A method for producing polytetrafluoroethylene which include polymerizing tetrafluoroethylene and a modifying monomer in an aqueous medium in the presence of a hydrocarbon surfactant to obtain polytetrafluoroethylene. An amount of the hydrocarbon surfactant at the initiation of polymerization is more than 50 ppm based on the aqueous medium. Further, the polytetrafluoroethylene contains 99.0% by mass or more of a polymerization unit based on tetrafluoroethylene and 1.0% by mass or less of a polymerization unit based on the modifying monomer.