Dehydrating tomato paste. Why not? Instead of using the two tablespoons from a can and then relegating the open can to the back of your fridge for months, learn how to dehydrate tomato paste and have tomato powder all year long and never waste another can again!
But if tomato paste is already preserved in the can, why dehydrate it?
Why Dehydrate Tomato Paste
For me it comes down to two reasons
- Less waste - No wasting the leftover jar of tomato paste
- Less space is needed to store a year's worth of paste
What is the difference between tomato paste and tomato sauce?
Tomato paste is simply concentrated tomato sauce. It's been cooked down to a thicker consistency, where the flavors have intensified. It can be sweeter, which you can rectify with a splash of vinegar if needed.
You can easily make tomato sauce from tomato paste with more water. Thus, because we aren't big users of tomatoes throughout the year, I tend to concentrate on tomato paste and adjust as needed.
How to Dehydrate Tomato Paste
Equipment needed
- Dehydrator
- Non-stick sheets - whether nonstick sheets or trays provided by your manufacturer, or DIY liquid trays you can make yourself if you prefer the security of a lip. I love these lipped silicone trays and the ParaFlexx sheets from Excalibur. But if you have a Nesco, these silicone lipped trays are also available from Amazon.
QUICK INSTRUCTIONS: 125°F / 52°C for 8-12 hours
Instructions:
- Spread tomato paste onto nonstick trays in a ¼" layer. An offset spatula helps a lot, but any spatula will do - silicone or metal work best.
- Dry at 125°F 52°C for anywhere from 8-12 hours, until crisp and dry
- After 8 hours or so, flip your leathers, if possible, to help speed up drying.
- Tomato leather is dry when it is pliable, but not tacky.
Notes:
- Your tomato leather will turn dark the longer it dries. It's normal.
- If you want to make tomato powder, dry your leather until it is brittle. It will make the next step much easier.
Making Tomato Powder
Equipment needed
Grinder - whether a coffee grinder for small amounts, a bullet blender or large blender for larger quantities. You can see my suggestions for blenders in my Essential Dehydrating Tools post here.
Instructions:
- Place pieces of tomato leather into grinder of your choice.
- Pulse until broken into small pieces
- Blend for 30-second increments until a smooth powder is created.
- Place powder onto cookie sheets and place in the oven preheated to 170°F and then turned off to allow powders to fully dry. Alternatively, place back onto your dehydrator trays in a bowl or muffin papers or coffee filters or lay a piece of parchment on top of it to protect from fan and dry for an hour or two.
- Store in an airtight container with desiccant packs. See more information in the post Keeping Powders Dry.
Storage:
• Store Tomato Paste Powder in an airtight container with desiccant packs for six to nine months. You may get more!
Unfortunately, tomatoes don't have the same shelf life as other fruits and vegetables and may begin to turn color over time. As soon as the powder no longer has the smell of tomato or it is turning an even darker color, it's time to make more!
• Store leathers in an airtight container for up to a year.
Uses for Tomato Paste Powder
- Rehydrate 1:1 to make tomato paste
- Rehydrate 4:1 to make tomato sauce
- Use a tablespoon or two to bring more tomato flavor to stews, braises, casseroles, and soups without adding more liquid
- Use in rubs for BBQ or jerky
- See even more uses for tomato powders at this post on The Purposeful Pantry.
Rehydrating Tomato Powder
For leathers,
A palm sized piece of tomato paste leather and about 1.5 TB of hot water is a good place to start.
For powders
Mix a 1:1.5 ratio of powder to water for form a thick paste.
You can adjust the quantity as you go for what you need in your recipe.
A Note about rehydrating dried tomato paste:
Every time you rehydrate a leather or powder, it will be a little different than the time before. A little extra powder, a home with high humidity, the temperature of the water, all play into how quickly and easily your tomato paste will reconstitute. Give yourself a little time and be flexible.
Allow plenty of time for the powder to completely rehydrate. It will get thicker over time. But remember, the thick paste isn't necessary as it is usually used for flavoring so you can put it as the thinner sauce to make incorporating it easier.
RELATED: How to Dehydrated Cherry Tomatoes & Make Sundried Tomatoes
Other Options for Storing Tomato Paste
If you're wanting to find other ways to keep tomato paste in your working food storage rotation, here are a few suggestions:
Freezing
- Freeze in tablespoon-sized blogs on a cookie sheet, then store in airtight, freezer-safe containers.
