How to Easily Peel Tomatoes

This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more details.

easily peeled tomatoes

Processing tomatoes for canning can be a bit of a chore. The tomatoes need to be peeled, cored, cut and possibly seasoned before the canning process. I found that most tomato canning recipes called for either peeling the tomatoes ahead of time or cooking the tomatoes with the peel on and then straining. Since I did not have the proper equipment to make the straining process easy, I peeled all of my tomatoes first.

cut tomatoes

After you wash the tomatoes, the first step is to cut an X in the bottom of the tomato. The cut should not be deep into the flesh of the tomato. Just a simple hash mark through the skin will do.

hot water

Then prepare a large pot of water boiling. Place the tomatoes in the pot for about 30 seconds.

ice tomatoes

Immediately plunge the hot tomatoes into a bath of ice water. The ice water will stop the cooking process. At this point the peel should come off very easily. If the peel is not sliding right off, you might need to return it to the boiling water for a few seconds.

skin cracking

I found that the tomatoes were ready to peel when I saw the skin cracking in the boiling water past the little X I had made. Hubby and I worked as a team – he washed and cut the tomatoes while I handled the boiling and cooling. It really made the process fairly easily.

peel tomato

Once your tomatoes are peeled, they can be frozen or canned. We processed them for canned salsa and seasoned tomato sauce. It was a lot of work but it’s very rewarding!

The following two tabs change content below.
Renae is a married working mom of two handsome boys. She works as a registered dental hygienist by day and blogs here at How to Have it All by night. She enjoys cooking from scratch, working in her vegetable garden and functional training.

Latest posts by Renae Chiovaro (see all)