Are you interested in achieving a healthier diet? Then adding homemade tomato juice to your daily menu might be for you!
Tomato juice is exactly what it sounds like—the juices squeezed from a fresh tomato! With a fruit that is stocked with vitamins and minerals, you’ll be on your way to a healthy diet in no time.
But tomato juice isn’t just about tomatoes. A good homemade tomato juice recipe will also include a few other ingredients to help add flavor for a more robust experience. Read on to learn how to make tomato juice!
What are the Health Benefits of Tomato Juice?
As with all fruits and vegetables, tomatoes have many health benefits. Here are just a few of them!
Tomatoes are high in lycopene. Lycopene has been shown to aid in cardiovascular disease, reduce the risk of some cancers, and has even been proven to reduce your risk of sunburn!
It’s also packed with antioxidants, making this a good choice for lowering your cholesterol, clearer skin, aiding in weight loss, reducing inflammation, and better digestion.
Want to hear more good news? One cup of tomato juice holds almost a full day’s worth of vitamin C! Plus, it also contains about 20% of your daily requirement for vitamin A.
Tomato juice also contains much-needed potassium and B vitamins, making this a daily supplement you’ll look forward to drinking!
Why Make Your Own?
Tomatoes are one of the easier plants to grow in a home garden. A single vine often provides an overabundance of tomatoes for the taking! For this reason, making your own tomato juice will save you money, keeping you on budget.
Another reason to make homemade tomato juice is that it tastes so much better than store-bought! With the option to customize your ingredients to suit your flavor preferences, your homemade tomato juice will turn out perfectly every time you make it!
Making juice can be fun! If you’re looking for an activity to do as a family or possibly as a parent and child pursuit, then this is it. Spend some time away from your screens and connect over this easy and quick recipe.
Grab Your Ingredients and Get Cookin’!
There is no wrong answer when considering which kind of tomatoes to use for your juice. Save some money by using your homegrown tomatoes from your backyard. Or grab a few pounds on your next trip to the farmer’s market.
Before choosing your tomatoes, you’ll need to consider how sweet you’d like your homemade tomato juice to taste. Some varieties of tomatoes are sweeter than others. With the added sugar in this recipe, decide whether you want to use a less sweet tomato.
Some suggested tomatoes that work well are beefsteak tomatoes, plum tomatoes, Brandywine, Better Boy, Early Girl, Amos Coli, Campari, and Kumato tomatoes.
Another suggestion is to use a combination of tomato varieties. This will provide you with a uniquely flavored tomato juice that is less likely to be too sweet or too acidic.
How to Make Tomato Juice at Home
Let’s begin making tomato juice!
Begin by roughly chopping 3 pounds of tomatoes.
Then rough chop half an onion.
Next, measure out 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of celery salt, and have a pepper shaker ready to flavor to taste.
Now, choose your method of making your juice.
Cook Method
Place all your ingredients in a large non-reactive pot. (Stainless steel will work. Just be sure it’s not aluminum.)
Bring the ingredients to a boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until liquidy. Feel free to mash slightly with a masher to encourage the juices to release and the skins to separate.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a jar or container.
Allow the juice to cool completely before storing it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.
Food Mill Method
Follow the Cook Method until simmered. Then feed the end result through the food mill.
Be sure to turn the handle of the food mill in reverse every so often to free up any clumped solids.
Blender Method
Follow the Cook Method until simmered. Then add the chunky liquid into a blender. Puree until smooth.
It’s still recommended to pour through a fine mesh strainer, to remove any seeds or chunks that are left over.
However, this method can be less messy since the liquid going into the strainer is controlled, rather than the larger chunks from the Cook Method.
Juicer Method
Begin by feeding the uncooked tomatoes through a juicer. The juicer will remove all the skins and seeds. Next, add the juice to a medium sized pot and add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chunks of onions.
Tip: Reuse the solid ingredients leftover from the Cook Method by pureeing and adding the tomato base to your next soup!
Can I Vary This Recipe?
This recipe is fairly simple to make, so varying it will be up to you. Try reducing the amount of salt added for a lower sodium diet.
