes!
Jodi says
Can I can these?
Pamela says
Absolutely!
tracie henry says
I want to try this recipe but I’m concerned that I may use too many/too few tomatoes. Can uou quantify this with how many pounds for this recipe?
Pamela says
I don’t have an exact number as I don’t usually weigh them but I’d say 5-7 pounds of tomatoes is a fair estimate. If you go over a little bit, that’s totally ok, I can promise you this recipe will still be just as good. Enjoy!
Barb Orris says
I use this recipe every year because we love it so much. I add the celery and onion out of my garden in here also. I use stewed tomatoes in my pot roast, chili and pepper steak besides using them as a side dish.
Pamela says
I’m so happy to hear you come back to this recipe every year! Thank you for stopping by Barb! 🙂
Aino says
Rather than use the hot water method to peel the tomatoes, I cut them in half, place on rimmed cookie sheet and put them under the broiler for a few seconds. The skins lift right off.
Dianna says
Removing the skins that way also slightly roasts the tomato halves and makes them sweeter. I can my tomatoes using the oven method of halving them, removing as much juice/seeds as possible over a bowl with a strainer (reserving the juice), and then bake them at 350 degrees for roughly 30-40 minutes (depending on the size of the tomatoes) or until the skin starts turning dark. This makes it so easy to remove the skin and concentrate the flavor of the tomatoes. I move the tomatoes to a big pot and add the strained fresh juice, chopped garlic, onions and red bell pepper. Cook until veggies are relatively soft and then blitz with an immersion blender to prep the sauce for canning. I use citric acid rather than the bottled lemon juice in the jars to be waterbathed. Very delicious! The roasting really brings out the flavor and sweetens even borderline tomatoes. I’m excited to try this recipe since I’ve never thought much about Italian stewed tomato usage. If one uses the boiling water trick to remove the skin from fresh tomatoes, you can also save the skins and dehydrate them to make tomato powder. I’ve done that before switching to the roasting tomato prep that I have been using for the last 3 years, but the tomato powder comes in very handy when you need to add in a little tomato brightness! I stored the tomato powder in the fridge with those powder packets that remove any moisture. Those tomato skins must be dried very well before making into a powder and took a long time in my dehydrator to dry out…lol!
Jessica says
Can I can these? First timer! Canning for the first time
Amy P. says
I love this recipe and use it every year when it is time to stew tomatoes. I always make a batch as the recipe states and another batch I will modify a bit to add a Mexican spin with chopped jalapeño and cilantro. I also use fresh herbs whenever possible instead of dried. I am always so happy to be able to pull some out of the freezer in the winter!
Jayne says
This is the easiest which is great for me. I have used this recipe for a few years and really like it.
Robin sweeny says
Simple and good
Kendal says
Delicious! I used a little bit of jalapeño peppers in place of the green pepper for a tiny kick. Can’t wait to use in chili
Sue says
I have been making these stewed tomatoes ever since I found your recipe. It is an awesome recipe, I do add onions and celery too. Thanks for the recipe, now to try your tomato soup!!
Sandy says
I goofted up my comment but I think you’ll get the drift..
Sandy says
We loved screwed tomatoes but always ate or gave away extra ones in
passed…Looked this up by accident n could not believe what we were missing out on..Sounds so easy n good just looking at recipe…Not giving
any away this year we are going to eat stewed ones in so many ways as
well as plain…THANK YOU for posting recipe.. tomorrow [email protected] I’ll have a
few ready for a batch…No time to can but freeze YES!! 🤗 🍅
Doris says
This is my 2nd batch, my last crop of tomatoes for now. Love them, recipe is perfect.
Pamela says
So happy to hear you’re making these stewed tomatoes with your garden tomatoes! 🙂 Enjoy Doris!
tom desaulniers says
A friend gave me a bunch of tomatoes from his garden so I needed to save them for later. So, I found your site and peeled them and removed most of the seeds. Cooked like you said but it only needed to cook 10 minutes to get them like I wanted. SOOOO GOOD. Thanks
Pamela says
So happy to hear you liked these stewed tomatoes! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Fran Sidwell says
I love this recipe. This is my third summer to make double batches and freeze. We love to heat and blend with immersion blender until smooth and add a little heavy whipping cream for creamy tomato soup!
Diann says
Can you bottle these in bottle bath and if so how long?
Kimberly Fry says
Excellent! My Grandma would be proud of me!!
Yvonne says
I live making this recipe! These are the best stewed tomatoes!
C says
I’m looking forward to my second year of canning stewed tomatoes using this recipe! Excellent for eating with bread in a bowl, with mac & cheese or just eating with a spoon. I do water bath can these. I use Ball’s canning manual recommendation for 40 minutes per quart. That works well. Thank you so much for an great canning experience!!
Billy Fields says
I did see any reference to whether any water or oil was needed to cook the ingredients
Pamela says
No additional liquid is needed, the tomatoes will break down and provide the juices.
Tammy says
Could someone who has used this recipe for canning tell me if they used canning salt or lemon juice and how much?