Canning Tomato Soup
Canning tomato soup is a great way to preserve the flavors of summer for year-round enjoyment. Whether you grow your own tomatoes or purchase them in bulk, canning tomato soup is a cost-effective and easy way to create a pantry staple that you can use in a variety of dishes.
This step-by-step tutorial will walk you through the steps. It’s a very easy way to preserve lots of tomatoes, either home-grown or store-bought.
Did you love tomato soup when you were a kid? It was one of my favorites, principally to dip that gooey grilled cheese sandwich in.
Why Can Your Own?
- Cost-effective: Canning tomato soup is a cost-effective way to preserve your summer tomatoes. Whether you buy tomatoes at a farmer’s market in bulk or grow your own, canning tomato soup is a money saver.
- Control over ingredients: You have control over the ingredients that go into it, so you can choose high-quality, fresh, organic ingredients and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
- Customizable flavor: By canning your own tomato soup, you can create a customized flavor that you and your family will love. You can add spices, herbs, and other ingredients to make it just the way you like it.
- Long shelf life: Canned tomato soup has a long shelf life, allowing you to enjoy it for months or even years. This means you can stock up on your favorite soup when tomatoes are in season and enjoy it even when they’re not.
- Convenient: Having canned tomato soup on hand means you can quickly and easily make a delicious and satisfying meal at any time. Simply open a jar, heat, and serve.
- Versatile: If you are running short on time, you can freeze your whole tomatoes, or go ahead and seed them and peel them and freeze the juice. When time allows, thaw tomatoes in the fridge, add spices and can it.
What tomatoes are best for making soup?
Honestly, you should use the tomatoes you have on hand. I prefer a mixture of different varieties. It gives the soup more complexity, as tomato varieties have varied flavor profiles.
Don’t miss our complete step-by-step guide to canning.
What you need
- Tomatoes: Use whatever tomatoes you have available.
- Carrot: Carrot bumps up the nutrition of this delicious soup.
- Onion: whatever color onion you have on hand is fine, preferably yellow or white.
- Celery: Celery adds a much-needed fresh note to the soup.
- Parsley: Fresh is best, but substitute it with dried if you have none.
- Oregano: Fresh is best, but substitute it with dried if you have none on hand.
- Basil: Fresh basil is best, but substitute it for dried basil if you have none on hand.
- Sugar: Just a pinch is all you need. It neutralizes the acidity of the tomatoes. You could substitute honey or a sugar substitute.
- Salt: Kosher or sea salt. Tomatoes need a lot of salt.
- Lemon juice: Bottled lemon juice is critical to shelf stability in this recipe.
How to make it
Although it has quite a few steps, it is very easy to make this soup.
To prepare the tomatoes
Step One
Although you can strain them out later, it is easiest to deseed and peel the tomatoes first in a food mill.
Chop tomatoes into pieces large enough to fit is your food mill or juicer.
Step Two
We use our Kitchenaid with the vegetable juicer attachment.
Step Three
After you run the tomato chunks through the first time, run the discarded seeds and skins through a couple more times.
You’ll get a lot of extra juice.
Step Four
This is the juice once it has been processed in the juicer.
To make the soup
Step Five
Once the tomatoes are done, add them to a large stock pot.
Step Six
Peel onion and cut into quarters.
Step Seven
Rough chop celery.
Step Eight
Peel garlic.
Step Nine
Add all of the vegetables to the bowl of your food processor.
Step Ten
Process them until finely chopped.
Step Eleven
Add the vegetables to the tomatoes in the stock pot.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a fast simmer until the water content is reduced—usually about 2 hours.
Purée the soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a food processor or blender.
Step Twelve
Chop the fresh herbs, if using.
Step Thirteen
Add the chopped herbs and spices. Cook for about 30 minutes more.
To can the soup
Step Fourteen
Prepare lids and jars while the soup is cooking.
Start your water bath canning pot or set up your pressure canner, according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Add 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to pint jars and 2 tablespoons to quart jars.
Do not skip the lemon juice, if you’d like the jars to be shelf-stable.
Step Fifteen
Ladle hot soup into hot jars with the aid of your canning funnel. Leave a one-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles if needed. Wipe rims with a damp, clean kitchen cloth or paper towel.
Center warm lids on jars. Screw on the bands fingertip tight.
Process pint jars in a water bath canning pot for 40 minutes for pints. Adjust time for altitude. See notes for processing times in the recipe below.
Process jars in a pressure canner for 20 minutes at 11 PSI (pounds per square inch) for pints. Again, you must adjust for altitude.
Once processing time is done, remove the lid and allow the jars to cool in the water for 5 minutes. Remove them from the canning pot and allow them to sit on the counter for 12-24 hours, undisturbed.
