Canning tomato soup at home is a great way to preserve a bumper crop of tomatoes in season. There are only a few tested canning recipes, but they’re all downright delicious!
Just like chicken soup or classic vegetable soup, tomato soup is one of those comfort food classics that’s stood the test of time. Warm, nourishing, and comforting, it’s the perfect thing to enjoy by the fire after a day of sledding in the winter months, and it’s a perfect after-school (or after-work) snack, too.
Homemade is always tastier than storebought, but the best time to enjoy tomato soup isn’t exactly tomato season. The answer? Canning tomato soup!
There are a number of tomato soup recipes for canning that allow you to use fresh (or canned) tomatoes to make a delicious homemade tomato soup and then preserve it for year-round enjoyment.
All of these are tested recipes, either as water bath canning recipes or pressure canning recipes. Since tomatoes are considered borderline for water bath canning, some of these recipes choose to add extra acidity and water bath, while others don’t and pressure can instead. If you’re bothered by any extra acidity in tomato soup, you’ll want to opt for a pressure canning recipe.
Tomato Soup Canning Recipes
This is every tested canning recipe I can find for tomato soup. They’re all about the same consistency, but the flavor varies dramatically based on the spices and other vegetables used.
I’ve noted whether they’re water bath or pressure canning recipes:
Roasted Tomato Basil Soup – This recipe from Ball Canning starts with roasting tomatoes to bring out their flavor, but also reduce cooking time in the pot. It’s finished with onions, garlic, white wine, and fresh basil leaves to round out the flavor. It’s a pressure canning recipe from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving.
Vine Fresh Tomato Soup – A recipe designed for any type of tomato (including colorful heirlooms), this one allows you to make the most of homegrown tomatoes that aren’t paste type. You can even make a fun yellow or green tomato soup. It’s a simple recipe, seasoned with just a bit of onion and garlic and brightened up with a sweet red bell pepper. This is a water bath canning recipe from The Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.
Vine Fresh Tomato Soup made with Heirloom Tomatoes
Spiced Tomato Soup – This vegetable-forward recipe includes onions, celery, and carrots, making it more well-rounded than most recipes. The addition of allspice, cloves, and a bit of brown sugar makes this a warmly spiced soup, but as always, dry seasonings are optional when making any canning recipe, and you can season it to your tastes. This is a pressure canning recipe from The Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.
Roasted Leek and Tomato Soup – With just tomatoes and roasted leeks, this is a simple recipe in terms of produce. It uses white wine to round out the flavor, and it has plenty of added acidity. This is a water bath canning recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.
Alternative Tomato Soup Canning Recipes
Since there aren’t very many tested tomato soup recipes, many home canners often choose to take another tomato canning recipe and turn it into soup by using safe canning modifications. You can always make a canning recipe thinner (or less dense), and that’s one secret to creating your own tomato soup recipe.
If you start with a pasta sauce recipe, thin it out a bit, and change the spices, you’ll have tomato soup.
Similarly, tomato vegetable “juice” recipes also make a surprisingly good tomato soup.
- Basil Garlic Tomato Sauce – This one’s a “sauce,” but many people use it as a tomato soup. This is a water bath canning recipe from The Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.
- Tomato Vegetable Juice – This is a flexible recipe from the NCHFP that allows you to use 3 cups of your choice of carrots, peppers, onions, or celery to a fixed amount of tomatoes. That gives you quite a bit of flexibility in flavoring it as a soup, especially when you can include any dry spices that suit your tastes. This recipe from the University of Georgia Extension has instructions for both water bath canning and pressure canning.
Tomato Canning Recipes
Looking for more ways to preserve tomatoes in a jar?
Soup Canning Recipes
There are a lot of ways to preserve soup in a jar at home!
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