When you have a large crop of tomatoes from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include them in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use them up before they go bad without getting sick of them. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve tomatoes:
- Make a Simple Salad. Here are a few ideas for Simple Salad pairings with tomatoes:
- Cucumbers and feta. This three-ingredient combination is delicious as-is, and it can also be dressed up with the addition of an herb or two like dill, mint, oregano, basil, and/or garlic.
- Cucumbers, red onions, and feta
- Cucumbers and bell peppers
- Cucumbers, bell peppers, and feta
- Cucumbers and mozzarella
- Green beans, bell peppers, and feta
- Peas and arugula
- Basil and cheddar
- Chard and cheddar or mozzarella
- Chard and pepitas or sunflower seeds
- Use them as a Base for an Interesting Salad like an interesting salad or even "street corn salad," which includes them along with corn, bell peppers, cilantro, and cojita cheese. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)
- Make spaghetti salad with tomatoes, cold spaghetti, cucumbers, and your favorite vinaigrette or infused vinegar.
- Toss them with quinoa and spinach. Add feta or other cheese if desired, although the three-ingredient combo is great on its own.
- Make a simple soup with tomatoes and fennel. Alliums like garlic, leeks, shallots, and onions make great additions to this soup if you have them on hand as well, but the three-ingredient version is also delicious on its own.
- Make a simple nightshade soup with tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants.
- Make tomato basil soup. Combine with basil, garlic, and chicken broth or veggie broth to make one of the simplest classic soups. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Use them as a soup base for other tomato-based soups.
- Add them to other soups and stews. Diced tomatoes also make a flavorful addition to other soups that are not mainly tomato-based like stuffed pepper soup, fajita soup, and various vegetable soups and stews.
- Add them to sandwiches.
- Put them on toast, alone or with basil and/or mozzarella.
- Add them to sauces or use them as the base of sauces.
- Add them to macaroni and cheese, alone or with jalapeños. These are great additions to both stovetop and baked mac and cheese.
- Add them to other pasta dishes, both stovetop and baked.
- Add them to casseroles.
- Use them as a topping for pizza or flatbread, alone or with any of the following:
- Grilled zucchini
- Garlic
- Spinach
- Artichokes
- Arugula and cream cheese
- Sauté them with spinach and garlic. This is a delicious standalone dish, or it can be added to egg dishes, pastas, casseroles, and more.
- Add them to chicken quesadillas along with avocado slices.
- Add them to tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and burrito bowls.
- Add them to savory tarts, galettes, quickbreads, and flatbreads.
- Add them to baked spaghetti squash along with ground beef, lamb, or turkey.
- Bake them with chicken and avocados. Add tarragon if desired.
- Bake them with gnocchi and mozzarella.
- Bake them with pork and tarragon.
- Make a simplified Tuscan chicken in the slow-cooker. Combine cherry tomatoes with chicken and spinach and cook them in the slow-cooker. Top with alfredo sauce when serving.
- Fry them. Coat tomato slices in butter or oil and breadcrumbs and fry them.
- Make a dip. Purée tomatoes, avocados, feta, and mint together in the food processor to make a delicious dip or spread for veggies, crackers, crostini, and toast.
- Dry or dehydrate them to make tomato chips or simply dried tomatoes that can be eaten alone or added to other dishes.
- Can them. With their high acidity, tomatoes are a perfect match for the water-bath canning method. Here are a few of the many options for canned tomato combinations in addition to canning them alone:
- Freeze them. Dice and freeze your tomatoes to save them for later.
Further Reading
Growing tomatoes? Check out these quick facts like their best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Tomatoes are also featured in these articles:
- Quick Facts: Growing Tomatoes
- The Interesting Salad Protocol: How to Build an Interesting Salad
- How to Preserve Your Harvest: Drying and Dehydrating