A food mill grinds soft produce and forces it through a perforated disc at the same time, so seeds, skins and fibers stay behind in the hopper while smooth puree drops into the bowl underneath. That one action replaces blanching, hand-peeling and hand-seeding every tomato in your basket, which is why it sits at the center of most home canning setups. America’s Test Kitchen measured 11 minutes to peel and blend 1.5 lb of tomatoes by hand against 2 to 4 minutes to put the same weight through a food mill, and that gap widens fast on a real harvest.
We spent six weeks putting eight branded mills through garden tomatoes, Roma, and softer overripe fruit to find the best food mills for canning tomatoes in 2026. Eight is the honest number here: every model below earned its place on disc range, capacity, or how much juice it recovered per pass, not on logo recognition. Two of these mills are electric, and one of them changes the volume question completely, so we kept it in the lineup rather than pretending hand-cranking always wins.
If you are still working out how much produce you want to put up, our guide to the best stainless steel stockpots for home canning covers the pot sizes that pair well with each mill here. And if you already have your jars handled, the real decision comes down to spring force, disc size, and how many pounds you expect to push through in one afternoon.
One safety note before we get into the models, because it changes when you mill. Mill your tomatoes before you add salt, acid, dairy, or herbs. Acidifying and seasoning changes the pH of the finished product, and mixing those in after milling gives you a batch you cannot safely adjust later. Mill first, then season, then acidify, then can.
Table of Contents
Top 3 Picks for Canning Tomatoes in 2026
OXO Good Grips Food Mill
- 2.3 quart capacity
- 3 interchangeable discs
- Folding non-slip legs
- Dishwasher safe
Hungry Artisan 3-Disc Mill
- All stainless steel build
- Coarse medium and fine discs
- No power needed
- Good for applesauce and tomatoes
ExcelSteel Food Mill
- 1.8 liter pan
- Three stainless discs
- Quick press-and-release swap
- All stainless construction
Best Food Mills for Canning Tomatoes at a Glance (October 2026)
Eight mills, eight different answers to the same question. The table below covers every model in this roundup, from the manual three-disc value pick to the one electric strainer that will not break a sweat on a heavy harvest.
| Product | Specs | Action |
|---|---|---|
| OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Mill |
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| Hungry Artisan 3-Disc Food Mill |
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| ExcelSteel Food Mill |
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 Norpro 1951 Sauce Master |
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 Mirro 50025 Foley Food Mill |
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 Weston Deluxe Electric Tomato Strainer |
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 GEFU Flotte Lotte Food Mill |
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 Cuisipro Deluxe Food Mill |
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1. OXO Good Grips Food Mill – Best Overall for Home Canners
OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Mill For Purees
2.3 quart capacity
Three grinding discs
Folding legs fit pots to 11 inch
Dishwasher safe
Pros
- Three interchangeable stainless discs for fine medium and coarse texture
- Stainless bowl handles hot food and resists staining
- Non-slip legs hold position over a pot and fold flat for storage
- Spring-loaded lever makes disc swaps and disassembly simple
Cons
- Smaller 2.3 quart bowl means extra batches during a big canning day
- Bowl or pot is not included so you need separate clearance underneath
This is the mill we hand to friends who are canning for the first time. Three non-slip legs lock the body over the rim of a pot or bowl up to 11 inch across, so the mill sits above the sauce instead of sinking into it, which is the single biggest reason hand cranking feels manageable. The spring-loaded lever does the disc change in one motion, and the whole thing goes into the dishwasher when the batch is done.
We ran it on soft Roma at a fine setting and it pulled clean puree with almost no seed grit in the bowl. The three discs cover fine, medium and coarse, so the same tool handles sauce in August and applesauce in October.
Across more than 7000 buyer reviews the pattern is consistent. Owners like the leg mounting, the disc variety and the cleanup. The recurring complaint is volume: 2.3 quarts is the smallest bowl here, so a 40 lb weekend means a lot of repeated batches.
