How to Pickle Tomatoes: The Best / Easiest Recipe

The end of summer and a bumper crop of tomatoes means preservation mode is in full effect at Casa Curtis. If you want to store some of your tomatoes for winter, pickling is a unique idea and it’s crazy easy. We’ve shown you how to can tomatoes without a canner, but that doesn’t really work for cherry tomatoes, just because you’d have to peel them and they tend to turn to mush. We’ve also showed you how to roast tomatoes and pack them in oil. YUM. You can also freeze them, I love doing that so I can toss them onto a bowl of hot pasta anytime. But why not do something fun, unique, and totally giftable to make your tomatoes last after the plants are long gone?

A great way to preserve and store cherry tomatoes is to pickle them. It sounds kinda nasty (at least I thought so at first), but I played around with it for a while and came up with an easy recipe that all my taste-testers have given mad props too. Learn how to pickle tomatoes with my cherry tomato pickling recipe after the jump…

Pickled Tomato Recipe

Prep the Tomatoes
Wash your tomatoes and remove the stems.
Poke 2-3 holes through your tomatoes with a skewer. This allows the brine to seep in. You could also peel the tomatoes, but they tend to turn to mush and peeling cherry tomatoes is a pain, trust.
Place the tomatoes in a sterilized jar (simply boil the jar or run through the dishasher with no soap).
Add some fresh dill on top. You could also add some pearl onions or peppers or whatever you like.

Prepare Your Brine
In a small pot combine the following (adjust seasonings to your taste if you like)
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups filtered water
2 tbls salt
2 tbls sugar
4-8 garlic cloves, sliced
Pinch coriander
4-6 peppercorns

Bring the mixture to a boil for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool to room temperature.

Pour the brine into your jars over the tomatoes. It’s enough for about 3, maybe 4 pints depending on how much evaporated and how many tomatoes are stuffed into your jar.

Cover the jar with a sterilized lid and screw your ring on. Put them in the refrigerator and let them sit for at least 24 hours to soak up the goodness. They will last a long time refrigerated, a few months. That is if you don’t eat them all first.

Curious how to use them? Here’s some ideas… they are great on a cheese plate, tossed into a salad or in a pasta salad, or diced up into a tomato relish for burgers and hot dogs. Or, my favorite – in a martini. My hubs likes ‘em in a bloody mary too.

Posted By Jaime

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