The Best Stewed Tomatoes Ever - Easy Homemade Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the ingredients in stewed tomatoes? ›

This basic stewed tomatoes recipe is simply made with fresh tomatoes, salt, pepper, butter, and sugar. Use up those ripe tomatoes from your garden or grab a nice selection of tomatoes from the grocery store or farmers market for this recipe.

You want to give your tomatoes contact with a direct heat source. That means cooking them at the bottom of whatever saucepan or Dutch oven you're using. The goal here is to remove water from the tomato solids and allow them to caramelize somewhat, which will concentrate their flavor.

Diced tomatoes are generally tomato chunks packed in tomato juice. They can be an excellent timesaver. Crushed tomatoes are a mixture of diced tomatoes and tomato puree or paste. Stewed tomatoes are cooked and then canned, usually with other seasonings and sugar added.

Mix one teaspoon cornflour with a tablespoon of room temperature water and add to your stew. Then bring to the boil and cook until desired thickness is reached. Cornflour is a great gluten-free thickener. It has a slightly more gelatinous texture, so only add a teaspoon at time or your sauce may become a bit goopy.

Unfortunately you should start over. The lemon juice (or citric acid) is necessary to get them acidic enough to prevent botulism growth, since tomatoes aren't quite acidic enough on their own. That means completely starting over, in particular clean and re-sterilize the jars. You can reuse the lids, though.

Tomatoes can be part of your overall produce intake because of their healthful nutrients and compounds, such as lycopene, beta carotene and vitamin C, all of which act as antioxidants and exert anti-inflammatory effects in the body.

Yes, there are other ways to make your tomatoes taste even better and increase the acidity. There is lemon, vinegar, or my personal favorite, balsamic. Just imagine a tomato bruschetta with a balsamic vinaigrette drizzled on top. Yummy!

Good for Your Physical Health

Naturally, stewed tomatoes have all the nutrition of their main component. Tomatoes are loaded with Vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that boosts the immune system and can help prevent cold and flu. The antioxidants lycopene and beta-carotene are also abundant in tomatoes.

First, pour some olive oil into the pot and heat it over medium heat. Then, add the canned tomatoes to the pot and let them cook for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add some garlic, basil, salt, and pepper to the pot and let everything cook for another 20 minutes. And that's it!

Best Types of Paste Tomatoes for Canning

Plum tomatoes like Roma, Amish paste, or San Marzano are both good choices. San Marzano has only two seed chambers, and both San Marzano and Amish Paste are less acidic than Romas which makes them a sweeter choice.

What canned tomatoes do chefs use? ›

Drain whatever else you'd like, but leave your canned tomatoes undrained. While this may seem a little bit strange, you're actually avoiding washing away those savory juices. Canned tomatoes themselves may make up the bulk of your can, but aren't the only part of the vegetable that's worth hanging onto.

Add 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon citric acid to quart jars. Use half this amount for pints. Add 1 teaspoon salt per quart (1/2 teaspoon per pint) to jars, if desired.

Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. When a gravy, sauce, soup or stew recipe calls for flour, use half as much cornstarch to thicken. To thicken hot liquids, first mix cornstarch with a little cold water until smooth. Gradually stir into hot liquid until blended.

If a recipe calls for “Stewed Tomatoes”, you can use canned tomatoes instead. But you may have to add a little extra seasoning. You can also use fresh tomatoes that have been basted.

Good for Your Physical Health

Naturally, stewed tomatoes have all the nutrition of their main component. Tomatoes are loaded with Vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that boosts the immune system and can help prevent cold and flu. The antioxidants lycopene and beta-carotene are also abundant in tomatoes.

Tomatoes contain minerals, vitamins, proteins, essential amino acids (leucine, threonine, valine, histidine, lysine, arginine), monounsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic acids), carotenoids (lycopene and β-carotenoids) and phytosterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol).

Puree. Pureed tomatoes that fall somewhere between crushed and paste—smoother, thicker and deeper in flavor than crushed, but not nearly as concentrated as paste. Stewed. Whole or diced tomatoes cooked with seasonings and often sugar and thus even softer than regular whole peeled.