How To Make Semi Dried Tomatoes In Your Oven

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Semi dried tomatoes straight out of the oven are one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. The slow roasting in the oven brings out the sweetness and dries them out a bit. You can use these oven dried tomatoes on salads, sandwiches, burgers, or just eat them by the bowl-full by themselves. You've got to try them!

What's the difference between sun dried and semi dried tomatoes?

The difference between sun dried tomatoes and semi-dried tomatoes is how dry they are. Sun dried tomatoes are completely dried. They sit out in the sun for a few days to fully dry and the end product has no water left in them.

Semi dried tomatoes are...well...almost dried, but not quite. They're dried enough to make them super sweet, and not as watery, but they still have their tomato shape (not totally curled up).

We love dehydrating tomatoes in the oven - especially the garden fresh tomatoes in the summer - and then we freeze the excess.

If you don't have garden fresh tomatoes, find a farmer's market or just use store bought tomatoes. If you use the store bought tomatoes (which often have very little flavor), semi-drying them will turn your them into sweet bursts of yumminess that are totally worth eating.

Ingredients to make semi dried tomatoes

• Tomatoes - Buy organic if you can find them and afford them (or just grow your own). Garden fresh tomatoes are going to be your best (and sweetest) option because of how much flavor they have. But even with store bought tomatoes, you'll get a sweet result from this recipe. You can follow this recipe with the big beefsteak tomatoes, grape, or cherry tomatoes.
• Olive oil or Avocado oil - For drizzling.
• Salt - Balances out the sweetness, you just need a pinch.
• Balsamic vinegar and pepper - These are both optional, but recommended.

Tools needed to make semi dried tomatoes

No fancy tools are needed for this recipe, which makes it even better! You likely already have these in your kitchen, but if not I've provided links to Amazon for your convenience.

• Cutting board & sharp knife (if your knives are smashing the tomatoes and not cutting straight through, I HIGHLY recommend getting yourself a cheap knife sharpener like this one).
• Baking sheet - Ours are over ten years old, but if you're in the market...grab these baking sheets.
• Parchment paper - I like to get unbleached parchment paper. Here's some handy parchment sheets.

How to dry tomatoes in the oven

Basically what we're doing is half-way drying the tomatoes in the oven. It doesn't take quite as long as the fully dried (or sundried) tomatoes, and doesn't require you to have a dehydrator (or a big open sunny spot outside).

Plus, the texture and flavor of the finished oven roasted tomatoes is awesome.

This recipe is so easy and passive (meaning it doesn't take hours of standing over a stove). Turn on the oven, stick the sliced tomatoes in, and in a few hours you'll have the sweetest roasted tomatoes ever. It's so easy.

Step 1: Slice the tomatoes and lay them on a parchment lined baking sheet

I've personally used big beefsteak tomatoes, and grape tomatoes for this recipe. But any tomato will work.

With the bigger tomatoes you'll want to slice them into several slices. Try to slice the tomatoes into equal sizes so they cook in the same amount of time. You're get dried tomato slices with these tomatoes.

If you're using smaller tomatoes (grape or cherry tomatoes) you can just halve them.

When you put them on the parchment lined baking sheet you'll want to make sure they're in a single layer (not overlapping at all).

Step 2: Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt

Drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle some salt over the top of your tomatoes.

Step 3: Bake the tomatoes in your 250 (F) oven

Bake them in your 250 (F) oven for 2-3 hours. The exact time will depend on the size of your slices. You'll need to cook them for 2-3 hours if you're using big slicing tomatoes sliced about ¼" thick (longer if you have really big slices). Smaller tomatoes like grape or cherry tomatoes may take less time, depending on how big they are.

Step 3: Remove your oven dried tomatoes from the oven and enjoy!

Start peeking at them at the 2 hour mark and see if any of the small pieces are ready to come out. I like to cook them until the skins are shriveled and most of the moisture is gone. If some slices are done early, just remove them and set them aside until the rest are done.

The beauty of cooking them on a low temperature is you don't have to worry about them getting burnt in the minute it takes you to wash a couple dishes. Start checking them at the 2 hour mark, and every 20 or 30 minutes check again to see if any more are ready to come out.

Semi Dried Tomatoes: FAQ & Recipe Tips

How to store semi-dried tomatoes?

Use what you want the day you make them (it's hard to stop eating these sweet little pieces of heaven). And then you can store any that make it past that first day in the fridge or freezer.

• For fridge storage: keep in mind that these tomatoes still have moisture inside them so if you just put them in a container in the fridge, they will get moldy after a few days. If you want to keep them in the fridge for longer you'll need to fully submerge them in olive oil (add some herbs if you'd like).
• For freezer storage: I've successfully frozen containers of these slow roasted tomatoes for months. Layer them in a freezer-safe container (we love mason jars) and freeze. To defrost them, just set them out the day before you want to use them (or the morning of) and add them to your dinner at night.

How to use oven dried tomatoes?

You can use these semi-dried slow roasted tomatoes in a bunch of ways...

• On your sandwich or burger - works great when you use the big beefsteak tomatoes.
• Chop them up and sprinkle them on your summer salad - if you use semi dried cherry tomatoes you can skip the chopping.
• Use them as a pizza topping - yum!
• Blend them up into dried tomato pizza sauce...or use the sauce instead of tomato paste in this pizza sauce recipe.
• Use it on some homemade bruschetta with basil and balsamic vinegar.

Okay, now I'm hungry....time to make some more!

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