A food mill forces cooked tomatoes through a perforated metal disc, and in a single pass the skin, seeds and fibrous pulp are held back while the smooth sauce drops into a bowl below. That is the whole argument for buying one of the best food mills for tomato sauce, and it is why home canners keep asking for a recommendation even though they already own a blender or a processor. Tomato skins are tough and seeds are bitter; a mill is the one tool that strips both without aerating the sauce or leaving flecks behind.
Our team worked through ten mills and strainers, weighing how each one handles a real garden batch, how cleanly it disassembles afterwards, and whether its discs actually give you the texture range the recipe calls for. We paid close attention to the details that decide whether you will still be using the tool next September: hopper size, whether the base grips your bowl without you holding it, hand wash versus dishwasher, and what replacement parts the manufacturer still sells three years from now.
What follows is the short answer: the OXO Good Grips is the best food mill for tomato sauce overall, the Hungry Artisan takes the top-rated slot for pure hand-crank work, and the Weston Deluxe Electric is the only sensible answer if you regularly process 30 pounds or more in one session. There is also a real decision to make before any of them, covered in detail below: a mill is not a juicer, a processor or an immersion blender, and picking the wrong one is the most common reason people conclude they do not need a mill at all.
Table of Contents
Top 3 Picks: Best Food Mills for Tomato Sauce (September 2026)
These three cover the three genuinely different use cases. One is the balanced all-rounder, one is the best-rated hand crank, and one is the machine that changes your harvest plan.
OXO Good Grips Food Mill
- 2.3 quart stainless bowl
- Three interchangeable discs
- Folding non-slip legs
Hungry Artisan 3-Disc Food Mill
- All stainless body and crank
- Coarse medium fine discs
- No outlet needed
Johnny Apple Sauce Maker VKP250
- 1.3mm apple and tomato screen
- Clamps to the counter
- 5 year warranty
Quick Overview: 10 Food Mills Compared in 2026
Every pick below, with the specification that actually decides how it performs on cooked tomatoes. The full reviews follow the table.
| Product | Specifications | Action |
|---|---|---|
| OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Mill |
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| Hungry Artisan 3-Disc Food Mill |
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| Johnny Apple Sauce Maker VKP250 Clamp Food Strainer |
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 CucinaPro Tomato Strainer and Food Mill |
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 Mirro 50024 Stainless Steel Food Mill |
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 Norpro 1951 The Original Sauce Master |
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 Rosle 16252 Stainless Steel Food Mill |
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 Weston Deluxe Electric Tomato Strainer |
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 Gemfino 3-Disc Stainless Steel Food Mill |
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 KitchenAid KSMFVSP Fruit and Veg Strainer |
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Check Latest Price |
Food Mill vs. Food Processor vs. Juicer vs. Blender
The recurring question in every canning forum is whether a mill is even necessary once you own a food processor. The answer is that the four tools do genuinely different jobs, and only one of them separates skin from pulp.
Food mill: a rotating auger presses cooked fruit against a perforated disc, and only the pulp passes through. Skins and seeds stay on top to be scraped away. This is the only tool in the group that produces a genuinely skinless, seedless result while keeping the fruit solids that give a sauce its body.
Food processor: faster and easier to clean, and multiple canners tell us it is the tool they reach for first. What it cannot do is strain. The blade chops and liquefies; anything that passes the guard stays in the sauce, so you end up with flecks of skin and a texture that is aerated rather than smooth.
Juicer: a masticating or centrifugal juicer separates juice from pulp, which is the wrong goal. You give up the solids entirely and end up cooking down a thinner liquid for much longer. A tomato mill in the community has a decades-long reputation for a thicker result that needs far less cooking down, and that is exactly the difference the forums keep describing.
Immersion blender: a good tool for finishing a pot of sauce in place, and a poor tool for removing anything. It purees and incorporates air. Pair one with a mill if you like: mill first for the clean base, then blend smooth if you want an airy restaurant texture.
