Homemade pasta sauce (recipe and canning instructions)

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This homemade tomato pasta sauce recipe is so easy and delicious. Using fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic and herbs, this Italian style sauce is perfect as a simple pasta sauce and makes the best pizza sauce! You can also add it to dishes such as spaghetti Bolognese. This sauce can be safely canned at home to add to your collection of pantry staples. Preserve your tomato harvest and enjoy this homemade tomato sauce for many months ahead.

Traditionally, pasta sauce is made during the late summer months to preserve an abundance of fresh tomatoes. Growing tomatoes at home is so rewarding, tomato plants are prolific and produce a huge amount of fruit over a short period of time. When your harvest becomes overwhelming and you think ‘what the heck am I going to do with all these tomatoes?’ It’s time to pull out this recipe and get saucing! Better yet, get your family or a couple of friends together and make a day of it – pop on some music and relax into the process.

What is canning?

Canning, also known as bottling, is a method of preserving fresh produce. Once your produce has been canned, it becomes shelf stable so that you store it in your pantry for when you need it over the coming months. Canning has been widely used as a preservation method since the late 1700’s. Canning is not limited to preserving tomatoes, but can be used to preserve many things including fruits, vegetables, meat and even dairy. It is important to learn about the process before attempting to can fruits and vegetables at home, as if done incorrectly can lead to food spoilage and potential health risks – read more about canning safety below.

Is it worth the effort to can your own pasta sauce?

This is a question that really depends on the individual. There’s one thing that is clear though, canning takes a lot of time and some acquired skills (which anyone can learn!) Some people see canning as simply not worth it when you can just grab a tin or jar from the store. While this is very true, and we definitely still grab tinned tomatoes or passata from the store when we need to, there are several reason that I love canning my own homemade tomato sauce:

• Growing tomatoes means that at some point, you will probably have more than you can consume at any one time. Canning is a great way to preserve your harvest and enjoy the taste of summer throughout the year.
• Preserving tomatoes by canning them makes for a super convenient addition to many meals (or basically a meal in itself – just add to pasta). Canned jars of tomato sauce are shelf-stable and last for a long time, up to 18 month, but you will probably use them up well before then.
• I think it’s fun to learn skills that haven’t necessarily been passed down over recent decades. Canning has been used to preserve food for hundreds of years, and knowing how to do it adds a little bit more resilience to the mix.
• Once you’re set up with the right equipment, canning your own tomato sauce at home becomes very cost effective. Growing your own tomatoes allows you to make months and months worth of tomato goodies for a tiny fraction of the cost of buying them from the grocery store. Even if you need to buy tomatoes in bulk to make your tomato sauce, you will be saving money! 
• It’s soooo satisifying having a well-stocked pantry of homemade goodies. It actually feels like we live in luxury being able to grab some delicious homemade spaghetti sauce from the pantry to use in our meals. It also saves time when you compare the process of making a just enough pasta sauce for one meal at a time.

Is it safe to can tomato pasta sauce at home?

Canning tomato sauce and other tomato products at home is considered safe, as long as you follow the correct procedure and add some kind of acid into your jars before canning.

The canning process pasteurises the food within the jars to reduce any bad bacteria to levels that don’t harm us. The pasteurisation process involves heating the food within the jars to 72-80^oC and maintained at this temperature for 20-30 minutes. As the jars cool, a vacuum seal is created. The food is held in a vacuum seal to prevent any airborne bacteria from entering the jar and contaminating the contents.

Because some bacteria survive the pasteurisation process, we either need to add acid to the jar to prevent these bacteria from multiplying and contaminating the food. Acid such as lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid preserves food by reducing the pH (to pH4.6 or below). This acidity prevents the growth of a particularly nasty bacteria Clostridium botulinum, responsible for causing botulism infection.

Guidelines recommend that you add the following quantities of acid to your jars before water bath canning or pressure canning your tomato products:

• Citric acid – 1/4 teaspoon per pint/500ml
• Bottled lemon juice (not freshly squeezed) – 1 tablespoon per pint/500ml
• Vinegar – 2 tablespoon per pint/500ml (may alter the taste of the final product)

As with all home canning recipes, please use your senses and intuition while canning, and when consuming foods that have been canned at home. If in doubt, do some more research.

What are the best tomatoes to use for homemade pasta sauce?

Although you can make sauce from any type of tomatoes, there are a couple of varieties that are popular for making sauce. Saucing tomatoes, also known as ‘paste’ tomatoes, have a lower water content, meaning it takes less time to simmer down and thicken. They also tend to have less seeds than most slicing tomatoes. Two popular varieties of these are Roma tomatoes San Marzano tomatoes. They also tend to ripen over a shorter period of time, meaning that you will likely get a large volume all at once, which is ideal for making a large batch of this homemade tomato sauce. 

I like to use a combination of different varieties, as this is what I usually have on hand. It may take slightly longer to boil down due to the higher water content, but this really doesn’t worry me. I find that heirloom varieties also offer a greater depth of flavour and sweetness than your typical saucing tomatoes, which I find can taste a little bland.

