Everything We’re Canning With Tomatoes

Tomatoes make up the biggest portion of our canning. There are so many items that stem from either just plain tomatoes and even more that can be made from tomato sauce. Every year we find ourselves with more tomatoes and we’re left wondering what to do with them. You’d think we’d learn to plant less of them but we like to plan on some extra just in case we have a bad growing season. Our canning needs, aka the mouths we feed, also continue to grow each year so we have to increase our yield. This year, 2023, has been the biggest year for us and we added quite a few canned items to our skill set. Without further ado, here’s everything we’re canning with tomatoes.

The Recipes

To be transparent, some of these are our recipes and some of them are not. If we’ve found a tried and true recipe that we love, we share it here on the blog. However, for the newer recipes like ketchup and bbq sauce, we’re still tweaking them. I’ve shared the recipes that we used and will update this blog post as we morph them into the final product that we love. 

With something like BBQ sauce, it’s very preferential and there are a ton of recipes out there too. If you make it once and you don’t love it, keep trying! 

Low Sugar

You’ll find that our recipes are all low to no sugar. They will not be nearly as sweet as store bought products. That is how we prefer it! Plus, we want to keep sugar away from our kiddos as much as possible to give them nutrient dense foods. Of course you could adapt these and add a sweetener if needed but we think they’re perfect without it.

Types of Tomatoes 

The type of tomato that you are using may dictate what you can or want to make with them. We’ve switched to planting nearly all Roma or Amish Paste tomatoes. Their water content is much lower than others making them much easier to cook down. It’s definitely up to you on what you want to do but if you’re looking for a recommendation these seeds from High Mowing are ones we stand behind! 

Salsa is the only thing that we truly prefer to have some varied tomatoes. The color of different tomatoes can make it more appealing. Plus, different tomatoes can help with getting a different flavor too. 

Everything We’re Canning With Tomatoes

• Diced Tomatoes
• Tomato Sauce
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Salsa 
• Enchilada Sauce
• Tomato Soup
• Pizza Sauce
• Ketchup
• BBQ Sauce

More Potential Options

These are things I’ve seen but we aren’t pulling the trigger on right now. Maybe soon, maybe never we’ll just have to see how it goes. Our canning season is definitely a little off with two babies in the mix this season. I’m still thankful for last year’s me for putting up so much to get us through so we can still get by until next year when our one year olds are a little easier to keep occupied. 

• Chili Base (or even chili)
• Bruschetta 
• Tomato Jam ( this seems really popular, I can see myself trying this one for sure)
• Tomato Juice 
• V8 Juice
• Bloody Mary Mix 
• Tomato Paste 

In Summary: Everything We’re Canning With Tomatoes

The amount of tomatoes that we use in a season is intense! As you can see, there are a lot of things that we are replacing too. Plus, we’re essentially making enough for four separate households! That takes a lot of tomatoes (and a lot of hands, too). Maybe someday I might calculate the amount of money we save by canning everything ourselves but just the nutritional benefits make it worth it for us. 

What are you canning the most of? Tell us in the comments!