Canning Tomato Juice

Making tomato juice is one of the easiest ways to preserve your harvest of tomatoes in the summer. If you can tomato juice it will be shelf stable and save on freezer space. Use it for soups, stews, or canning whole tomatoes. Of course, you can always use it for everyone’s spicy, fruity brunch beverage as well!

At the end of the summer it seems I have a bazillion tomatoes to put up, or risk losing them. I find as many ways as I can to make that happen. Like this tomato sauce, homemade salsa, tomato soup, pasta sauce.

Shoot, I even freeze tomatoes until I can’t fit another container in any of the freezers.

Products to make juicing easier

There are a few things that will make the process easier. My favorite one are my Kitchenaid attachments. You will need the food grinder attachment and the vegetable strainer/ juicer attachment for your Kitchenaid mixer.

It is a bit of an investment initially, but will save you hours and hours in the kitchen, if you do a lot of canning or freezing.

There are other hand held vegetable juicer strainers available on the market as well. This one is very low cost ($30). This is a Victorio and is slightly more, but looks more sturdy.

No worries though, if you don’t have the Kitchenaid attachments, or another juicer, you can use a fine sieve or a food mill to remove the skins and seeds from the tomatoes.

Want to learn how to grow your own tomatoes? If you love growing your own produce, these posts are packed full of information about how to get that big harvest by the end of the season! Don’t miss our How to Start a Garden Series!

What you need

• tomatoes
• lemon juice
• salt (optional, but recommended)

How to make it with a juicer

• Wash tomatoes well. Trim any bad spots off. Cut tomatoes in pieces that will fit in your juicer. No need to peel or remove the stem end.
• Feed the pieces into the hopper of your juicer. With bowls to collect the juice and the skins and seeds.
• Run seeds and skins through multiple times to collect all of the juice.
• Once they are juiced, place the juice in a large pot.

How to make it with a food mill or sieve

• Wash tomatoes well.
• Trim any bad spots off.
• Remove the stem end. Cut tomatoes in pieces.
• Add tomatoes to large pot, in batches. Bring to boil quickly.
• Mash tomatoes with potato masher, in between additions.
• Once mashed, run the tomatoes through your food mill or sieve to remove the skins and seeds.
• Add the juice back to the pot. Bring back to boil. Boil for a minute or two.

Canning the juice

• Prepare jars and lids. Here is a great guide from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The section on jars and lids is specifically page 1-14. Add salt to hot jars.
• Add lemon juice.
• Heat to juice boiling. Reduce heat to medium high. Cook about 5 minutes to heat through.
• Using a clean ladle, fill jars with juice, leaving 1/2-inch headspace ( the space between the top of product and the top of jar.
• Wipe rims with clean, damp towel.
• Apply lids.
• Attach bands, fingertip tighten.

Place jars in water bath canner. Bring to boil. Reduce heat but keep the water boiling for the entire time they are processing. You may have adjust temperature occasionally. Process for 35 minutes for pints and 40 minutes for quarts. Adjust for altitude, see instructions here.

How to use tomato juice

• Use tomato juice for canning whole or halved tomatoes.
• Perfect for soups, stews and chilies.
• Use it to make a delicious bloody Mary.
• Make a quick sauce for pasta.
• Just drink it because it is so delicious!

What types of tomatoes to use

Use any vine ripened tomatoes that you have access to. Small and medium tomatoes will produce better results than large, slicing tomatoes, like big boy or beefsteak. I like to use a variety of different tomatoes for a more well rounded flavor.

• cherry tomatoes
• romas
• sauce tomatoes like san marzano
• early girl
• celebrity

Pro tips to ensure your success

• It’s best to use fresh, ripe tomatoes. Either home grown or farmers’ market/ stand will work beautifully.
• No matter which process you use, make sure to cook the tomatoes or the juice for 5 minutes to reduce the possibility of contamination.
• 3 pounds of tomatoes will make about one quart of juice, depending on the variety.
• Always use the recommended amount of bottled lemon juice per jar.
• Salt is optional but enhances the flavor greatly.
• Keep juice hot until it goes into the jars.
• Only add hot juice to hot jars to minimize the risk of the jar cracking.

Other recipes to stock your pantry

• tomato sauce
• applesauce
• hot sauce
• cherry pie filling
• jalapeno jelly
• peach salsa
• raspberry jam
• peach bourbon BBQ sauce

Tools I Use

• Water bath canning pot
• Canning tool set
• Kitchenaid juicer
• Kitchenaid grinder
• Quart jars
• Kitchenaid mixer

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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today!

Enjoy. And have fun cooking!

Originally published September 2, 2020. Updated November 9, 2021.