Canning Stewed Tomatoes in Pint Jars
Every August my counter fills up with more tomatoes than I know what to do with, and stewed tomatoes are where most of them end up. Nothing fancy added, just tomatoes cooked down until they're soft and a little thick, so a pint jar becomes a shortcut for soup, chili, or a skillet of eggs on a night when I don't feel like chopping anything. Here's how I do it, start to finish.
What you'll need
For about 9 pint jars, you're working with roughly 14 pounds of tomatoes. Beyond that:
- Salt, about ½ teaspoon per pint (optional)
- Bottled lemon juice or citric acid
- A pressure canner
Cleaning the tomatoes
Start by washing the tomatoes well under running water. Don't use ones from a dead or frost-killed vine, and set aside anything bruised or starting to soften in the wrong way. A soft spot in July is usually just ripeness. A soft spot in September, after a cold snap, is something else.
Blanching
Bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil, then drop the tomatoes in for 30 to 60 seconds, just until the skins split. Pull them out and plunge them into a bowl of cold water. The skins slip off in your hand at that point, almost no effort at all. Core them and trim off any bruised or discolored spots, then quarter them.
Cooking them down
Heat about a sixth of the quartered tomatoes in a large pot, crushing them with a wooden spoon as they go in so they release their juice. Once that's simmering, add the rest of the tomatoes gradually, stirring so nothing scorches on the bottom. They'll soften on their own as the pot heats through, no need to crush the later batches. Once everything's in, let it boil gently for 5 minutes.
Packing the jars
Before you fill each jar, add your acid: 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice or ¼ teaspoon of citric acid per pint. This is the one step worth not skipping. Tomatoes sit right on the edge between high-acid and low-acid, close enough that a pressure canner isn't a substitute for it, and the processing times below assume the acid is already in the jar. Add salt if you want it, about ½ teaspoon per pint.
Ladle the hot tomatoes in, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Run a thin spatula around the inside of the jar to release air bubbles, wipe the rim clean, and put the lid and ring on.
Processing
Process pints for 20 minutes in a pressure canner: 5 pounds of pressure with a weighted gauge if you're below 1,000 feet, 10 pounds if you're above it, or 6 pounds with a dial gauge below 2,000 feet, working upward from there as your altitude climbs. Once the time is up, turn off the heat and let the canner depressurize on its own before you open it. Don't rush that part by venting it early.
Cooling and storage
Pull the jars out and set them on a towel on the counter, leaving space between them for air to circulate. You'll hear the lids ping as they seal over the next hour or two. Once they've cooled completely, press the center of each lid. If it doesn't flex, you're sealed. Anything that didn't seal goes in the fridge and gets eaten within a few days, not back on the shelf.
Label and date the jars, and store them somewhere cool and dark. They'll hold for a year, though the flavor is best within the first several months.
Using them after canning
This is where the teaspoon of sugar comes in, and only here, not during the canning itself. When you open a jar to reheat it, whether you're pouring it into a saucepan for a quick side dish or building it into something bigger, stir in a teaspoon of sugar while it warms through. It softens the tartness just enough without turning the tomatoes sweet, and it's easy to skip or adjust since it happens after the jar is already sealed and safe. A pint of plain stewed tomatoes also folds straight into a pot of chili, a simmering soup, or a skillet of shakshuka, no extra prep needed since the tomatoes are already broken down and cooked through.
This recipe follows tested guidelines from the USDA National Center for Home Food Preservation for crushed tomatoes with no added liquid. Add the lemon juice or citric acid to every jar regardless of whether you're pressure canning, since tomato acidity varies enough that the processing times above assume it's there.