Dehydrated Tomato Chips are a nutritious snack that is so easy to make in your dehydrator. Use best of the season tomatoes, a little seasoning, and have chips that will make your mouth water!
Whether you are using garden-fresh or from the grocery store, dehydrating tomato chips is an effective way to make tomatoes last all year, and give yourself a tasty snack to enjoy any time!
These crunchy, tart, intense chips can be seasoned with a variety of spices, but an Italian blend is my favorite! There are so many ways to seasons vegetable chips - explore your spice cabinet!
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How to Make Dehydrated Tomato Chips
Ingredients:
- Tomatoes (any variety that you'd like)
- Seasonings - any blend of seasonings that you love on vegetable chips. Need more inspiration on how to season vegetable chips?
Instructions for drying
- Slice tomatoes ¼" to ½" (6mm to 12mm)
- A thinner slice gets you a crispier chip, but also lends itself to sticking.
- A thicker slice is a more intense flavor, and has more of a fruit leather feel to it.
- Dry in dehydrator at 125F/52C for 8-12 hours
- Tomatoes are a fruit, botanically, so you can increase the temperature to 135-140F to get a faster dry.
- Flip after 5 hours
- Flipping the tomato slices after five hours will help reduce the risk of the tomato slices sticking to your trays.
- Test for Dryness
- Allow your samples to cool for five minutes
- They should snap easily when completely dry.
- Condition
- Store in an airtight container
It is helpful to use mesh or fruit leather sheets if you are using stainless steel trays, as sticking is very problematic there. These are my favorite Cosori sheets, and these are the ones I use for my Excalibur (affiliate links).
Oven Directions:
Follow the steps for preparation.
- Set oven to lowest temperature (preferably 170F or below if possible)
- use parchment paper on a cooling rack
- Place onto a cookie sheet
- Dry for 3-5 hours until crisp - keep a sharp eye as they can burn
Follow the instructions for dryness and storage above.
How to Use Dried Tomato Chips
Giving the visitor ideas on how they can change this recipe to better suit their dinner guests, or their cultural cuisine, is a great way to increase the chances they make the recipe
- As a Snack - just snack on them - they are a
- Add to Pizza or Quiche - These make a beautiful addition to the top of a pizza or quiche - and are pretty tasty, too!
- In sandwiches or burgers - If you've never had a tomato and grilled cheese sandwich, it's time to try one! But instead of a big juicy slice of tomato, layer a few of these chips in for a super-intense flavor!
- As a garnish - a few on top of a bowl of tomato soup, in a salad, or a fancy display of a pasta dish with tomato sauce, these beautiful slices will elevate a usually ordinary meal.
- Create an amazing sandwich spread with this recipe for Garlicky Tomato & Herb Spread
Storage
Store dried tomato chips in an airtight container for 12-18 months. It's best to use a moisture absorber, especially if getting in and out of the jar to use.
Tomato powder is best stored in an airtight container with a moisture absorber for up to six months.
Making Tomato Powder from Chips
Whether you season the tomato chips or not, you can make tomato powder from dehydrated tomato chips.
The only thing keeping you from it is if you used oil on your slices.
Directions:
- Break up fully dried tomato chips into the grinder of your choice. I really love the Cosori Coffee Grinder from Amazon, but any will do.
- Pulse 5 or 6 times before moving to a constant grind for up to 30 seconds at a time (or per your grinder's directions)
- Place powder on a lined cookie sheet. Put into a warmed but turned-off oven for 15-20 minutes to condition the tomato powder
- Cool and store in an airtight container.
Dehydrating Tomato Chip FAQs
Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. Stone bakeware takes longer to heat up than metal pans, and also retains heat for longer, which could make the recipe more watery, or burnt on the outsides.
The one that you'll use! I use a Cosiri Dehydrator, an Excalibur Dehydrator, and a Nesco dehydrator. But any dehydrator you have available to you will work!
