Canning Diced Tomatoes - Easy Fire Roasted Water Bath Method
Simple fire roasted diced tomatoes for water bath canning - enjoy summer tomato flavor year around in all your favorite recipes!
Servings: 6 pints
Calories: 68kcal
Equipment
- Large baking trays/cookie sheets
- Serrated knife and cutting board
- Canning jars and lids - pint and/or quart sizes, regular or wide mouth lids
- Water bath canner and jar lifter
- Stainless steel canning funnel and ladle
Ingredients
- 10 pounds tomatoes*
- 1 quart water
- 1/4 teaspoon citric acid PER PINT JAR (see notes for specific amounts for quarts and for using lemon juice)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt PER JAR (optional)
Instructions
- Fill a water bath canner and wash jars and lids. Keep jars warm. Fill a 2-3 quart pot with water and bring to a boil, turn down and leave simmering while completing the steps.
- Halve your washed and cored tomatoes and lay them face down on the largest baking tray you own. TIP: squeeze each half a bit before laying on the tray to remove any excess seeds/juice.
- Broil the tomatoes on high for about 10 minutes or until most of the tomato skins are blistered and blackened. Check around 8 minutes and broil longer as needed.
- Remove the baking tray and add another tray of prepped tomatoes to broil. Let the first tray cool a few minutes and then use tongs (or your fingers if cool enough) to pull off the bubbling skins. Continue broiling and peeling until all your tomatoes are prepped (at the same time as you're chopping and filling jars).
- Proceed one jar at a time with the following steps, repeating as needed for the amount of tomatoes you have:
- On a cutting board chop the tomatoes as needed to dice. When you have enough tomatoes chopped to fill a jar, grab one of the warm jars and add the citric acid (or lemon juice) and the optional salt.
- Use a slotted spoon to add the chopped tomatoes to the jar, leaving a 1/2-inch of space between the tomatoes and top of jar.
- Top the tomatoes with a bit of the hot water, leaving 1/2-inch of headspace.
- Run a non-metal spatula around the edges to release any air bubbles. If needed, add more hot water to bring back to 1/2-inch headspace.
- Wipe the rim of the jar with a clean cloth or paper towel and attach lid and band to just fingertip tight (do not tighten too much).
- Add jar to raised rack in canner over simmering water and continue filling jars, one at a time, until your jars and tomatoes are used up (or your canner is full).
- Lower rack and make sure the water is a good 1-2 inches above the jars because this has to process longer than other water bath recipes. Bring canner back to a boil, then lower to medium high and process for 40 minutes for pints and 45 minutes for quarts.
- Turn off heat, remove lid and let jars sit in canner for 5 minutes. Remove jars to a towel-lined surface where they will be undisturbed for 12 hours.
- Then remove the bands, test the seal and label lids before storing (without the bands). Store in a cool, dark place for up to 18 months.
Notes
*This recipe is flexible - use the amount of tomatoes you have and just add more or less jars to fill your canner.
Amount Needed to Acidify Canned Tomatoes:
- Citric Acid: 1/4 teaspoon per pint jar; 1/2 teaspoon per quart jar.
- Bottle Lemon Juice: 1 tablespoon per pint jar; 2 tablespoons per quart jar.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 68kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 23mg | Potassium: 896mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 3149IU | Vitamin C: 52mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 1mg
