Today I’m going to show you the easiest way to remove skins from tomatoes! Use your Instant Pot to help you remove the tomato skins in just a few minutes.
Instant Pot Peeling Tomatoes Trick
If you want to make spaghetti sauce or tomato soup with your fresh garden tomatoes you’ll probably want them peeled first. And you can use your Instant Pot to make that process easy as can be!
Here’s how to do it:
- Place 1 ½ cups of hot or boiling water in your Instant Pot.
- Place a steamer basket in your Instant Pot.
- Remove stems from tomatoes and place them into the steamer basket.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 0 (zero) minutes.
- After the pot has come to pressure it will immediately turn to the keep warm setting. Move the valve to venting and when you can carefully remove the lid.
- Use tongs to place the tomatoes into an ice bath.
- When tomatoes are cool to the touch slide the skins off of the tomatoes.
What if my pressure cooker doesn’t go to zero minutes?
Just set it to the lowest amount of minutes possible. And then when it reaches pressure immediately move the valve to venting. Basically we just want the pot to barely reach pressure and then release all the pressure.
Do you have to peel tomatoes to make sauce?
When tomato skins are cooking in liquid or sauce they separate from the tomato flesh and create a stringy texture. It is recommended that you use peeled tomatoes for spaghetti sauce.
More Instant Pot Tricks and Tips…
- 81 Instant Pot Tips
- 7 Instant Pot Mistakes
- How to cook frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot
- Easy way to peel peaches using your Instant Pot
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
I use a 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Where else can I find your Instant Pot tips?
I like to share Instant Pot tips weekly on my YouTube channel. You can subscribe here.
You can join The 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group.
Subscribe to my email list by signing up in the gray form below. I send out daily emails.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I am going to try this trick this week. I have a bunch of ripening tomatoes I need to can — mostly Romas — and the part I have always dreaded was the peeling part of the tomatoes, so this sounds great! My only question is that usually it is advised to cut a small cross shape at the bottom of the tomato and you didn’t say anything about that?
That would probably help but mine nonetheless slid off with no issues!
I thought it sounded like a good idea, so I tried it today, I followed your recipe. I immediately released the pressure when it beeped at 0 minutes. The tomatoes were almost mush. Any idea why it would do that? The tomatoes were fairly small, 1 1/2 to 2 inches.
I bet it is because the tomatoes are so small. Did you use a steamer basket?
Yes I did. I may try it again with bigger tomatoes
I am a Type 2 Diabetic & I need recipes to start taking better care of myself. If you can help, it sure would be appreciated. Thank you.
Hi Kathie I’m sorry to hear that. you can check my low carb recipes here: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/recipes/?fwp_method=instant-pot&fwp_dietary_restrictions=low-carb
This worked like a charm on tomatoes.
I know! It’s my favorite!
I have an power quick pot 6 quart. Are all 6 quart accessories interchangeable with my power quick pot? I just got one and I am new at this.
I’m not 100% certain but I think so.
I like to use my immursion blender and leave skins on makes a nice thick sauce
Dip them in a pot of boiling water for 30 to 45 seconds, then plunge into cold water. For me, this is the easiest and quickest way. IP is great for cooking but not this.
Yep this is a way to do it also. Thanks for sharing.
Can you do the same for sweet or mild peppers? I’d like to slice and cook yellow squash and pablano peppers together today but thought peeling the peppers would be better. Al
Wow, this is a good idea. I haven’t tried it yet but I imagine it would work.
Thank you for replying, this is a big help, Al