How to Peel Tomatoes

You knew that Pesach involves a lot of potato peeling, but peel tomatoes? For many of you, yes.

There is a common custom not to eat unpeeled produce on Pesach. Every single thing must be peeled. But did you ever peel a tomato – or a bunch of tomatoes to make one sauce? If you did, you know that it can be tricky and messy.

Mrs Yudit Stock gave us an amazing tomato peeling hack that worked like a charm when we tested it. Simply place your firm tomatoes on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes on 350. As soon as the tomato has cooled enough so you can touch it with gloved hands, simply peel the skin away. It’ll slide right off! Simple as that! Now go ahead and make that tomato sauce…

Another method we discovered is, exactly the opposite! Freezing does the trick too!

We found freezing easier to handle (no hot tomatoes, no need to use a oven) but you need advance prep as you need to remember to stick those tomatoes in the freezer overnight. 

Here is a tip (one we learned the hard way): remove the stems before freezing, as the stems are very hard to remove when you use this technique. 

Once frozen solid, simply run the tomato straight from the freezer under warm running water and watch the skin magically lift off. No need to cut or score. 

Your perfectly peeled tomatoes will be ready to be turned into tomato dip, tomato sauce, or simply diced up and added to a stew or roast. 

We do not recommend any of these methods for using tomatoes in a salad since baking/freezing will render the tomatoes mushy. 

Check out our Pesach kitchen master list here.

See these recipes that use peeled tomatoes: Basic Roast Recipe and Pulled Beef Eggrolls.