What if my tomatoes don’t all ripen at once?

Although I grow a large amount of tomatoes, they don’t ripen all at once, meaning that I don’t get a large enough volume to make a big batch of sauce. To get around this, I like to wash and freeze a proportion of my tomatoes as they ripen during the season, and by the end of summer I have a nice stock pile in the freezer ready to defrost and cook down to make my homemade tomato sauce.

What if I don’t have access to home-grown tomatoes?

If you’re unable to grow a large quantity of tomatoes, that’s okay! You can always purchase some tomatoes by the box from your local fresh produce store, they are usually very reasonably priced when purchased in bulk. You can also see if there are any tomato growers near you that are selling their tomatoes in larger quantities. This year, I found a lovely grower who advertised her organically grown Roma tomatoes on Facebook marketplace. I used these to supplement my own tomato harvest, which allowed me to make a large batch of homemade tomato sauce. It was lovely to connect with another like-minded lady who loves growing food and sharing her harvest.

Do you have to peel the tomatoes?

Many recipes recommend that you peel your tomatoes before making your homemade tomato sauce. This may not be traditional, but I personally don’t do this as I feel it isn’t worth the time/effort. I actually like the texture of a slightly chunkier sauce. Even without removing the tomato skins, you can still create a really smooth sauce by using an immersion blender to puree your sauce while it’s still hot.

If you choose to peel your tomatoes, The best way to do this is by cutting an ‘X’ into the bottom of the tomato, then placing it in boiling water for 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and immediately place them into ice water. This will split the tomato skins and they will peel off really easily. It’s best to do 5-10 tomatoes at a time to keep the temperature of hot and cold the water stable.

What equipment do you need to can tomato sauce at home?

You need some basic equipment when you make your own canned tomatoes or tomato sauce. Although these require an initial investment, you will have them for many years to come and they do end up paying for themselves in the long run. Essential pieces of equipment include:

• Large stockpot (for cooking tomatoes and for water bath canning)
• Canning jars, lids and rings
• Rack or tea towel to place in the bottom of water bath canner
• Jar lifter to safely remove hot jars from the water bath canner
• Wide mouth funnel for filling jars

Homemade pasta sauce ingredients

For this recipe you will need

• Ripe tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Brown onions
• Fresh garlic
• Fresh herbs such as basil and oregano
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Honey or raw sugar
• Chilli flakes (optional)

How to make homemade tomato pasta sauce

Prepare your ingredients

To make your homemade tomato sauce, remove the core from your tomatoes and chop them into large chunks. Remove any blemishes or soft spots. Dice your onions and garlic. 

Heat a very large pot on medium heat with some olive oil. Add onions and stir occasionally until soft. Add garlic, salt and black pepper and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often.

Add your tomatoes

Add your chopped tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add honey or sugar and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom.  

Blend your tomato sauce

Using an immersion blender, blend your tomato sauce to get the consistency you prefer. I only blend for a few seconds as I like my sauce slightly textured, but you can make your sauce completely smooth if you prefer.

Simmer and reduce

Continue to simmer your sauce on medium heat, uncovered, to reduce it to your preferred thickness. A longer simmering time will result in a thicker sauce. You can also add some tomato paste if you like a richer tasting sauce. Once your sauce is the desired thickness, add your herbs such as fresh basil and oregano. Stir to combine.

Wash your jars, lids and funnel

Thoroughly wash your canning jars, lids and funnel in very hot, soapy water. Rinse well and drain. 

Fill your jars

Add the desired acid to your clean jars (see above for quantities). Carefully add the hot tomato sauce to your clean jars, fill to 1-2cm below the rim of the jar. Using a clean piece of paper towel, wipe the rim of the jars, making sure to remove anything that could affect the seal.

Fit lids and water bath can

Add the clean lids and rings to the jars and tighten to finger-tight (be careful of the hot contents of the jars). Place your wire rack or a clean tea towel at the bottom of your stock pot/water bath canner and add your full jars. Add water to the canner fill to approximately 2cm above the tops of the jars. Bring to the boil and maintain the temperature for 20-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and carefully remove the jars using your jar lifter.

Cool and store

Allow the jars of tomato sauce to cool completely to room temperature either for several hours or overnight. Remove the rings from the jars and check the seal on the lids. The lids should have sucked down and stay firmly in place. Label and store your jars of homemade sauce in a cool, dark place. This sauce will store well for up to 18 months, but you’ll probably eat it up well before then!

My frugal tips

• Grow your own tomatoes or sources them in bulk locally
• Purchase canning jars when they’re on sale
• You don’t need to buy a pressure canner when just starting out. Water bath canning is just as safe and effective for most types of canning.
• Make canned good that you will actually use. There’s no point canning for the sake of it if you’re not going to use the goods you produce.
• Follow the recipe carefully when it comes to adding acid, as without it your food may spoil and we wouldn’t want that after all your hard work!