Canning tomato soup with fresh tomatoes and basil is a great way to preserve tomatoes and serve a warm, delicious bowl to your family throughout the winter months. This recipe is great for beginners or advanced canners.
I’ve been searching for the perfect canned tomato soup recipe for quite some time. I wanted it to be fresh-tasting, with a hint of basil and a slight chunkiness to the tomato base.
Made a huge batch of this recipe today and I must say it’s over the top amazing my only addition was celery and well let’s just get to the important part more Masala it’s midnight now here and my tomatoes are few “swheeew” anyway it’s delicious make it and find out for yourself.
—Raymond
Ingredients Needed For Canning Tomato Soup
- Roma tomatoes – Romas are meatier and have fewer seeds than other varieties of tomatoes, so they are perfect when canning soup.
- Minced garlic – skip minced garlic in the jar and only use fresh chopped gloves.
- Onions – Use a sweet variety such as Vidalia.
- Fresh basil – Fresh will infuse more flavor than dried
- Marsala wine – this can be limited however it gives your soup a sweet, tangy flavor. The alcohol is cooked out at such a high processing temperature.
- Sugar – Sugar draws out the flavor in tomatoes
- Salt & pepper – Use white pepper if you do not want black specks in your soup.
How To Peel Tomatoes Ice Bath Method
Through the years of canning tomatoes, I have found a quick and easy way to remove the skins from a batch of tomatoes easily.
- Bring a large stockpot filled halfway with water to a boil.
- Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
- Remove any stickers and then wash the tomatoes.
- Remove the stem and core with a paring knife.
- Drop the tomatoes a few at a time into the boiling water.
- Remove them after 30 seconds or when the skin begins to peel. Then gently drop them into the bowl of ice water.
- Allow the tomatoes to sit in the ice bath for 3 or 4 minutes until chilled.
- The tomatoes will still be very firm, with the skin wrinkled and coming off the flesh. Gently rub off the tomato skin with your hands. Remove any stubborn pieces with a paring knife.
How To Peel Tomatoes Using An Oven
Here is another easy option for how to peel tomatoes for canning that is so easy you will be amazed! The best part is this method of peeling tomatoes helps eliminate extra watery juice from the tomatoes, so you end up with thick tomatoes.
Experimenting with ingredient combinations over time, I have come up with the perfect canned tomato basil soup recipe.
Canning Tomato Basil Soup
- Blanch tomatoes in a large pot of boiling water. Remove the tomatoes after a minute or two and immediately transfer them to a bowl of ice water
- When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, simply peel away the skin and cut out the core
- Cut tomatoes in ½ then place in a large stockpot
- Add onions, basil, garlic, and thyme
- Cook on medium-low heat until vegetables are soft, about 40 minutes
- Using a stick blender, mix until smooth
- Add marsala, sugar, salt, and pepper
- Add ½ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot quart jar. Add ¼ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 1 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot pint jar
- Pack hot soup mixture into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of the top of each jar. Press tomatoes into the jar until the spaces between them fill with juice, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot tomatoes. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight
- PROCESS- Place jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 60 minutes for pints and 1 hour and 15 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude.
- When processing is finished, allow pressure to come down to zero. Open the canner carefully and remove the jars. Cool jars by setting them on a towel on the counter. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. The lid should not flex up and down when the center is pressed. Remove rings, label, and date lids.
How To Pressure Can Safely
If you are new to pressure canning, be sure to visit my post, How To Pressure Can, for tips, step-by-step instructions, and safety guidelines.
How long should soup be pressure canned?
Can I pressure can tomato soup with heavy cream?
Butter, milk, cream, cheese, and other dairy products are low-acid foods that should never be home-canned. Again, add butter and milk to the soup just before serving. Products high in starch also interfere with heat processing resulting in unsafe canning practices. Penn State Extention
The secret to making creamy tomato soup
Growing up, my mom always used real butter and cream when she made canned tomato soup. I loved it this way so I wanted to be able to make my recipe this way also. So, this Canning Tomato Soup with Fresh Tomatoes Recipe is great heated up right out of the jar but adding cream and butter when you reheat the home-canned soup makes it comfort food in a bowl. To make a creamy bowl of soup, follow these instructions.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup of whipping cream
- 1 1/2 cup of cooked or canned Canning Tomato Soup with Fresh Tomatoes Recipe
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a pan, simmering until just slightly brown
- Add flour and cook for 1 minute
- Add 1 1/2 cups tomato base and cream
- Whisk until thickened, and then serve
More Canning Recipes
If you enjoy canning and, like me, you are always on the hunt to try new recipes, be sure to visit my recipes for How To Can Vegetable Soup, How To Can Chili, How To Can Cowboy Candy, Canning Tomato Soup with Fresh Tomatoes, Canning Beans, Canning Roast Beef Canning Sloppy Joe, and Canning Salsa Without A Pressure Cooker.
Do you have a question about the recipe? Feel free to ask in the comments below. I’m here to help!
Canning Tomato Soup with Fresh Tomatoes Recipe
Note: Be sure to read through the recipe’s post for tips and details about this recipe.
You can add any recipe from Intentional Hospitality to your shopping list to plan a full menu!
Ingredients
- 7 1/2 pounds Roma tomatoes
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup sweet onion, diced
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons dried thyme
- 3 tablespoons Marsala wine
- 1/3 cup sugar, use 1/2 cup if you prefer sweeter soup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, use less if watching sodium
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper, optional, use white pepper to avoid black specks
- 6 teaspoons citric acid
Instructions
Blanch and Prepare Tomatoes
- Boil a large pot of water.