So can you can tomato sauce without using a food mill? You can. You will just be peeling tomatoes by hand and accepting a textured result, or losing time and solids through a strainer. For anyone processing more than about 10 pounds a season, the mill earns its counter space quickly.
How to Mill Tomatoes for Sauce?
Nearly every canner we spoke to mills tomatoes hot, and that single habit prevents most of the clogging complaints we read about. Cold raw fruit is denser and the skins stay intact, which is exactly what plugs a screen.
Core and quarter. Cut out the tough core and any green shoulders, then quarter the tomatoes. A quick scald in boiling water followed by an ice bath loosens the skins if you would rather not rely on the mill to strip them.
Simmer 30 to 60 minutes. Cook the tomatoes gently until they slump when you press them. This is the step the forums call non-negotiable, and it is why a mill handles cooked fruit so much better than raw.
Freeze and thaw when you want to skip peeling. Freeze whole tomatoes on a tray, then thaw them over a colander. The skins slip off, the fruit is already soft, and the mill does less work, which means fewer stops to clear the screen.
Load the hopper in batches. Do not overfill. A heaped hopper is the most common cause of a mill refusing to turn, because the auger has nowhere to push the pulp.
Turn the crank steadily. Speed does not matter, consistency does. Let the auger do the work and stop to scrape the waste off the top every few turns.
Reverse to clear a blockage. If it stops, crank counterclockwise to back the fruit off the disc, then use a silicone or plastic spatula. Never a metal one on stainless.
Bring the sauce to a boil and can it. Heat the milled sauce back up to a full boil in a clean pot before filling jars. Do not can raw or partially cooked tomatoes in water, and follow a tested recipe for acidity.
One safety note worth repeating: keep any power cord and motor well away from the sink you are rinsing into, and do not put an aluminum strainer head in the dishwasher. Hot water and acid will darken it, and we have read enough owner reports to treat that as a real risk rather than a cosmetic one.
1. OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Mill for Purees
- Stainless bowl handles hot food without staining
- Three discs cover fine medium and coarse
- Spring-loaded lever makes disc swaps simple
- Legs grip bowls and pots up to 11 inches
- Folds flat for storage
- Wood handle is less durable than all-stainless rivals
- Rated 4.4 rather than 4.5
This is the mill we hand to people who are undecided, because it makes the fewest demands on the cook. The stainless bowl takes simmering tomatoes without staining, and the three folding legs sit across a pot or bowl so your hands are free for the crank instead of for holding the container steady.
The three discs are the reason it works for both smooth passata and a coarse salsa without buying a second tool. Swapping them takes a moment with the spring-loaded lever, which is the mechanism that keeps the disassembly honest even after a few seasons of tomato residue.
Capacity is around 2.3 quarts, so you are filling, emptying and refilling fairly often on a big batch. That is the tradeoff for a body that is 1 kg and folds down to a small footprint, and for most home kitchens the refill rate is the right trade.
It carries 7279 ratings at a 4.4 average, the largest review base in this group, and owner comments repeatedly name the stable leg design and the clean seed separation. The one hardware complaint that comes up is the wood handle, which some owners would swap for a full stainless crank.
What to check before you buy the OXO?
Make sure you have a bowl or pot with a rim wide enough for the legs, roughly 11 inches. A narrow straight-sided stock pot will not sit steady, and a wide flat bowl is the better partner.
Who should skip it?
If your harvest regularly runs past 30 pounds in a single session, the refill cycle becomes the bottleneck rather than the milling. Look at the Weston instead.
2. Hungry Artisan 3-Disc Food Mill for Tomato Sauce and Canning
- Highest average rating here at 4.5 stars
- Three interchangeable stainless discs
- No outlet needed so it works anywhere
- Stainless body crank and discs
- Handles applesauce baby food and mash
- Larger and heavier than a compact mill
- Rotary design needs a free hand for the bowl
This is the highest-rated mill here at 4.5 stars across 6717 ratings, and it sits at number one in its Amazon category. The build is the reason: body, discs and crank are all stainless, with no plastic in the food path to worry about over acidic tomatoes.
