This awesome green tomato curry sauce canning recipe comes from my sweet friend Jane. She found it in the book Preserving for All Seasons By Anne Gordon. I LOVE curry. So when I first read the ingredient list over a decade ago, I knew instantly I wanted to give it a try.
And holy cow, am I glad I did. We’ve been making this for over 10 years now and it’s still one of our favorite canning recipes. It’s a great way to use up all those green tomatoes at the end of the season.
This green tomato curry is so good, I typically make 2 batches every year. Besides the fact this stuff tastes amazing, Jane suggests 2 different ways you can serve this green tomato curry sauce.
Over rice, or as a side dish with chicken or fish. Personally, I usually serve it poured over rice. Because seriously, talk about an easy dinner. Just come home, pop some rice in the rice cooker, heat up some sauce, and viola! Dinner is served.
Thank you for this recipe Jane. You rock!
~Mavis
Canning 101 – Green Tomato Curry Sauce
Ingredients
3 lbs. cubed green tomatoes, about 6 cups {no peeling or coring needed}
2 onions, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup butter
4 tbsp. curry powder
1 tbsp. cumin
1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Bring a boiling-water canner, 3/4 full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water.
- Pour boiling water over flat lids in a saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.
- Chop onions and then saute them in butter until translucent. Add curry powder and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, and give it a stir occasionally. You may need to add more water {but I did not}.
- Ladle immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids and screw bands on.
- Place jars on an elevated rack in the canner. Lower rack into canner. {Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.}
- Cover; bring water to a gentle boil. Process 30 minutes. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely.
- After the jars cool, check seals by pressing the middle of the lids with your finger. If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary}.
- My friend Jane also says you can pressure this for 10 minutes if you do not want to use the water bath method. It’s up to you. Yields {5} pints.
Looking for a few more canning recipes? Search my Full List of Canning Recipes
Looking for a good canning book? Here’s a list of my favorites:
- Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
- The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook
- Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It
- Food in Jars
- The Amish Canning Cookbook
- Not Your Mama’s Canning Book
Also, check out these tutorials if you’ve never used a canner before:
Tutorial: Hot Water Bath Canning
Tutorial: How to Use a Pressure Canner
Kelly Jo says
this looks amazing but I have a silly question- are green tomatoes a type of tomatoes or do you use tomatoes that haven’t ripened yet? Because I have plenty of those. Thanks!!
Mavis says
These are tomatoes that have not ripened yet. Seriously go make this stuff. I’m totally addicted!
Kelly Jo says
thank you! I am so pumped to try this!!!
Jennifer Lucchesi says
Mavis, do you think using a combination of green and yellow pear tomatoes would alter the recipe too much?
Jamie McCorkle says
That sure looks like a lot of low acid ingredients for such a small amount of lemon juice??? And other than for foam on jam which has sooo much sugar in it, I don’t think you are suppost to use butter in a canning recipe?.?. Not trying to cause a problem, just want you to be safe, you might check the recipe with your local county extension office.
Mavis says
Hi Jamie, this recipe came out of a canning book, and my friend Jane makes it as well. If you would like you can pressure can it instead as I stated in the instructions. 🙂 I also use butter in my friend Jane’s tomato soup canning recipe and have never had a problem. 🙂
Chrystie says
You could freeze it if you’re worried or don’t have a pressure canner!
Jen says
It’s true, anyone can publish a canning book. I couldn’t find information on the author regarding what testing was done on her recipes. Personally, I would freeze this recipe. Looks delicious! Just because someone else has done it w/o problem doesn’t mean there won’t be a problem. Botulism is sneaky. I love to can but strictly stick to tested & approved recipes through National Center for Home Food Preservation and Ball. Safe canning for the win(e)!
Alice says
If you read the comments above you’ll find that many of us use a minimum of fat ( less than 1T) & slowly cook the onions. Green tomatoes are highly acidic. You can also increase the lemon juice or add citric acid (1/4 t per pint as if making a salsa) if you are worried about it. This is an awesome recipe – one of my faves.
Mrs. C. says
Green, unripened tomatoes are more acidic than ripe tomatoes and tomatillos, the latter having a pH of around 3.8. https://www.healthycanning.com/green-tomato-canning-recipes
darlene says
Didn’t Jane’s recipe call for raisins? Did you just omit them, I was thinking I would also when I saw the recipe on her blog site.