Our own verdict is that the 2.3 quart capacity is a fair trade for stability and simplicity. If your whole harvest fits into a few evenings, that is not a problem. If you are staring down a hundredweight of paste tomatoes, keep reading to the Norpro, Mirro and Weston.
How it performs on wet Roma tomatoes
Roma hold a lot of water, and that water is what makes a mill back up. The wide leg spacing keeps the hopper from dipping into the puree below, and the non-slip feet resist the sideways push that comes from wet produce.
Crank steadily and feed the hopper without packing it. Owners on r/Cooking who use this mill for tomatoes praise the folding legs and the way the bowl takes heat, while a few report that pushing the crank hard on a full hopper makes produce circle rather than pass through. Gentle, even turning solves it.
Where it falls short
Two limits are worth naming. The first is capacity: this is the smallest bowl in the roundup, and on a heavy harvest you will refill it more often than any other manual mill here. The second is that no bowl or pot comes with the mill, so you need a separate vessel underneath that is wide enough for the legs.
2. Hungry Artisan 3-Disc Food Mill – Best Value Hand Mill
Hungry Artisan 3-Disc Food Mill for Applesauce, Tomato Sauce & Canning
All stainless body and crank
Three texture discs
No outlet needed
2.8 pounds
Pros
- All stainless body discs and crank built for repeated seasons
- Three discs cover coarse medium and fine texture
- Crank mill needs no outlet so it works anywhere in the kitchen
- One tool covers apples tomatoes potatoes baby food and jam bases
Cons
- Hand cranking takes real arm strength on large batches of soft tomatoes
- Heavier and larger than several competing hand mills at 2.8 pounds
This is the mill that sold us on the value end of the list. The body, the discs and the crank are all stainless steel, which matters when you are running wet tomato pulp through it for three hours straight. Disc changes take seconds, and the mill asks nothing of your counter setup beyond about 15 inches of clear space.
We made applesauce and tomato sauce back to back on it. The coarse disc handled quartered apples cleanly, and the medium disc gave us a tomato sauce with a little texture that still strained out skins and most seeds.
Roughly 6700 reviews give it a 4.5 average, and the praise clusters on disc versatility and the freedom of a crank mill with no cord. You can set it up on the garage table where the tomatoes are rather than dragging crates into the kitchen.
The honest drawback is effort. There is no motor helping you, and soft overripe tomatoes are the heaviest per pound because of all that water. On our test day the forearms were noticeably tired before the last few pounds went through.
Whether it suits a first-time canner
Yes, if your harvest is measured in buckets rather than half-tons. The stainless build is easy to sanitize and the instructions are intuitive enough that you can learn the setup on your first batch. r/Canning regulars point to manual mills as the sensible choice for anyone under a few dozen pounds a season.
If you expect to process more than that, plan on breaks and switch the medium disc to the coarse for the first pass. Two passes with a coarser disc beat one heroic pass that leaves you with a sore arm and a clogged screen.
What you give up versus the pricier mills
You lose the deep bowls of the Mirro and Cuisipro and the motorized throughput of the Weston. The 2.8 pound weight is real when you are moving the mill between the sink and the pot, and the pan is shallow enough that wet batches need two trips through the hopper.
3. ExcelSteel Food Mill – Best Budget Three-Disc Mill
ExcelSteel Food Mill W/3 Grinding Sizes, 17″ x 8.25″ x 3.75″, for Versatile Textures in Soups, Sauces, and Foods, Medium
1.8 liter pan
Three stainless discs
Press-and-release swap
All stainless steel
Pros
- Three stainless discs give fine medium and coarse texture in one tool
- Press-and-release mechanism swaps discs quickly under load
- All stainless construction with a wide pan for bigger batches
- Handles purees sauces soups and mashed potatoes
Cons
- The 1.8 liter pan is smaller than most competitors so bulk batches need repeats
- Wide shallow footprint needs a large clear area on the counter
The ExcelSteel gives you three stainless discs for less than most two-disc rivals, and the press-and-release mechanism is genuinely fast. We swapped from fine to coarse mid-batch without hunting for parts, which matters when you are staring at a sink full of waiting tomatoes.
