Learn all about canning whole tomatoes. This step by step tutorial is perfect for beginners or those with lots of canning experience. One of the easiest ways to preserve your tomato harvest to utilize all year long!
At the end of the season, we rush to get all of the last tomatoes in the garden preserved so that we can enjoy them in the long, cold winter. Canning whole tomatoes is a great way to get lots of tomatoes processed in a relatively short amount of time.
Tomatoes can be pressure canned or water bath canned and be safe for long term storage. Both methods require the use of citric acid or lemon juice.
They can also be packed in water or tomato juice. I find packing them in tomato juice really bumps ups the flavor of sauces, soups, stews and pasta dishes.
What tomato varieties are best for canning?
It is said that the best tomatoes to can are meaty tomatoes, like Roma tomatoes or plum tomatoes. I honestly can any tomato variety that I grow that particular year.
I have canned a lot of the medium and small tomato varieties. Celebrity, Czech’s bush, Fourth of July, early girl, celebration, among others.
Cherry tomatoes take longer to peel but make amazing bolognese and pasta sauces, with a slight, naturally sweet note.
The only varieties I would not can are the big slicing tomatoes such as, beefsteak, big boy and the like. This is only because I feel they lack the flavor compared to smaller varieties. But, if that’s all you have, they will work as well.
How many tomatoes will you need?
You will need about 21 pounds of tomatoes to make 7 quarts of canned tomatoes, about 3 pounds per jar.
For pints, you will need about 10 pounds for 7 pints. That works out to about 1 and 3/4 pounds per jar.
What you need
- tomatoes
- bottled lemon juice or citric acid
- water or tomato juice
- Optional, canning salt
Do you really need bottled lemon juice?
Lemon juice adds enough acidity to can tomatoes in water bath or pressure canning pots. To be canned safely in a water bath, the acidity needs to have a 4.6 pH, or below. Bottled lemon juice has a pH of 2-3. So that makes the tomatoes below 4.6 pH.
Fresh squeezed lemon juice can vary in their acidity levels, so use bottled, to be safe. Citric acid can also be used to lower the pH.
Do you need to add salt?
It is not necessary to add salt when canning whole tomatoes. We do not add salt because we add the salt when I make the final product from the tomatoes. You can add salt, if you choose.
Add 1/2 tsp salt to pint jars and 1 tsp of salt to quarts, if using.
Pros and cons of cold pack and hot pack methods
You can either choose to cold pack your tomatoes, or use a hot pack method. Both are perfectly safe, but each has pros and cons.
The major pros and cons of cold pack are;
- incredibly fast and easy
- taste the most like fresh tomatoes.
- fruit will have a tendency to float because there is more air in the fruit itself.
Major pros and cons of hot pack method;
- you will inevitably fit more fruit into the jar.
- hot pack will minimize the fruit float, because the air spaces in the fruit have been replaced with water.
- takes a little longer than cold pack and you have one more dirty pot to clean up.
Water bath method to can whole tomatoes
Clean and heat jars. It is no longer necessary to sterilize jars, but I always heat the jars in the canning pot, since I have to get that up to boiling anyway. Prepare water bath canning pot with enough to water to cover the jars. Wash lids in hot soapy water. Rinse well and keep warm in a pot or bowl with hot water. Do not boil.
Pro tip: Once the jars are filled, less water will be needed in the pot, than when jar is empty, so be careful not to let the pot spill over when adding the filled jars.
How to blanch tomatoes
Step One
Wash tomatoes well. Using paring knife, remove stem end and core.
Step Two
Place tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds, or so.
Step Three
The skin will split making them easier to peel.
Step Four
Remove from hot water with spoon and place in ice water bath to cool.
Step Five
Once cool, remove from ice water, slip off skins. Use a paring knife to help grab the edges of skin, if needed.
Step Six
Heat juice or water in a separate pan.
Step Seven
Peel all tomatoes.
Step Eight
Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice or 1/2 tsp. citric acid. Add salt now, if using.
Cold pack directions
Step One
Once peeled, fill jars with tomatoes to within 1″ of the top of jar. Tomatoes can be whole, halved, quartered or diced. Smash tomatoes down with any tool you can find to fit more in jar. Like a spatula, spoon, whatever will fit in the jar.