Because it needs no outlet, it is the one we would actually take outside to the garden on a processing day. Set it on a folding table, crank beside the pot you simmermed in, and skip the trip between kitchen and sink entirely.
The three discs are coarse, medium and fine, which maps cleanly onto a whole range of outputs: chunky salsa, a smooth sauce, and a very fine passata. It is also the pick to look at if you make applesauce, since quartered apples go in raw and the mill separates sauce from cores and seeds on the same pass.
Size is the honest drawback. At 2.8 pounds and 15.5 inches long, it occupies real counter space and it is not a mill you tuck into a drawer. The rotary design also means one hand stays on the bowl, so you are cranking one-handed.
Why the disc spread matters more than the hopper?
Texture control is the thing you cannot get back later. Three usable pore sizes let you run the same batch through coarse for salsa and then fine for a smooth sauce without blanching and starting over.
Who should skip it?
If kitchen counter space is genuinely tight, a 2.3 quart foot that folds flat is a better fit. If you are processing more than 50 pounds in a day, cranking will outlast your enthusiasm.
3. Johnny Apple Sauce Maker VKP250 Clamp Food Strainer
- Clamps to the counter so both hands stay free
- 1.3mm screen makes fine sauce out of the box
- Near-dry waste stream
- 5 year warranty on the strainer
- Screen and spiral remove easily
- Small leak where the handle meets the housing
- Screens are not dishwasher safe
- Plastic discard cup can crack
This one works differently from the rest of the list, and that difference is the entire point. Instead of perching over a bowl, it bolts to the edge of your counter with 10 square inches of clamping surface, so the mill is anchored and both hands are available for feeding and cranking.
The included screen has 1.3mm holes, which is a genuinely fine tomato screen. Owners processing 50 to 100 pounds describe the yield as transformative compared with hand peeling, and the waste stream comes out close to dry, which means you are not throwing away the juice along with the skins.
It also takes an optional electric motor in place of the handle if you outgrow cranking, which makes it the only pick on this list that is an upgrade path rather than a dead end. The manufacturer lists spare part availability for five years.
The drawbacks are specific. A small amount of juice escapes where the handle enters the housing, so plan on a tray under it, and the screen is hand wash only, needing a bottle brush to get into the seams.
Counter thickness is the spec that decides this one
It clamps to countertops from 3/4 inch to 2-1/8 inches thick. If your worktop falls outside that range, or if you have a thin laminate edge, this is a non-starter no matter how well it mills.
Who should skip it?
Anyone with a portable or glass-top setup, and anyone who will not hand wash a screen at the end of a long canning day. The plastic parts are also the ones most likely to need replacing over time.
4. CucinaPro Tomato Strainer and Food Mill
Tomato Strainer, Easily Juices w No Peeling Deseeding or Coring Necessary
- Suction base grips a smooth counter with no hardware
- Compact footprint
- Includes a stainless pusher to feed tomatoes down
- Easy to rinse clean
- All-plastic build feels less durable
- 4.0 average with 11 percent one-star ratings
- Suction needs a perfectly smooth counter
Among the strainers in this group, this has the simplest setup of anything we tested. The suction cup base grips a smooth counter, skins and seeds eject to one side and the juice runs down a tray into your bowl, with no clamp, no legs and no bowl to hold.
That design makes it attractive for a small kitchen, a rental, or a first tomato season where you want to find out whether you like the workflow. The included stainless pusher is genuinely useful for guiding softened tomatoes down onto the screen.
Be clear-eyed about the rating though. A 4.0 average across 2429 ratings sits at the bottom of this group, and 11 percent of buyers gave it one star. The complaints cluster around the all-plastic construction feeling less durable than a stainless mill, and the suction mount failing to grip on a textured or wet counter.