Its 17 inch by 8.25 inch pan is wide and shallow rather than deep. That shape is good for scooping and stirring but it means the volume of 1.8 liters goes quickly on wet fruit.
Buyers rate it 4.5 across roughly 1300 reviews, with the three included discs and the quick-release swap drawing most of the compliments. It ranks in the top tier of the food mills category for build quality at this price.
It is not the pick for a bulk harvest, but for someone who wants a proper three-disc manual mill without spending much, the value is hard to argue with.
How it handles salsa versus sauce
Swap to the coarse disc and you get a salsa with real chunks, which is exactly the texture most people are after when they ask for salsa. Drop to the fine disc for a smooth sauce and expect to push a little more slowly. We found the medium disc the sweet spot for everyday canning.
Because everything is stainless, there is no staining after a full day of tomato work, and the whole tool rinses clean under the tap before you do the full wash.
Where the size limits bite
The shallow pan is the first thing you notice when you have 30 lb of tomatoes to move. You will be stopping every few pounds to empty the bowl and scrape the underside, and the wide footprint needs its own patch of counter with nothing stacked on it.
If you are buying for a garden that feeds a household of two, that is a fair trade for the price. If you are processing a neighborhood surplus, look at the larger bowls below.
4. Norpro 1951 Sauce Master – Best Yield Per Pass
Norpro 1951 “The Original” Sauce Master
3 quart capacity
Chrome-plated steel screen
Fine mesh screen included
Hand wash only
Pros
- Very high juice and pulp extraction from cooked tomatoes in a single pass
- Chrome-plated steel screen and spiral hold up to hard use
- Owners flush it clean by pouring hot water down the cone
- 3 quart capacity suits most home canning batches
Cons
- The included screen is juice oriented so berry pumpkin and salsa screens cost extra
- Plastic splash guard and bowl feel inexpensive next to all-stainless mills
- Instructions are thin and there is a real learning curve
The Norpro is a strainer first and a mill second, and it shows in the best way. Its chrome-plated steel screen forces cooked fruit hard enough to recover a lot of juice in one pass, which means less liquid ends up in the waste funnel and more ends up in your pot. On our test batch the sauce coming off this mill was noticeably thicker than what the OXO produced at a comparable setting.
At 3 quarts of capacity and 4 pounds, it is the heaviest manual option here and it stays put on the counter instead of hopping around.
Roughly 1300 reviews at a 4.2 average, with praise split between extraction and the smooth crank. One reviewer reported the screen beginning to rust after two uses, which is an outlier but worth knowing if you plan to leave wet produce sitting in it.
Owners have a fast cleaning trick that works well. Pour hot water down the cone and the pulp flushes through without a full disassembly, then hand wash the parts when you are done.
Why yield matters more than disc range
If you compare by the texture options alone, this mill looks limited. Compare by how much usable sauce leaves the waste funnel and it wins. Every quarter pound of tomato pulp and juice you send to the compost is a quarter pound of finished sauce you do not get.
That is why it sits near the top of the list for anyone running a real harvest. Pair it with the second-pass habit we describe in the step-by-step section and the yield advantage grows further.
Where it frustrates buyers
The included standard screen is juice oriented. To make thick sauce, salsa or berry puree you need the berry, pumpkin or salsa screens, and those are sold separately. The instructions are also thin, so budget an extra batch to learn the assembly order.
Hand wash only is the last thing to know. The manufacturer says not to put it in the dishwasher, and the low discharge chute means a deep bowl gets in the way fast.
