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.
Linda says
These stewed tomatoes are awesome! I decided to make a delicious batch of chili with them. Thank you for the recipe!
Pamela Reed says
So happy you like them Linda! They are our fav! <3
Mary Rayniak says
And yes, if I freeze it, how long does it last?
Pamela Reed says
I’ve frozen them for up to a year and they were good!
Mary Rayniak says
So no onion included in it huh? Interesting. I would have thought for sure there would be. Maybe Ill try it both ways. My husband is a huge fan of everything onion.
Nadine says
How many jars of Stewed Tomatoes does this recipe of 10 tomatoes yield.?
Lois says
I was never fond of stewed tomatoes! My mother had them with ALMOST everything. My husband asked me to make them with an abundance of tomatoes from our garden. Used Oxhearts and San Marzano. Followed it almost to a “T”, I found through the years of cooking, when you’re dealing with acid like from the tomatoes to use a fat. I used 1 TBSP. of butter. Your recipe was OUTSTANDING to say the least. Try the butter and keep up the good work!
Barbara says
Yes
Dan J says
I look forward to trying this recipe. If I freeze them how long do they stay good for?
Susan and Tom says
We loved this !
We have an over abundance of tomatoes from our garden so I was looking for more ways to use them. Tom loves stewed tomatoes so I decided to try this. I’m not normally a big fan of them but this recipe changed my mind!
Illyana Ennett says
Too much yap. When I go online, I’m looking to find out how to cook something quickly, not read a book about how, when and why your family eats certain things. Ingredients and cooking instructions are what most people want, and we don’t want to wade through your creative writing.
Pamela Reed says
Thanks for your thoughts Illyana. I hope you enjoyed this free recipe. 😉
Parry Aftab says
What a diplomat you are!
Claudia says
JUMP TO RECIPE and chill out, stupid.
Maghie says
Best Stewed Tomatoes EVER!
Pamela Reed says
Thank you Maghie! So happy you liked them! 🙂
Claudia Dersch says
I made this recipe for my husband who had asked for stewed tomatoes. He was delighted. It’s a great recipe.
Nancy says
I loved this recipe and the tip about drying the skins. The tomato powder adds so much flavor to recipes.
Lynn Fisher says
I just made this for the first time with fresh Romas, beefsteak and baby orange tomatoes with a fresh green pepper right off the vines of my friends greenhouse. I halted the salt because I can always adjust at the end and it was perfectly salted with half your amount. Added fresh whole crushed garlic, fresh basil and parsley and it’s beautiful and delish and I am gonna save this dish.. It’s a keeper. Thank You
Pamela Reed says
So happy to hear you liked the stewed tomatoes – with all your varieties I bet they sure are pretty! Keep on enjoying! 🙂
Janet Hodge says
Can I use tomatoes that were previously frozen from my garden? I made a batch with fresh tomatoes and it is delicious!!
Marie says
an amazing simple recipe! I added chopped onions, garlic, fresh basil and extra peppers!!! going to serve this over my favorite pasta with grated parm…YUM!!!!
Pamela Reed says
That sounds like the most perfect dinner – yum!! Thanks for stopping by Marie!
Joan says
You weren’t kidding when you called this recipe “The Best Stewed Tomatoes Ever.” I had so many juicy tomatoes this season. I tried this recipe for our dinner and we were amazed how great tasting this simple, easy recipe is. As they were coming off the vine, I kept up with them and used this recipe for freezing. The bell pepper is by far the star!! I can see this over biscuits, noodles, rice, etc.. Perfect recipe. The best!!!
Wendy says
Do I need to put lemon juice in the quart jars to can this recipe?
Rae says
Easy to follow recipe! I found the salt content too high, so I would recommend starting with less and adding more to your preference. Overall a great recipe!
Patricia Collins-Blanton says
I love stewed tomatoes over biscuits & gravy.
Pamela Reed says
Oh yum yum yum! Now you have me hungry!
Patti says
I was the lucky recipient of some fresh beefsteak tomatoes so used them and fresh bell pepper for this recipe. Oh my…so delicious. I did add a little onion but I’m not even sure I needed them.
Pamela Reed says
So happy you liked the stewed tomatoes Patti! They make me swoon every time! 🙂
doris says
We had so many tomatoes this year. Made at least 15 quarts of stewed tomatoes and I also dehydrated the skins. This will last a while. Thank you. Love it.
Pamela Reed says
Wow, that sounds amazing Doris! So many stewed tomatoes to enjoy!! 🙂
Kimberly Haigh says
I can see why you cried when you came up with this recipe. Being someone who loves onions w/tomatoes I had to add them. So delicious! Thank you.!
Daryl glover says
I love this recipe I made 8 pints canning them I added 3 different types of bell peppers red orange and green just for color yum it smelled really good throught the house
Pamela Reed says
Oooh, I bet those are some beautiful looking stewed tomatoes with all that color! Enjoy Daryl, thanks for stopping by!
Heather G says
How do you can them? Do you need to add the lemon juice and salt? Process time? Thank you!
marion prentis says
if canning you must add aciid { lemon juice }
Kimberly says
My tomatoes are pretty small so I need a pound measurement. How many pounds of tomatoes?
Pamela Reed 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!
Mary Jane Nicholas says
I Love your garden. Such an inspriration!
Treva says
This recipe used up my overload of garden tomatoes, peppers. I don’t can so we loved this recipe. Made with homemade Mac cheese so good!
Ann eaves says
Going to try your stew tomatoes recipe today canning . Do you have a spaghetti sauce recipes ? I don’t have time tomatoes just celebraty .
Pamela Reed says
I sure do! If you follow this link you will see a couple of them (favs are roma tomato sauce and roasted cherry tomato sauce): https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/?s=tomato+sauce
Cheryl Best says
My husband and I absolutely loved this recipe! I’m growing parsley, so I used a tablespoon of fresh instead of dried. The split Cherokee and Mr. Stripey tomatoes from my garden worked great! Hard to keep from eating the whole batch before they cool 😉
Pamela Reed says
I am so happy you liked these stewed tomatoes (I love them too!). But also how cute is the name “Mr. Stripey” tomatoes!!
Cheryl Best says
The nursery near me has an annual festival with over 250 varieties of tomatoes. 😁
Pamela Reed says
Ok, take me with you please. 😍
Thomas Roth says
Too many pictures. I know what tomatoes look like.
Pamela Reed says
Sorry Thomas, but my beautiful tomatoes deserve to shine.
Maxine Detwiler says
I love this recipe