It is also a press rather than an auger mill, so texture control is limited compared with the three-disc models. For a single Sunday batch of family sauce, it does the job without taking up much room.
The counter surface matters more than the specs
A suction cup needs a smooth, clean, dry surface. On a textured laminate or a wet counter after rinsing, it will creep, and a creeping strainer under a downward press is a real spill risk.
Who should skip it?
Anyone processing 30 pounds or more, and anyone who wants texture control. A mill you will grow out of in one season is not a bargain.
5. Mirro 50024 Stainless Steel Food Mill
Mirro 50024 Foley Stainless Steel Healthy Food Mill Cookware, 2-Quart, Silver –
- Ranks 11th in its category
- All stainless body that rinses clean easily
- Multiple discs for mashing grating and ricing
- 2 quart bowl suits a home batch
- Manufacturer warranty is only 90 days
- Rotary feet mean you hold the bowl yourself
The Mirro is a straightforward 2-quart stainless rotary mill, and it has been in enough kitchens that a large body of owner reports exist. At 4.2 stars from 2106 ratings, the feedback is steady: people like the stainless body, the choice of discs, and how simple it is to rinse after a saucing session.
The 2-quart bowl is the defining limitation. It is a real, workable size for a home batch of sauce, and it is a size that suits a cook who wants a small counter footprint more than a big throughput number.
Its rotary feet let it sit over a pot or bowl, but the frame still wants a hand on the container, so you crank one-handed. The discs handle mashing, grating and ricing as well as straining, which makes it a reasonable all-round kitchen tool beyond tomatoes.
The real issue is the warranty. A 90-day limited warranty is far shorter than anything else on this list, and that is a meaningful signal about how long the manufacturer expects the parts to last.
Read the warranty before anything else
Ninety days is a season, not a lifetime. If you are comparing this against a mill backed for years, that difference is worth more to you than a feature you will use once a year.
Who should skip it?
Anyone planning to can for more than a few years, or anyone who wants to sit down and crank rather than hold a bowl with one arm for an hour.
6. Norpro 1951 The Original Sauce Master
- Very high juice and pulp extraction
- Large 3 quart hopper
- Crank turns easily and sits stable
- Includes recipe booklet and instructions
- Splash guard bowl and tray are plastic
- Fine screen skews toward juice over sauce
- Chrome-plated screen can show rust
The Norpro 1951 is the mill most often named in forum threads as a community favourite, and it earns that partly by being a genuinely high-capacity design. The 3-quart hopper, marked at 3 QT / 95 OZ, is among the largest on this list and it is a good match for a serious garden.
Owners processing tomatoes and berries praise the extraction rate, several reporting yields above what they expected, and the crank is reported to turn easily while the unit stays planted on the counter. It also collapses to fewer parts than most screw strainers, which speeds up both assembly and cleanup.
Two honest caveats. The included fine mesh screen pulls toward juice rather than a thick sauce, so if you want body you will want a coarser screen, and berry, pumpkin and salsa screens are sold separately. It is also hand wash only, never dishwasher.
The plastic splash guard, bowl and tray feel cheap next to the stainless working parts, and the waste chute sits close to the juice chute, so you will be swapping bowls more often than you might like. A few owners report the chrome-plated screen beginning to show rust after only a few uses, so store it dry.
Plan for extra screens from the start
The screen you get is a juice screen. If your target is a thick, smooth sauce rather than a thin strained liquid, budget for a coarser disc as a separate purchase and treat it as part of the tool, not an accessory.
Who should skip it?
Anyone who wants a one-piece stainless build or who will not hand wash it. The plastic tray and bowl are the parts that age first.