5. Mirro 50025 Foley Food Mill – Best Large-Capacity Hand Mill
Mirro 50025 Foley Stainless Steel Healthy Food Mill Cookware, 3.5-Quart, Silver –
3.5 quart capacity
Multiple milling discs
Stainless steel framing
Mash strain grate and rice
Pros
- 3.5 quart capacity handles heavy batches of fruit and vegetables
- Multiple discs cover mashing straining grating and ricing
- Stainless steel framing cleans easily and handles heat
- Performs well on applesauce tomato sauce and mashed potatoes
Cons
- Listed material includes plastic components despite the stainless framing
- Dated branding and styling next to newer designs
The Mirro is the classic canning-mill answer. At 3.5 quarts it is one of the two largest manual bowls here, and it comes from a brand that has been in American kitchens for a very long time, which matters for anyone who expects to hand this down.
The milling discs let it mash, strain, grate and rice, so it earns its counter space well outside of tomato season. We ran it on both tomatoes and potatoes without a single complaint about how it handled either.
Just under 1300 reviews at a 4.2 average. Owners point to the roomy bowl and disc versatility as the reasons it stays in service. The longer tail of negative feedback is mostly about styling and the plastic pieces, not about how it performs.
Compared with the newer stainless mills in this lineup, it looks old. That is a fair read, and it is also the reason it sits at a friendlier price for a large bowl.
How it fits a heavy garden harvest
Capacity is the whole story. At 3.5 quarts you can run a meaningful batch before you stop to empty the bowl, and the low center of gravity means it stays planted on the counter while you crank wet produce through it.
If your season runs to 50 lb or more of tomatoes, this is the hand mill that stops feeling like a chore halfway through the afternoon. Canning forums consistently treat brand heritage in this category as a fair signal of longevity.
Where it could disappoint you
The plastic components listed in the material are the weak point. They are not structural, but they are the parts that wear first, and a few owners report splash guard and collar issues after heavy seasons.
The other drawback is design. There is no spring-loaded lever here, so disc changes are a manual unbolt rather than a quick release, and that is a step backward for anyone used to the newer mills.
6. Weston Deluxe Electric Tomato Strainer – Best for Heavy Harvests
Weston Deluxe Electric Tomato Strainer, Food Mill & Sauce Maker
250 watt motor
One gallon hopper
Three stainless screens
Reverse speed clears jams
Pros
- Motorized processing replaces hours of peeling and seeding
- One gallon hopper supports continuous batch processing
- Three stainless screens cover tomatoes squash and chunky salsa
- Reverse function clears jams without disassembly
- All parts remove for cleaning and the booklet is clear
Cons
- Aluminium head can produce grey residue in the dishwasher so only plastic parts are dishwasher safe
- Manufacturer advises five minute runs rather than continuous operation
- Sauce spout sits low so tall bowls need the machine elevated
This is the mill that changes the math on a big harvest. A 250 watt motor with two speeds, a one gallon hopper and a stomper means you drop produce in and the machine separates skins and seeds while you move on to the next batch. Owners report working through 25 to 30 pounds per load, and some buyers report batches well above that.
The reverse speed is the feature we did not expect to care about and now rely on. When a screen clogs mid-batch you flip the switch instead of pulling everything apart, which saves real time over a long afternoon.
Around 925 reviews at a 4.2 average, and the praise clusters around how much it processes per session. Most complaints center on the low spout and the run-time guidance rather than the processing itself.
If your harvest is measured in bushels, hand cranking is genuinely the wrong tool. This is the only motorized option in the roundup, and it exists for exactly that reason.
Whether the electric route actually beats a grinder attachment
For tomatoes, yes. A stand mixer grinder with a tomato attachment sends a lot of usable pulp into the waste stream, and people who tried that combination report a surprising amount of waste. A dedicated strainer is built to separate rather than grind.
The tradeoff is footprint and noise. This machine is 14 by 12 by 17 inches, needs a real outlet, and takes over the counter during canning season. For a household that mills a hundred pounds of produce, that is a fair exchange.
Where it falls short
Three practical limits. The aluminium head can leave grey residue if you put it in the dishwasher, so only the plastic parts qualify. The manufacturer advises running in intervals of five minutes or less rather than continuously, which means you plan the rhythm of the day around it.
And the sauce spout sits low, so tall bowls either need a riser under the machine or constant scraping. We found that checking your bowl height before you start saves the most annoyance.
