Whether your garden is overflowing with tomatoes or you want to swap out canned for fresh in your favorite recipe, peeling fresh tomatoes can elevate the quality of your dishes. You won’t believe how easy it is to peel and even de-seed fresh tomatoes—it's as simple as boiling water!
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Why Bother Peeling Tomatoes?
You can still be a great cook and enjoy life without ever peeling a tomato. After all, tomato skin is edible, and we don't think twice about it in a BLT or salad. However, most tomato varieties have tough skin that doesn’t break down easily. If you leave the skin on in a sauce or soup, it can lead to an unpleasant texture, or "poor mouth-feel" (a dreaded culinary experience)! When using fresh tomatoes in dishes like Red Gravy or Shrimp Creole, the last thing you want is to bite into a piece of skin. Have you ever encountered tomato skin in tomato paste? Peeling fresh tomatoes is a simple step that helps elevate your dish.
BLANCH: To submerge foods in boiling water for just a few seconds, remove from the water, and refresh under cold water to stop the cooking process. Blanching is a gentle form of cooking used to loosen skins, firm flesh, and heighten color and flavor
Culinary Dictionary - Theodora.com
Here's What You Need (Cookware)
You probably have everything you need to peel fresh tomatoes: a stockpot or Dutch oven holding about 4 quarts of cold water. A large bowl or a Cambro prep bowl for an ice bath. It should be large enough to hold the ice, water, and your tomatoes. You'll also need a slotted spoon, a cutting board, and a sharp paring knife.
Hints and Tips (FAQ)
A common problem in household kitchens: getting your cooktop hot enough. When you add tomatoes to rapidly boiling water, the temperature will drop. The more tomatoes you add, the longer it will take for the water to return to a boil. That’s okay—remove the tomatoes about a minute after the water starts boiling again. In the ice bath, you should see the skin peel back. If that doesn’t happen after a minute or so, place the tomatoes back in the boiling water for another 45 seconds to a minute.
Almost any variety of tomatoes can be peeled using this method. While you usually don’t need to peel small tomatoes like Cherry or Grape tomatoes, many other popular types, such as Creole, Plum, and Roma tomatoes, will benefit from peeling when used in recipes.
After peeling the tomatoes, you can freeze them. (Actually, you can also freeze them before peeling). Since tomatoes have a high water content, place them in a strainer or colander after chopping to drain as much water as possible before freezing. To freeze, place the tomatoes on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet in the freezer. When frozen (about 3 hours) move them to an airtight container, leaving some room for expansion. While they may become slightly mushy when defrosted, they’ll still work perfectly for sauces and soups.
Here's What You Do
Prepare the Boiling Pot and Ice Bath
- Place about 4 quarts of cold water in a stockpot over high heat.
- Place about 4 cups of ice and 4 to 8 cups of cold water in a large bowl.
Prepare the tomatoes
- Rinse the tomatoes in cold water.
- Make a crosshatch cut on the stem end of the tomato with a sharp paring knife. It does not have to be deep, but it needs to pierce the skin.
Blanch the tomatoes
- Bring the water to a heavy boil, and drop one tomato at a time into the boiling water. Allow the water to return to a boil and time 1 to 1 ½ minutes. (See Hints and Tips)
- Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and drop them into the ice bath. Let the blanched tomatoes sit in the ice bath for at least 5 minutes, but not much longer. You should see the skin starting to pull away on its own.
Lagniappe Tip: Depending on the size of your tomatoes you can blanch one, two or a few tomatoes at once. (See Hints and Tips)
Peel and Deseed the Tomatoes
- Remove the tomato from the ice bath to a cutting board. With a sharp paring knife, cut around the stem at an angle as deep as the core. Remove the core and discard it.
- With the paring knife, grab a piece of the loosened skin between the knife and your thumb and pull until you remove the entire skin. If the skin is loose enough you can do this without the paring knife.
- If you wish to remove the seeds, slice the tomato in half horizontally. Use your fingers, a kitchen knife, or a spoon to scoop out the seeds. This does not have to be perfect, just get most of the seeds.
- Now chop the tomatoes into your desired size and set aside to use.
Lagniappe Tip: I strongly recommend removing the tomato seeds at this stage. Since you’ve already put in the effort, taking out the seeds will make the peeled tomatoes more versatile for various dishes.
Lagniappe Tip: Tomatoes have a high water content, so it can be helpful to remove some of it. Place the chopped tomatoes in a colander over a bowl and let them sit for about 15 minutes to allow the excess water to drain.
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Yeah You Right!
Recipe
Peeling Tomatoes
Here's What You Need
- 2 Fresh Tomatoes
Here's What You Do
- Fill a stock pot or Dutch oven with about 10 cups of cold water.
- Make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and add cold water.
- Rinse tomatoes under cold water. With a sharp paring knife, cut a shallow cross over the stem end of the tomatoe.
- Once the water is boiling, place one or two tomatoes at a time into the boiling water and let then blance for about 1 to 1 ½ minutes after the water returns to a boil.
- Remove the tomato and place it immediately into the ice bath; Once you have blanched all of the tomaotoes, let them sit for no more than 5 minutes in the ice bath
- Remove the tomatoes and cut the stem end core out of the tomato with a paring knife.
- The skin should be shrinking a little off the tomato. Use the paring knife to grab an edge of the skin and pull it off until it is completely skinned. You may be able to do this with just your hands if the skin is loose enough.
- If you want to de-seed the tomato, cut it in half (horizontally) to expose the seed cavaties and scoop out the seeds with a small spoon or your fingers. You can also squeeze the seeds out in lieu of scooping.
- Chop the tomatoes into your desired size.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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