DIY Tomato Powder and it’s Many Uses

Learning how to make tomato powder is one very useful skill when it comes to getting the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to tomatoes. Whether they are tomatoes from your own garden or tomatoes you purchased from the store. This recipe will help you to be able to make use of the entire tomato and for there to be no waste.

If you’ve ever made homemade tomato sauce, salsa, or ketchup than you’ve probably got a pile of tomato skins and pulp that couldn’t be used in your recipe. Instead of tossing them you can dehydrate them booth and grind them into tomato powder. You can also dehydrate whole tomatoes by simply slicing them and placing them on your dehydrator sheets. It will feel so gratifying to be able to make something that you will be able to use later.

We had a mixture of cherry and regular tomatoes that are growing in abundance in our garden that we used to turn into tomato powder. The cherry tomatoes were sliced in half and the larger tomatoes were sliced. All of these tomato pieces were placed on dehydrator racks and dried at 135 degree for about 24 hours. We wanted to ensure that these tomato pieces were extremely dry and for there to be absolutely no moisture left in them.

If you are just drying skins, these will be dry in about 4 hours while pulp will be dry between 5 and 6 hours. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can achieve the same results in the oven low and slow.

How to Make Tomato Powder

Ingredients:

Tomato skins, pulps, or slices
Dehydrator
Food processor or blender
Air-tight container

Directions:

1. Squeeze skins in a paper towel and pat tomato slices to remove as much moisture as possible.

2. Spread skins or slices on an unlined dehydrator tray and the pulp onto a lined tray. If using the oven, spread on lined baking sheets.

3. Turn your dehydrator to 135 degrees. For oven-drying, place the sheets in the middle of the oven and set the temperature to 180 degrees. Rotate dehydrator racks or baking sheets every 30 minutes to 1 hour. Remove when skins are papery, the pulp is completely dry, or slices are completely dry.

4. Let cool completely. Transfer to a blender or food processor and blend on high until powdered. Allow the mixture to sit for 15-30 minutes after you do this to allow the powder to settle and not let off a tomato cloud in your kitchen. Store in an air-tight container.

*It is recommended for you to store this powder in the refrigerator.  We do not store ours in the refrigerator but ensure that the tomatoes are so dry they are brittle before processing.  But we’re also prepared to discard the powder at any time if we find it to be growing mold.

Below you will find a link below to the food dehydrator we use. It is an inexpensive model but it works well for our use. We also like how it is rectangular in shape making it easier to store. The following is an affiliate link which means we make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

How to Use Tomato Powder

Once you learn how to make tomato powder, you will realize how versatile it is. It is an excellent addition to your home pantry. This powder can be stirred into soups, stews, or sauces when you need some added tomato flavor. You can sprinkle it on scrambled eggs or even use it in a homemade vinaigrette. This powder can also be used to make your own tomato bouillon which can be used to make Spanish rice. You can also use tomato powder to make paste, sauce, juice, soup, or pizza sauce.

Tomato paste: combine 2 parts powder to 1 part water to make as much or little paste as you need.

Tomato sauce: combine 1 part powder to 6 parts water. To make the equivalent of a 15 ounce can of sauce use 1/3 cup of tomato powder to 2 cups of water.

Tomato juice: stir 2 tablespoons of tomato powder into 8 ounces of cold water.
To make tomato soup, stir 2 tablespoons of tomato powder into 8 ounce of boiling water. Add a pinch of onion and/or garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Pizza sauce: combine ½ cup tomato powder and 1 ½ cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and stir in ½ teaspoon each of garlic powder, oregano, basil and salt and pepper to taste. You can add 1 teaspoon of sugar to counter the acidity, and simmer until the sauce is thick.

Now that you know how to make and use tomato powder, don’t let those peels, pulps or tomatoes go to waste. Dehydrate them and put them on your pantry shelf for later use. We would love to hear what you thought of this recipe and if you thought of any other uses for tomato powder. Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for stopping by and visiting Sunup to Sundown! We’ll be back soon with another recipe or update regarding our garden or our journey to becoming more self-reliant.