Mavis says
Yes. I didn’t think my peeps would have liked the raisins. 🙂
Cristie says
Thanks so much for this. After buying the canning equipment well over a year ago I finally got up the gumption to try it and I started with this recipy. Thanks for the motivation!
Anne says
OMG, I love this sauce. I agree; It’s delicious on brown rice…except that I’m eating it so fast out of the jar it almost doesn’t make it to the dinner table. (It’s sort of amazing that I was able to get any of it canned with all the bites, licks and tastes.)
~~Thanks~~
Clare says
Do you think the sauce would freeze well instead of canning it?
Mavis says
I don’t see why it wouldn’t. Go for it!
Tali says
Mavis, I need help. I made some fried green tomatoes and loved them (as did my family), after much research I froze slices of green tomatoes so we can have more later…BIG mistake, the fried green tomatoes came out slimy as snot! is there anything I can do with them? I have 3! gallon size bags in the freezer….hubby told me to toss it but that breaks my heart.
Mavis says
I have never frozen tomato slices before. I wonder if you could toss them in the crock pot and make some sort of tomato sauce with them? If they were slimy I’d toss them too. ;(
Laura Z says
Here in the south you can buy frozen green tomatoes and squash in the section with all the other frozen veggies like peas and corn, but they are prebreaded. Maybe that would help for next time.
I’ve used frozen Unbreaded) green tomatoes to make a salsa verde before, replacing the tomatillos with green tomatoes that I’ve roasted in the oven.
You can blitz the roasted tomatoes, salt, jalapenos, onion and cilantro in the food processor. It will keep fresh in the fridge for about a week. or you can use it as the base of a green chili or posole type of soup. 🙂
Might be worth a try?
Judy sides says
You can slice tomatoes and fry them one layer on your pan at a time and then place that layer on a paper towel ( avg 7 slices will fit your pan and then on to the paper towel then layer another paper towel and put 7 more slices on it….put into a gallon freezer bag and get air out and seal…when you’re ready to eat..place a single layer on a flat bread pan and put under the broiler for just a minute or two…..taste like you just fried them..
Mick J says
I picked all the rest of my tomatoes today – and made a batch of this for the family to “sample” for lunch, before I started canning it. They LOVE it! There won’t be any in this batch for canning – I’ll have to make more. And, I’m going to can it in quarts – because that’s what it’ll take to feed my family. We put it over rice and some shredded chicken. We like to top our curry at the table with shredded coconut, peanuts, raisins, mandarin oranges, diced onions, bell peppers, – whatever I feel like chopping up and setting out. My kids call it “mixed up chicken.”
Thanks for the awesome recipe!!
Sandy says
Just made this sauce and sampled a small taste. Yum! — and I am not even a (raw) tomato fan! I can’t wait to try it over rice or chicken.
Brenda says
Mavis: I tried this and it is a little sweet for my family’s taste. Do you know if you can cut down on the brown sugar in the recipe (and/or increase the amount of curry powder?) I really want to make more, but want it more to our taste while still being a safe recipe to can.
Michelle Landis says
Mavis you are an everyday word in my household. You had me hooked when I read your post about using gutters in your greenhouse. By the way they work great in mine 🙂 You have been my goto for all kinds of debates this year. When I saw this recipe I knew I would have to try it. It took me awhile, and the snow flying, to muster up the courage to make this. I was worried i wouldn’t like it and I’d still have a ton of green tomatoes and nothing to do with them. So before the snow flew today I went and picked the majority of the green tomatoes and we made three, four quart batches. plus i have more to do. I made it with chicken on white rice and fell in love. This sauce is the best thing I have made with any of our tomatoes. Thank You so much for sharing. Peace out Girl Scout
Mavis Butterfield says
Peace Out Girl Scout, I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
Alice says
This is my first time posting on your blog. Since I just finished a meal of this stuff I needed to let you know how much I love it. This is 1 of the best recipes around and it’s so fast to throw together with minimum prep. You are right. You need to make several batches of this stuff. It is so versatile. I use a jar as a base sauce then add whatever I feel like….eggplant + pumpkin, chickpeas + cauliflower, chicken , potatoes+ peas, tofu + mango. Sometimes I add coconut milk too.
I try to grow a lot of my food + preserve it by canning, freezing + dehydration so this recipe helps me to make an almost instant curry anytime.