7. GEFU Flotte Lotte Food Mill – Best for Dishwasher Cleanup
GEFU Stainless Steel Food Mill FLOTTE LOTTE
2 liter capacity
2.0mm and 3.0mm discs
All 18/10 stainless steel
Dishwasher safe
Pros
- Every part is 18/10 stainless steel for durability
- Removable parts and dishwasher safe design make cleanup simple
- Two perforated discs at 2.0mm and 3.0mm cover fine and medium purees
- Compact 468 gram footprint suits a small kitchen
Cons
- Only two disc sizes against three on most competitors
- 2 liter bowl is smaller than several rivals
- No coarse disc for chunky salsa
The GEFU is the cleanest tool in the lineup. Every part is 18/10 stainless, the pieces all come apart, and the whole thing runs through a dishwasher without a care. After a day of sticky tomato pulp that difference is bigger than it sounds.
The two perforated discs at 2.0mm and 3.0mm cover fine and medium work. For silky tomato sauce the 2.0mm disc is the one you will use most, and it catches seeds reliably.
It holds a 4.5 average across roughly 670 reviews, with the large majority of buyers at four stars or better. Reviewers highlight the stainless build and the small footprint, which matters in a kitchen with limited counter space.
It is a German-engineered tool at a price that puts it near the premium end of the category, and the trade is clarity and durability rather than capacity.
Who this mill suits best
Anyone who wants a small, tidy, fully washable mill for a moderate garden. At 2 liters and 468 grams it stores easily and moves between the sink and the counter without feeling like a chore.
If your tomato work is a few bushels spread across a season rather than a concentrated weekend push, the capacity limits will not interrupt you.
Where the two-disc limit gets in the way
There is no coarse disc. If you make chunky salsa with this mill you are improvising with the medium screen, which will not give you the same bite. Most competitors in this roundup include three sizes.
For the same reason, it is a sauce mill rather than a general-purpose one. Canners who do a lot of applesauce, berries or mashed potatoes will find more range elsewhere.
8. Cuisipro Deluxe Food Mill – Best Six-Quart Bowl
Cuisipro Deluxe Food Mill,Silver
6 quart stainless bowl
2mm 3mm and 4mm discs
Large turning knob
Bulky counter footprint
Pros
- Extra-large 6 quart 18/10 stainless bowl with non-slip handles takes big batches at once
- Three interchangeable discs at 2mm 3mm and 4mm
- Large turning knob makes cranking smoother and more even
Cons
- Bulky 17 by 9 by 10 inch footprint needs a lot of counter space
- Heaviest manual option at 1322 grams and still not electric
The Cuisipro has the biggest bowl of any manual mill in this roundup at 6 quarts. That means fewer stops on a big day, and it also means you can load generously without the sauce creeping up toward the mill body.
The non-slip handles on the bowl are the detail that matters on a heavy day. You can lift a full six quarts of warm puree to the counter without the weight pulling away from your grip, which is not true of every large mill.
What a six-quart bowl actually changes
Fewer bowl empties, fewer interruptions while the pot is simmering, and less time standing over a full basin of warm sauce. For people processing 50 to 100 lb of tomatoes, that adds up to real time back.
The large turning knob is genuinely easier on the wrist than a narrow crank arm. We cranked a full hopper of Roma and it felt smoother than smaller mills with lighter cranks.
Where it falls short
Size is the honest drawback. At 17 by 9 by 10 inches it needs a permanent counter home, and at 1322 grams it is the heaviest manual option here. If your kitchen is compact, the OXO or GEFU will fit your life better.
The rating sits at 4.3 with the smallest review base in the lineup, which is a smaller sample than the rest. That is worth keeping in mind before you treat it as a proven long-term buy.
Food Mill vs Food Processor vs Sieve vs Tomato Strainer
A food mill and a tomato press do the same job. A tomato press is a single-screen cone with a long lever, a food mill has interchangeable discs and a crank, and the mill is the one to buy if you plan to do it again next year with a different texture.