7. Rosle 16252 Stainless Steel Food Mill
Rosle 16252 Stainless Steel Food Mill with Handle, Bowl Rests & 2 Grinding Disc Sieves
- 18/10 stainless throughout with no seams to trap food
- Very tight blade and sieve alignment
- Three low supports grip the bowl
- Compact 1.25 kg footprint
- Most expensive option in this roundup
- Comes with two discs rather than three
- Rotary design still needs a hand on the bowl
The Rosle is the one we would hand to someone who cares about the material. It is 18/10 stainless throughout, described as hygienic and neutral in taste, and the one-piece construction has no welded seams, which is exactly where tomato residue likes to hide and where a dishwasher cannot reach.
The engineering detail that matters is the blade-to-sieve alignment. The gap is described as almost zero, and that closeness is what makes the mill fast for a hand-crank tool: less work for the fruit, so less force from your arm. The three supports low on the base also cut down on the wobbling that plagues lighter mills.
It is 1.25 kg and measures 7.7 by 6.5 by 6 inches, which makes it more compact than most of the stainless mills here despite the large 3-liter capacity figure. Made in Germany by a long-established cookware maker.
What you give up is scope. It comes with two grinding disc sieves rather than three, and it is the most expensive option in this roundup. It is still a rotary design, so one hand stays on the bowl.
What the near-zero gap actually buys you?
A tight blade-to-sieve clearance means the auger does not have to shear thick layers of cooked fruit off the disc. Less resistance, less arm fatigue, and fewer stoppages to scrape waste off the top.
Who should skip it?
If you are buying a first mill on a budget, this is not the entry point. It also suits cooks with small hands less well than the lighter models, since the body is solid and the crank takes real grip strength.
8. Weston Deluxe Electric Tomato Strainer
Weston Deluxe Electric Tomato Strainer, Food Mill & Sauce Maker
- Fastest option by a wide margin
- 250 watt motor with reverse that clears jams
- Three screens cover sauce through chunky salsa
- 1 gallon hopper suits a large harvest
- No countertop clamp required
- 13 percent one-star ratings with reports of the screen or auger breaking on soft fruit
- Aluminium head can leave grey residue in the dishwasher
This is the only electric mill in the group, and it changes the arithmetic entirely. Owners report 7 quarts of finished sauce in about 30 minutes, and describe turning 30 to 80 pounds of tomatoes into sauce in a fraction of a day, with no leaks compared with hand-crank models.
The 250 watt motor runs at two speeds: forward to strip skins and seeds, reverse to help clear a jam. That reverse function is not a gimmick. It is the answer to the clogging problem that dominates every manual mill, and it is why a thick batch of heirlooms does not stall the run.
The 1-gallon hopper is the other half of the value. You load a serious quantity, and the included stomper pushes food down safely. Three stainless screens at 1.5mm, 3mm and 6mm cover a smooth sauce, a coarser vegetable prep and a chunky salsa from the same machine, and it needs no clamp, so it can live beside a sink.
The cautions are real. It carries 13 percent one-star ratings, largely from reports of the screen or auger breaking down on very soft fruit like berries. The aluminium grinder head can leave grey residue if it goes in the dishwasher or is coated carelessly, and the motor should not run for more than about five minutes at a stretch.
The duty-cycle limit changes your workflow
Roughly five minutes on, then a pause to clear the screen shoot and let the motor cool. Plan to cycle it in that rhythm, and keep the cord and motor well away from the sink you are rinsing into.
Who should skip it?
Anyone processing under about 10 pounds a season, and anyone who wants one tool with no cord and no power step. Also avoid it if your main crop is soft berries, where multiple owners report damage to the screen or auger.
9. Gemfino 3-Disc Stainless Steel Food Mill
- Three pore sizes in a value stainless build
- Silicone grip on handle and crank
- Included spoon presses and scrapes
- Hook base keeps it attached to the bowl
- You must hold the bowl while cranking
- Much smaller review base than the established mills
This mill has climbed to second place in its category on 705 ratings, and for a first mill or a second one for a friend who will not lend theirs out, the value case is straightforward. Three separate pore-size trays in a food grade stainless body is the reason it is shortlisted over a single-screen budget mill.
