Canning diced tomatoes is an easy, great way to preserve the delicious fresh taste of tomatoes for year-round use. A versatile item you should always have in your pantry, this tutorial will help you turn your garden fresh tomatoes into a useful, shelf stable ingredient in no time.

Whether you’re making venison bolognese, spaghetti and meatballs, or a milder version of my favorite venison chili, canned diced tomatoes are a must-have pantry item.

While purchasing your canned tomatoes at the store is easy and affordable, canning diced tomatoes at home results in a tastier product and completely control what’s in it. From how the tomatoes are grown to the ingredients inside the jar.

Can you safely can diced tomatoes?

You can! It’s not only safe to water bath your own diced tomatoes at home, it’s easy to do and perfect for beginners.

Canning diced tomatoes, canning applesauce, or dill pickles are all great beginner canning recipes. They don’t require a lot of ingredients, they’re all water bath canning recipes, and none of them require a ton of steps.

What are the best tomatoes for canned diced tomatoes?

You can use any variety of tomatoes to can at home. Some will have less juice and seeds than others, but they’ll all work.

That said, much like when canning pizza sauce, some varieties work better than others. San Marzano, which are sweet, meaty, and don’t have many seeds are fantastic for home canning projects of any type. Roma tomatoes are another preferred variety for canning.

But even if you’re growing German lunchbox, mortgage lifters, or a slicer like Brandywine you can still can them into diced tomatoes and have a perfectly delicious product.

How many tomatoes do I need to can diced tomatoes?

You will need approximately three pounds of tomatoes for each quart jar or two pounds of tomatoes for each pint jar.

To do a typical canner load of 9 pints, you’ll need 18 pounds of tomatoes. For 7 quarts, 21 pounds of tomatoes should be enough.

Ingredients and Supplies for Canning Diced Tomatoes

Jars, Lids and Rings – You can use pint jars or quart jars, whichever best suits your needs. Personally, I prefer pints. Quarts are usually a bit too large and if I need a quart, I can grab two pints.

Water bath canner or a large stock pot with a lid and a rack – while you can use any pot that the jars can fit into as long as they’re completely submerged, it will require a lid as well as a rack. Don’t can with the jars sitting directly on the bottom of the cooking vessel.

Jar Lifter– a pair of tongs that fits perfectly over a jar, it’s well worth the money to have a way to grab jars out of the hot boiling water canner when they’re finished processing.

Bubble Remover– While not a necessity, having something to stick alongside the edges of the packed jars to remove air bubbles is very helpful.

Canning Funnel – another non-essential, but useful tool a canning funnel can help you keep the food inside the jar. A canning funnel like this one can help you measure your headspace without a second glance.

Large Stock Pot, Large Bowl, Collander, Ladle, Sharp Knife – all things most of us have sitting around in the kitchen.

Tomatoes – Again, any variety will do, just make sure they’re ripe. You will want to peel and core before dicing.

Lemon Juice or Citric Acid – Tomatoes sit on the borderline for pH when it comes to canning. Adding an acid to your canning jars is imperative to ensure the acidity levels are adequate. Contrary to popular belief, this is true even for pressure-canned tomatoes.

That said, make sure you’re using bottled lemon juice. The acidity of fresh lemon juice cannot be guaranteed so this isn’t a place to use that particular item.

Salt – an optional ingredient, you can add salt if you wish. You may also add dried herbs such as basil or oregano and it will not affect the safety of the recipe.

How to Can Diced Tomatoes (with no added liquid)

This is a pretty straightforward tutorial, but being organized and having all of your ingredients and supplies ready will go a long way to making this go more smoothly.

I remember the first time I canned tomatoes as a self-taught home canner in my tiny kitchen. It went okay, but having everything sorted and ready would have made it go so much more smoothly.

The first thing you’ll want to do, though is peel, core, and dice the fresh tomatoes.

How to Peel Tomatoes

While this does take a bit of time, it’s worthwhile. There are a few tutorials I’ve found where people don’t peel the tomatoes before canning, but the product’s flavor, texture, and believe it or not even the safety, of the product is compromised.

So do yourself a favor and take the extra time to peel and core the fruits before canning.

Boil water and prepare ice bath. Begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil and preparing an ice bath with ice cubes and very cold water in a large bowl.

