Canned Green Tomato Salad Recipe
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If you have some green tomatoes left, give this easy green tomato salad recipe a whirl. It’s has a very polarizing Ukrainian flavor. I hope you all enjoy it! These tomatoes are marinated and made into a salad with carrot and onion. They taste tangy and sweet.
My cousin Marina in Pennsylvania shared this recipe with my Aunt Tanya in Washington who shared it with my Mom in Idaho who shared it with my husband, who cooked the recipe, wrote it out and photographed it all (Vadim, I’d like you to know I think the world of you). That’s the history behind this recipe, if you were curious. This makes three quarts of salad.
Green Tomato Salad Ingredients:
7 lb green tomatoes (30-40 medium tomatoes)
1.5 lb carrots (9-10 carrots)
3 lb onion (6-7 medium onions)
6 Tbsp salt (3.5oz or 100g)
Syrup ingredients:
1 cup Canola oil (200g)
1 1/4 cup of white vinegar (300g)
1 cup sugar
5-6 whole black peppercorns
5 bay leaves
Home Canning Tools:
- 4 quart-sized jars with lids.
- Large Stock Pot (20Qt+) with Rack (or purchase a canner)
- Jar lifter to safely transfer the jars
Cleaning/Sterilizing Your Jars:
Preheat oven to 215˚F.
1. Wash all of your jars and lids with soap and warm water.
2. Place jars in the oven on the bottom rack for 20 minutes or until completely dry. Boil lids in a small pot to sterilize them.
Making Canned Green Tomatoes Salad:
1. Wash all the vegetables. Using a sharp knife, cut each tomato in half, remove the stem part then cut tomatoes into 1/3″-thick slices. Place sliced tomatoes into a large mixing bowl.
2. Grate carrots on the larger holes of the grater. We used the Cuisinart Food Processor which took care of the job in less than a minute. Add grated carrots to the bowl of tomatoes.
3. Finally, peel and cut each onion in half, then in half again, then slice them into thick slices. Add sliced onions to the bowl with tomatoes and carrots. Don’t slice the onion too thin or it will become too soft while cooking the salad.
4. Add 6 Tbsp of salt to the bowl with vegetables, mix them well, cover with plastic wrap and let the mixture sit for 12 hours at room temp. It’s best to add salt in the evening, so you can drain the juice in the morning.
5. Twelve hours later drain the juices from the vegetables, I used a large colander
6. In a large cooking pot, big enough to fit all the vegetables, mix together 1 cup of Canola oil, 1 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 1 cup of sugar until it dissolves.
7. Add drained vegetables to the pot and mix them so they will be coated with the syrup. Finish by adding 5-6 peppercorns and 5 bay leaves. Cover and bring the pot to a boil and cook vegetables on med/high heat for 30 minutes, stirring 3-4 times in the process.
8. While vegetables are cooking, clean and sterilize your jars and lids.
9. When the 30 minutes are up, remove vegetables from heat and add them to each jar while piping hot, leaving just 1/2″ space at the rim. Pack the veggies in (you don’t want air pockets). Screw the lids on enough to keep a tight seal in place but don’t over-tighten them since air bubbles need to be able to escape.
10. Place packed cans into the canning pot and cover with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process 15 minutes. Remove from the pot with jar lifter and leave at room temperature undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You may hear a pop when the jars fully seal. After 24 hours, check that the seal has formed by pushing down on the center of the lid – it should not move at all. If the seal does not form, refrigerate salad and enjoy it within 3 months.
Current Canning Guidelines:
We updated the recipe in 2019 to reflect current canning guidelines. Get up to date on the most recent canning guidelines here. It’s a great resource to answer frequently asked canning questions.
Yeah, yeah. I know. Enough with the green tomatoes already. 😉
Canned Green Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:
Syrup ingredients:
- 1 cup Canola oil, 200g
- 1 1/4 cup of white vinegar, 300g
- 1 cup sugar
- 5-6 whole black peppercorns
- 5 bay leaves
Instructions
Cleaning/Sterilizing Your Jars:
- Preheat oven to 215˚F.
- Wash all of your jars and lids with soap and warm water.
- Place jars in the oven on the bottom rack for 20 minutes or until completely dry. Boil lids in a small pot to sterilize them.
Making Canned Green Tomatoes Salad:
- Wash all the vegetables. Using a sharp knife, cut each tomato in half, remove the stem part then cut tomatoes into 1/3"-thick slices. Place cut tomatoes in a large mixing bowl.
- Grate carrots on the larger holes of the grater. Add grated carrots to the bowl of tomatoes.
- Finally, peel and cut each onion in half, then in half again, then slice them into thick slices. Add sliced onions to the bowl with tomatoes and carrots. Don't slice the onion too thin or it will become too soft while cooking the salad.
- Add 6 Tbsp of salt to the bowl with vegetables, mix them well, cover with plastic wrap and let the mixture sit for 12 hours at room temp. It's best to add salt in the evening so that in the morning you can drain the juice. Twelve hours later drain the juices from the vegetables.
- In a large cooking pot, big enough to fit all the vegetables, mix together 1 cup of Canola oil, 1 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 1 cup of sugar until it dissolves. Add drained vegetables to the pot and mix them so they will be coated with the syrup. Finish by adding 5-6 peppercorns and 5 bay leaves. Cover and bring the pot to a boil and cook vegetables on med/high heat for 30 minutes, stirring 3-4 times in the process.