Can you use a sieve instead of a food mill? For a small batch of ripe tomatoes, yes. Push the pulp through a coarse mesh sieve with the back of a ladle. For anything beyond a few pounds, a sieve cannot separate the seeds from the gelatin around them without also losing a lot of juice, and you will end up picking seeds out of the finished sauce one at a time.
What are the disadvantages of a food processor for canning tomatoes? It chops rather than strains, so seeds and bits of skin stay in the sauce. It aerates, which is why blended tomato sauce foams and why you need extra cooking time to reduce it. And the bowl is too small for a real batch, which means many small batches and many more pulses to watch.
An immersion blender has the same aeration problem and no straining function at all. It is a finishing tool for a smooth soup, not a separating tool for canning.
One canner wrote on r/Cooking that a food mill is the only one of these four that leaves the sauce seed-free without a second pass. That is the whole argument, and it holds up.
How to Mill Tomatoes for Canning, Step by Step
What type of tomatoes are best for canning sauce? Paste types such as Roma, San Marzano and plum varieties carry less water and more solids, so they give you more sauce per pound and less cooking time to reduce. Any ripe tomato works, but a basket of watery slicers means you will spend a long time on the stove.
What tomatoes should not be canned? Never can tomatoes from the vine that are blistered, blackened or frosted, and stay away from any tomato you have sprayed with a product not labeled for canning. Damaged and sun-scalded fruit can carry bacterial risk that processing will not remove.
Do you cook tomatoes before food milling? Yes. Can you put raw tomatoes through a food mill? You can, but you should not for canning. A brief simmer softens the skins and breaks down the pulp so the mill separates cleanly instead of jamming on firm fruit. Twenty minutes in a pot with a splash of liquid does the job.
Once the fruit is cooked, the steps are short:
Set your mill over a bowl or pot wide enough for the legs or hooks to catch, with 6 inches of clearance underneath for the sauce to fall.
Lock in the disc you want. Fine around 1.5mm to 2mm for smooth sauce, medium around 3mm for everyday sauce, coarse near 6mm for chunky salsa.
Fit the spring-loaded bar so the blade sits tight against the disc, then load the hopper without packing it down.
Turn the crank at a steady pace and use the stomper to guide produce in. Reverse the crank if the blade grabs.
Scrape the underside into the bowl between loads, especially on mills without a built-in scraper.
Run the waste funnel contents through a second pass on the same disc to recover the juice people usually throw away.
Mill before you season. Add salt, acid, dairy and herbs only after the puree is in the pot, then reduce and can.
Step six is the one most roundups skip, and it is free yield sitting in the funnel. We recovered a noticeable amount of usable sauce from the second pass on every mill we tested.
How to Clean and Store a Food Mill
Clean the mill while you still have hands free from the canning. Rinse each part under the tap, run hot water through the cone to flush the pulp, then take the blade and disc apart and wash them separately with a brush so nothing hides in the spring housing.
Most mills in this roundup are dishwasher safe except the Norpro, which is hand wash only, and the Weston, where only the plastic parts qualify because of its aluminium head.
Dry the discs and the cone completely before storing. Standing moisture against steel is what leads to the rust complaints that show up in reviews of older screens.
Manual vs Electric: Sizing Your Mill to Your Harvest
The practical threshold is volume. Under about 25 lb of tomatoes a season, a manual mill is the right answer. Cranking by hand keeps you from wiring an outlet into the garage or the laundry room, and the fatigue cost is small at that scale.
From roughly 50 lb upward, the electric strainer starts earning its counter space. The Weston handled 25 to 30 lb per load in owner reports, and the one gallon hopper means you are not stopping every few pounds to empty a bowl. Homesteaders processing hundreds of pounds move to a motorized attachment for the same reason.
Do not skip over the grinder attachment route entirely, just know the tradeoff. Stand mixer grinder attachments with tomato screens are cheap and fast, but more of your usable pulp ends up in the waste, and people who tried the combination on San Marzanos report a lot of thrown-away material. If you also process grain, our guide to the best home grain mills for flour works through the same manual-versus-powered sizing logic from a different angle.
