Can Dogs Eat Sun Dried Tomatoes? No — Concentrated and Often Salted

Never feed sun-dried tomatoes to dogs. The drying process concentrates all compounds including solanine.

Sun-dried tomatoes are not safe for dogs — the drying process concentrates all tomato compounds to levels far beyond what is present in fresh ripe tomatoes. While ripe fresh tomatoes are safe for dogs in small amounts sun-dried tomatoes concentrate the acidity sugar sodium and any remaining solanine to levels that cause digestive upset even in small quantities.

The concentration factor is dramatic — it takes approximately 8-10 pounds of fresh tomatoes to produce 1 pound of sun-dried tomatoes. This means every compound present in fresh tomatoes is concentrated 8-10 times. The sodium used in the drying and preservation process adds further to the concern. Plain sun-dried tomatoes without oil or garlic are still too concentrated in tomato compounds and sodium for dogs.

Oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes are significantly worse — the garlic and herbs added to the oil infuse throughout the tomatoes making them toxic from both the Allium perspective and the concentration concern. Sun-dried tomatoes in garlic herb oil are one of the more dangerous tomato preparations dogs might access from shared dishes or antipasto plates.

What about sun-dried tomato paste or powder? These are even more concentrated than whole sun-dried tomatoes and equally inappropriate. Sun-dried tomato paste appears in pasta sauces pizza sauces and dips — all of which also contain garlic making them doubly inappropriate. Fresh ripe tomato flesh in small amounts with stems and leaves removed is the only appropriate tomato form for dogs — and even this is a caution food not a recommended regular treat.