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Cherry tomato canning recipes are a way to make the most of a plant that never seems to quit. A few cherry tomato vines can bury you in fruit by midsummer, and since they’re sweeter than slicing tomatoes and quicker to prep, they turn into some of the nicest jars on the shelf.
Most people think of cherry tomatoes as a salad ingredient, but they can beautifully, and they’re forgiving when you only have a bowl or two to work with at a time.
There’s more you can do with cherry tomatoes than scatter them over greens. You can can them whole, pickle them so they stay round and poppable, cook them into salsa, or simmer them down into a sweet-savory jam or conserve. They also stand in for full-size tomatoes in almost any of my tomato canning recipes.
One of the things I like about canning cherry tomatoes is how little prep they need. There’s no coring and usually no peeling, so a daily handful from the garden adds up to a full canner load before you know it.
Acidifying Cherry Tomatoes for Canning
Cherry tomatoes are tomatoes, which means they sit right on the edge between high-acid and low-acid foods. Like any tomato, they need added acid to be safe for water bath canning, even when they’re fully ripe and taste sweet. For plain canned cherry tomatoes, that means adding the acid directly to each jar before filling.
Recipes like salsa, pickles, and conserves have the acidity built in through vinegar, lemon, or lime juice, so you follow the recipe as written. But if you’re canning plain cherry tomatoes, whole or otherwise, use one of these tomato acidification options per jar:
- Bottled lemon juice: 1 tablespoon per pint or 2 tablespoons per quart. Use bottled, not fresh, since the acidity is standardized for canning.
- Citric acid: 1/4 teaspoon per pint or 1/2 teaspoon per quart. A good choice if you want reliable acidification with less flavor change.
- 5% acidity vinegar: 2 tablespoons per pint or 4 tablespoons per quart. This works too, but it changes the flavor more noticeably.
Once the acid is in the jar, fill with the cherry tomatoes and liquid, leave the proper headspace, and process exactly as directed. If the finished tomatoes taste a little sharp, balance it with a pinch of sugar when you open the jar, but never reduce or skip the acid in the recipe itself.
Canning Whole Cherry Tomatoes
Canning cherry tomatoes whole takes the least prep of any of these recipes, and it skips the peeling step that full-size tomatoes require. You leave the skins on, prick or leave them as they are, and pack them into jars much like any whole tomato, with acid added to each jar.
A jar of whole cherry tomatoes is a building block more than a finished product. They hold their shape on the shelf, then break down into soups, sauces, and stews later, bringing a sweetness that bigger tomatoes don’t always have. You can raw pack or hot pack them, depending on how much shrinkage you’re willing to accept.
Cherry Tomato Sauce
Cherry tomatoes cook down into a naturally sweet sauce, sweeter than you’ll get from most slicing tomatoes. That sweetness and their thin skins make them a good candidate for a roasted, milled sauce that goes straight onto pasta or pizza.
There are two ways to go here. You can make my cherry-tomato-specific roasted sauce below, or use cherry tomatoes in place of regular tomatoes in any tested tomato sauce recipe.
Cherry Tomato Specific Sauce Recipes
My roasted cherry tomato sauce is the one cherry-tomato-specific sauce I can point you to, and it leans into everything that makes these little tomatoes worth canning. The cherry tomatoes and a head of garlic roast until they caramelize, then go through a food mill so you skip peeling entirely.
It’s a hot pack, water bath recipe adapted from a tested Ball sauce, with the amounts adjusted for cherry tomatoes since they run lighter and wetter than paste types. A six-pound batch makes about three pints, and acid goes into each jar before filling.
Regular Tomato Sauce to Modify to Cherry Tomatoes
Beyond that one recipe, cherry tomatoes slot into any tested tomato sauce recipe in place of regular tomatoes. The flavor comes out sweeter and brighter, which is part of what makes them worth the swap.
Plan on a longer simmer to cook off their extra moisture, and run them through a food mill first if you want a smooth sauce without skins and seeds. Acidify each jar the same way you would for a batch made with slicing or paste tomatoes.
Cherry Tomato Juice
Cherry tomatoes make a bright, sweet juice, since the small fruit gives up its liquid readily. As with the sauce, there’s no tested cherry-tomato-specific juice recipe online just yet, so it’s on my list to develop and test properly.
