How to make…Green tomato bread
We love quick breads. They are easy to make, taste delicious and are a great use of any glut of fruit or veg from your garden. We’ve been making banana breads, zuchinni (courgette) breads and carrot breads for years. But green tomato bread was a new one for us that we only discovered when Phil found his love for growing tomatoes a few years ago. Now, this recipe is as much a part of our meal rotation as all the others.
Green tomatoes freeze well, if you’re in a rush to preserve them at the end of the harvest season. Simply cut out the stems/cores and any bad bits, use a stick blender to puree them, then strain the liquid for a few hours before transferring in 3-cup servings to freezer bags.
The frozen tomatoes we’re currently using up in winter 2021/22 are from our 2020 harvest; evidence that they can last a good, long time if stored carefully in the freezer. When you’re ready to use them, just put the bag in the sink or a bowl to defrost for a few hours.
Of course, you can also freeze the finished bread for a few months, too. Let the bread cool completely, wrap it tightly in tin foil, label with a marker and place in the freezer. Then when you’re ready to eat it, just get it out the night before to let it defrost to room temperature. This is a good idea since the recipe makes multiple loaves that will go bad if not used within a few days.
These quick breads also make fun and unique neighbour or hostess gifts if you are going visiting and want to share your harvest bounty. It will be a great conversation piece since green tomatoes probably aren’t the first thing that a person thinks of as an ingredient for an appetising dessert or tea-time treat.
Ingredients
1 | cup | oil | vegetable, canola or sunflower |
2 | cups | granulated sugar | |
1 | tsp | vanilla extract | |
3 | cups | green tomatoes | |
3 | eggs | whisked or beaten before adding | |
3½ | cups | all-purpose flour | |
1 | tsp | salt | |
1 | tsp | baking soda | bicarbonate of soda |
1 | tsp | ground cinnamon | |
½ | tsp | baking powder | |
½ | tsp | ground nutmeg | |
½ | tsp | ground cloves |
Preparation
- Grease your loaf tins with butter.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F / 180 C.
- Mix the wet ingredients, starting with whisking or beating the eggs.
- Then stir in the dry ingredients, a bit at a time to make sure it’s all incorporated.
- Pour into your greased tins so that they are about 2/3rds full.
- For small loaf tins, bake for 30-40 minutes; for larger tins, bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick (cocktail stick) inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- If you need more than an hour for the loaf to bake completely, cover the top loosely with tin foil to prevent burning.
- When the toothpick test passes, remove the tins from the oven. Let the bread cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the tin to allow it to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- When cool, wrap in tin foil. It should keep for two to three days.
- Store any that won’t be eaten in a couple of days, in the freezer.
Watch us make it
Check out our YouTube video by clicking the image below to see how I make my green tomato bread, and don’t forget to like, and subscribe to our channel while you’re there.
What about you
Do you grow tomatoes and need a new idea for what to do with the ones that don’t get ripe? Have you made green tomato bread before? We’d love for you to try our green tomato recipe. Download our free printable recipe card below.
And, if you do make this bread, share your experience with us using #quickbreads and tagging @parkerlings on your social media. If you have any questions, just ask, using the form below.