Canning Tomato Soup is a great way to put away a delicious tomato soup that’s just as convenient as store-bought but much more flavorful!
Canning Tomato Soup
As the fall season approaches, I tend to start thinking of warm soups to celebrate the impending season. One of my favorite light soups is tomato soup. It is so simple, yet wonderfully flavorful, rich, and satisfying. Paired with a grilled cheese sandwich, you would be hard-pressed to find another lunchtime favorite as good as tomato soup.
The great thing about making and canning tomato soup is the ability to cater the seasoning to your particular tastes. The recipe below is slightly sweet, salty and savory, and has much more depth of flavor than store-bought canned tomato soup.
Canning Tomato Soup
What You Need:
Makes 5 quarts
- 12 pounds of ripe tomatoes
- 6 cups onions
- 4 cups celery
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 teaspoon citric acid per quart jar
How to Can Tomato Soup:
Start by chopping the onions, celery, garlic, and basil.
Select tomatoes that are fresh, ripe and firm. Wash, core and remove any bruised or soft spots from the tomatoes. Place a large pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Quarter a third of the tomatoes and quickly add them to the pot. Use a potato masher or something similar to gently smash and break down the tomatoes, stirring frequently. Quarter another third of the tomatoes and add them to the pot, continuing to smash and stir. Quarter and add the remaining third of tomatoes, then add the onion, celery, garlic, and basil.
Simmer tomato mixture, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes or until tomatoes are broken down and vegetables are soft.
Press tomato mixture through a sieve, food mill or fine mesh strainer, to separate the juice.
Return juice to the large pot and add sugar and salt. Start with 1/4 cup of brown sugar and taste. If you want it sweeter, add the other 1/4 cup. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. Ladle hot soup into sterilized jars using a sterilized funnel, leaving 1″ of headspace. Add in the citric acid (1/2 teaspoon per quart jar, 1/4 teaspoon per pint) and stir in with the handle of a long spoon. Do not add any kind of thickener or dairy products to the soup.
Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean paper towel, then place the sterilized lid on top of the jar. Thread ring onto the jar and tighten until fingertip tight.
Process for the time and pressure indicated on the chart above according to your altitude. Click over to the USDA website for guidelines on a weighted pressure canner. Be sure to check your pressure canner’s instruction manual to follow proper procedures.
–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.
Need to print this recipe for Homemade Canned Tomato Soup? Grab it below!
Canning Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 12 pounds of ripe tomatoes
- 6 cups onions
- 4 cups celery
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 teaspoon citric acid per quart jar
Instructions
-
Start by chopping the onions, celery, garlic, and basil.
-
Select tomatoes that are fresh, ripe and firm. Wash, core and remove any bruised or soft spots from the tomatoes. Place a large pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Quarter a third of the tomatoes and quickly add them to the pot. Use a potato masher or something similar to gently smash and break down the tomatoes, stirring frequently. Quarter another third of the tomatoes and add them to the pot, continuing to smash and stir. Quarter and add the remaining third of tomatoes, then add the onion, celery, garlic, and basil.
-
Simmer tomato mixture, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes or until tomatoes are broken down and vegetables are soft.
-
Press tomato mixture through a sieve, food mill or fine mesh strainer, to separate the juice.
-
Return juice to the large pot and add sugar and salt. Start with 1/4 cup of brown sugar and taste. If you want it sweeter, add the other 1/4 cup. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. Ladle hot soup into sterilized jars using a sterilized funnel, leaving 1" of headspace. Add in the citric acid (1/2 teaspoon per quart jar, 1/4 teaspoon per pinand stir in with the handle of a long spoon.
-
Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean paper towel, then place the sterilized lid on top of the jar. Thread ring onto the jar and tighten until fingertip tight.
-
Process in a pressure canner for the correct weight and time of pressure indicated on the USDA website. Be sure to check your pressure canner's instruction manual to follow proper procedures.
Recipe Notes
*Contact your local extension office for information on altitude/temp/timing changes for all canning recipes.
Make sure you check out all the free Canning and Preserving Recipes we have on Little House Living!
We recommend a Presto Pressure Canner and the book Putting Food By for all your canning projects!