You can also go minimal and use only the tomatoes and ¼ teaspoon celery salt. Or ramp up the flavor by using ¼-½ teaspoon onion powder instead of using the chunks of onion and adding a dash of paprika for a kick!
Note: There are some variations that include using raw tomatoes in your juicer, blender, or food mill, without the additional cooking time. While you can drink raw tomato juice, this recipe takes it a step further, providing a more flavorfully concentrated end product. The process of cooking the tomatoes with the other ingredients simply marries the flavors together for a better tasting juice.
Uses for Tomato Juice
While you can drink this as is, there are several uses for your yummy homemade tomato juice!
Try making your own Bloody Mary for an at-home Happy Hour! Why not invite a few friends over and make it a movie night, too?
Interested in spicing things up a bit? Make your own Spicy Tomato Juice by adding a splash of Tabasco Sauce to your glass!
Use your leftover tomato juice in this amazing Gazpacho Soup. This no-cook recipe is served cold, making it fast and easy to serve in a pinch!
Chili that uses only six ingredients and is ready in about an hour? Sign me up! Check out this delightful Quick and Easy Chili recipe!
Storage Instructions
This homemade tomato juice recipe stores well. Simply chill for 2-3 days in an airtight container in your refrigerator for the freshest and best-tasting juice.
Or you can freeze the juice for up to one year. To save freezer space, pour the cooled juice into freezer bags with some space left for expansion.
Time to Make Your Own Tomato Juice!
And that’s it! You’re all set to embark on a healthier lifestyle by making homemade tomato juice. Why not make some today?
Interested in reading more about tomatoes? Visit our Tomato Plants page on the website, where you’ll find blog posts on more than 70 delicious varieties, plus helpful growing guides, and ideas for using garden-fresh tomatoes.
Need some more inspiration in the kitchen? Then checkout our vegetable recipes for delicious and healthy cooking guides!
Homemade Tomato Juice
Once you see how easy and delicious homemade tomato juice is, you'll find yourself making it over and over! This recipe provides instructions for four different methods for creating a healthy, custom-spiced tomato juice to use in all sorts of ways.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs tomatoes
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 2 TB sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp celery salt
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
Cook Method:
- Roughly chop tomatoes and onion.
- Place all ingredients in a large non-reactive pot. (Stainless steel, not aluminum.)
- Bring to a boil and simmer 20-25 minutes, until liquidy. Feel free to mash slightly with a masher to encourage the juices to release and the skins to separate.
- Strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth.
- Cool completely and refrigerate in an air-tight container.
Food Mill Method:
- Follow the Cook Method until simmered.
- Then feed the end result through the food mill.
- Be sure to turn the handle of the food mill in reverse every so often to free up any solids that have clumped together.
Blender Method:
- Follow the Cook Method until simmered.
- Then add the chunky liquid into a blender.
- Puree until smooth.
- It's still recommended to pour through a fine mesh strainer, to remove any seeds or chunks that are left.
Juicer Method:
- Begin by feeding the uncooked tomatoes through the juicer.
- The juicer will remove all skins and seeds.
- Add the juice to a medium sized pot and add the remaining ingredients.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Using a slot spoon, remove the chunks of onions.
- About the Author
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Laura L. Zimmerman is an author of both indie and traditionally published books. She lives in a tiny rural town in south-central Pennsylvania with her husband, daughters, four adorable kitties, and one energetic puppy!
After earning a BMUS with a Certification in Music Therapy, she decided to homeschool her children. Here she discovered a passion for learning and teaching, which led her to make writing a priority. She currently enjoys reading and writing YA sci-fi and fantasy, as well as middle-grade mysteries.
Having come from a family where cooking wasn’t a priority, she quickly discovered her love of cooking and baking soon after she married. Twenty-three years later it’s still a passion for her as she enjoys creating new recipes for her family and friends. She found her green thumb in the garden soon after her family bought their first house and appreciates the yummy food grown in her own backyard!
Laura can be reached at lauralzimmauthor@gmail.com