Over the years I have enjoyed growing many different varieties of tomatoes and have many recipes to enjoy them year-round.
If you have not had a fresh tomato that you have grown you are missing out on one of the best-tasting vegetables (actually a fruit) that you can have. There is no comparing store-bought tomatoes with fresh garden tomatoes.
Tomatoes have a wide range of flavors from sweet and juicy to spicey and those that are higher in acidic flavors or even smokey flavors. Be sure to try a wide variety to find your favorite and you can mix them to enhance the flavors.
I will share these with you so that you can get the most out of your tomato crop, by enjoying them throughout the year.
I will organize the recipes by the sizes of tomatoes to help you.
Go to this link to get more details about many of these tomato varieties.
Small Cherry size tomatoes
These tomatoes are snack or salad sizes that do not need to be cut, are perfect to pick and eat out of the garden, or can be added to recipes.
Sungold, Prairie Fire, Cherry, Yellow Pear
Medium size tomatoes
These tomatoes are in between the small snack size and the slicer size. They usually are early-ripening tomatoes that are full of flavor and great to be used in recipes that call for a diced tomato.
Bloody Butcher, Yellow Boy, Roma, and Indigo varieties
Large size tomatoes
These tomatoes are the largest of the tomato varieties that are the latest to ripen but are the most versatile for use in the kitchen. They are considered a slicer tomato and are great to use on sandwiches.
Pineapple, Beef, Big Zach, Siletz, Brandywine, Genuwine
Best Recipes using Garden Fresh Tomatoes
Using small or medium size tomatoes
Caprese
This is a simple recipe that is one of my favorite and easiest recipes. You can use either medium or large tomatoes for this recipe. Medium tomatoes are more bite-size while the larger ones are more often used.
Slice tomatoes into thick slices removing the top and bottom slice
Place a slice of Mozzarella cheese on each tomato, the thickness depends on you
Place leaves of sweet basil on top of each piece of mozzarella
Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the top
Using small size tomatoes
Tomato & Cucumber, Dill Salad
This recipe is a favorite on a hot summer day and is easy to prepare using all fresh ingredients and is a burst of color and flavor.
Use 1-2 baskets of small cherry-size tomatoes and for a great explosion of color mix the tomato varieties for this recipe.
3-4 cucumbers quartered and chunked 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
Add lots of fresh dill, or dry dill.
Vinegar
Tomato and Corn Salad
Using Large Slicer size Tomatoes
Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich
This is a yearly favorite to have as soon as I have my first slicer tomato ripe in the garden. Do not scrimp on the bacon or bread to make these sandwiches it is worth the added expense.
Pick your largest slicer tomato that is ripe, hopefully, one slice will cover the entire piece of bread. I slice them very thick but you can slice to your preference. I prefer to use a Pineapple tomato for this since the red, yellow, and orange color and juicy flavor make this my #1 choice.
Select a good whole grain bread such as Killer Dave’s and toast them to a golden brown.
Thick bacon cooked crisp, one of my favorites is pepper bacon, and be sure to use enough to cover the bread.
Use spicey mayo or for those of you that do not like it hot use just plain mayo on your sandwich.
Pick a nice head of lettuce from your garden to use on the sandwich, I prefer red leaf which has large leaves and nice color of green and red.
Now sit back and enjoy one of the best treats that your garden can produce using your fresh tomatoes and lettuce.
Top your favorite Pizza
Take a thick slice of your favorite large slicer tomato to top your pizza to add a burst of flavor.
Using all sizes of Tomatoes
Roasted Freezer Tomatoes
As the summer comes to an end there are lots of tomatoes and onions to harvest, to preserve these great vegetables to enjoy all winter long here is a recipe that we use to preserve them in the freezer.
Quarter larger tomatoes or slice in half smaller tomatoes, enough to cover the baking sheet pan.
Quarter onions to add to the mix of tomatoes
Add any spices you enjoy such as basil, oregano, and garlic.
Drizzle olive oil over top and mix in with tomatoes and onions.
Roast these on low heat at 300 degrees for an hour
Remove from heat and let cool before placing in freezer bags and freezing.
These are great to use with pasta or on toasted bread for a burst of summer flavors.
Salsa
I like to use a variety of tomatoes to give the salsa the best flavor, chopped or diced into small pieces.
1/2 large onion using a milder sweet onion like Candy or Walla Walla, diced into small pieces.
2-5 Jalapeno peppers diced into very small pieces, for hotter salsa use more peppers and leave some seeds in the salsa, for milder salsa remove all the seeds and use fewer peppers.
Cilantro, chop and add to taste.
1/2 Lemon, use fresh lemon squeezed into salsa.
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Mix thoroughly, this can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated before serving.
Tools for Harvesting & Preparing Tomatoes
Now that you have a few of my Best Recipes using Garden Fresh Tomatoes and your crop is ripening you need to make some of them to enjoy your tomatoes.
