Canning Whole Tomatoes

A step-by-step tutorial on Canning Whole Tomatoes. This easy-to-follow process is perfect for beginners and covers preserving tomatoes in both water bath and pressure canning methods. 

Whole peeled tomatoes are one of the most versatile foods you can have in your pantry. They’re great for making pasta sauce, to add to stews, and they are the shining star in my gluten-free tomato soup.

This recipe has both waterbath and pressure canning instructions so you can choose the method that works best for you. In my experience, it is a faster process in a pressure canner.

RAW PACK FOR CANNING Tomatoes

Raw packing simply means placing the peeled tomatoes in the jars without precooking them, filling the jars with boiling water, and processing them in the canner.

Raw packing is much faster than a hot pack process, but there are some drawbacks. No matter how well you pack the jars, the density of the tomatoes will change during their time in the canner.

This often leads to something called “fruit float” in which the fruit will float to the top of the jar, leaving water (in my house, we jokingly call it tomato pee) on the bottom. You’ll find this when you’re canning pears and canning peaches as well. There is nothing wrong with fruit float as long as your jars are still sealed.

Canning Whole Tomatoes

I’ll walk you through the process here in photos because it really helps, especially if you’re new to canning. At the bottom of the post, you’ll also find a printable and detailed recipe card.

Rinse your tomatoes in a strainer. Using a paring knife, remove the stem/core. Place the tomato in a large bowl. I like to core about 75% of them at all once before the next step.

Prepare a large bowl with ice water.

Wash and clean your jars. It is no longer necessary to sterilize jars before canning (hurray!) but you should make sure they are preheated enough to not crack when placed in hot water.

You can put them in a clean dishwasher and run them through a quick wash cycle, or place them in a large pan with some water in a low-heat oven (my lowest temp is 170˚F degrees) until you need them. I’ve even just put super hot tap water in them before and left them on the counter.

Wash your lids with hot soapy water and place them in a clean bowl for now.

(If you’re a giant nerd/curious, you can read more about this next step in-depth in this tutorial on How to Blanch and Peel Tomatoes) Add the tomatoes to a pot of boiling water and parboil them until you see the skins start to come off (about 1-2 minutes).

Using a slotted spoon, remove the tomatoes and place them in the ice water.

Working one at a time, remove any skin that hasn’t already slipped off. Set the skins aside to make Homemade Tomato Powder.

Once the tomatoes have been peeled, you can slice the tomatoes in half or leave them whole. The nice part about of cutting them in half is that you can remove the seeds. The appeal of leaving them whole is it is easier and faster!

If you are hot packing your tomatoes, add the peeled tomatoes to a pot of boiling water and let them cook for 5 minutes.

Add 3 quarts of water to your pressure canner and put it on a burner set to high. Make sure there is a canning rack in the bottom of the canner.

Add lemon juice or citric acid to your canning jars (see recipe card below for exact measurements).

Using a canning funnel, ladle hot tomatoes into the jars. Ladle in clean boiling water, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Using a long utensil (I prefer a plastic chopstick), remove all the air bubbles from the jar.

Clean the rim of the jar very well with a hot damp rag. Any juice or bits of tomato left on the rim may impact the seal of the lid in the canner.

Place a clean lid on the jar. Add a ring, and tighten it to fingertip tight.

Using canning jars, place the jars in the canner. If you don’t have enough jars to fill the canner, consider Canning Water in a few jars to stock your emergency drinking water supplies.

Lock the lid. Soon, steam will start coming through the vent pipe (I call it the steam chimney). Allow the steam to pass through for about 10 minutes. Then put the pressure regulator (I call it the chimney cap) on top.

Pretty soon, the air vent will pop up. That is a sign that you’re starting to build pressure inside the canner. Get excited, nerd!

See the chart below for processing times.

When the dial gauge reaches the appropriate PSI, reduce the burner temp to medium, and start your timer. The pressure must stay at the PSA or (a little bit) above for the duration of the cooking time.  You’ll likely need to adjust the temp on the burner a few times depending on your stove.

When the time is up, remove the canner from the burner and allow it to sit until you hear a distinctive “click” of the air vent dropping. Remove the pressure regulator and carefully remove the lid of the canner (Pro tip: I always use oven mitts when I take the lid off because the steam is super hot).

Place hot jars on a towel where they can sit undisturbed for 12 hours.

After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed.