How to Ripen Green Tomatoes Indoors: 4 Easy Ways
You can coax the tomato-ripening process from green to red with these helpful tips.
Quick Reference: Ripening Green Tomatoes
- What they need: warmth, not sun. Hold them around 70 degrees indoors.
- Pick which ones: mature, full or nearly full size, with a hint of color on the blossom end.
- Paper bag: add a ripe banana or apple so the ethylene gas speeds ripening.
- Cardboard box: tomatoes not touching, a ripe banana tucked in, checked daily.
- How long: about seven to 14 days, sometimes sooner.
- Never: refrigerate them, which ruins the flavor.
Toward the end of summer, when the nights turn cool, your garden tomatoes slow right down and the ripening seems to take forever. Cold is the wrong climate for a tomato, and a hard frost will end the season before the last fruit colors up. The good news is that you can coax green tomatoes from green to red indoors. Tomatoes need warmth, not sun, to ripen, so keep them at an indoor temperature of about 70 degrees and they will turn on their own. Here is how to do it, method by method, before the frost claims the crop.
Here’s How To Ripen Green Tomatoes Indoors
First, choose mature fruits that are at their full or nearly full size and slightly softened, with a hint of color on the blossom end. Once you bring them inside, do not wash them, unless you are saving fruit after losing the plants to disease, in which case dry them thoroughly. Otherwise leave them unwashed until you are ready to eat them, since any moisture left on the tomato can lead to mold. The University of Maryland Extension confirms the basic rule in its guide to tomato ripening: warmth matters more than light, and refrigeration should wait until the fruit is fully ripe.
Then try one of these methods to turn those green tomatoes red.
1. Paper Bag Method
Place the green tomatoes in a closed paper bag and store the bag in a warm spot. Keeping the tomatoes together traps the ethylene gas they give off, and that gas is what drives ripening. You can speed things up by adding a ripe banana or apple, both of which release ethylene of their own. Once a tomato ripens, take it out of the bag and eat it promptly. Check the bag daily for any sign of mold or rot, and toss any spoiled tomatoes.
2. Box Method
If you have a lot of green tomatoes to ripen at once, a cardboard box does the job. Set the tomatoes in the box so they do not touch each other. Tucking a ripe banana in alongside them speeds the ripening here too. Close the box and, as with the bag, check daily for mold, rot, or fully ripened fruit, and pull those tomatoes as they are ready.
3. The Windowsill Approach
This one is for tomatoes that have already begun to show some color. Set them on a sunny windowsill and check them daily to watch their progress. You can also move tomatoes along from a bag or box to the windowsill once they start to color, and let them finish ripening there.
4. Hanging Upside Down Method
Some gardeners pull up the entire plant before frost, roots, fruits, and all, and hang it upside down indoors. The idea is that the plant, while it is still alive, sends its remaining energy to the fruit. Shake off as much soil as you can before hanging the plant, then check the tomatoes daily.
Keep in Mind the Following
- Tomatoes tend to ripen best with part of the stem left on.
- These methods should ripen fruit in about 7 to 14 days, or sooner.
- Green tomatoes that are not yet mature cannot ripen once picked.
- These methods do not enhance flavor. No tomato will be as delicious as field ripened, but it beats letting the crop go to waste.
- Keep the tomatoes at room temperature while they ripen indoors. Do not refrigerate them, as that ruins the flavor.
When to Pull Tomatoes Before Frost, by Region
The trigger for bringing tomatoes indoors is the same everywhere: the first hard frost in the forecast. The calendar date for that frost shifts by hundreds of miles, so the timing changes with your region while the rule does not. When a frost is two or three nights out, pick every mature green tomato and start one of the methods above.
To confirm your own window, watch the nightly lows and check our Gardening by the Moon Calendar for the Best Days to work in the beds. If you are already planning next year’s plot, our companion planting guide shows which neighbors keep tomatoes healthy, and our guide to growing your own potatoes covers another easy crop for beds, bags, or boxes.
Cook the Green Ones
If you need to pick the tomatoes and would rather not wait for them to ripen, eating them green is a fine option. Try one of these recipes.
- Fried Green Tomatoes
- Green Tomato-Pepper Relish
- Green Tomato Pie
Ripening Green Tomatoes: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you ripen green tomatoes indoors?
Keep them warm, around 70 degrees, since tomatoes need warmth and not sun to ripen. Place them in a closed paper bag or a cardboard box with a ripe banana or apple to add ethylene gas, or set color-showing tomatoes on a sunny windowsill. Check daily and pull each one as it ripens.
Why add a banana or apple to the bag?
Ripe bananas and apples give off ethylene, the same gas tomatoes release as they ripen. Closing them together in a paper bag or box concentrates that gas and speeds the green-to-red change. It is the simplest way to hurry a slow batch along.
How long does it take green tomatoes to ripen?
About 7 to 14 days, sometimes sooner, depending on how mature the fruit was when you picked it and how warm the room is. Check the bag, box, or windowsill daily and remove tomatoes as they color up so the ripe ones do not soften the rest.
