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 lunch time 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 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
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 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 1/2″ 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.
Wipe the rimes of the jars with a clean paper towel, then place sterilized lid on top of the jar. Thread ring onto the jar and tighten until fingertip tight.
Process in pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 20 minutes for pints and 30 minutes for quarts. Be sure to check your pressure canner’s instruction manual to follow proper procedure.
*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!
Have you ever tried canning tomato soup? What other soups do you can?
Erica says
September 11, 2013 at 7:25 ammmmm. I love soups as the air turns crisp. Thanks for this, I have not tried to can tomato soup before.
Erica
Margaret says
September 11, 2013 at 10:33 amJust in time for fall. Thanks for the tips
Andrea says
September 11, 2013 at 2:18 pmI think I will try reheating the soup with some fresh vegetables and rice for a heartier soup!
Shelly Smith says
September 14, 2013 at 7:44 pmIs 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??
Merissa says
September 15, 2013 at 8:52 amOnions and peppers are low acid items and thus the need for this recipe to be pressure canned.
Charles says
June 25, 2015 at 10:45 amThis 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.
Karen Holyk says
October 3, 2013 at 8:01 amJust 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?
Miss says
September 9, 2014 at 9:41 amYes, 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.
Stephanie says
May 1, 2015 at 1:31 pmWhen 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.
TJ says
October 1, 2016 at 5:50 pmI 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!
Andrea says
October 3, 2013 at 9:42 amHi 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.
Karen Holyk says
October 4, 2013 at 7:10 amI 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!
Crystal says
August 2, 2014 at 9:13 pmI 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!
Lauralee says
August 16, 2014 at 10:17 amThank you! Very clear and easy to understand.
Angela says
August 17, 2014 at 2:56 pmI 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.
Kim says
September 3, 2014 at 12:39 pmInstead of canning this could it be frozen.
Merissa says
September 3, 2014 at 12:59 pmYes it can!
Miss says
September 9, 2014 at 9:04 amI 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.
judy mealy says
September 9, 2014 at 9:11 amI onl have a digital 6qt pressure cooker,could I use that or can I do it in a large pot,help!
Amy says
April 2, 2015 at 3:17 pmHi – 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!
judy mealy says
September 9, 2014 at 9:13 amabout how many tomatoes ar 12lbs?
Tricia says
September 9, 2014 at 10:27 amHi 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!
Merissa says
September 9, 2014 at 11:21 amHi 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!
Ashley says
February 26, 2015 at 12:08 pmI 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!
Evie says
August 2, 2015 at 8:53 pmHi. 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
Kimberly says
September 6, 2015 at 10:30 amI 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
Megan says
September 9, 2015 at 10:47 amHey can I use lemon juice as the citric acid in this recipe?
Merissa says
September 9, 2015 at 6:06 pmYes you should be able to.
Gillian says
September 12, 2015 at 12:19 pmI 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….
Merissa says
September 12, 2015 at 7:08 pmSince 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.
Michelle says
October 23, 2015 at 8:06 pmIs salt optional?
Merissa says
October 24, 2015 at 8:48 amOf course.
cherie says
February 26, 2016 at 12:48 pmI 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!!
Cheri Scanlon says
September 11, 2016 at 1:24 pmThis 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.
JR says
June 6, 2017 at 1:03 pmI 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
Jackie says
August 31, 2017 at 4:54 pmCan 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!
Sandra Bailey says
August 21, 2018 at 8:10 pmWe 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?
Merissa says
August 22, 2018 at 6:48 amThe lids only popped down because of the heat of the product, they still need to be canned.
nova i Brock says
September 18, 2018 at 2:37 pmI 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?