Score bottoms of tomatoes. While you’re bringing the water to a boil, score the bottom of each tomato with an x.

Blanch tomatoes. Working in batches place the scored tomatoes in the boiling water for approximately 30 to 60 seconds until the skins begin to loosen or crack.

Ice bath tomatoes and remove skins. After boiling, immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water and allow them to cool to the touch before slipping off the skins.

Core and dice. Remove the cores and any bruised or discolored areas then dice them into the desired size. If you want to remove seeds and juices, you can. I actually prefer the added flavor these provide, but it’s up to you. Leaving them does not affect the safety.

Canning Tomatoes

Now that you have everything diced and ready to go, it’s time to get to canning!

Prepare boiling water canner, jars, lids, and rings. Wash jars, lids and rings in hot soapy water. Then, fill the canner with water.

You do not need to warm the jars prior to packing, in fact, I recommend you don’t as this will result in higher amounts of breakage due to packing room temperature tomatoes into hot jars.

Pack jars. Place a jar on the counter. In the bottom of each pint jar place 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid. If you’re using quarts, you’ll double those amounts so 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid.

If you’re using salt, you can use 1/2 teaspoon in pints or 1 teaspoon in quarts.

After adding the lemon juice or citric acid and the salt (if using), you can begin tightly packing the raw, diced tomatoes into the jar leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.

Be sure to press the tomatoes into the jar until the spaces fill with tomato juice, don’t be afraid to pack tightly.

Remove any air bubbles and double check for proper headspace, adding some tomatoes if necessary.

Wipe rims with a clean, damp cloth. Center the lids and finger tighten screw bands.

Process jars. Place packed jars back into the hot water bath canner, ensuring that there is enough water to cover the tops of the jars by at least 1″ of water.

Place the lid on the canner and bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Process pint or quart jars for 85 minutes, adjusting processing time for altitude if necessary.

After processing, turn off the heat and remove the canner lid. Wait five minutes before removing the jars to a towel-lined counter.

Leave jars undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours before checking for proper seals.

Store sealed jars with the rings removed in a cool, dark place for up to 18 months.

Pressure Canning Diced Tomatoes

This recipe can also be pressure-canned. This may result in a more nutrient-dense, higher quality end product because while the tomatoes are subjected to a higher temperature, they’re processed for much less time.

According to the National Center for home preserving even pressure canned tomatoes require an acid. The reason for this is that the processing time is too short to ensure the center of the jars reaches 240°F, so acid is added to ensure botulism spores cannot multiply.

To pressure can, you will follow the same exact steps as above except preparing a pressure canner instead of the water bath canner.

Pack pint jars with the same 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid and optional 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Quart jars those amounts are again doubled.

When packing, leave 1-inch of headspace for pressure canning.

Place the jars in the pressure canner, and place the lid on. Check the water level in the canner and then place the lid on.

Allow the canner to vent for 10 minutes before bringing to 10 lbs of pressure for altitudes 1,000 feet and below and 15 pounds of pressure for 1,001 feet and above. Process both pints and quarts for 25 minutes.

Allow the pressure to release naturally. Wait 2 additional minutes before opening the vent. Remove the lid and wait 10 minutes before removing jars to a towel-lined counter.

After 12 to 24 hours, check for proper seals, remove rings and store in a cool, dark place for up to 18 months.

Recipe Variations

As I mentioned, you can add dried herbs and seasonings to your jars before processing if you’d like to.

You can use any combination of dried spices, it will not affect the safety of the product, but the complete book of home preserving has a few suggestions you can work off of.

Italian Canned Tomatoes

To each pint jar add:

• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp rosemary
• 1/4 tsp sage
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp hot pepper flakes

Spicy Canned Tomatoes

To each pint jar add:

• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Mexican Canned Tomatoes

To each pint jar add:

• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp seasoned salt

Other Tomato Canning Recipes You’ll Want to Try:

• Black Bean & Corn Salsa
• The Best Homemade Canning Salsa Recipe
• Canning Pizza Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes
• Pickled Green Tomatoes Two Ways

Have any questions about this canning diced tomatoes tutorial? Share them in the comments below! I’d also love if you’d leave me a recipe rating in the card below and feel free to tag me with your canning projects on Instagram @therusticelk!