Canning Whole Tomatoes

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, I 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 on 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 Romas. 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, natural 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. 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. I do not add salt because I 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 has been replaced with water.
• takes a little longer than cold pack and you get 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 warm soapy water. Rinse 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.

• Wash tomatoes well. Using paring knife, remove stem end and core.
• Place tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds, or so.
• The skin will split.
• Remove from hot water with spoon and place in ice water bath to cool.
• Once cool, remove from ice water, slip off skins. Use a paring knife to help grab the edges of skin, if needed.
• Heat juice or water in a separate pan.
• Peel all tomatoes.
• Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice or 1/2 tsp. citric acid. Add salt now, if using.

Cold pack directions

• 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.
• Fill jars with hot water or tomato juice, leaving the one inch headspace.
• Wipe rims of jars with damp towel to remove any debris.
• 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.
• Apply bands. Tighten fingertip tight.

After preparing jars, add carefully to water bath canning pot with your canning tongs. Bring to low boil. Boil 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, allow jars sit on a kitchen towel, on the counter for at least 12 hours.

Check seals. If lids flex up and down, jar is not sealed. It can be reprocessed, frozen (only freeze wide mouth jars) or store unsealed jars in the refrigerator.

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 now need to thaw them. For instructions on freezing, see freezing tomatoes.

Love Gardening? 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!

Other canning recipes

• applesauce
• tomato juice
• tomato sauce
• jalapeno jelly
• cherry pie filling

Tools I Use

• Water bath canning pot
• Canning tool set
• Jelly jars
• Cherry pitter

If you have any questions about canning whole tomatoes, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section below. We answer every comment.