With the abundance of cherry tomatoes growing in our garden, I had to come up with different ways to eat them or we would be left with rotten tomatoes! One of my favorite ingredients to add great flavor to dishes is sun-dried tomatoes. They really stand out in pasta salads or as a topping to pizza.
This recipe is the perfect use for prolific producing cherry and grape tomato plants in the summer, or you could even make them with the not so great tasting store bought tomatoes if you have an extra basket lying around to bring more flavor to them. Drying time takes anywhere from 3-5 hours, depending on your oven, so plan accordingly.
Preheat oven to 225°F. Halve each cherry or grape tomato crosswise and place tomatoes in a medium bowl, drizzle with olive oil and and liberally salt and pepper to taste. Toss with chopped basil.
Sure, they would be great eaten just like this ~ and I admit I eat at least a few out of the bowl as I am placing them onto the baking sheet. Arrange tomatoes on a baking sheet cut side up.
Bake the tomatoes in the oven for about three hours. You want the tomatoes to be shriveled and dry, but with a little juice left inside–this could take more or less time depending on the size of your tomatoes and your oven.
Either use them right away or let them cool, cover them with some extra olive oil and keep them in the fridge for the best summer condiment, ever. You can also freeze them for use in pastas throughout the year.
About Amanda
Twitter: klcmaher
says:
These look absolutely beautiful! We didn’t have cherry tomatoes this year, but now I think I will plant a few bushes next year just for this! Thanks!
My dad didn’t want to put in a cherry tomato plant this year but I insisted.
If my little girls didn’t eat every single cherry tomato off the vine this year (even some of the green one, yuck!) I would totally make these! I’m going to have to save it for next year. Thanks for sharing!
My daughter totally snacks on them when we are picking too. This year we have been overwhelmed with a TON of tomatoes though so she can’t eat all of them
Twitter: HarperHousehold
says:
I’ll be honest…. I much prefer my tomatoes fresh straight out of the garden, but those cherry tomato plants always seem to produce way more than anyone needs. This is definitely a great way to use all those extras!
I agree ~ the best way to eat them is straight off the plant.
Twitter: ChoresChocolate
says:
Yum! I don’t particularly care for cherry tomatoes raw, but roasted like this – deLISH! I didn’t realize it would be so easy to do it yourself like this! Thanks!
Perfect timing for this! Thank you! I have tons of cherry and grape tomatoes so I can’t wait to try this.