How to Make Dehydrated Tomato Powder from Skins
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Here’s an easy step-by-step process dehydrator method to dry your own tomato powder, properly store it, along with some ideas for great uses.
I really should have named this dehydrated “tomato” powder made with tomato guts and skins but that’s an awful big mouthful. When I’ve shared on this in the past, the comments I get, especially on Facebook, are absolutely wild. I won’t share the goofball mean ones here but a few raised some good questions, I suppose.
One fella said “too many lectins” which…. if we’re eating the entire jar of powder with a spoon, maybe, but we’re cooking with this and cooking reduces said lectins sooooo.
Another said “don’t keep the seeds, it’ll be bitter.” And I’ve heard the tannins turn woody and unpleasant but I seriously have never experienced a bitter flavor from leaving the seeds in. So maybe check this out for yourself because none of this is my experience!
Dehydrating the skins and guts is nothing new. It’s not a new idea and I sure didn’t come up with it on my own. I saw several others doing it, tried it for myself, and used it in different applications and found it rather useful, especially since I despise food waste. I use tomato powder mainly for tomato paste and as a thickener. I don’t have a freeze dryer so making tomato powder that way for paste isn’t an option.
I do feed my chickens most of the innards and peels that are left behind during canning, but even the chickens groan during the peak of the season when I bring yet another bowl of a lot of tomatoes scraps out. LIKE, OKAY LADY, CAN WE PLEASE NOT DO THIS TODAY. I swear my rooster unbuttoned his jeans last summer he ate so much.
When I can use every single part of something I grow and raise, I feel rather accomplished. Yes, feed those guts to the chickens or pigs, and I obviously do that, but this tomato powder is something I use a ton of and really enjoy having on hand! Save those innards that come out after running your tomatoes through your food mill or strainer. The seeds and skins contain SO MUCH tomato flavor and it’s a great way and cheap way to add more flavor.
If you’re tired and you don’t want to do any of this, putting them in the compost bin is completely acceptable and okay.
There are seriously endless possibilities of things you can do with some tomato powder!
If you have a bumper crop of tomatoes (especially cherry tomatoes) and don’t have any canning to do, by all means, dehydrated tomatoes cut up or pureed for tomato powder are fabulous as well. It sure will be more flavorful than just the skin. But for me, these impart so much flavor it was rather surprising the first time I tried it out!
​Using Dehydrated Tomato Powder
Below are some of my favorite ways to use tomato powder, and believe me, I always have tons of it with how much I can.
My biggest use is as tomato paste. Mix equal parts tomato powder with water to create the amount of paste needed for a recipe. For example, if you need 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, mix 1.5 Tbs tomato powder with 1.5 Tbs hot water and it should get you close to right on the mark. Stir and let this sit to rehydrate about 30 minutes then use! Keep the ratio to 1 part tomato powder to 1 part warm water.
Dump some of the powder in a subsequent batch of seasoned pasta sauce or pizza sauce to thicken it quicker and give a stronger tomato flavor. During the peak of canning season, I normally can tomatoes every other day, so my dehydrator is always full of tomato guts and I just powder them and dump them straight into the next days sauce, rinse and repeat.
You can add this powder to crackers or artisan breads for a sun dried tomato flavor. Have you even looked at the price of tomato powder at the store? And it tastes weird. Like dried chef boyardee sauce. Make your own spice blend and mix it into your favorite cracker or bread recipe!
Add the tomato powder to soups for some extra flavor and natural thickening. This powder is a secret ingredient to my chili! It has the freshest and best flavor and it’s really easy to get…
Making homemade pizza and you don’t have enough sauce? Mix 1 cup of tomato powder with an equal part of warm whey after making the mozzarella for said pizza. Let it sit for about an hour to rehydrate. Mix in some italian spices, garlic powder, and spread onto your homemade dough. Want to talk about goooooood?!
Add some tomato powder to tomato juice when canning, heat it, and then can and it keeps the juice from separating into the kinda gross looking tomato pulp and water. This is helpful when you’re entering things into the fair as they’re way prettier emulsified than separated :D
Choosing a Dehydrator
If you can snag a food dehydrator secondhand for a great price, absolutely spring on that. But, if you’re looking new, I always recommend a larger one with trays and a fan in the back. No rotating trays like the stacking ones and they hold A LOT of food in them, like my Magic Mill (it’s also linked in the recipe card) I’ve had for years. As always, work with what you got and what your budget allows. You can dehydrate using your oven, but man that really heats the house up. You can sun dry them which is a fun method too!
A solid investment for a big dehydrator is to invest in silicone mats to go on the trays, too. I use fruit leather mats for the tomato guts and dry them out and they peel right off. If you don’t want to use silicone mats, use parchment paper, but for the love of the Lord, do not put the guts straight on the metal trays. They. Will. Stick.
Let’s dehydrate some tomato innards and make homemade tomato powder.
Equipment You May Want:
- Dehydrator
- Silicone dehydrator mats
- Coffee Grinder
- Mason jar & lid
- Mason jar vacuum sealer
Ingredients:
- Tomato peels & guts
​Step 1: Fill Dehydrator
On dehydrator trays lined with silicone tray mats, layer in the tomato skins and seeds into a thin single layer. Smooth out evenly.
DO NOT put this directly onto a metal dehydrator tray. If you don’t have silicone mats, use parchment.
Step 2: Dehydrate
Add trays to your dehydrator and dry at 135 degrees F for 18-24 hours. During this time, once the tomato guts are starting to crisp up, I break them apart and spread them back out and flip the pieces over and dry a couple more hours at the same temp til dried. This just helps to speed up the process and remove extra moisture if I remember to do it.
The tomatoes are done when they are crisp, pieces snap apart easily and are not rubbery, and there is no evidence of moisture. If you leave any moisture in this, it will mold so fast you won’t even know what happened. Pay attention to the dry process and learn how to tell if your food is dry or not!
Step 3: Grind
Fill a food processor, coffee or spice grinder, or large blender with a grinding blade and grind tomato skins into a fine powder.
Add the dry tomato powder to a mason jar, wipe rim and add lid, and vacuum seal. Store in a cool dark place. These powdered dehydrated tomato skins will keep for several years. If you want to store this powder for longer than 1 year, I recommend using mylar bags with properly sized oxygen absorbers (see my post on Long Term Storage for more info) to protect the powder and elongate the shelf life.
Equipment
- Coffee Grinder
- Mason Jar & Lid
Ingredients
- Tomato peels & guts
Instructions
- On dehydrator trays lined with silicone tray mats, layer in the tomato skins and seeds into a thin single layer. Â Smooth out evenly. DO NOT put this directly onto a metal dehydrator tray. Â If you don't have silicone mats, use parchment.
- Add trays to your dehydrator and dry at 135 degrees F for 18-24 hours.
- Â During this time, once the tomato guts are starting to crisp up, I break them apart and spread them back out and flip the pieces over and dry a couple more hours at the same temp til dried. Â This just helps to speed up the process and remove extra moisture if I remember to do it.
- The tomatoes are done when they are crisp, pieces snap apart easily and are not rubbery, and there is no evidence of moisture.
- Fill a food processor, coffee or spice grinder, or large blender with a grinding blade and grind tomato skins into a fine powder.
- Add the dry tomato powder to a mason jar, wipe rim and add lid, and vacuum seal. Â Store in a cool dark place. Â These powdered dehydrated tomato skins will keep for several years. Â If you want to store this powder for longer than 1 year, I recommend using mylar bags with properly sized oxygen absorbers.