- Freeze in ice cube or muffin trays. Then remove said blocks and store in airtight containers
Tomato Paste in a Tube
This shelf-stable tomato paste is a handy way to keep tomato paste in your pantry for storage, then transfer straight to your refrigerator after use.
Dehydrate Tomato Paste and make Tomato Powder
Equipment
- Dehdyrator
- Fruit Leather Trays
- Bullet blender
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz Tomato Paste
Instructions
Dehydrate Tomato Paste
- Spread tomato paste onto nonstick trays in a ¼" layer
- Dry at 125°F 52°C for anywhere from 8-12 hours, until crisp and dry
- After 8 hours or so, flip your leathers, if possible, to help speed up drying.
- Tomato leather is dry when it is pliable, but not tacky.
- Store palm sized pieces of tomato leather in an airtight container with a desiccant pack
Make Tomato Powder
- Place pieces of tomato leather into grinder of your choice. (Do not overload)
- Pulse until broken into small pieces
- Blend for 30-second increments until a smooth powder is created.
- Place powder onto cookie sheets and place in the oven preheated to 170°F and then turned off to allow powders to fully dry
- Store powder in an airtight container with desiccant packs.
Reconstitute to Tomato Paste
- Mix 1 part tomato paste powder to 1.5 parts water (1 Tb to 1.5 Tbs)
- Allow to thicken to desired consistency
Nutritional information is an estimation only. Nutrient information for dehydrated foods is based on fresh. Use ¼ of the servicing size for the same nutrient information. Thus 1 Cup of fresh fruit has the same sugars as ¼ dried.
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Dianna says
When you make powders do u have to put the moisture packets in
Darcy Baldwin says
For those that tend to clump, yes
Sue says
Can I freeze powdered tomato paste to keep it longer and if so how long will it keep?
Thank you
Sue
Darcy Baldwin says
Yes - a year or so.
Audrey Kimball says
My 20 lb of tomatoes batch, reduced and divided onto 2 Excalibur sheets, has been in the dehydrator for 6 days at 125 and is still pliable. The crazy part is I live in the desert. I was able to turn the pieces on the second day onto just the mesh mat. 2 days ago I cut the ~14 inch square pieces into 16 pieces to get more air circulation. I also increased the temp to 135. Still pliable. I guess I’ll just keep going until they are brittle if that ever happens. I had the same problem with vegetable broth. Meat broths dried in a timely manner. The vege broth took close to 10 days. Crazy.
Darcy Baldwin says
Pliable doesn't mean not dry. But if you're going for powder, perhaps you spread it too thickly?
Audrey Kimball says
It took 12 days total in the dehydrator but turned out beautifully. I spread it 1/8” thick.
Darcy Baldwin says
It shouldn't have taken twelve days - what temp did you have it on? Did you flip the sheets after they set?
Margaret says
Making it now. 8 hours flipped it. Seems done now; leathery and not tacky. But put it in for another 2-3 hours. I'm using on parchment paper without any difficulty peeling away. Looking forward to final results. I'll be making more I'm sure. Thank you for your post of this recipe.
Darcy Baldwin says
Glad that it worked out well for you!
Pete Suttie says
We don't waste left over tomato paste either - we put it in zip lock bags, a couple of teaspoons per bag and put it in the freezer.
Then when we need some we just drop the frozen paste in the sauce and continue - works just like the tomato paste had never been frozen
Mary K says
Dear Darcy,
Thank you for such well thought out and thoroughly investigated food storage recipes and plans website. I follow your recipes and techniques to the letter, as you are one of my favorites.
While dehydrating my tomato paste so I could make powder, it was on top of silicone sheets. I was struggling to come up with an easy way to flip it over as to complete the total drying process. When in walked my husband and he heard me talking to myself about how I was to go about this.
His wonderful idea worked superbly. He suggested placing another unused silicone sheet over the original sheet, flipping it upside down on the counter and peeling off and lifting the used sheet up as I went along. The tomato paste that had partially dried on the top was now sitting pretty on top of the unused silicone sheet with the to be dried surface now facing the top. It was now bottoms up! ?
I thought I would share this fabulous tip that my dear husband masterminded. God bless him!
Darcy Baldwin says
Yep! That's a great idea!!!!
KitchenLover says
Dried tomato paste is a flavor booster my kitchen loves!
You covered it all.
Thank you!
Darcy says
Glad you found it helpful!
Darcy says
It is great!!