- While vegetables are cooking, clean and sterilize your jars and lids.
- When 30 minutes are up, remove vegetables from heat and add them to each jar while piping hot, leaving just 1/2" space at the rim. Pack the veggies in (you don't want air pockets). Screw the lids on enough to keep a tight seal in place but don't over-tighten them since air bubbles need to be able to escape.
- Place packed cans into the canning pot and cover with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process 15 minutes. Remove from the pot with jar lifter and leave at room temperature undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You may hear a pop when the jars fully seal. After 24 hours, check that the seal has formed by pushing down on the center of the lid - it should not move at all. If the seal does not form, refrigerate salad and enjoy within 3 months.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Hey, do you think garlic would be a good flavor to add to this? Thanks!
Hi Lina, I haven’t tried that but that may work!
Tastes pretty good! I canned in 10oz jars since big jars for my fam is to big i got 7 jars. Great way to use up green tomatoes. Taste, acidity all perfect. Really good recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed that Liliya! Thank you for sharing this review!
Can i use vegetable oil instead of canola? Thanks
Hi jessica, I haven’t tested tha tbut it should work.
And one more question: why do you cover packed cans with water? Can i just cover them to the lid level not totally submerge? Thanks
Hi Jessica, the current guidelines recommending fully submerging in water when processing the cans.
Do I have to do the process somehow different if I don’t can it but wanna serve it next day?
Hi Halyna, I would still process them since it helps the veggies to soften so they more readily absorb the flavor of the marinade. I think they do still need to have time to marinate though. If you can give it more than 1 day marinating in the refrigerator, that would be better.
i substituted canola oil with olive oil…😑
do you think it’s gonna be okay?
also,there is a lot of juice in my Dutch oven while I’m cooking it.should I drained it?
thanks for the website.
you change my life for good.
Hi Emily, did you drain the veggies after they stood marinated? If so, you don’t need to drain anything from the dutch oven – you will need some of that juice for the canning. The olive oil should work fine 🙂
it turned out really good…
making more next week.
thank you.
You’re welcome Emily! I’m glad you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I canned green tomatoes via this recipe last year. Unfortunately, I am not fond of this recipe and will not be making again.
Hi Lily, I’m sorry to hear that, but thank you for sharing your review. If you are looking for more of a refrigerator green tomatoes recipe, you may enjoy this one more. Also, our regular marinated tomatoes were an instant hit if you love tomatoes 🙂
What would you serve this with?
We love it with mashed potatoes and it works with a variety of meats.
Just made this salad. Rescued the last green tomatoes off my greenhouse and your recipe was just on time. It’s yummy. Although, for some reason my syrup over boiled and was gone in 20 minutes. Is that because of the med-high heat? How was yours?
If your stove is really strong, you might turn the temperature down little bit so it will be simmering. Also the cover is supposed to be on while cooking. So sorry I forgot to include that in the step-by-step instructions. I have edited the recipe and print-friendly to reflect this. Did you have it covered while cooking?
my mom used to make this salad all the time when we had green tomatoes. only she added bell peppers and a bit of ketchup. adds more flavor 🙂
oooh that sounds like a good add-in. I bet it adds some good color too. Thanks for sharing!
Green tomatoes are utterly underappreciated. I just returned from Ukraine where I ate tonnes of salted green toms.
I love your Russian and Ukrainian recipes with a twist. I write a blog about my babushka’s cooking (Mariyka’s food) and so far I am keeping it fairly traditional – just the way she made it. But will definitely give this recipe a try!
I can’t wait to check out more of your blog!!! I love the picture of your babushka on the home page. That’s so sweet 🙂
You are always welcome on the blog! Please do comment too. Most of the recipes are very traditional, but I would very much appreciate your modern twists!
Another awesome vegetable preparation – I love veggies, salads and especially marinated tomatoes of any kind. How wonderful to have such a helpful husband who is willing to lend a hand and can cook too:).
I know it, I feel so blessed to have him and it’s great that he can cook too :).
Wow, this looks interesting. Wish I had some green tomatoes!
You might have to save the recipe till next year :).
This is so creative! I love it – it just goes to show that our ancestors knew what they were doing with all that preserving. And that it still is valuable today! Looks delish.
They learned to make great recipes out of the simplest ingredients and didn’t let food go to waste :).
Tangy and sweet…Yummy! You definitely have a big family with many recipe ideas.:) And on my end it’s me…me…and me with my ideas.:) Tough life.:)
I also have a big food testing crew every Sunday after church :).
I’ve never tried green tomatoes in my life…I really think I should because this recipe looks yummy:)
Where in Pennsylvania is your cousin? I’m from Pennsylvania too so I just thought that I might know her
You know, I’m not sure exactly what town she is in, I will ask my mom. What part of PA are you from?
I live near Philadelphia area but I’ve been to areas such as State College, Erie, and I also lived in Harrisburg area too.
this is one amazing salad !!!!
Thank you Liuda, these tomatoes were sure happy to be rescued from the frost :).
I really wanted tho prepare green tomato salad this year. Called mom too late for some green tomatoes, they were all gone 🙁
My mom-in-law from CA still has tomatoes in her garden. My parents picked all the green tomatoes before the frost hit and stored them in the garage. Good thing that there is always next year to do what you missed this year :).
For sure, for some weird reason I had a major cravings for them. But really I dont know how they taste.