Home Sauces spreads dips Fire Roasting Tomatoes, Peppers &/or Eggplant

Fire Roasting Tomatoes, Peppers &/or Eggplant

by Ann
8 comments

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Fire roasting tomatoes and other vegetables is a great way to add a new dimension of smoky flavor to salsas, soups, dips and sauces and it’s quite easy to do. Someone asked me how you fire roast tomatoes, so I thought I would do a quick post to show how I do it. I’ve got some very tasty results by fire roasting vegies on my charcoal grill.


When you have an abundance of tomatoes or peppers from the garden, fire roasting is something different you can do to prep them for canning or freezing. For tomatoes, fire roast them, slip the skins off, cut out the core, and then heat and can like you would normal tomatoes. Peppers can be fire roasted, skinned, chopped and frozen. Eggplant freeze well too.

I like to use these fire roasted tomatoes and peppers in my Fire roasted salsas and my Fire Roasted Red Enchilada Sauce. The fire roasted Eggplant got turned into Baba Ghanoush.

I like to fire roast my vegies on a charcoal grill with natural wood charcoal, but I think you could do this on a gas grill if you prefer.

Light up your grill and when the coals are hot, place the tomatoes directly over the heat. No need to cut them unless they have bad spots … just set the whole tomato right on the grill.

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Cover the grill and go away for about 5 minutes. When you come back, the bottom of some of the tomatoes should be charred, others will be orange in color and starting to peel and crack. Turn these tomatoes over to roast the other side and go away for another five minutes.

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

When some of the tomatoes are roasted on all sides, remove them from the grill into a bowl to catch the yummy juices that will drip from the cooked tomatoes and move the ones that aren’t fully roasted yet onto the hotter part of the grill to finish.

Once all the tomatoes are done, set them in the bowl and set aside to cool.

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Now, it’s the peppers and eggplants’ turn. Peppers need no special preparation, but make sure you poke each of the eggplant with a fork before you roast them. If you don’t poke the eggplant, there is danger that they might explode and make a big mushy mess. Piercing the eggplant with a fork provides a vent for the steam to release and keep that pressure from building up on the inside of the eggplant.

Okay, now set the eggplant and peppers over the hot part of the grill. You’ll notice my eggplant are definitely at the point where they NEED to be processed or tossed.

Fire Roasting Eggplant & Peppers

Cover the grill and go away for 5 minutes. When you come back, it’s likely the peppers are charred on one side, but the eggplant will need more cooking time. Turn the peppers over if they are charred and black. Cover the grill and go away again. Come back in 5 minutes. The peppers might be done by now. If they are, take them off and put them on a plate to cool. Some of the eggplant might be ready to turn now. You can tell if the skin is charred and black. Turn them over if they are to cook the other side.

Fire Roasting Eggplant

You will need to let the eggplant cook for quite a while longer … I’m not sure exactly  how long … probably 20 minutes for the smaller ones, and up to an hour for bigger ones. Check on them several times and turn them to cook all the sides of the purple fruit. When the eggplant are done, they will be limp and soft.

Roasted Eggplant and Peppers

Now after they cool, if you want to peel them, the peels should slip right off the tomato and the peppers.  Sometimes I leave the skins on if I am pureeing the vegetables to give the dish a little more smoky taste.

To peel the eggplant, cut off the stem and make a slit down the side, then use your fingers or a grapefruit spoon to extract the mushy inside from the charred skin.

I find it intensely satisfying and so relaxing to fire roast a bunch of vegies. It gives me time to relax, have a beer, and just be outside with my roasting vegies. They smell SO good while they are cooking!

What do you make with fire roasted tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant? Here are a few ideas:

This post was shared at Mix it Up Monday, Tasty TuesdayTuesday Talent ShowWonderful Food WednesdayFrench Cuisine FridayAll my Bloggy FriendsHearth & Soul Bloghop and Clever Chicks Bloghop.

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8 comments

Tammy/Our Neck of the Woods October 29, 2012 - 11:16 am

Great post! I’ve done this with tomatoes and peppers, but never with eggplant. Now I’ll have to try it out!

Visiting from clever chicks 🙂

Reply
Ann October 29, 2012 - 3:00 pm

Well thank you Tammy! I am glad someone enjoyed it … I wasn’t sure whether or not it would be worthwhile to blog about it.

Reply
» Fire Roasted 7-Bean Crockpot Chili Sumptuous Spoonfuls October 29, 2012 - 7:02 pm

[…] see, after mom brought me all those ripe tomatoes from her garden and I fire roasted multiple batches of them, I made some of them into salsa, and some of them into enchilada sauce, […]

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katies language cafe October 30, 2012 - 12:48 am

We do alot of fireroasting here in the southwest as well. this was a great post; informative and i loved the photography. I would love for you to link it up at our recipe link up! all recipe and cuisine related posts welcome!!! ~~katie http://www.katieslanguagecafe.com/2012/10/french-cuisine-friday-recipe-link-up-6.html

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Jessica @ At Home Take 2 October 31, 2012 - 6:36 pm

Wow- I have never seen that before but looks SO good. Hoping to remember this for next year’s canning season.

Thanks for linking up with us at Wonderful Food Wednesday!

Jessica @ At Home Take 2

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Jamie @ Love Bakes Good Cakes November 5, 2012 - 9:25 pm

I bet this makes everything taste heavenly … not to mention the smell! Yum! Thanks you for sharing at All my Bloggy Friends. I’m looking forward to seeing what you share this week! 🙂

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» Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup Sumptuous Spoonfuls November 25, 2014 - 7:45 am

[…] like me and my dad, you’ll love it. If you want to roast the peppers on the grill, go visit this post for instructions. Otherwise, just heat your oven very hot (or to broil) and roast them in the […]

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Baked Creole Eggplant Fries | Sumptuous Spoonfuls November 11, 2018 - 9:07 pm

[…] car full of garden veggies both times. And then I set to prepping food and preserving it. I canned fire-roasted tomatoes, made harissa, muhammara, froze peppers, made salsa, hot pepper jelly, moussaka and eggplant […]

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