Any tomato will work. The larger, meatier tomatoes will work better than those that tend to be more watery.
Yes - whether you
📖 Recipe
Dehydrated Tomato Chips
Equipment
- Knife
Ingredients
- Tomatoes Any variety will do
Instructions
- Wash and remove blossom end
- Slice in ¼ to ½" slices (6mm to 12mm)
- Season with favorite seasoning
- Dry at 125F/52C for 10-14 hours
- Test for dryness (snaps when cooled)
- Condition
- Store in an airtight container for up to a year
Notes
- Set oven to lowest temperature (preferably 170F or below if possible)
- use parchment paper on a cooling rack
- Place onto a cookie sheet
- Dry for 3-5 hours until crips - keep a sharp eye as they can burn
- Add to ranch dressing for a fun kick
- Add to sour cream for a veggie dip or topping on tomato soup or chili
- Add to cream cheese for bagels
Nutritional information is an estimation only.
Kris says
When I make the tomato slices will vacuum sealing with an absorber, the in a Mylar bag kept in the fridge extend the storage life? I’m looking for long term storage.
Would that work for the tomato paste and powder?
Darcy Baldwin says
Unfortunately, tomatoes just don't hold up as long as other foods do, no matter what. Using a vacuum sealer and an O2 absorber are double-duty - no sense in doing both. In a mylar bag, most don't vacuum seal anyway - you just use it to heat seal with the O2 absorber inside. Most tomatoes just last a year or so - your mileage may vary, but don't expect them to last 3-5 years or more - you'd really need to look at freeze dried products for that. Powders have a reliable shelf life of about a year or less - and then begin to lose their potency, depending on the food. Mushroom powder lasts a long time, but many fruit powders don't. So again, while your mileage may vary, look at tomato products being on the shorter end of the storage spectrum.
Gail Goodall says
I’m wondering about using on burgers, do you rehydrate them or use as is? Thank you!
Darcy Baldwin says
You can do them either way! Try it and see what you think!
Lori says
This is the BEST EVER!!! I made a test batch to see if we would like these. When John comes and tells me he really likes these we have a winner! The taste is amazing! The BEST part of this is we will have some delicious tomatoes to put on our salads this winter when they are so expensive and tasteless. I have done 20 trays so far! Thanks for a great idea!!!
Darcy Baldwin says
So glad you like them!!!!
Deborah Couture says
Have my first try at tomatoes going since yesterday, but when I checked them earlier today they were still pliable and sticky. Will let them go til they are good and dry. My question, I am using just regular tomatoes, not Roma or Cherry, is there an easy way to slice? Some of my slices were thicker than others. I could not get them to slice on the mandolin, could be they are pretty ripe. Can I freeze them whole and slice them frozen? Just curious. Thanks for all you do!!
Darcy Baldwin says
With a serrated knife.
Jen says
Am I able to make tomato powder from tomato chips? Or do I have to cook down tomatoes into a paste and then do the leather dehydrating? I like the idea of tomato powder but want to do it with my garden produce rather than from a can of paste.
Darcy Baldwin says
Yes - the directions are in this post: https://www.thepurposefulpantry.com/dehydrated-tomato-chips/
Della Humphrey says
The recipe is great! Me....not so much. My attempt took forever. The slices seemed to "snap". I put them in a jar and turned them every day. I noticed one was sticking to the bottom of my jar so I dumped them all into a bowl. They are all flexible now. No sign of mold. I put them back in the jar and into the refrigerator. I will try again. I used a sheet under the slices...the one you use for making fruit leather. Maybe I should not have done that. It might have affected air flow. I am rather old to be just starting this but I love the idea of those delicious tomato slices with seasonings.
Darcy Baldwin says
You putting them in a bowl in the fridge introduces all sorts of moisture. An airtight container is all you need - if they snapped, you condition, then store in an airtight container. Sticking a little is one thing, not coming off is another. You can just put them back into the dehydrator to dry, and store again.