Simple Spaghetti Sauce
As a kid, my parents grew tomatoes and cucumbers every summer in their backyard city garden. I have vivid memories of having brown paper bags full of these delicious fresh veggies. We’d eat them fresh with garlic salt and in summer salads. With this memory in mind, I knew for our starter garden, I wanted our garden to consist of the same.
My boys love cucumbers – fresh or pickled. Unfortunately, they haven’t taken to tomatoes in the same way I’d have liked.
While we didn’t have paper bags full like I’d have hoped, we still had a great supply, especially since I was the only one eating the fresh tomatoes. Not wanting anything to go to waste, I decided to put my 2 pounds of extra tomatoes to use and make some fresh spaghetti sauce.
I knew that this wouldn’t give me more than a jar, maybe 2, but that was OK with me!
This recipe was exactly enough for a pint (16 oz) mason jar. If not preserving, total cook time will be about an hour.
A quick note on the tomatoes.
I used Cherry tomatoes and 2 Beefsteak tomatoes because that’s what I had on hand, however, Roma or Plum tomatoes are absolutely preferred for this. They’re meatier so it helps the sauce thicken nicely and a bit more quickly. I’ve since bought some heirloom seeds in these varieties for our greenhouse garden!
Ingredients & Tools
Ingredient List
About 1.75 to 2 pounds of tomatoes
1 Large Yellow Onion
3 large garlic cloves
Handful of basil
1 to 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt, Pepper, Oregano, & other Spices to your Taste (Optional)
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste (optional, depending on tomato type)
If water bath canning to preserve:
1/4 teaspoon of Citric Acid or 1 tablespoon of bottled Lemon Juice
If pressure canning to preserve – no other ingredients are needed
Blender or Immersion Blender
Masher or Large fork
Sieve (Optional)
Pressure canner or Large pot to water bath (Optional)
Canning supplies (Mason Jars, your Canning kit, and distilled vinegar)
Directions
You’ll want to prep your ingredients.
Clean your tomatoes and score
Wash your basil & roughly chop
Slice or dice your Onion (you’ll be pureeing so either is fine)
Slice your garlic
Tenderize your tomatoes!
Boil your tomatoes for a few minutes
When you notice the skins are starting to shrink a bit, you can pull them off of the stove.
If you want to peel your tomatoes, now is the time! Throw them into some cold water & peel (save the skins for your compost bin!)
I painstakingly peeled ALL of my cherry tomatoes, hence another reason you want Roma or Plum or just anything larger tomatoes for this. I’ve since made this same recipe and I did not peel them and it still turned out just as yummy, so again, personal preference on peeling the skins.
In your same pot:
Pour your olive oil and warm over medium high heat
Sauté onions until translucent.
Add garlic and cook until fragrant
Add your slightly cooked tomatoes with your basil and spices (I slightly cooked mine before hand to make it easier to break down the tomato while I had it getting to know the other ingredients during this step)
As this cooks, use a masher to help break the tomatoes down a bit.
When about half of your tomatoes have released a good amount of juices, blend to purée everything together in the blender or with your immersion blender
If you didn’t peel your tomatoes or you have a lot of seeds or you just want an extra smooth sauce, now is the time to bust out your sieve and run your sauce through it over your pot.
Place all ingredients into the pot and simmer until the sauce has reduced and thickened by about half. Stir often so nothing burns.
I added just a touch of tomato paste at this point because my cherry tomatoes released so much liquid and I was trying to not just deepen the flavor but speed the thickening process up (it was a weeknight and our power was in and out after a much needed rainstorm)
Taste your sauce and adjust the salt and spices to your liking. This is 100% optional! You may actually prefer to leave it so you can tailor the sauce to whatever you’re cooking at a later date.
I kept it simple and just added a small amount of canning salt, home dried rosemary, and some oregano. I don’t do well with measurements. I should have apologized in advance.
Once your sauce has reduced down, you can either use it right away, place it in a freezer-safe container to freeze, or you can can it! We chose to pressure-can ours.
Canning Directions
If water bath canning, fill your pot and bring water to a simmer
If pressure cooking, fill your pressure cooker with a few inches of water
Clean your mason jar(s) and ensure they’re warm when ready to fill
Use your canning funnel to fill your jars
For water bath canning, add your citric acid or lemon juice into each jar & give a quick stir
Release any potential air bubbles from your jar(s)
Wipe the rims down using a clean towel soaked in the distilled vinegar (this will clean the rims to ensure the lids seal properly)
Add your lids and tighten just so it’s finger tight
Water bath cook time: Process for 30 to 40 minutes depending on altitude
Pressure cook time: Process at 10 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes. Let pressure release fully before opening
Regardless of preservation method, once you carefully remove the jars from your pot, leave on the counter for 24 hours while the jars fully cool and seal.
Voila!
The end result was one fantastic jar of homemade spaghetti sauce.
In the future, I definitely recommend making this when you have a large batch of tomatoes to use since it does take a little bit of time. I’d also recommend doing it when you know you have the time.
I did this on a weeknight after a full day of work and wished I’d waited about halfway through (too late by that point so I stayed the course!)
I’ve made this recipe again and only thing I did differently was not peel the tomatoes. I simply blended it a bit longer (no sieve needed either).
This is a base recipe so you can tailor it, add extra veggies, add some ground meat – the sky is the limit! (If adding ground meat, you must freeze or pressure can – water bath canning will not work).
