Homemade Tomato Paste Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Take your next lasagna, spaghetti, etc to the next level with this tomato paste recipe. Made with fresh tomatoes it's sure to please.

Course: Canning

Cuisine: American

Author: Regina Sober

Wash tomatoes and peppers.
Cut and remove seeds from peppers.
Remove the stem end of the tomato and coarsely chop the tomatoes.
If you are making tomato juice and discarded the meat and seeds from them, you can use this to make tomato paste.
Place tomatoes and peppers into the dutch oven/large pot.
Add the garlic and basil.
Add the salt (optional)
Cook the tomatoes for an hour. They should be softened. Be sure to stir often to keep them from sticking on the bottom of the pan.
Remove from heat and puree tomatoes into liquid.
Run puree through food mill (electric or manual).
Place the pureed juice into a slow cooker, add the garlic and basil and allow to reduce for several hours.
It will need to be thick on the back of a spoon. This could take 2-6 hours, depending on the thickness of your puree
Once the tomato paste mounds on the back of a spoon, it's time to can!

Ensure water bath canner is has hot water before you start to jar the hot tomato paste.
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice into each jar. If you are using citric acid, add1/4 teaspoon per jar.
Use a funnel and ladle the hot tomato paste into jars. We used quarter pints as this is about the amount we would use per use.
Remove any air bubbles and leave 1/2 inch headspace in the jars.
Wipe the rims with a clean towel.
Place a seal on each jar and place a band finger tight on each jar.
Place the jars into water bath canner. Once the water is boiling, process the jars for 45 minutes.
Once time is up, turn off heat and allow jars to sit for 5 minutes before removing.
Place jars on the counter with a towel under them.
Cover the jars and allow them to cool for 12 hours.
Remove the bands and check that the seals have sealed.
Date and label jars and store in your pantry.