Have lots of garden tomatoes? Make these homemade whole peeled tomatoes and can them for Winter! Easy step by step directions on how to can in a water bath. Grab your tomatoes, lemon juice and salt and let’s get cooking!
Homemade Whole Peeled Tomatoes
If you’re like me, you use whole peeled tomatoes often in recipes. Sure, you can buy them from the grocery store, but if you have lots of garden tomatoes, why not make a few batches to store for Winter? The freshness of your garden harvest can now be enjoyed year round!
So along with stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and roma tomato sauce, won’t you start adding these to your garden tomato recipes?
This recipe uses 12 pounds of tomatoes which will make (4) 1 quart jars. You can easily double, triple or more and make it a fun canning day!
What type of tomatoes should I use?
Plum tomatoes are the best to make canned whole peeled tomatoes. Popular plum tomatoes are Roma, San Marzano and Amish Tomatoes. Roma tomatoes are my favorite to grow in the garden due to their naturally sweet taste and mild acidity.
How to make Whole Peeled Tomatoes Step by Step
Boil the tomatoes so we can easily peel the skins off. After they boil, place in a water bath and then once cooled down to touch, cut out the core and peel the tomatoes. For any skin leftovers, make my tomato powder.
Whole peeled tomatoes are often in juice in the cans, so we’re going to use some of them to make tomato juice. Add 1/4 of them to a blender and blend until smooth. Add this juice to a pot, bring to a boil and add whole tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt and stir the tomatoes.
Now it’s up to you. You can serve as is, transfer to a container to the fridge for 3-4 days, or allow to cool and freeze. If you’re canning, move on to the next steps.
How to Can Whole Tomatoes
Water bath canning is my favorite canning method as it’s the easiest and doesn’t require many tools. For canning beginners, it’s also the least intimidating and the quickest way to learn.
I will list the quick step-by-step instructions here, but the recipe card has full directions. I recommend printing out the recipe and reading it over in full before canning them, especially if you’re new to canning.
Sterilize mason jars in a large pot of boiling water (on canning rack). Keep the water boiling as we’ll use it again soon.
Remove jars from water, and add lemon juice, salt and pickle crisp granules into each jar. Note: the pickle crisp is optional, but I use it for all my canning recipes to keep them as fresh as possible.
Ladle in the whole tomatoes into each jar, and then add the tomato juice (I use a funnel for less mess). Make sure to keep a clearance of 1 inch of free space on the top of each jar.
Get the air bubbles out of each jar by using a knife or chopstick and push down the tomatoes.
Wipe the rims clean, add lids and screw on the rings. Be careful to not screw the rings on too tight.
Place jars on to a canning rack and place back in boiling water. The jars should be completely submerged with water, with about 1-2 inches of extra water. If you need more water, you can add it in now.
Boil for 1 hour, 25 minutes – 1 hour, 40 minutes depending on your altitude. (1 hour, 25 minutes – 1,000 feet, 1 hour, 40 minutes – 6,000 feet.
Remove jars from the pot, place on counter and don’t touch for 12 hours. You’ll hear them “pop” within 30 minutes – this is a good thing and means they are sealed. I like to let them sit overnight to be sure.
Remove the rings, and then store in your cabinet. Enjoy whole peeled tomatoes year round!
Can I Freeze Them Instead?
Absolutely, make the tomatoes per recipe and then once cooled down transfer to freezer bags and freeze. Frozen whole tomatoes generally last 6-8 months.
Other Garden Recipes:
And there’s a lot more garden recipes here!
Easy Strawberry Pie
Half Sour Pickles
Kale Pesto
Slow Cooker Cherry Tomato Sauce
Fresh Tomato Soup
How to Make Pumpkin Puree
Pin for later:
Whole Peeled Tomatoes (How to Make and Can)
PrintIngredients
- 12 pounds plum tomatoes
- 3/4 cup lemon juice
- 4 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon Ball pickle crisp optional but recommended
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add tomatoes and allow them to boil for 2 minutes. Because this recipe uses a large amount of tomatoes, I do this in batches.
- Place a large bowl of water filled with ice cubes in your sink. This is going to be your ice bath. Using a slotted spoon, carefully remove the hot tomatoes from the boiling water and place in the ice water bath. Allow them to sit in there for a few minutes until they are cooled down.
- Remove tomatoes from bath, cut the top part of the core out, and remove the tomato peels, they should easily pull off. I like to pinch the top of the tomato skin and then peel the skins down on all sides.
- Add 1/4 of the tomatoes into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add the smooth tomato juice into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the remaining 3/4 whole tomatoes into the pot and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Not canning them? Then you can serve directly like this, or put in a mason jar in the refrigerator for a few days or freezer bag for freezing.
Water Bath Canning Tomato Instructions
- Place a canning rack and (4) 1 quart jars into a large pot. Add just enough water to cover the jars. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and boil the empty jars for 10 minutes. This will sterilize the jars.
- Place dish towel flat down on counter. Remove the jars from the pot, and place on a towel, careful not to burn yourself. Empty the water that is in the jars back into the pot.
- Place 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pickle crisp into each jar.
- Add the whole tomatoes into each jar, filling the jars as evenly as possible. Using a funnel, pour the tomato juice into the jars on top of the tomatoes. Make sure to leave 1 inch of headspace in each jar.
- Use a chopstick or knife to gently press on the tomatoes, as well as all along the side of the jar to remove air bubbles. Clean jars by wiping the rims clean, add lids and screw on the rings.
- Place the jars on canning rack and lower them back into the boiling water. The jars should be completely submerged in the water, with 1-2 inches of water on top of them. If you need to add more water, do it now. Boil for 1 hour, 25 minutes. If you are in higher altitude, you will need to boil longer.
- Remove jars from pot and sit them on the counter for 12 hours. After 30 minutes of removing from the pot you should hear them pop. After 12 hours, remove the rings, check the seal and then store in your cabinet.
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