Will any green tomato ripen off the vine?
No. Only mature green tomatoes, full or nearly full size with a hint of color on the blossom end, will ripen once picked. Tomatoes that are still small and immature cannot ripen indoors, so save those for green-tomato recipes instead.
Should I refrigerate tomatoes to ripen them?
No. Keep ripening tomatoes at room temperature. Refrigeration ruins the flavor, and these indoor methods do not improve flavor to begin with, so a refrigerated green tomato gives you the worst of both. Wait until a tomato is fully ripe before it ever sees the fridge.
Do indoor-ripened tomatoes taste as good as vine-ripened?
Not quite. These methods turn the fruit red, but they do not enhance flavor, so no indoor-ripened tomato will match one ripened on the vine in the field. Still, it is a far better outcome than letting a frost take the whole crop and getting nothing.
Join the Discussion
Have you had success following our guide? What questions do you still have about ripening tomatoes? Let us know in the comments below. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Laura Modlin
Laura Modlin is an environmental journalist, blogger, foodie and nature fan. She writes for newspapers and magazines, and maintains a blog about a simpler life. She co-founded a river conservation project in Connecticut. Her mission is to inspire deeper connections with the natural world and a desire to protect it.
I have found that green tomatoes can make one feel very sick. Tomatoes are of the deadly nightshade family.
If I do not have a paper bag is a plastic bag ok to use. I put a over ripe banana in with them to use the gas from it but will the plastic cause it problems or should I go get a paper bag
I have pear tomatoes that are not turning yellow. They are over grown, they should have turned yellow. Do you have any suggestions. I live in a desert climate.
All good information. I surely would like to print this tip for future reference- There should be an easy way to accomplish this…
Faire une capture d’écran
Merci pour votre suggestion, Moutarde! Nous avons aussi des boutons “Imprimer” et “PDF” pour vous simplifier la vie (à côté des boutons de médias sociaux en haut de cette page). Nous espérons que cela vous sera utile!
Hi Barry! You are welcome to print this article by hitting the “print” button at the top of this page (next to the social sharing buttons). We hope this makes your life easier! Best wishes from all of us at FA.
I need to clean out my garden, but still have plenty of green tomatoes on the vines. Would they continue to ripen if I cut the vines, with the tomatoes on them, and bring them inside?
My grandmothers tried and true method is a combination of a couple of your suggestions. Take your partially ripe or green tomatoes, WRAP INDIVIDUALLY with newspaper, then layer in a paperbox no more than 3 tomatoes deep….the more layers, the more likely to experience rot. I will put the greenest tomatoes on the bottom since they take the longest and ones with some color and closer to ripe on the top so they are easy to access those almost ready to eat. Store the box in a cool, dry, dark place and they will continue to ripen on their own. If you have done this correctly, you could have a fresh garden tomato to eat until after the New Year. I have used them even into February before….and they are ripe without rotting. Do check for ripe ones throughout the box weekly. If they are ripe, they will continue to ripen and eventually rot, so you need to put those ripe ones in your fridge or on your counter to use. This will keep those other ones not yet ripe safe to continue to ripen in the box. If you are looking to quickly ripen all your tomatoes for your salsa or spaghetti sauce, you should try one of the methods above. My method allows them to ripen slower for long-term use. Good gardening to you 🙂
Do I need to cover the box?
Been doing what you said I put in my greenhouse and the house
I had several underripe tomatoes fall off the vines when I was pruning and tying up my plants yesterday. Several of them are not mature and very green. Can they be used for anything, or should I compost them?
Hi Karrie, Green tomatoes that fall off the vine are immature and need a little coaxing. You can ripen them using the methods in the story such as the paper bag method. It will take up to 10 days (be sure to check them daily for rot). After that time, whatever stays green you can try making fried green tomatoes! We have a recipe for that here:
Have roughly 50 green cherry tomatoes, should I put all of them in the bag? Makes me angry still have yellow blossoms on the vine and back to sixties later inthe week probably won’t make it but we will see.
Hi Randy,
Yes try putting them in a paper bag and check on them every now and again. But it works. Good luck.
Hi. Can you use a zip lock bag?
Hi Kristy, thanks for your question! Yes, you can, but we wouldn’t recommend using a ziplock bag to ripen green tomatoes because mold may grow due to excessive moisture. Best wishes!
I’m 2 hours south of Chicago. My best method is to start removing blossoms in late August knowing there is not enough time left for vine ripening. I’ve also used frost blankets to try to save produce when the temperatures are up and down. It’s a lot of work but worth the effort.
My Dad, in the 1970s, used to pick the large, perfect green tomatoes from his garden, just before the frost. Then he wrapped each one individually in a half-sheet of newspaper, and arranged them, stem side down, in a single layer in a broad, shallow, cardboard carton/tray. Then he slid the box under my away-at-college brother’s bed, checking the ripening process regularly, and we had red, ripe tomatoes for Thanksgiving, or sooner.