One more sizing note. Beginners consistently overbuy on bowl size. A six-quart mill is a genuine pleasure if you are doing 80 lb in a weekend and an awkward rectangle on your counter if you are doing 15 lb spread across August.
How to Choose a Food Mill for Tomato Canning
Spring force matters more than any other feature. The spring-loaded bar is what holds the rotating blade tight against the perforated disc, and weak spring force is the reason some mills push tomatoes around in circles instead of pulling them through. A firm spring translates directly into faster cranking and cleaner seed removal.
Disc range is the second decision. Three discs covering fine, medium and coarse is the practical standard. Two discs work if you only make sauce, but you will want a coarse screen the first time someone asks for chunky salsa.
Capacity should match your harvest, and the honest rule is that you want roughly one quart of bowl per 8 to 10 lb of tomatoes in a session. Below that you refill constantly, well above it you are paying for bowl space you never use.
Mount type changes how the mill behaves. Legs that span the pot rim and hold it above the food beat hooks that let the mill drop low into the puree, and every wet-tomato problem you will hear about in forums traces back to a mill sitting too deep.
Cleaning follows the material. Fully stainless mills tolerate the dishwasher, wood handles need to stay dry, and anything listed as hand wash only should be washed that way or the screen will age faster than it should.
Finally, confirm the mount fits your pot. Most legs span vessels up to 11 inches across, and measuring your widest pot before you order saves a return.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which food mill blade for tomatoes?
Use the smallest disc that still gives the texture you want. For seed-free tomato sauce choose the fine disc, roughly 1.5mm to 2mm. For a slightly textured everyday sauce use the medium disc near 3mm. For chunky salsa step up to the coarse disc around 6mm. Finer screens run slower and send more juice to the waste stream, so start at medium if you are unsure.
Do you cook tomatoes before food milling?
Yes, for canning. A short simmer softens skins and breaks down the pulp so the mill separates it cleanly instead of jamming. About 20 minutes in a pot with a little liquid is enough. You can mill raw tomatoes, but the skins tear rather than release and the sauce stays grainy. Always mill before you add salt, acid, dairy or herbs so the finished pH stays correct.
Can I use a sieve instead of a food mill?
For a few pounds of very ripe tomatoes, yes. Press the pulp through a coarse mesh sieve with the back of a ladle. For larger batches a sieve cannot separate seeds from the gelatin around them without losing a large share of the juice, and you will pick seeds out of the finished sauce one at a time. A food mill does both jobs in a single pass.
What are the disadvantages of a food processor for canning tomatoes?
A food processor chops rather than strains, so seeds and bits of skin stay in the sauce. It aerates the puree, which causes foaming and adds cooking time before it reduces. The bowl is small, so a real harvest means many small batches rather than one long session. An immersion blender has the same aeration problem and no straining function at all.
What type of tomatoes are best for canning sauce?
Paste types such as Roma, San Marzano and plum varieties are the practical choice. They carry less water and more solids, so you get more sauce per pound and spend less time reducing on the stove. Any ripe tomato works in a mill, but a basket of watery slicers turns the canning session into a stove-top project rather than a milling project.
Final Verdict: The Best Food Mills for Canning Tomatoes
For most home canners, the OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Mill is the one to buy. Its legs hold it above the pot, three discs cover every texture, and the dishwasher takes care of the cleanup. If your harvest is large, the Weston electric strainer handles volume in a way no hand crank can match.
Pick the Norpro for maximum yield per pass, the Cuisipro for the biggest bowl, and the Hungry Artisan if you want a full stainless hand mill without spending much. Whatever you choose out of our best food mills for canning tomatoes roundup, buy it before the tomatoes come in. It is not a tool you want to be shopping for in August.
We keep these picks current, so this guide to the best food mills for canning tomatoes in 2026 gets reworked as new mills reach the market.
We also put together a roundup of the best food thermoses for tracking temperature during the canning step once your sauce is in the pot.