Basic Roasted Tomato Sauce Recipe – Roast your beautiful summer tomatoes into a delicious basic tomato sauce to can and use throughout the year!
Anybody else growing tomatoes in their back yard this summer? We’ve got a big tomato plant on our back porch that is just starting to produce some sweet, amazing organic tomatoes. At this time of year, I like to put my “do-it-yourself” hat on and make a few batches of tomato sauce. The sauce is then canned and used throughout the year. I love canning… it gets me in touch with how my great grandmother did things on her farm in Nebraska. Cooking and preparing foods the old fashioned way satisfies something inside of me. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. It’s also a great, economical way to enjoy high quality organic seasonal produce throughout the whole year. There is really no comparison between opening a store-bought can of sauce versus a batch of home-canned roasted tomato sauce.
This is my basic recipe for roasted tomato sauce. You don’t have to can it the sauce you don’t want to go through the hassle; I’ve linked to a pressure canning tutorial below for those who are interested. Keep in mind that I’ve purposely kept the flavor somewhat neutral here… this is not a marinara. It’s a simple roasted tomato sauce which you can enhance with herbs and spices based on what you’re cooking. I like to add fresh basil and garlic for a simple pasta sauce, cayenne and pepper flakes to spice things up, or Middle Eastern spices and peppers for a simple shakshuka base. Think of it as a roasted tomato canvas… just add your favorite herbs and spices to create a flavor masterpiece!
For more on home canning, check out these tutorials:
Home Canning – Pressure Canning Method
Home Canning – Boiling Water Method
For more yummy tomato recipes, here are some great ideas from my food blogging friends:
Weelicious: Roast Cherry Tomatoes with Olives and Bowties
What’s Gaby Cooking: Zucchini Noodles with Roasted Tomatoes
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Roasted Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 7 pounds whole ripe tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt divided
- 3 3/4 teaspoons sugar cuts acidity of the tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
NOTES
Instructions
- Before you begin, sterilize your jars using the boiling water bath method. Simmer the lids in a small saucepan until ready to use. This recipe will fill two quart jars, depending on how far you cook and reduce it (reducing the sauce more to thicken it will render less sauce).Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, toss the tomatoes with 2 tsp of olive oil and 1 tsp kosher salt.
- Place the tomatoes in a single layer on a sheet pan lined with foil or a silpat. You may need more than one sheet pan.
- Roast in the oven for 1 hour.
- Transfer the roasted tomatoes a large mixing bowl and smash with a wooden spoon. This will help them to pass through the food mill more easily.
- Run the smashed tomatoes through a food mill. Turn the handle in both directions to make sure that you are extracting as much juice and tomato flesh as possible.
- Once you have finished with the food mill, place tomatoes in a large sauce pot and add the sugar and remaining salt and olive oil. Stir to combine and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and reduced to a texture you like. You can cook it for an hour or even longer for a very thick sauce (keep in mind you'll end up with less sauce the longer you reduce it!).
- Using a wide mouth funnel, ladle the sauce into your canning jars.
- Remove the lids from the sterilizing saucepan using tongs or a magnetic lid lift.
- With a clean paper or dish towel, clean the rims of your jars.
- Place the lids on the jars and seal with the bands using just your fingertips so that they are not too tight.Process your jars using the pressure canning method at 11 lbs for 15 minutes.
- After 24 hours you can remove the bands and test your seals by lifting the jar, by the lid, a few inches from the counter top. Jars with good seals can be kept in a cool dark place for up to a year. If the seal is broken, store in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks.
Nutrition
If I plan to use very soon within a few days can I just place them in Mason jars?
Do you have to pressure can this sauce or would a boiling water bath be fine? I just do a boiling water bath when I can diced tomotoes. Does the salt and olive oil change the acidity that much to where you have to pressure can? I would rather do a boiling water bath. Thoughts?
Hi Sandra, Tori’s tutorial above (Home Canning – Pressure Canning Method) lists the reasons vegetables need to be pressure cooked/canned. Always better safe than sorry or sick. Good luck and happy canning!
This is can totally be a safe a hot waterbath recipe, the one thing that I would leave out would be the final 2 tbsp of olive oil, as it is not safe to can with. 35 mins for pints 40 mins for quarts and then adjust for elevation (per NCHFP guidelines). You would also want to add a tablespoon of an acid (I like lemon juice) to each jar before adding in the sauce (also per NCHFP guidelines).
Hello! This is Heston again, I have never put up tomatoes, but really like the idea of this roasted tomato sauce. My canner has a 5, 10 and 15 pound pressure on it… Doing these in in Pint jars instead of quart jars. Can I do this at 10 lbs pressure but with a longer cooking time? So far our tomatoes aren’t doing very well. Praying for a better crop soon! Also going to get a food mill!
