Use The Oil From Your Sun-Dried Tomatoes For An Easy Flavor Booster

Sweet, tangy sun-dried tomatoes add flavor and chewy texture to pasta, soup, and proteins. You can make sun-dried tomatoes in the oven or the air fryer at home, but if you're going the store-bought route, don't leave out the oil. Sun-dried tomatoes are sold either dry or oil-packed. Which option you pick up at the grocery store mostly comes down to personal preference, but it's worth noting that sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil serve a dual purpose. Turns out, the oil is just as good as the tomatoes.

If you've been fishing out the tomatoes to make sauces and appetizers, but are neglecting the rich, savory oil filling the jar, you're missing out on half of the flavor. You should absolutely be using the oil for drizzling, dressing, and dipping. Use the oil packed in a jar of sun-dried tomatoes to dress up salads, prepare eggs, pep up pasta, and reduce waste. The entire container tastes like sunny, summer bounty.

Similar to raisins and other dried fruits, sun-dried tomatoes are plucked at peak ripeness and placed in the sun to dry out. Oftentimes San Marzano, plum, grape, or cherry tomatoes are used in the process. You can even make your own sun-dried tomatoes at home using a dehydrator. As the tomatoes begin to lose their moisture, they darken and take on a more chewy texture. The oil-packed variety are dunked in oil and often flavored with garlic, herbs, and spices.

Sun-dried tomato oil mirrors the savory, tart taste of their tomato companions. The flavor is sweeter and delivers more umami than fresh tomatoes. To give simple dishes summer sweetness, just switch out your oil. You can replace regular olive oil with the sun-dried tomato oil when cooking. Spruce up spaghetti and brie or get creative and make a dinner out of Trader Joe's spinach and artichoke dip drizzled with sun-dried tomato oil. Add it to risotto, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, and tapenade.