The dual hook design forms a stable triangle with the handle so the mill stays attached to the mixing bowl, which is better than nothing but still not the same as folding legs that rest independently. The silicone-covered handle and crank are a genuine improvement on bare steel, particularly with wet hands and tomato juice.
The three milling trays cover ketchup, mashed potato and seed removal, and the multifunction spoon included is designed to press food through the screen and scrape the bowl, which saves you hunting for a tool mid-batch. The single upgraded blade reaches more food per turn, which is a sensible efficiency choice.
Two things give us pause. The review base is much smaller than any established brand here, so long-term durability is less well documented, and the mill doubles as a colander and vegetable steamer, which means it needs a thorough wash after every milling session.
Three discs at this tier is unusual
Most budget mills ship with a single screen. Getting coarse, medium and fine trays in a food grade stainless body is the reason this one is worth shortlisting over a single-disc alternative.
Who should skip it?
If you want a mill with a decade of long-term owner reports behind it, or if the hook-on design and one-handed cranking will frustrate you. This is a value pick, not an heirloom.
10. KitchenAid KSMFVSP Fruit and Veg Strainer Attachment
- Uses the stand mixer hub you already own
- All parts are dishwasher safe
- Removes seeds for smooth sauces and purees
- Five parts cover cone shield lid pusher and tray
- Requires the KSMFGA grinder sold separately
- Not compatible with the older FGA grinder
- Attachment only rather than a standalone strainer
If you already run a stand mixer, this is the cheapest way to add milling capability to your setup. The attachment clamps onto the hub, so there is no separate base, no extra counter footprint and no second motor to store.
Buyers with the right grinder report that it removes seeds effectively and produces smooth sauces and purees, and every part is dishwasher safe, which removes the hand-wash chore that stops some people using a mill at all.
The compatibility requirement is the whole story. It is designed for the KSMFGA food grinder, sold separately, and it does not work with the older discontinued FGA grinder. Owners who assumed their existing attachment would fit are the source of most of the negative reviews.
It carries a 4.0 average from 1407 ratings, with 17 percent one-star, and almost all of that negative feedback is compatibility rather than performance. Check your model number before anything else.
Confirm the grinder model first
Look for KSMFGA on your existing grinder. If it says FGA, this attachment will not mount, and the seller listing will not warn you. Getting this wrong is the single most common regret we see with this product.
Who should skip it?
Anyone without a stand mixer and the right grinder, obviously, and anyone processing more than about 25 pounds. An attachment is scaled to a mixer, not to a full garden harvest.
How to Choose a Food Mill for Tomato Sauce?
Match the mill to your harvest size
Under about 10 pounds a season, a mid-range hand crank is plenty and an electric machine is overkill. Between 10 and 30 pounds, budget for a large hopper and a mill with folding legs so you are not holding a bowl for an hour. Past 30 pounds in one session, the electric strainer stops being a luxury and starts being the only comfortable option.
As a rough planning rule that canners quote to each other consistently: expect somewhere in the region of two to three hours of cranking for a 30 pound batch on a hand mill, against a fraction of that on an electric unit. Treat those as order-of-magnitude figures, not stopwatch numbers.
Manual or electric: the batch-size decision
Manual wins on control, on texture range and on nothing being plugged in. Electric wins on throughput, on not having a second hand occupied, and on reverse-clearing a jam instead of fetching a spatula. The crossover is simple: one hand cranking and one hand holding a bowl is fine for a Sunday, and miserable by the third hour of a harvest weekend.
Disc size and texture control
This is the single most important purchase factor after capacity. A fine screen under about 1.5mm gives a smooth passata, roughly 3mm gives a sauce with a little body, and 5mm to 6mm gives chunky salsa. A mill shipped with only one screen forces you to buy another; three included discs give you the whole range from day one.
