How to Can Tomato Juice

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Do you have an abundance of tomatoes? Learn How to Can Tomato Juice so you can use them year-round in your soups, stews, and sauces!

Do you have an abundance of tomatoes? Learn How to Can Tomato Juice so you can use them year-round in your soups, stews, and sauces!

How to Can Tomato Juice

If you are harvesting a bounty of fresh tomatoes from your garden, or even if you find a good sale at the market, you may be trying to figure out what to do with all those tomatoes. Canning tomatoes is a great way to preserve their freshness, and another often overlooked way to make tomato juice!

Tomato juice can be used in soups, stews, or as a base for a homemade pasta sauce. Making and canning tomato juice takes a little bit of effort, but once you taste the robust, fresh flavor of homemade tomato juice, you’ll be glad you made it!

Tomatoes

Canning Tomato Juice

Pick tomatoes that are fresh, ripe, and firm. You don’t want to use overly ripe tomatoes because their acid levels may be too low and unsafe for canning. They may also produce a less superior product.

I used 12 pounds of mixed Roma tomatoes and red round tomatoes for this recipe. I extracted enough juice to fill 6 pint-sized jars.

Start by washing, coring, –  and removing any bruised or green spots from the tomatoes. Take a third of the tomatoes and cut them into quarters.

Chopped Tomatoes

Once the tomatoes are cut, they start to release pectinase enzymes, which will cause the tomato juice to separate. Heating kills the pectinase enzymes, so you want to put heat on the tomatoes as soon as they’re cut.

Quickly add the quartered tomatoes to a pot over medium-high heat. Using a clean potato masher, gently crush the tomatoes until they start to break down.

Chopped tomatoes on a pot

Meanwhile, quarter another third of the tomatoes and add those to the pot, crushing and stirring as you go. Quarter and add the remaining third of the tomatoes and continue crushing until the tomatoes are broken down.

Simmering tomatoes

Reduce heat to medium and allow the tomatoes to simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove tomato juice from heat

Remove from heat. Separate the juice from the seeds and peels using a sieve or food mill.

Separate juice from seeds and peels

Return juice to the pot and bring to a boil. Remove immediately and ladle into sterilized jars, using a sterilized funnel, making sure to leave 1/2″ of headspace. Add 1 tbsp of bottled lemon juice or 1/2 tsp of citric acid to each jar. I also added 1 tsp of salt to each jar for taste, but that is optional.

Tomato juice on a jar

Wipe rims of cans with paper towel

Wipe the rims of cans with a clean paper towel top with a sterilized lid and rim, and tighten until finger-tight. Fill your water bath canner with water and bring to a boil. Process in water bath canner following the time chart above for your altitude.

For a pressure canner, follow the time instructions here. Carefully remove, and allow to sit undisturbed until the jars have properly sealed.

Tip: For more information on how to see if your jars have properly sealed and what to do if they haven’t, check out this post on Testing Jar Seals And Reprocessing Jars (Safe Home Canning)

Please check with your local extension office for any changes on times/temps/high altitude.

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How to Can Tomato Juice

Keyword Canning Recipe, canning tomato juice, fresh tomato juice

Ingredients

  • 12 pounds tomatoes I used a mix of roma tomatoes and red round tomatoes
  • bottle lemon juice or citric acid
  • salt optional

Instructions

  1. Start with tomatoes that are fresh, ripe and firm. You don't want to use overly ripe tomatoes, because their acid levels may be too low, and unsafe for canning.
  2. Wash, core and remove any bruised or green spots from the tomatoes. Take a third of the tomatoes and cut into quarters.
  3. Quickly add the quartered tomatoes to a pot over medium-high heat. Using a clean potato masher, gently crush the tomatoes until they start to break down. Once the tomatoes are cut, they start to release pectinase enzymes, which will cause the tomato juice to separate. Heating kills the pectinase enzymes, so you want to put heat on the tomatoes as soon as they're cut.
  4. While they are cooking, quarter another third of the tomatoes, and add those to the pot, crushing and stirring as you go.
  5. Quarter and add the remaining third of the tomatoes and continue crushing until all the tomatoes are broken down.
  6. Reduce heat to medium and allow them to simmer for 5 minutes.
  7. Remove from heat. Using a sieve or food mill, separate the juice from the seeds and peels.
  8. Return the juice to the pot and bring to a boil. Remove immediately and ladle into sterilized jars, using a sterilized funnel, making sure to leave 1/2" of headspace. To each jar, add 1 tbsp of bottled lemon juice or 1/2 tsp of citric acid. You can also add 1 tsp of salt to each jar for taste, but that is optional.
  9. Wipe the rims of the cans with a clean paper towel and top with a sterilized lid and rim and tighten until finger-tight. Fill your water bath canner with water and bring to a boil.
  10. Process in water bath canner for 35 minutes.
  11. Carefully remove, and allow to set undisturbed until the jars have properly sealed.

Recipe Notes

Please check with your local extension office for any changes on times/temps/high altitude.

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Make sure you check out all the free Canning and Preserving Recipes we have on Little House Living! 

I recommend a Presto Pressure Canner and the book Putting Food By for all your canning projects!

Canning Salsa

More Tomato Recipes

Don’t let those green tomatoes go to waste! Simple (and Delicious) Uses for Green Tomatoes

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Will you be canning any tomato juice this year? What tomato items do you can?

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This post on How to Can Tomato Juice was originally posted on Little House Living in August 2013. It has been updated as of September 2023.

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14 Comments

  1. I always end up with some tomato juice to can! As my sauce is cooking down, I drain some of the juice, and can’t stand the thought of dumping it down the sink, so I can some of it, it’s great as a soup base, or to cook pasta in to give it a nice mild flavor, so delicious! Some of the ‘juice’ I’ll use to water some of my garden plants, the way I look at it, it’s extra vitamins for the plants in the ground!

  2. I also can tomato juice, but was wondering if you had a recipe for a V8 like juice? I love V8, but hate all the added crap to it.

  3. I have a michelada mix that I make . I’m wanting to preserve it for a longer time . Would I make my mix like usual and then add to my plastic bottles then put them in hot water ?

  4. For the person requesting a V8 type tomato juice

    6 pounds of tomatoes
    2 tsp salt
    1/4 cup lemon juice
    2 1/2 cups chopped celery
    2/3 cup chopped onion
    4 tablespoons sugar
    1 tablespoon pepper

    wash and quarter tomatoes
    Put tomatoes in large non-reactive pot over med high heat
    Add chopped onions, celery, sugar pepper and salt
    As juice begins to boil use potato masher to crush tomatoes
    Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes
    Remove from heat.
    Add lemon juice.

    Run juice through blender then through food mill or strainer to remove seeds and any skins left over.

    Return to boil. Transfer to hot, sterile jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
    Process in boiling water bath 35 minutes