You can use them to make and can salsa and they don't even have to be peeled. ;) You can also dry them and that is what many do for tomato candy-like snacks. You can also freeze them and turn them into any form of tomato sauce.

Honestly, if you have enough of them, they can be used for most any recipe that you'd use large tomatoes for - tomato pickles, tomato relish, chili sauce, rotel-like tomatoes with jalapeno peppers, etc. They don't require any special recipe.

Link below is to several good discussions on how to use them - recipes included. See the first 3 threads linked especially.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Cherry tomato uses

you might want to try this one from Carol (Reading Lady)
be sure toms are really FIRM

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes (Tomates-Cerises a l'Aigre-doux)
Makes 1 quart
 1 quart water
 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt
 1 pound firm cherry tomatoes (round and plum varieties of all colors can be used)
 2 cups cider vinegar
 1/4 cup granulated sugar or more to taste
 2 sprigs fresh summer savory or tarragon
 12 black peppercorns
In a large bowl, combine the water and salt, and stir to dissolve the salt.
Prick the bottom of each tomato once with a clean needle. Place the tomatoes in the salt brine, cover and marinate for 24 hours at room temperature.
In a large saucepan, combine the vinegar and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring just to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and cool thoroughly.
Remove the tomatoes from the salt brine and drain thoroughly. Discard the salt brine.
Carefully place the tomatoes in a 1-quart canning jar. Arrange the herbs and peppercorns around the edges of the jar. Pour the vinegar-sugar mixture over the tomatoes. Secure the jar tightly. Let sit in a cool, dry place -- or in the refrigerator -- for 3 weeks before tasting.
Serve as a pickle, or as an appetizer, with toothpicks to spear. Once opened, the tomatoes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. -- From Sharon Maasdam, home economist, FOODday

Carol

Thank you so much for the quick responses. I wasn't sure if they could be used in place of other tomatoes. Thanks for the tip Dave about not peeling them, that was what I was dreading!

Dave-
When you dehydrate cherry toms. Do you have to remove the skins? If not, do you put a slit in each to release moisture faster?

Bruce
Mustang, Ok

Dave-
When you dehydrate cherry toms. Do you have to remove the skins? If not, do you put a slit in each to release moisture faster?

Leave skins on, slice in half from top to bottom, place on rack with cut side facing toward the air flow (ie: fan on top or fan on bottom). 130-135 degrees. Dry to leather for shelf storage OR dry to flexible and store in freezer.

You can also lightly salt them first with sea salt if you like salty ones or sprinkle them with a VERY light dusting of season salt or chili powder or celery salt or italian herbs or etc.

Dave

This year, I concentrated on raising the cherry types about the size of a large marble. They make the best finished product for drying for my use. Like Dave, I cut them in half, then dehydrate cut side up. If I want them super dry, I may turn them - but for most - they are left a bit flexible after initial drying, then placed into small baggies and frozen in freezer containers.

Most are used in salad dressings - olive oil/wine vinegar, or used in pasta recipes, stir fries. Last week, I baked a King Arthur recipe for a spicy flat bread, and added some to that recipe - kids loved it. Turned out something like a "quickie" pizza - without all the work.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Dave -

You said "You can use them to make and can salsa and they don't even have to be peeled."

I LOVE that! There is NO WAY I would take the time to blanch and peel that many cherry tomatoes! I only have 2 batches of salsa put up this year, and while my standard tomatoes are sulking a bit, my cherries (especially black cherry) are producing way more than I can deal with. So - do you just cut them up and proceed with the recipe, or do you squeeze out some of the seeds? I will most likely use about 1/2 regular tomatoes, and half cherries.

I have a fabulous (non-canning) recipe for pasta with slow roasted cherry tomatoes that I can post if anyone is interested. I have about 10 batches of the sauce in my freezer right now, and will appreciate it when winter sets in!

Happy Labor Day All!

