When I first started canning tomatoes, one thing drove me a little crazy-the scraps. Piles of skins, seeds, and bits that seemed destined for the compost or chicken yard. And while the chickens were thrilled, I couldn’t help but feel like I was wasting food that had taken so much time and care to grow.
One year, after filling the pantry shelves with stewed tomatoes, salsa, spaghetti sauce, chili base, marinara, pizza sauce, and even ketchup-I still had tomatoes left over. (Side note: the ketchup was amazing, but it took forever to reduce down!) A friend mentioned she just thickens her ketchup with a can of organic tomato paste from the store, but I didn’t want that. My whole goal was to keep everything as homegrown as possible.
So, naturally, I turned to Pinterest. That’s where I stumbled across a whole world of people making homemade tomato paste powder from the skins.
The First Attempt: Dehydrating Skins
The process sounded simple: dehydrate the peels, run them through a blender, and you’ve got powder. Easy, right?
Well, sort of. I tried it, and while it technically worked, it wasn’t what I was hoping for. The skins took ages to dry, the flavor was faint, and even with my high-powered blender (the same one that makes perfectly smooth tomato soup, seeds and all), I still ended up with stubborn bits of skin that just wouldn’t break down.
Enter the coffee grinder. (This one worked like a charm!) It handled the small, tough pieces my blender couldn’t catch. But still—the taste was underwhelming.
Adding Flavor: The Salt Experiment
I figured maybe it wasn’t the process—it was the flavor. So my next experiment was to add a little salt.
Salt has this magical way of pulling out the natural richness in tomatoes. I blended the skins into a puree with a pinch of salt, adjusting until it actually tasted good. But now I had a new problem: it was late at night, and I didn’t have the energy to can or process it.
So I looked over at my dehydrator and thought, why not?
The Breakthrough: Tomato Leather to Powder
I spread the salted puree onto my dehydrator’s solid trays (the same ones I use for fruit leather) and let it run on low overnight.
The next morning, it was perfect—crisp sheets of tomato goodness that snapped in my hands. I broke them up and tossed them in my blender, and this time, it turned into a beautiful, fine powder. For the stubborn little bits, the coffee grinder finished the job.
Finally, success!
I store the powder in a glass jar, vacuum-sealed for freshness (I love my vacuum sealer). Now, whenever I need tomato paste, I just mix 1 part powder with 1 part water. But honestly? Most of the time, I skip rehydrating and simply sprinkle the powder straight into soups, sauces, or chili as a thickener and flavor booster.
Why Homemade Tomato Powder is a Game-Changer
- No Waste: Every part of your harvest is used. Skins that would normally get tossed become a pantry staple.
- Space-Saving: Jars of sauce take up a lot of room. Tomato powder condenses the harvest into something lightweight and shelf-stable.
- Versatile: Use it as paste, add it to broth, stir it into rice, or even mix into seasoning blends.
- Homemade Goodness: You control the ingredients—no additives, no mystery thickeners, just tomatoes and a pinch of salt.
Tools That Made This Easier
If you want to give this a try, here are a few things that made the process so much smoother:
- High-Powered Blender – Perfect for pureeing skins into a smooth base. Ninja Duo Blender
- Dehydrator with Solid Trays – Essential for drying the tomato puree evenly overnight. Magic Mill Dehydrator
- Coffee Grinder – A must for getting that fine, silky powder texture. Kaffe Coffee Grinder
- Vacuum Sealer – Keeps the powder airtight and fresh for months. Electric Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer
🍅 Homemade Tomato Powder (Printable Recipe Card)
Ingredients:
- Tomato skins (or puree from skins)
- Salt, to taste
Instructions:
- Prep the Skins: After peeling tomatoes, save the skins. For more flavor, blend them into a puree with a pinch of salt.
- Spread & Dry: Spread puree thinly onto dehydrator solid trays (like for fruit leather). Dehydrate on low overnight until completely crisp.
- Blend into Powder: Break dried sheets into pieces. Blend into powder using a high-powered blender. For stubborn bits, finish in a coffee grinder.
- Store: Transfer to glass jars and vacuum seal or store airtight.
To Use:
- Rehydrate in a 1:1 ratio of powder to water to make paste.
- Or sprinkle directly into soups, stews, and sauces as a thickener and flavor booster.
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