Until then, any tested tomato juice recipe works with cherry tomatoes in place of regular ones. You’ll strain out the skins and seeds the same way, and remember to acidify each jar just as you would with full-size tomatoes.
Cherry Tomato Salsa
Cherry tomatoes make a sweet, bright salsa, and a tested recipe balances them with enough acid from lime juice or vinegar to can safely. They’re juicy little tomatoes, so a good recipe accounts for that to keep the finished salsa from turning watery.
The Ball corn and cherry tomato salsa is a tested option that pairs the sweetness with fresh corn and jalapeño. For more, any of my tested salsa canning recipes will work with cherry tomatoes in place of regular ones.
Cherry Tomato Soup
A soup made from sweet cherry tomatoes is a comforting thing, with a rounder, brighter flavor than the usual canned tomato soup. A tested cherry-tomato canning recipe for it doesn’t exist online yet that I’d trust, so I’m working on my own to share down the road.
For now, cherry tomatoes stand in nicely for regular tomatoes in any tested tomato soup recipe. Strain after cooking for a smooth bowl, and stir in cream or fresh herbs when you serve it rather than adding them to the jar.
Pickled Cherry Tomatoes
Pickling is where cherry tomatoes really shine, since their size means they stay whole and round in the jar. A quick prick with a pin keeps them from bursting, and the vinegar brine brings all the acid you need to can them safely.
They burst with a little pop of tangy, savory flavor, which makes them a standout on a cheese board, in a salad, or alongside grilled meat. A dilled version tastes like a tomato pickle, while a white wine and rosemary brine leans more Italian and antipasto.
Cherry Tomato Jam & Conserve
Cherry tomatoes lean sweet, which makes them a natural fit for the kind of sweet-savory preserve that bridges fruit jam and condiment. Cooked down with sugar, acid, and a little onion or balsamic, they take on a deep, glossy richness.
These are the jars to spread on bread with sharp cheese, tuck into a sandwich, or spoon over roasted meat. They feel a little more special than a basic sauce, and a small batch goes a long way.
Cherry Tomato Canning FAQ
Cherry tomatoes raise a few of the same questions every canning season, mostly around whether they need peeling and why sweet tomatoes still need added acid. Here are the answers that come up most.
For anything specific to a single recipe, the individual posts linked throughout this roundup walk through the full method and processing times.
It depends on the recipe. For whole canned cherry tomatoes and pickled cherry tomatoes, you leave the skins on, so there’s no peeling at all. For sauce or juice, you run the cooked tomatoes through a food mill, which removes the skins and seeds for you. Cherry tomatoes are too small to peel one by one the way you would with slicing tomatoes.
Sweetness and acidity are not the same thing. Like all tomatoes, cherry tomatoes sit on the edge between high-acid and low-acid foods, so they need added acid to be safe for water bath canning even when they taste sweet. For plain canned cherry tomatoes, add bottled lemon juice, citric acid, or vinegar directly to each jar before filling. Recipes like salsa and pickles have the acid built into the recipe.
Yes. Sun Golds, grape tomatoes, yellow pear, and standard red cherry tomatoes all can well. Mixing varieties gives a more layered flavor, and color varies with the type you use, so yellow cherry tomatoes make a milder, almost citrusy result while red ones taste more traditionally tomato.
Yes, cherry tomatoes stand in for full-size tomatoes in tested tomato canning recipes. Plan on a longer simmer for sauces and juices, since cherry tomatoes carry more water, and run them through a food mill if you want a smooth result without skins and seeds. Acidify each jar just as you would with regular tomatoes.
Either works. Raw packing is quicker, but the tomatoes shrink more in the jar and you can end up with more headspace and floating. Hot packing reduces shrinkage and tends to give a fuller jar. Whichever you choose, follow the tested processing time and acidify each jar.
For pickled cherry tomatoes, a quick prick with a pin or toothpick helps the brine penetrate and keeps the skins from bursting, so they stay round in the jar. For whole canned cherry tomatoes you can prick them too if you like, though it isn’t required.
However you put them up, cherry tomatoes are one of the more generous things in the garden, and it would be a shame to let that endless midsummer harvest go to the chickens. Whether you pickle them whole, cook them into salsa, or simmer them into a sweet conserve, you’ll be glad you caught them at their peak.
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