Step Two
Fill jars with hot water or tomato juice, leaving the one inch headspace. (the space between the top of product and the rim of the jar.
Step Three
Wipe rims of jars with damp towel to remove any debris.
Step Four
Add lids. Apply bands. Tighten fingertip tight.
Hot pack directions
- Place tomatoes in large pot. Barely cover with water.
- Bring to boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
- Add lemon juice to jars. Add salt now, if using.
- Fill jars with hot tomatoes using a canning funnel. Smash tomatoes down with any tool you can find to fit more in jar. Like a spatula, spoon, whatever will fit in the jar.
- Using a ladle, fill jars with hot cooking liquid to within 1″ of the top of jar. Remove air bubbles with a knife or chopstick.
- Wipe rims of jars with damp towel to remove any debris.
- Add lids.
- Screw bands on. Tighten fingertip tight.
After preparing jars, add jars carefully on top of the rack of your water bath canning pot with your canning tongs. It will take less water to cover the filled jars, so remove some of the water if it is getting to full and may spill over. Bring to low boil. Process quarts for 45 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Process pints for 40 minutes.
Check the water level to ensure too much water doesn’t evaporate. Jars should be completely covered at all times. Add more water, if necessary.
After processing, remove canning pot from the heat. Allow jars to stay in hot water for at least 5 minutes before removing them. This will prevent siphoning, which is the leaking of the liquid in the jars.
After this rest period, remove jars from pot with a jar lifter. Allow jars sit on a kitchen towel, on the counter for at least 12 hours.
Check seals. If lids flex up or down, when pressed in the center, jar is not sealed. It can be reprocessed, frozen (only freeze wide mouth jars) or store unsealed jars in the refrigerator and use first, within a week or so.
Pressure canning whole tomatoes
The major pro in the debate whether to water bath can or pressure can tomatoes is that it takes less time to process the fruit in the pressure canner.
There really are no cons to pressure canning. The procedure for preparing is exactly the same in both methods.
- Prepare tomatoes as per above instructions, either raw pack or hot pack.
- Prepare pressure canner according to manufacturer’s recommendations, using the bottom canning rack and heat water. Load jars into canner.
- Place lid on canner securely according to manufacturer’s recommendations. Allow pot to vent for ten full minutes. Seal. Allow pot to come up to proper pressure for your altitude. Process jars for the allotted amount time at the specified pounds pressure per square inch, for your altitude. See details in recipe notes below.
- Once your processing time has passed, remove pot from heat. Allow it to cool naturally and release pressure.
- After pressure has released, open canner carefully. Let jars sit in canning pot for at least 5 minutes to cool slowly.
- Remove jars with your jar lifter and place them on a kitchen towel on the counter for 24 hours.
- Check seals. Press down in the center of the lid. If it flexes that jar did not seal and must be refrigerated or reprocessed with a new lid, if desired.
Pro tips for your success
- only use peeled tomatoes for canning
- use 1/2 teaspoon of salt for pints and 1 teaspoon per quart.
- You can use halved tomatoes or even tomato quarters with these methods if they are too big to fit into jar.
Pro tip: If you don’t have enough tomatoes to can a whole batch, freeze what you have first, then when you have enough, proceed with the recipe. There is no need to thaw them. For instructions on freezing, see freezing tomatoes.
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Uses for canned tomatoes
- spaghetti sauce
- tacos
- Spanish rice
- Use them for a quick sausage, peppers and onions sub
- Use them in chili
- You can really use them in any recipe that you would normally use store bought canned tomatoes.
Other canning recipes
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Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Canning Whole Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 3 pounds tomatoes 8-10 medium sized tomatoes per quart
- 2 tablespoons Bottled Lemon Juice
- 1 teaspoon salt optional
- 1-2 cups tomato juice or hot water
Instructions
For Water Bath Canner
- Prepare water bath canning pot, lids and jars.
- Bring water to boil in large stock pan. Set up ice bath.
- Meanwhile, remove cores from tomatoes. If using tomato juice place it in separate pot to heat up.3 pounds tomatoes
- Dip tomatoes in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, until skins crack.
- Immediately place tomatoes in an ice bath, with slotted spoon.
- Slip skins off of tomatoes.
