How to Cook With Sundried Tomatoes, the Ultimate Southern Italian Ingredient

Sundried tomatoes are a quintessential Italian ingredient—they are commonly used in pastas and salads, and they’re a popular antipasti choice, too, thanks to their tangy, rich taste. Interestingly, that signature flavor comes from the way sundried tomatoes are prepared—they are quite literally dried in the sun. The process is centuries old and likely originated in Southern Italian regions like Sicily and Puglia, where, before refrigeration, the intense Mediterranean heat helped to preserve foods by drying them out.

Today, sundried tomatoes are loved all over the world. According to Infinium Global Research, the global dried tomato market was valued at nearly $1.4 billion in 2022, and by 2030, it could exceed $1.9 billion. According to the platform, growing demand for convenient and nutritious options is one key market driver.

Sundried tomatoes are easy to cook with, versatile, nutritious, and packed with flavor. Find some of our favorite recipes below.

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Are sundried tomatoes good for you?

Fresh tomatoes are incredibly nutritious. They’re loaded with vitamins and minerals, like vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium, and they’re a good source of fiber and lycopene. The latter is a potent antioxidant linked with a reduced risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease and certain types of cancer.

The majority of these nutrients survive the drying process, but some become even more concentrated. In fact, sundried tomatoes are an even better source of lycopene than fresh tomatoes. According to Healthline, 100 grams of fresh tomatoes contain around three grams of lycopene, while 100 grams of sundried tomatoes contain nearly 46 milligrams of the antioxidant.

One important note: when you’re buying sundried tomatoes, watch for added salt or oil, as some commercial varieties tend to be high in sodium.

What do you use sundried tomatoes for?

Sundried tomatoes can be used in a wide variety of recipes—they add a burst of flavor to pasta dishes, for example, and they also taste great with a dollop of plant-based pesto on a pizza. You can also blend sundried tomatoes into soups, spreads, or sauces, or just snack on them straight from the jar. 

8 vegan recipes with sundried tomatoes

To help you get the best out of this tasty and versatile Mediterranean ingredient, we’ve listed some of our favorite plant-based recipes below. 

1 Vegan Chorizo and Sundried Tomato Gnocchi Bake

Tangy sundried tomatoes bring a rich, sweet flavor to this hearty gnocchi bake, which is loaded with nourishing ingredients like onions, garlic, and basil. It’s topped with dairy-free mozzarella and packed with vegan sausages for the ultimate comfort dinner.
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Hannah Kaminsky

2 Vegan Eggplant Enchiladas With Paprika-Lime Cashew Cream

Homemade enchiladas are always a great midweek dinner choice. They’re nourishing, satisfying, and packed with flavor, especially when they’re topped with a smoky, garlicky cashew crema and a tasty sun-dried tomato sauce.
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Emily Lavieri-Scull

3 Vegan Seafood Pasta in a Tangy Asian-Style Dressing

Umami-rich mushrooms and briny capers stand in for tuna, anchovies, and clams in this plant-based take on seafood pasta. Thinly-sliced sundried tomatoes bring a burst of rich flavor to the dish, and combine beautifully with nori, soy sauce, green onions.
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A Saucy Kitchen

4 Vegan Sun Dried Tomato Alfredo

According to Sarah Nevins, this tasty alfredo is “ultra creamy and downright dreamy.” The sauce is made with a mix sundried tomatoes, almond milk, and arrowroot flour, before it’s mixed with chickpea pasta (but you can pick any pasta variety you like) and topped with a generous sprinkle of vegan parmesan.
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Nourishing Amy

5 Jackfruit and Sun-Dried Tomato Curry Noodles

The rich intense flavor of sundried tomatoes brings so much to this curry dish. It’s fragrant, hearty, and incredibly satisfying. “This meal is a great one to serve to hungry guests, friends and family and is a real crowd-pleaser,” says Amy Lanza of Nourishing Amy. ”It is heaty enough for meat-eaters while being fully plant-based and full of wholefoods. It has so much flavour and the smells are pretty special, too!”
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Sarah’s Vegan Kitchen

6 Marry Me Tofu

Make your partner tofu steaks smothered in a creamy sundried tomato sauce and they will want to marry you instantly. Okay, they’ll at least want you to cook for them again, so that’s something. This recipe is a vegan take on the TikTok trending recipe Marry Me Chicken, but it’s arguably even more delicious. “Tofu is generally way easier to find and more affordable than vegan chicken cutlets, and it also is the perfect blank canvas for all the delicious flavors going on in the sun-dried tomato cream sauce,” says Sarah Sullivan of Sarah’s Vegan Kitchen.
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Supper in the Suburbs

7 Vegan Sun-dried Tomato and Cheese Straws

If you’ve got a party coming up, these vegan sundried tomato and cheese straws are guaranteed to be a real hit with your guests. They’re a little bit more sophisticated than regular cheese straws, thanks to the rich sundried tomato flavor. “My sun-dried tomato version have even more flavour as they burst with the sweet, umami flavour of the intense tomatoes,” notes the blog Supper in the Suburbs.
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The Veg Space

8 Sun-Dried Tomato & Butterbean Vegan Pâté

Fancy something a little different to avocado on toast? This nutritious, delicious vegan pâté is easy to whip up and packed with flavor. It would also taste great as a dip with chips, on the side of a salad, or as an extra layer of spread in a sandwich.
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