Pro tips
- Always use added bottled lemon juice or citric acid when you can tomato products to ensure a low enough pH. Acidity levels in tomatoes can vary drastically, so do not skip this step.
- According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, do not add more than three cups of low-acid vegetables (carrots, onion, celery) to 22 pounds of tomatoes (about 25 cups of tomato juice).
- Never thicken soups that you plan to can with flour, cornstarch, or any dairy products.
- Jar sterilization is not required because the processing times are greater than ten minutes. Just make sure your jars are clean and warm. (Warm them up in the microwave or the canning pot since you are heating them at the same time.)
The National Center for Home Food Preservation and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. All of the recipes on this site are based on one or both of these trusted sources. We just do a more thorough job showing you how to do it, step-by-step.
How to use canned tomato soup
- Heat it and dip your favorite grilled sandwich in it for the ultimate in childhood pleasures. If you would like a more creamy soup, add milk, butter, or cream.
- As a base for other soups or stews: Add vegetables, proteins, or spices to the tomato soup to make a more complex soup or stew. This Oven Braised Meatball Stew uses tomato juice as the base for the sauce.
- As a sauce: Dilute the tomato soup with water or broth and use it as a sauce for pasta, rice, or vegetables.
- As a base for chili: Add ground meat, beans, and spices to the tomato soup to make a hearty chili.
- As a cooking ingredient: Use canned tomato soup in recipes that call for canned tomatoes, such as lasagna or pizza sauce.
- As a marinade: Mix the tomato soup with oil, vinegar, and spices to make a marinade for meats and vegetables.
How to store it
If you use traditional lids, store the jars in a dark, cool space for a year. New Ball lids, which are guaranteed for 18 months, will last at least that long.
If you don’t want to can it, you can add it to freezer containers and freeze it for about one year.
For more meal prep tips, see this article.
More ways to can tomatoes
Try this homemade canned tomato soup recipe the next time you find yourself overwhelmed with a glut of tomatoes. You will find it tastes better than any you have tried before!
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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Canning Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 28 cups tomato juice about 22 pounds of tomatoes
- 1 medium onion
- 1 cup carrots
- 1 cup celery
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup parsley
- ¼ cup basil
- 1 teaspoon oregano, dried
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon Bottled Lemon Juice per jar
- 1 teaspoon salt per jar
Instructions
- Although you can strain them out later, it is easiest to deseed and peel the tomatoes first in a food mill.Chop tomatoes into pieces large enough to fit in your food mill or juicer.We use our Kitchenaid with the vegetable juicer attachment.After you run the tomato chunks through the first time, run the discarded seeds and skins through a couple more times.You’ll get a lot of extra juice.28 cups tomato juice
- Once the tomatoes are done, add them to a large stock pot.
- Peel onion and cut into quarters. Rough chop carrots.1 medium onion, 1 cup carrots
- Rough chop celery.1 cup celery
- Peel garlic.2 cloves garlic
- Add all of the vegetables to the bowl of your food processor.
- Process them until finely chopped.
- Add the vegetables to the tomatoes in the stock pot with the sugar.Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a fast simmer, until the water content is reduced. Usually about 2 hours.¼ cup sugar
- Chop the fresh herbs, if using.¼ cup parsley, ¼ cup basil
- Add the chopped herbs and spices. Cook for about 30 minutes more.1 teaspoon oregano, dried
To can soup
- Prepare lids and jars while the soup is cooking.Start your water bath canning pot or set up your pressure canner, according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- Add 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to pint jars and 2 tablespoons to quart jars.Do not skip the lemon juice, if you’d like the jars to be shelf-stable. Add salt to jar, unless you added it when making the soup.1 tablespoon Bottled Lemon Juice, 1 teaspoon salt
- Ladle hot soup into hot jars. leaving a ½ inch headspace. Remove bubbles, if needed. Wipe rims with damp, clean kitchen cloth or paper towel.
- Center warm lids on jars with the aid of your canning funnel. Screw on bands fingertip tight.
- Either process jars in a water bath canning pot for 40 minutes for pints. Adjust time for altitude. See notes below.
- Or process jars in a pressure canner for 20 minutes at 11 PSI (pounds per square inch) for pints. Again, you must adjust for altitude, see notes below.
- Once processed, remove lid from canning pot. Allow jars to rest in hot water for about 5 minutes.
- Remove the jars from the canning pot with a jar lifter and let them sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours until thoroughly cooled.
- Check lids for seal. Press lid in the center, if it flexes up or down, the jar has not sealed and should be stored in the refrigerator and used first.
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!Notes
Nutrition
Originally published February 11, 2023. Updated November 11, 2024.