We like this recipe for using cherry tomatoes. It's called Tomato Confit.
4 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1/8 tsp each rosemary, thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
Stir together in an ovenproof dish and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 255 for several hours. I usually bake it for a couple of hours at 255, the lower the heat to 170 and leave it overnight, then back up to 255 until the tomato juice is gone and it's very thick. We freeze it. It is delicious!! We make enough to fill the oven with casserole dishes to make the most of the oven heat.

Like bejay, I LOVE drying cherry tomatoes. When you want to use them, no chopping---just pop 'em into your salad, pasta, bread, pizza, etc. Plus, they dry so much faster than romas or slices. Two to six hours, I find, will do it.

Another recipe I really like making with them fresh, rebecca, is to put them, whole, in a baking dish, maybe two layers deep. Mix bread crumbs & grated parmesan about half and half and also mix in some finely chopped parsley. Spread this over the top of the tomatoes to cover them. Dot with a few little bits of butter. Bake at 325 for a half-hour or so.

My husband calls this "exploding tomato bombs" because the tomatoes, all nicely softened from the cooking, do kind of explode in your mouth. But in a good way. ;-)

Finally, nothing beats a simple salad of cherry tomates with feta. Especially if you have a couple of different colours you can mix together, nothing is prettier, either!

Z

One other way to use a bounty of cherry tomatoes, is to cook them down - stewed, then freeze. They are great used as toppings on meat loaf or mixed with pastas and other ingredients - we like macaroni and tomatoes - with onion and some browned meat - as an alternative to the richer spaghetti on occasion.

This past summer, I fermented some green tomatoes with onion, garlic and hot pepper for some nice relish - followed the brine recipe that is offered in the fermenting instructions - NCHFP.

Bejay

ekgrows
I would like the non canning recipe! I need some more ideas to make my sauce taste better it is missing something! I'm freezing sauce this year because my tomatoes have some sort of disease. The cherry one are ok though,but I'm still just going to freeze! I don't know if I would like a pickled tomato, it just doesn't sound good!
I have made Annie's salsa with the cherries and it comes out great!

Ahbee - Thanks for your feedback about cherry tomato salsa. I made a batch of salsa last week with half regular tomatoes, and half cherry. It turned out good - but could have used a few more hot peppers. As for the recipe - here it is. I always use a mixture of what I have - usually sunsugar, black cherry, and rose quartz or tomato berry.

Spaghetti with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, Basil, and Parmesan Cheese
Serves 3

½ Cup Olive oil, separated
1 large red or yellow onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
18 basil leaves, plus ¼ cup basil, cut into thin ribbons
1/8 tsp hot red pepper flakes
50 ripe cherry / grape tomatoes
3 tsp. salt  separated
2 tsp. sugar
½ lb spaghetti
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 250° Heat ¼ cup of the olive oil in sautee pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook  stirring occasionally  until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in the 18 basil leaves and red pepper flakes.

Place cherry tomatoes in deep roasting pan large enough to hold the tomatoes in a single layer. Sprinkle with sugar and 1 tsp salt. Spoon onion mixture over tomatoes, and drizzle with remaining ¼ cup olive oil. Roast tomatoes in preheated oven for 3 hours  or until tender  stirring once during roasting.

To finish the dish, bring a large pot of water with remaining 2 tsp. of salt to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook until al dente according to package directions. Drain, and transfer to large pot. Add roasted tomato mixture, and toss well. Add remaining ¼ cup basil ribbons and parmesan cheese. Toss again, and serve immediately.

Tomato mixture can be roasted ahead of time, and heated in saucepan while pasta is cooking.

So yummy - and easy too! You'll have to let me know how you like it. The recipe posted was in a tomato cookbook I have, and modified over the past few years to get it just how we like it.

On another note, found out some local growers have late blight. Going to can some green tomato relish tomorrow, just in case it spreads this way. I missed canning it last year, and I WILL NOT go without it again, even if it means stealing green tomatoes that would possibly ripen if I let them go another couple weeks :)