How to Make and Can Tomato Sauce with Cherry Tomatoes – A Simple Homestead Method

Welcome to Rose Red Homestead! If you're passionate about self-reliance and food security, today’s tutorial will walk you through making and canning homemade tomato sauce — especially perfect for small tomato harvests that include flavorful cherry tomatoes.

Why We’re Making Tomato Sauce from Cherry Tomatoes
After eight years of growing tomatoes, we're finally seeing steady, small harvests — not enough for bulk canning, but perfect for making rich, small-batch tomato sauce. Our garden yields a mix of tomato varieties, including many delicious cherry tomatoes. Instead of letting these go to waste or trying to can them whole, we turn them into thick, flavorful tomato sauce.

Tools You’ll Need
Food mill or strainer: Essential for separating skins and seeds from the tomato pulp. We use both a standard food mill and a larger Victoria strainer (available through our Amazon store).

Cutting board and knife: For quartering larger tomatoes.

Large pot: For simmering the tomatoes.

Slotted spoon: To remove excess liquid before milling.

8 oz canning jars: We prefer these smaller jars to reduce waste.

pH test strips: To ensure safe acidity levels for water bath canning.

Water bath canner: A deep pot with a canning rack and a lid.

Step-by-Step: Making Tomato Sauce Without Peeling
Start the Simmer
Add quartered tomatoes (skins on) to a large pot with no added water. Begin with a small layer and turn on the heat. As they heat up and release juice, add more. This avoids burning and minimizes enzyme release that causes sauce separation.

Add Cherry Tomatoes Whole
These sweet gems don’t need to be chopped. Just toss them in whole — they break down beautifully and enhance the flavor.

Simmer Until Soft
Cook for about 25 minutes, or until all tomatoes are soft and floating.

Strain Through a Food Mill
First, use the coarse blade to remove skins and most seeds. Then, use a finer blade to reduce seed content further. This results in a thick, rich tomato puree with minimal waste.

Don’t Discard the Juice
The leftover juice from straining can be run through a fine mesh sieve and used as a delicious tomato juice or soup base.

Acidify for Safety
Tomatoes must be acidified for safe water bath canning. Use bottled lemon juice:

Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice per quart of sauce (1 tablespoon per pint).

Add salt for flavor (1 teaspoon per quart).

Always test your tomato sauce pH to ensure it’s below 4.6. After acidifying, ours tested safely around 4.0.

Canning Instructions
Fill hot jars with prepared tomato sauce.

Wipe rims, place lids, and tighten rings to finger-tight.

Process in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes (adjust for your elevation).

Let jars cool undisturbed for 12–24 hours. Check for proper seals.

Bonus: Homemade Tomato Juice
The strained juice, combined with leftover sauce, made a delicious homemade tomato juice. It’s a refreshing treat — especially on hot summer days!

Final Thoughts
From a few bags of mixed tomatoes and a little effort, we made nine half-pints of thick, flavorful tomato sauce — plus a bonus jar of tomato juice. This process is perfect for homesteaders working with modest harvests who want to maximize every tomato.