Looking for more delicious soups and stews? Here are some recipes you might enjoy:
Creamy Chicken and Noodles Soup
Roasted Vegetable Soup Recipe
Bean with Bacon Soup Recipe
Apple Cheddar Soup Recipe
The Best French Onion Soup Recipe
Pasta Fagioli Homemade Soup Mix
Have you ever tried canning tomato soup? What other soups do you can?
This post on Canning Tomato Soup was originally published on Little House Living in September 2013. It has been updated as of August 2019.
mmmm. I love soups as the air turns crisp. Thanks for this, I have not tried to can tomato soup before.
Erica
Just in time for fall. Thanks for the tips
I think I will try reheating the soup with some fresh vegetables and rice for a heartier soup!
Is this soup able to be canned in a water bath canner? I have never tried pressure canning, but I often can my tomatoes and/or tomato sauce using a water bath method. Not sure if the acidity level is high enough??
Onions and peppers are low acid items and thus the need for this recipe to be pressure canned.
This recipe author is fantastic at ensuring the correct process is explained as per best practices for the current Millennium. It is really important to understand what can and cannot be water bath canned. As a professional home canner, I can about 2,000 jars per year and I feel confident with both the author and recipe if followed as described above! Detail always ensures safety. Thank you Andrea.
Just a quick question. I’ve never made homemade tomatoe soup yet, but with this years incredible tomatoe bounty from the garden I’m trying out all kinds of new tomatoe recipes! 🙂 Anyway, I was just wondering, if I peel the tomatoes, and then put everything through the food processor (tomatoes, oniones, peppers, etc), and then can; rather than putting everything through the strainer? or would that make it too thick? Has anyone tried this?
Yes, that’s how I made a similar recipe of this. We cooked the celery and onion in a little evoo and then used a vitamix or food processor. We ran the tomatoes through a victorio and kept all the pulp in too.
When you add low-acid vegtables, you need to adjust the time. Just make sure that whatever the longest one required is used, to be safe.
I don’t peel mine, because I’m growing them organically and figure, why waste the peels? I cook and then puree with an immersion blender. Thick and yummy!
Hi Karen,
Glad to hear you have a great bounty this year! I think it would be fine to peel the tomatoes and run through the food processor, but I think the food processor may create some separation issues after it’s been stored for a couple weeks. I think it will be fine though, just make sure that after you put it in the food processor, to reheat the soup to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes before canning.
I make tomatoe sauce by peeling the tomatoes, and then food processing all the veggies, it doesn’t separate in the jars. Although, that we add flour etc to thicken, and then boil for probably 1.5 hours before canning. I’ll try making the soup with the food processor, and see how it goes! 🙂 Thanks!
I know this is from last year but I came across this on Pinterest and loved that it didn’t have flour in it! I have been searching for a good sounding one without flour. I just don’t feel comfortable canning it! I changed the recipe ever so slightly…I added 2 T. lemon juice per quart (to make sure it was acidic enough) and added an extra 1/4 c sugar (I went with 3/4 c total of brown sugar) the added sugar was to off set the possible acidic bite from the lemon juice. I ended up with 4 qts and 1 pint (think I may have had 10 pounds of maters not 12) I have the 4 qts in the pressure canner right now and the pint in the fridge for lunch tomorrow! Thanks for the great recipe and I used to live in South Dakota 🙂 I was outside of Rapid City. Cheers!
Thank you! Very clear and easy to understand.
I made a half recipe of this for canning to make sure it was a good recipe before committing to a large quantity. I ended up with 2 quarts and a shy pint which my husband and I ate for lunch. Not sure the 2 quarts are going to last the week! Super good! Will for sure be making this again later this week with my next mega batch of tomatoes. I did cut back on the onions a little bit, but that was my only modification.
Instead of canning this could it be frozen.
Yes it can!
I just made a recipe similar but instead of straining all of that good stuff out we put it through a food processor and used it to thicken the soup. We also added a roux of butter and flour to thicken the soup. Make the roux then add the processed veges back in before adding to the pot of soup.
I onl have a digital 6qt pressure cooker,could I use that or can I do it in a large pot,help!
