Canning Tomato Soup with Grilled Vegetables

With the abundance of tomatoes in the summer, I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise that I make canning tomato soup. It tastes so much better than store-bought stuff. And every time I open a jar, it feels like summer has returned, especially in the cold months. It’s such a treat to enjoy warm homemade tomato soup. Let’s dive right in and make grilled vegetable tomato soup for canning.

updated from 2012

HOW TO PREPARE GRILLED VEGETABLE CANNING TOMATO SOUP

I love this tomato soup. Process is simple; I combine homemade tomato sauce with grilled vegetable puree, then I season it with salt and pepper. And as you can imagine, the marriage of these two powerhouses results in full-bodied soup. But, honestly, it’s so much more than just soup. I use it to make stuffed peppers and in any dish that requires tomato sauce. It’s not seasoned with any herbs and that gives me the freedom to add anything I like later.

TOMATO SAUCE

If you haven’t made tomato sauce before, I won’t lie to you, it’s a bit of work. Over the years I processed hundreds of pounds of tomatoes from our garden. Generally speaking you can use any red tomato to make the sauce. But depending on the variety some maybe more juicy (containing more water) and some more meaty – ideal tomato type for sauces. I prefer using ROMA tomatoes whenever possible. Watery tomatoes result in thin sauce that needs to be simmer for longer to get rid of excess water, to make it thicker.

In this recipe for canning tomato soup I used 8 quarts of medium thick tomato sauce. You’ll need about 50 pounds of tomatoes to make the sauce. No worries you can half or even quarter the recipe if you need to.

• Cover all tomatoes with water, add about 3 cups of distilled vinegar and let sit for 30 minutes. Wash well in water 3 times. Use a small vegetable brush at 1st round.
• Remove blemishes, stems and cut tomatoes in half or quarter larger tomatoes.
• Cook on low heat until juices start releasing. Increase to medium high heat and cook until tomatoes are very soft.
• Let it cool slightly, process cooked, soft tomatoes in a blender or food processor and then press the mixture thru a fine mesh sieve to remove skin and seeds. You can use a food mill if it has fine mesh, otherwise seeds go thru.
• If the sauce appears too runny, return it to the heat and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, until it thickens.

GRILLED VEGETABLES

Roasted vegetable puree is delicious and simple to prepare. You can use a grill or oven. In the heat of the summer, I prefer using the grill. Wash and slice vegetables, season them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then roast until soft but not burned. Process vegetables in the food processor until smooth. If there are stubborn bits you can add some tomato sauce, it should help with the pureeing.

COOK SOUP

This step is pretty straight forward, combine tomato sauce and grilled vegetable puree in a large pot. Season with sugar, salt, pepper and chili flakes, if using. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer and cook for at least an hour, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Taste and season with more salt or sugar. You can try brown sugar if you prefer. After, soup can appear chunky, this is simple because during cooking water evaporated. Process it again in the food processor or blender to make it super smooth.

CANNING TOMATO SOUP

When canning tomatoes or products with tomatoes it’s important to follow safety guidelines. You need to add acid to all canned tomato products.

• Add 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice (not fresh lemon juice) or ½ teaspoon of citric acid per quart of tomato soup.
• For pints, use 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice or ¼ teaspoon of citric acid.
• Acid can be added directly to the sterilized canning jars before filling the jars with tomato soup. You can up the sugar to offset acid taste, if desired.

MORE VEGETABLE RECIPES

• Pickled Peppers
• Sun-Dried Tomatoes (easy oven method)
• Canned Coleslaw via Nelson Road Garden
• Pickled Red Beets

This post was originally published on August 28th, 2012. On July 11th, 2023 I updated this recipe with new photos, written instructions and a recipe card.