- Add lemon juice or 1/2 tsp of citric acid to jar. Add salt, if using.2 tablespoons Bottled Lemon Juice, 1 teaspoon salt
Raw pack
- Heat another large pan with water and bring to a boil.1-2 cups tomato juice
- Pack tomatoes in to jar. Push them down so that all of the tomatoes will fit, leaving 1 inch headspace. Fill jars with fresh hot water or heated tomato juice, leaving the headspace.
- Wipe rims. Apply lids. Tighten bands fingertip tight.
- Process quart jars for 45 minutes, adjusting for altitude..
Hot Pack
- Place tomatoes in pot. Cover with water. Bring to boil.
- Gently boil for about 5 minutes.
- Pack tomatoes in to jar. Push them down so that all of the tomatoes will fit, leaving 1" headspace.
- Fill jar with hot tomato juice, or the hot water from the pot that you dipped the tomatoes in to loosen the skins.
- Wipe rims. Apply lids. Tighten bands fingertip tight.
- Process quart jars for 45 minutes, adjusting for altitude..
- For water bath canner
For pressure canner
- Prepare tomatoes as per above instructions, either raw pack or hot pack.
- Prepare pressure canner according to manufacturer’s recommendations, using the bottom canning rack and heat water. Load jars into canner.
- Place lid on canner securely according to manufacturer’s recommendations. Process jars for the allotted amount time at the specified pounds pressure per square inch, for your altitude. See recipe notes below.
- Once your processing time has passed, remove pot from heat. Allow it to cool naturally and release pressure.
- After pressure has released, open canner carefully. Remove jars with your jar lifter and place them on a kitchen towel on the counter for 24 hours.
- Check seals. Press down in the center of the lid. If it flexes that jar did not seal and must be refrigerated or reprocessed with a new lid, if desired.
Pam
First time canning cherry tomatoes.. I did not boil my tomatoes for 30 seconds then ice bath. I did leave the skins on, but most of them split open and lost the bright red color. Is this normal and will they still be safe to eat?
Beth Neels
It’s fine that you cold packed them. It’s better to peel them just because the skins slough off and the jar is unsightly. They should be fine to eat. They will change color after the canning process.
Iris
How long should I process pints?
Beth Neels
You should process pints 40 minutes under 100 feet elevation. Thanks for checking out the recipe Iris.
Anita Paul
Do I slid a cherry tomatoes before putting in bottles?
Beth Neels
Did you mean skin the tomatoes? You can can them with the skins on. The skins may slough off in the jar and make the jar unsightly or the skins may turn a bit tough, if you do. But it will not hurt the safety of the product.
Barbara Montague
Is it possible to skip the cooking process to remove the skins? I have small cherry tomatoes and would prefer to leave the skins on. If I do so, would they just collapse or would I still be able to roast them whole after opening a canned jar?
Beth Neels
If you want to roast them, I would do that prior to canning. Then you can can them. The peeling is perfectly optional though. Just know that afte canning the skins will all slip off and you will have skins in the tomatoes. Some varieties can add quite a bit of acidity to your sauces, etc.
Sisley White
What a great way to save the tomato haul from the garden. I can’t wait to try it.
Beth Neels
Thanks for checking out the article Sisley! Have a great weekend!
Gail Montero
What a great and informative post on how to can tomatoes! I feel confident now when I try to make this. Thanks!
Beth Neels
I’m so glad to be of help. Let me know how it goes Gail!
Christian Guzman
I hope I have the patience to follow your recipe with the yellow pear tomatoes which have suddenly decided to provide crazy amounts on the vines right now. I think it must be the cooler overnight temperatures. I love your idea of freezing the tomatoes until there’s enough for a canning batch. Great tip!
Beth Neels
I grew yellow pears last year. They are very prolific and so sweet. They make a great sauce! Thanks Christian!
Jennifer
I’ve always wanted to can my own veggies, but have been too afraid. Your tips and instructions are so great, I’m going to give it a try! Thanks!
Beth Neels
Oh, great! I’m glad I gave you the confidence to give it a try! Let me know how it goes!
Jess
I always have so many tomatoes from my garden that I cannot use fast enough. Your instructions for how to can them are life saving!
Beth Neels
That’s great Jess! Glad to be of help!