Every mill on this list removes seeds through the disc, and that is why a mill beats a processor for sauce. What varies is whether seed removal is complete. The finest screens are usually the most demanding, and the ones most likely to slow or clog, so run your tomatoes hot and keep the hopper from overfilling.
Material, parts and warranty
Stainless in the food path is the baseline we would insist on, because tomato acid is punishing over years. Note who is hand wash only, because a mill that needs a bottle brush into its screen seams is a mill you will resent at the end of a long day. Warranties here range from 90 days on the Mirro to 5 years on the VKP250, and that spread tells you something about parts availability.
Watch out for: clogging, residue and seed leakage
Clogging is the most common complaint across every mill category, and it is nearly always a technique problem rather than a product defect. Reverse the crank counterclockwise, use a silicone or plastic spatula, and never a metal one. Grey or black residue from the auger is a genuine reported issue on lower-grade mills and on the aluminium head of the Weston, so keep those parts out of the dishwasher and dry them properly.
One last trap: mills with no legs or hooks have to be held in mid-air over a bowl, which is exhausting and unstable. A mill that stands on its own over your container is worth real money in wrist comfort, especially if wrist fatigue already rules out several options for you.
If your interest in mills extends past the kitchen, we have also covered face mills for milling machines and rolling mills for jewelry making, which run on the same principle of controlled pressure and measured feed rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to peel tomatoes before putting them through a food mill?
No. The mill is designed to strip the skin along with the seeds, which is the whole point of it. Simmer the tomatoes for 30 to 60 minutes first so they soften, then mill them hot. If you would rather not rely on the disc, freeze the tomatoes whole and thaw them over a colander, and the skins will slip off before they reach the mill.
What is the best food mill for making tomato sauce?
The OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Mill is our top pick for tomato sauce overall, with three interchangeable discs, a stainless bowl that handles hot food, and folding legs that grip a pot or bowl so both hands are free. The Hungry Artisan takes the top-rated slot for all-stainless hand cranking, and the Weston Deluxe Electric is the right answer for regular harvests of 30 pounds or more.
Can I can tomato sauce using a food mill?
Yes. Mill the cooked tomatoes, then bring the sauce to a full boil in a clean pot before filling jars, and follow a tested recipe for acidity. If you skip the mill entirely you can still can sauce, but you will be peeling by hand and accepting a textured result. The mill is a quality tool, not a food safety requirement.
Will a food mill remove tomato seeds?
A food mill removes seeds by holding them back against the perforated disc, so only pulp passes into the bowl. The finest screens are the most thorough, though they are also the most demanding to turn and the most likely to slow, so keep the tomatoes hot and do not overfill the hopper. A processor or blender does not strain and will leave seeds in the finished sauce.
How long does it take to mill 50 pounds of tomatoes?
On a hand-crank mill with a large hopper, plan in hours rather than minutes, and expect to stop regularly to scrape waste off the top of the disc. The electric strainer handles comparable volume in a fraction of the time, with owners reporting about 30 minutes for 7 quarts of finished sauce. Timings vary widely with tomato variety and disc size.
How do I get a clogged food mill unstuck?
Stop cranking forward and turn the handle counterclockwise to back the fruit off the disc, then clear the screen with a silicone or plastic spatula. Never use metal, which will scratch stainless steel. Overloading the hopper is the most common cause, so load smaller batches, keep the tomatoes hot, and scrape the waste off the top every few turns.
Best Food Mills for Tomato Sauce: Final Verdict
The OXO Good Grips is the pick we would buy first, because it asks the least of the cook and still gives you three textures. Buy the Hungry Artisan if you want the highest-rated all-stainless hand crank and plan to mill outdoors. Buy the Weston Deluxe Electric if your harvests regularly reach 30 pounds, and accept the five-minute duty cycle as the price of speed.
Whichever you choose, simmer the tomatoes first, keep the hopper from overfilling, and expect to scrape. Do those three things and any of the ten on this list will turn a basket of garden tomatoes into smooth, peel-free passata.