Re Jamie ‘s post above…This recipe is from a published book but I understand your concern about the butter. I personally used only 1 T coconut oil and prefer not to use fats in water bath canning. I found 1/4 cup butter to be too much for my tastes. If the onions are slowly cooked on low heat first then there should be almost no need of any fats. Green tomatoes are high acid ( low pH) so they don’t require much lemon. The onions are low acid but there’s only 2. The taste of lemon is not noticeable so you could add more if you felt a need to for safety’s sake. With those small changes I hope you are encouraged to try this.
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m glad to hear you liked the Green Curry Tomato Sauce! It’s one of our favorites. 🙂
Shelley says
I want to try this and wondered if I could use cocounut oil as a healthier alternative. What about Ghee?
Alice says
I use a bit of coconut oil ( only 1T for a single batch) with a splash of balsamic vinegar to slowly simmer the onions on low heat. I also found it too sweet for my tastes so I use only half the sugar. I also double the lemon juice & add a bit of citric acid just to be on the safe side. I found these changes to still be very tasty & I feel safer about the acid levels for processing in the water bath.
Isabelle says
Did this 2 weeks ago. trusted you on this so I did 24 500ml jars since this year I got soooo much tomatoes. tasted it last night on fish and rice and the verdict of the fmaily was???? WOOOOWW!!!!! A keeper. Thank you 😉
Isabelle says
OUps!! Of cours I did 24 X 500 ml…I guess you understood :p
Bill says
Just put up a batch, but instead of 1 cup of water I added a can of coconut milk, extra turmeric and some fenugreek. Tastes great, I’m glad to have found this recipe, I never would have thought of curry for the green tomatoes.
Kathy says
just found this and it looks interesting. I was wondering how much the recipe makes because I would like to freeze it, but due to limited freezer space, I need to make sure I have room before making because I just dont trust canning with butter no matter where the recipe originates from.
JDarling says
Made this with Olive Oil instead of butter. My free box of green tomatoes made 5 batches! Or 19 jars and some to eat.
Adding coconut milk when feeding my daughter or cream when feeding friends. I love that this can be vegan for my boys with rice and beans or served over leftover rice and meat for daughter and I. It’s so easy to make even hubby can do it. Took less than 5 min to assemble in a pan to bake for a potluck.
J.Darling says
Thank You Mavis!
This is a hit not just at home. But also since last year popular among potlucks, church and food swap (think cookie swap like at Christmas but year round and with any type of food home made or grown). And I was asked to make jars to sell at the local country fair fundraiser. Got to love the ‘mark down boxes’ of dinged produce 😉
Diana says
Hello Mavis,
Wow, what a great recipe. Aside from fried green tomatoes and the ones I could ripen my tiny green tomatoes always ended up on the compost heap. This recipe is so good. I don’t know if my tomatoes were really juicy but I didn’t need the water. I also put the tomatoes and onions in the food processor and ground them down. When I made the curry I added coconut milk with the veggies. My only problem now is not enough green ones! Oh well, always next year. Excellent!
Diane says
I agree…deee-licious! My first batch is not even out of the water bath and I’m already making rice and chicken to smother with this sauce! It’s a keeper of a recipe that you’ll not want to lose.
Jeanne says
Could this be canned in quart size jars?
Patty says
I made the recipe as posted and only got 3.5 pints. I agree with the comments on sweetness and will significantly cut back the next time.
Jeanne says
Can you tell me what brand of curry you use. There seems to be several different types of curry and I know nothing about them.
Bobbi says
I did not think I would like this too much, but am most always willing to try something new. Because of all the stellar reviews and because I’ve been canning green tomatoes for the past many days (and just want to be done with it!), I thought I’d go ahead and use up the rest of my tomatoes with this recipe. Like many others said, I’m so very glad I did!! WOW! I had a little left over from canning and plan to eat this with chicken and a side of rice within the next couple of days. I can’t wait! Thanks for sharing this recipe:)
Robbi says
Is a specific curry used? I know they all taste different. Thanks!
Mavis Butterfield says
I just used a mild curry from a bulk bin. 🙂
Bonnie in GA says
Mavis, years ago we had a problem with our tomatoes dry rotting before they ripened. We made sweet Pickles out of the green tomatoes. They were delicious as a relish or in potato or egg salad…just another option for using green tomatoes. I don’t have the recipe now though.
Nona says
Can you give a better quantity on the onions? 2 onions chopped could be anywhere from 1/2 cup to 3 cups!