Since starting my own household, tomato sauce has proven to be one of the most versatile ingredients in my pantry. I use it in everything from homemade pizza to casseroles to soups to pasta, and I always seem to be running out of the jars I try to stock up. Wanting to rectify that situation, I’ve been stashing extra tomatoes in my freezer.
And now that our backyard garden is done, we harvested the last tomato crop of the year. I gathered all these tomatoes together and decided to turn them into something we could really use: homemade tomato sauce.
It took most of a morning of work, but it was so worth it in the end to have jars and freezer bags full of my own tomato sauce. The mixture of spices and seasonings adds wonderful layers of flavor to the already delicious garden tomatoes. I don’t own an immersion blender, and I’ve had several bad experiences in the past trying to pour boiling hot soups and sauces out of the pot into our food processor for pureeing.
This recipe avoids that problem entirely by having you blend the tomatoes before they even go into the pot to simmer! The sauce was fairly simple to throw together, and the hardest part was having to wait patiently for it to reduce down even as its savory smell filled the house.
In the end, I got four medium-sized jars, though I transferred the jars to freezer bags for easier storage. Now I feel well stocked for the winter months to come. There’s something special about using ingredients that you yourself made from scratch, and I’m looking forward to our next pizza night even more now.
Tomato Sauce
Time: 2.5 hours (30 minutes active)
Makes four 16 oz jars
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours
Ingredients
- 5 pounds tomatoes
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 4 tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 2–4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Wash, core, and cut tomatoes into medium-sized chunks. Blend in a food processor or blender until a consistent paste forms. You may need to do this in several batches depending on the size of your machine.
- Heat olive oil in a large stock pot, and add garlic and onions. Sautee until softened.
- Add the tomato puree and bring it to a boil. Add the Italian seasoning, sugar, and pepper. Depending on the acidity of your tomatoes, you may need more or less sugar.
- Let the sauce simmer until reduced and thickened to your desired consistency. Depending on the moisture level in the tomatoes you used, the sauce might need to simmer anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or in the freezer for long-term storage.
Notes
*Note: this recipe has not been tested for canning purposes. Please seek a canning recipe for any water bath canning needs.