Hi – this is a late reply but if you plan on canning this recipe it must be done using a pressure CANNER (different than a pressure cooker). I’m probably too late but I hope this helps!
about how many tomatoes ar 12lbs?
Hi Marissa!
I have never canned before, but next year we are planning a bigger garden and I want to do ALOT of canning. Could you direct me to articles you have written or some other sources of information that I could use to teach myself how to can? I plan on buying a waterbath canner soon. thank you!
Hi Tricia, I have a few videos on my YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/LittleHouseLiving and I highly recommend the book Putting Food By. It’s an excellent all around resource!
I have ben looking for a homemade soup recipe. I can’t wait to try this! My kids love to take it in their lunch. I am planning a garden for this comming summer and hope to get enough tomatoes to eat, make crushed tomatoes, this soup, taco sauce and salsa.
I appreciate the comments to ladies! Thank a bunch!
Hi. I am new to canning. I am also a diabetic and need to watch my salt. So canning is good for me. I do not have a garden this year but want to make this soup. Can I buy tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes to make it? If so how many cans do I need? It sounds delish and I am anxious to give it a try. Thank you. Evie
I don’t know how to thank you, I have been looking for a recipe for tomato soup without the added butter( I get very ill with dairy or any types of meat) I have tomatoes that need canning and really wanted to do tomato soup. This has been a God send for me and I am going to go out and make it now
Hey can I use lemon juice as the citric acid in this recipe?
Yes you should be able to.
I love pressure canning! Needing a recipe for tomato soup and came across yours. Question: can I skip the citric acid? I have none and have never seen it our grocery stores locally….
Since tomatoes are considered a low acid food you will need to add some kind of acid to them to make them safe for canning. Citric acid, vinegar, or lemon juice will work.
Is salt optional?
Of course.
I made this soup last fall according to the directions. I made about 12 pints as I wasn’t sure how much I would like it. Needless to say, this summer I will can at least twice that many! It is very simple but rich and full of flavor. It was thick enough but not too thick. I didn’t need to add anything to it at all. Just heat and eat. Never again with the canned tomatoes soup!!
This is a great recipie! I made it today and everyone loves it. I still had salsa left over from last year, so I was looking for something new to use up my tomatoes. This was my first time making tomatoe soup, followed the recipie exactly and it came out great! Thanks.
I have to say this is a wonderful recipe. We have canned it for 3 years now. I would estimate we canned about 6 or 7 dozen quarts last year. This last year was the most uniform batches, now that we have both a victorio mill and a champion juicer. Between those we get just about everything out of the tomatoes – except the seeds and skin.
Mostly we use it as soup, but sometimes I will just take along a jar on a trip and drink my lunch as a hearty juice. There is certainly nothing from a convenience store that can compare to it. We have also used it as the tomato portion of various recipes.
As soup, the best way I have found to cook it is to start with a 1/4 c olive oil over high heat in a stainless steel saucepan. Heat the oil and add 1/4c flour, stirring for maybe a minute. There may be a learning curve if you have never done white sauces or rouxs. When that is hot, slowly add the quart of soup, stirring constantly. It probably takes 2 minutes to add the whole quart. The result is a beautiful, thick, almost velvety soup that just bursts of summertime, in about 5 minutes time. Ladle it over a bed of crushed O.T.C. crackers and it is usually enough to last until dinnertime.
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe.
-JR
Can this recipe be doubled? Also how long to process in a water bath? These questions have already been asked, why don’t you post the answer. Thanks!
We just finished canning tomato soup. When the soup was ready to can I always put the jars, lids and rings into a boiling water pan. Then we filled the sterilized jars with the hot soup, put on the sterilized lids and rings and finger twisted tight. The jars all popped and sealed so I don’t think it would be wise to now pressure can it or water bath it. I would be afraid that the seal would not hold. Any thoughts on this?
The lids only popped down because of the heat of the product, they still need to be canned.
I have seen recipes for tomato soup canned in hot water bath and pressure canned. what do I need to do to make my soup acceptable for hot water bath?
WOW! I just did 8 pints. My husband is not a tomato fan but when I put a little cream into the partial pint leftover, he was really impressed. He said, “That is something you would get in a nice Kansas City restaurant! “