Tomatoes. They are the vegetable of summer. They are a staple in all gardens. You’ve made tomato sauce and salsa….and now you can make Tomato Jam!
This beautiful dark red jam is sweet and spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger and I know it will become a new favorite in your home canned pantry!
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How to Make Tomato Jam
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~ 4 lbs of tomatoes
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
optional: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Core the tomatoes and dice them very small- I use the food processor for this step, but use your judgement based on how chunky you want your final tomato jam to be.
In your crockpot combine the diced tomatoes and all of the other ingredients.
Stir to combine.
Turn your crock pot on high and allow to cook and reduce until the tomato jam is thick and sticky, stirring occasionally. This should take about 12-15 hours, but times will vary based on your slow-cooker.
I recommend leaving the lid vented or off completely to allow the moisture to escape the jam to reduce.
*Note: If you get a late start, like I often do, and your jam is not ready by the time you are ready to call it a day, you can transfer the tomato jam to a stock pot and cook on medium-low heat. Be sure to stir more frequently at the late stage as it can burn as all the water evaporates out of it!
To Can Tomato Jam:
Once your tomato jam has reduced to a thick, sticky, jam consistency it is done and you are ready to put it in jars! You can keep it in the fridge for about 2 months, the freezer for a year, or can it for a shelf stable jam that has a shelf life of at least 12 months.
You can preserve tomato jam using a boiling water bath canner by following the steps below:
Step 1: Fill your canner about halfway with water and set it on medium high heat with the lid on. Bring the water to a boil.
Step 2: Wash your half-pint jars with hot water, run them through the dishwasher, or wash them and place them in the canner filled with water to get hot.
Step 3: Place your 2 part lids in a shallow pan of water set on medium-low heat.
Step 4: Ladle the hot jam into your prepared jars leaving a headspace of 1/4 inch.
Step 5: Wipe the rims with a damp cloth and place on lids and rings.
Step 6: Transfer the jars of tomato jam to the canning pot and process for 15 minutes.
Step 7: Remove from the canner and allow to rest on the counter for about 24 hours before checking for a good seal.
That’s it! We love this jam and find that with the spice combo it tastes similar to apple butter! So if you’ve got a bumper crop of tomatoes why not give tomato jam a try! Let me know what you think!
Need more recipes? Check out these 100+ Canning Recipes and Resources! Or check out 11 Ways to Preserve Tomatoes for more ideas on how to use your tomato harvest.
Easy CrockPot Tomato Jam
How to make and can tomato jam.
Ingredients
- ~ 4 lbs of tomatoes
- 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- optional: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Core the tomatoes and dice them very small- I use the food processor for this step, but use your judgement based on how chunky you want your final tomato jam to be.
- In your crockpot combine the diced tomatoes and all of the other ingredients.
- Stir to combine.
- Turn your crock pot on high and allow to cook and reduce until the tomato jam is thick and sticky, stirring occasionally. This should take about 12-15 hours, but times will vary based on your slow-cooker.
- Your jam is done when it has reached a thick, sticky, jammy consistency.
Notes
*Note: If you get a late start, like I often do, and your jam is not ready by the time you are ready to call it a day, you can transfer the tomato jam to a stock pot and cook on medium-low heat. Be sure to stir more frequently at the late stage as it can burn as all the water evaporates out of it!
To Can Tomato Jam: Ladle the hot jam into your prepared jars leaving a headspace of 1/4 inch. Wipe the rims with a damp cloth and place on lids and rings. Transfer the jars of tomato jam to the canning pot and process for 15 minutes. Remove from the canner and allow to rest on the counter for about 24 hours before checking for a good seal.
What if I wanted to can this using my pressure canner. How would that work?
Sorry- I’ve never pressure canned it so I am not sure how it would work. Feel free to try it!
do you peel the tomatos?
No- no peeling
If I don’t can with a water bath how long is it good it the refrigerator?
I make a similar version of this but use a thin sliced lemon. Its so wonderful on toast. Reminds me of cherry. My aunt use to make this when I was young, o I never realized it was tomato then
Sounds delicious. Have excess jalapeñoes from garden. Any thoughts of adding some to heat things up?
This looks amazing and I’m anxious to give it a try – what is the yield?
How many jars and what size does this makeb
I have been looking for a recipe like this for years! My husband’s grandmother made some for us but won’t share her “secrets”. :) How many half pint jars did you use for this recipe?
Thanks!
Can’t wait to try it. To reduce the jam in the crockpot do you leave the lid off? Thanks
How many half pint jars did this recipe call for?
How many 1/2 pints does this recipe yield?
Can you double this recipe
Can you do this in the Instant Pot?
I, too, am wondering if you leave the lid off the crock pot while reducing. Can anyone answer this?
I have made all kinds of fruit butters and this sounds similar to that. I place the lid on sideways after about 4 hours of slow cooking. I would recommend you do that during the day so you can keep on I on how long it takes it to reduce to a consistency of a fruit butter. Once you turn the crockpot lid sideways, you should still have it on low and stir it occasionally so that it does not scorch.
I’m curious as to yield from 4 pounds of tomatoes.
Made this jam and it turned out delicious. This yielded 5 (8 Oz.) Jars of jam. And I used yellow heirloom and Sam Marzano (plum) tomatoes. My house smells fantastic!
I used to make a tomato jam with carmelized onion for water bath canning. I have lost that recipe and was curious if you had one that was water bath canning safe.
Do you leave the lid off
Do you leave the lid off pot while reduco?
This is an excellent recipe! I add some walnuts to it, delicious.
I need to try this recipe out. We had a lot of tomatoes come out of the garden this year.
Someone told me about a tomato jam recipe that had red raspberry jello in it they said is very good. Didn’t have cinnamon or brown sugar in it tho. I’d love to make it in the crockpot.
I did make Tom sauce last yr for the first time in an electric roaster and it turned out perfect. I was so excited when I made it and all my jars sealed. It had the best flavor ever! This is the only way to make it( in the electric roaster)! The recipe said it takes 4hrs and no way did I want my gas stove on that long or in the oven either.
I made sure I covered the inside of the roaster very well with olive oil. I used all Roma tomatoes and filled it to the rim. Being OCD with wanting my peels off I did blanch & peel, but Roma’s are the easiest to peel. Then I used Emerson blender once tomatoes cooked down. Easy peasy!!!!