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For those of us who garden and grow tomatoes, there often comes a point in the summer tomato growing season in which the bounty greatly exceeds one’s ability to consume it, in its regular tomato form.
If you find yourself in this position, and you love tomato juice, V8, Bloody or Virgin Mary’s, I highly recommend making your own tomato juice.
My father announced the other day that he was going to make some tomato juice with some of the garden tomatoes that were overflowing our kitchen counter and I thought nothing of it.
But after one taste, wow! This is how V8 should taste.
Recipe adapted from Gourmet Magazine, who got it from Chef Brill Williams of The Inn at Sawmill Farm in West Dover, Vermont.
Homemade Tomato Juice Recipe
Some tomatoes are sweeter than others, depending on their ripeness and the variety of tomato. Use the ripest tomatoes you can. Added sugar will balance the natural acidity of the tomatoes, use more or less to taste. Tabasco hot sauce is also to taste, depending on your desired level of spiciness.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds very ripe garden tomatoes, cored, roughly chopped
- 1 1/4 cups chopped celery with leaves
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 2 Tbsp sugar (to taste)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Pinch black pepper
- A couple shakes of Tabasco sauce, about 6-8 drops (to taste)
Method
1 Put all ingredients into a large non-reactive pot (use stainless steel, not aluminum). Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until mixture is completely soupy, about 25 minutes.
2 Force mixture through a sieve, chinoise,
Store covered and chilled. Will last for about 1 week in the refrigerator.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Homemade Tomato Juice
I have been making tomato juice for years
I only use one teaspoon each salt and sugar
To ten large tomatoes makes 1 to 1.5 Qts.
Juice cook for 20 min. If you keep the temp.
Below 190 degrees it won’t separate in the
Frige. Either way its great. When it cools use
The attachment on a mix master it will take out the seeds and skin don’t make juice or sauce
Without that mix master attachment
A glut of cherry tomatoes is cooling on the stovetop as I write this. I can always count on your recipes!
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Hi Barbara, I wish I had your cherry tomato plants! My one plant isn’t terribly happy this year so we are only getting a few tomatoes from that one. Fortunately my parent’s Sun Gold is going nuts right now. Great idea to make the juice with cherry tomatoes! I bet the taste is fabulous.
I’ve made 2 batches from my garden tomatoes this season! Froze it for the winter. Delicious and easy recipe Thanks!
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Is this recipe able to be canned for later use?
Hi Robin, this is not a recipe for canning tomato juice. To safely can tomato juice, you need to add an acid. I usually default to the USDA guidelines for canning. Here’s a PDF with directions you can follow. Good luck!
Love it. Only thing I did was grind down the onion and celery so it moved better in the food mill
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