Been makingroasted tomato for years vAnd never thought to use MFood mill Vita mix is my newest and most favorite play toy. I put all in blender or now Vita mix
. hit button and voila. Addled some fresh basil pinch of sugar salt and pepper. Have used as Sauce and blended longer and served as soup. My daughter would not believe I had not added cream.
Sandrago, Yes , Vitamix or some sort like that blender is the best , I even freeze fruits and make them in fruit smoothie. Add in ice cubes, coffee or chocolate and milk, Coffee or Chocolate Ice cream will formed. To make roasted Tomato Sauce is not a problem at all with this type of blender !!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have 9 tomato plants so I will absolutely be doing some canning! 🙂
My tomato days are far behind me. I used to have tons and can them, but then the wildlife took over my gorgeous garden through neglect. I had a sad day last week, as my apple tree, which produced for the first time was hit by lightning. I think it was a sign. However, you would be proud of my new meal plans I am doing in advance.
My daughter is dating a boy from South Africa, so I am doing a full out Thanksgiving. I am also doing a full out hanukkah as he has never seen that. He goes away for Christmas which he loves. Then I am doing a full Seder, as he needs to see this beautiful ritual, that I was excused from for the last few years due to my children being away. I am quite the Anglophile, and am brushing up on my British skills. Neeps and tatties, bangers and mash, shortbread, and I am learning about sticky toffee pudding. I love your page, and as you can see I was an accomplished cook. But now an empty nester, I have lost many of my skills. I must practice. I am a low carb person who loves to bake, but I have no one to eat these treats!
Today’s pick, thinking I need to start trying your suggestion.
I love this!! Also I have a new-friend request…. can you plleeeease teach me to preserve/can? I have sooo much food from my gardens and loads of grapes from my vines. I have always wanted to get into canning and preserving but it intimidates the crap out of me. Seriously it scares me. If I bring the veggies and fruit and maybe a bottle of wine, can you show me the rope?
Anytime Beth! It’s really not that scary, and I find it really fun.
Tori, I never thought of Roasted Tomato sauce, the aroma must be great !! Thanks for sharing.
Roberta , if you freeze the tomato sauce, this is what I used to do are — after filled and sealed the plastic bag, I use a chopstick to divide the sauce in the packet into 2 or 4 or fold it into 2 . If I need less like blended chilli paste, turmeric paste, I fill 80% full of each cube of my ice cubes tray. When frozen, I will remove them and seal them in a plastic bag. Use each cube or 1/2 a cube each time, so convenient. I read that many of the turmeric has chemical and colouring in it, so if possible, I buy fresh 300-500 gm turmeric blend and freeze.
Our tomatoes plants weren’t a big success lately, but we do roast tomato sauces, and passata. Nothing in the shop can beat good home made sauce.
Tori…I find cutting the fruit in half and squishing out most of the seedy pulp before I roast them makes for a thicker sauce with fewer seeds.
Interesting tip Lisa! I will try that next time.
I don’t have a food mill…..any other way to do this?
Heston a food mill is a great investment for home do-it projects like this. Alternatively you can use a mesh strainer. Pour a small amount of sauce at a time into the strainer and use a wooden spoon to scrape the sauce gently, stirring it around and pushing it through the strainer. Discard solid skin and seeds from the strainer periodically so it doesn’t clog.
Ohhh nothing tastes better in the middle of winter than opening a home canned jar of tomato sauce!!!!!!
A food mill is a great thing to have for regular cooking. I put red peppers in with tomatoes with various roasts etc and food mill the entire thing into a great sauce. I got the technique from Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking.A fabulous cookbook, btw.
I was wondering if I could freeze this instead of canning.
Roberta, absolutely! Let the sauce return to room temperature, place in plastic freezer bags, remove as much air as possible before sealing and freeze. It should last for 3-4 months in the freezer before flavor starts to suffer. Enjoy!
Hi, Tori! We tried something similar with our tomatoes last year but what came out of the food mill was MUCH thinner. Which blade/screen do you recommend to both minimize seeds and skin while getting a more full bodied sauce?
Hi Becky– I usually use the medium or large holes to allow some texture in the sauce, but it does allow some seeds through (as you’ll see in the pics). It’s not a super-thick sauce, but you can easily thicken it by reducing it further on the stovetop and extending the 15-minute cooking time. Longer cooking over low/moderate heat will also help to cut the acid in the sauce, and the flavor will become stronger, which is a bonus. You can cook it for an hour or even longer for a very thick and chunky sauce. 🙂