- Add whole tomatoes and blanch for 1-2 minutes.7 1/2 pounds Roma tomatoes
- Transfer tomatoes to a bowl of ice water to cool.
- Peel off skins and remove cores.
- Cut tomatoes in half and place them in a large stock pot.
Make Soup Base
- Add garlic, onion, basil, and thyme to the pot with tomatoes.6 cloves garlic, 1 cup sweet onion, 1 cup fresh basil leaves, 2 tablespoons dried thyme
- Cook on medium-low heat for about 40 minutes until vegetables are soft. Stir every 15 minutes or so to prevent sticking.
- Remove the soup base from the heat, and with a stick blender, blend the mixture until it is smooth.
- Stir in Marsala wine, sugar, salt, and pepper.3 tablespoons Marsala wine, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
Prepare Jars
- Add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid or 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each hot pint jar.6 teaspoons citric acid
- Fill jars with hot soup mixture, leaving 1/2 inch headspace at the top.
- Remove air bubbles with a plastic knife or spatula, and adjust the headspace if needed.
- Wipe rims of jars clean and place lids on jars. Tighten bands until fingertip-tight.
Process Jars
- Place jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 60 minutes for pints and 1 hour and 15 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude.
- Let pressure come down to zero naturally.
- Carefully open the canner and remove jars.
- Cool jars on a towel on the counter. Do not remove rings.
- After 24 hours, check seals (the lid should not flex up and down).
- Remove rings, label, and date the lids.
Notes
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup of whipping cream
- 1 1/2 cup of cooked or canned Canning Tomato Soup with Fresh Tomatoes Recipe
- Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a pan, simmering until just slightly brown
- Add flour, cook for 1 minute
- Add 1 1/2 cups tomato base and cream
- Whisk until thickened and then serve
This looks amazing! Does it have to be done using a pressure canner? Or can a water bath canning process work? Is so, how long would you do that?
Jamie, because there are onions, garlic, wine, and basil, it is best to pressure can. Onions and garlic are low-acid ingredients, and they need to be pressure canned for safe canning practices. I have made this recipe and froze it, however. I got the idea to freeze it because Trader Joe’s had a fantastic tomato soup in their freezer section. What I liked most about their soup was the addition of crusy-type bread chunks added to their soup. All I had to do was thaw and heat. So good. For more tips on canning soup: https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/soups.html
Extra salt in the jar in addition to the salt in the soup?
Erin, Don’t add the extra salt! This was a mistake. I’m so used to saying add a teaspoon of salt when canning veggies that I just did it out of habit. I went in and removed that from the recipe! Thank you so much for pointing this out!
I’m a little confused. It says to emersión blend the tomatoes, but then when packing the jars, it says to pack the hot tomatoes. Are we blending and packing the hot soup or just packing tomatoes and blending after we open it from being canned?
Summer, you are so right. The instructions were confusing. I went into the post and rewrote the steps to make it simpler. Of course, while I was editing the post, I found more things I could tweak to help readers. Be sure and scroll through to see more tips and ingredient notes. Thanks for helping me make the post easier to follow, hopefully.
Can you can creamy tomato basil soup with heavy cream?
Stephanie, Great question I am sure a lot of people have. I have added this Q&A to the blog post
Butter, milk, cream, cheese, and other dairy products are low-acid foods that should never be home-canned. Again, add butter and milk to the soup just before serving. Products high in starch also interfere with heat processing resulting in unsafe canning practices.
This recipe sounds so good and I am excited to try it! I noticed that standard tomato sauce processes for 20 minutes at 10 lb pressure (weighted gauge). I just wanted to double-check the processing time for this soup. Does it really need 1 hour and 25 minutes? If so, is that due to the wine?
Wendy, you ask a good question. I’ve canned for over 50 years and still ask questions like this and do some research on it. Canning has evolved over the years to safer practices than what my grandma used for sure. For this recipe I followed the National Center For Home Food Preservation. Here is what they say:
Looking through this they suggest 100 minutes for soup with seafood. However, if there is no seafood they say 1 hour and 15 minutes will be sufficient. I’m going to update the recipe card with the chart for processing and amit the seafood timing.
Thanks for your question. I hope you enjoy your soup on a cold winter day with a grilled cheese sandwich. :)
Hi I’m very confused about adding hot tomatoes it says you are blending everything. Are you cooking tomato’s separately.
I read through and it said you edited it but I am not seeing that. Can you explain.
Debbie, I want to make this easy to follow. I tweaked the recipe instructions a bit to make it easier to follow I hope. You blend all of the ingredients that have been cooked together with the peeled tomatoes in a stock pot for 40 minutes. You then follow safe canning practices for your brand of pressure canner. Also, here are some more tips from the National Center For Food Preservation if you are canning soups. Let me know if you still have any questions so I can make this easier to follow if need be.
Can I use frozen tomatoes?
Yes, you can use frozen tomatoes. I suggest thawing them overnight in the fridge. I have found that frozen tomatoes when thawed are more watery, so you might want to drain off some extra water/juice before canning.
Made a huge batch of this recipe today and I must say it’s over the top amazing my only addition was celery and well let’s just get to the important part more Masala it’s midnight now here and my tomatoes are few “swheeew” anyway it’s delicious make it and find out for yourself.
Raymond, I’m adding your comment as a star review in my post. Thank you!