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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.