Easy Canning Crushed Cherry Tomatoes (No Peeling, No Blanching)

By the end of August, the garden is overwhelming in the best possible way.

The cherry tomatoes are always the ones that sneak up on me. I’ll go out to check on things and come back with a full bowl without even trying. They ripen fast and they don’t wait for you to be ready. So a few summers ago I started canning them instead of just eating them fresh until we couldn’t anymore.

Honestly it was one of the best decisions I made. Crushed cherry tomatoes are sweeter than regular field tomatoes and they cook down into the most flavourful base for sauces, soups, and braises all winter long. I open a jar in January and it genuinely smells like the garden in August.

This method is about as simple as canning gets. No blanching, no peeling, no cooking them down first. You wash the tomatoes, pack them raw into sterilized jars, crush them down to release their juices, and process. That’s it. If you’ve never canned tomatoes before, I also have a post on how to can diced tomatoes that’s a great place to start.

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A person in a white floral dress holds a jar of preserves with a blue gingham cloth lid cover, perhaps the result of canning cherry tomatoes. The person’s arms have visible tattoos, and a potted plant is in the background.

What You’ll Need to Can Cherry Tomatoes

A water bath canner or large stockpot — deep enough that your jars are covered by at least 1 inch of water
A canning tool kit — the jar lifter is the one you really can’t skip
Pint or quart mason jars with new lids and bands
A wooden spoon or potato masher for crushing the tomatoes in the jar
A canning funnel — optional but helpful for keeping the rims clean

Ingredients:

This recipe makes approximately 4 pint jars or 2 quart jars.

A note on lemon juice: Bottled only — not fresh. Tomatoes sit right on the edge of safe acidity for water bath canning and the lemon juice brings them firmly into the safe zone. Bottled lemon juice has a consistent acidity level that fresh lemon juice can’t guarantee.

8–10 lbs cherry tomatoes
Bottled lemon juice — 1 tablespoon per pint jar, 2 tablespoons per quart jar
Canning or Kosher salt — ½ teaspoon per pint jar, 1 teaspoon per quart jar (optional but recommended)

A basket of cherry tomatoes, a measuring cup of lemon juice, and a wooden spoon with salt are arranged on a blue and white checkered cloth, all labeled for canning cherry tomatoes.

How to Make Canned Crushed Cherry Tomatoes

Sterilize your jars and get the canner going
Fill your water bath canner halfway with water and start heating it on the stove. Sterilize your jars by running them through a hot dishwasher cycle or placing them in simmering water until you’re ready to fill. Keep them warm — cold jars and hot processing don’t mix well.
Wash your tomatoes
Rinse your cherry tomatoes well and remove any stems. That is the only prep work. No blanching, no peeling, no cooking anything down first.
Add lemon juice and salt to each jar.
Before you pack anything in, add directly to each warm jar:
- Pint jars: 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon canning salt
- Quart jars: 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon canning salt
Adding it to the jar rather than a pot makes sure every single jar gets the right amount.
Cold pack and crush the tomatoes
Pack your raw cherry tomatoes into each jar. As you fill, press and crush them down firmly with a wooden spoon or potato masher to release their juices. Keep adding tomatoes and crushing as you go until you reach ¼ inch headspace at the top.
Pack them firmly. You want the jar full of tomatoes and juice with no large air pockets. The tomatoes break down and release liquid as you crush — keep going until the juice fills the gaps.
Wipe rims and apply lids
Wipe the rims of each jar clean with a damp cloth. Apply lids and bands fingertip-tight — firm but not cranked down hard.
Process in the water bath
Lower your jars into the canner using your jar lifter. Make sure they’re covered by at least 1 inch of water. Bring to a full boil and process for 20 minutes.
For elevations above 1,000 feet, add 5 minutes of processing time.
When the time is up, turn off the heat and let the jars rest in the water for 5 minutes before removing.
Cool and check your seals
Set jars on a towel and leave them undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Once fully cooled, press the centre of each lid. If it doesn’t flex, it’s sealed. Any jars that didn’t seal go straight into the fridge and get used first.

A Few Tips Before You Start

Use ripe tomatoes. The riper the better. Overripe is fine, you’re crushing them anyway. Underripe tomatoes won’t have the same flavour or juice content.
Cherry tomatoes are naturally sweeter. Your finished crushed tomatoes will have a richer, sweeter flavour than you’d get with a standard field tomato. This is a good thing.
Don’t skip the lemon juice. It’s not optional. It’s what makes this safe for water bath canning.
Label your jars before you put them away. Date and contents. They all look the same on the shelf and you’ll thank yourself in January.
Work in batches if needed. If you have more tomatoes than jars, just keep going. The method is fast enough that you can do multiple rounds in one morning.

Eight glass jars filled with whole cherry tomatoes and tomato seeds in sauce—perfect for canning cherry tomatoes—are viewed from above, arranged in neat rows on a light surface.

What To Do With Your Crushed Tomatoes

This is the part that makes the whole morning worth it. You do the work once in August and then all winter long you just reach for a jar.

We use crushed cherry tomatoes as a base for pasta sauce, in soups, casseroles and spooned over chicken before it goes in the oven. They’re sweeter and more flavourful than anything from a store-bought can.

My homemade pizza sauce is one of the first things I make with them every year. It comes together in about 10 minutes with a jar of these and a few pantry staples. And if you want even more ways to use up your tomato harvest, my post on the best tomatoes for canning is a good read before you get started!

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FAQ

Not for water bath canning. Adding low-acid ingredients like garlic, onion, or fresh herbs changes the pH and makes it unsafe for shelf storage. Keep the jars plain and season when you open them — the flavour is better that way anyway.

No. That’s one of the best things about this method. The skins soften during processing and break down further when you cook with them. No blanching, no peeling required.

Bottled lemon juice has a standardized acidity level. Fresh lemon juice varies from lemon to lemon and can’t be relied on to bring the tomatoes into the safe pH range for water bath canning.

Keep crushing. The tomatoes release a lot of liquid as you break them down. If you’re really struggling, you can add a small amount of boiled water to top it off — but most of the time the tomatoes produce enough on their own.

Yes. The lemon juice is what makes it safe regardless of variety. Just know the flavour and texture will vary slightly depending on what you use.

Up to 18 months in a cool, dark place. Once opened, store in the fridge and use within a week.

A jar of preserved tomatoes with a blue gingham cover sits on a marble surface, surrounded by fresh cherry tomatoes ready for canning, a basket with more jars of canning cherry tomatoes, a sunflower, and a plaid cloth in the background.

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