Homemade Spaghetti sauce

Making and Canning Homemade Spaghetti Sauce.

1/21/20265 min read

Every year I plant far too many tomato plants and end up with an abundance of tomatoes. We can only eat so many during the season, so my favorite way of using them all so none go to waste is making homemade spaghetti sauce! I usually just collect them all in the freezer and once I get enough I make a big batch of delicious spaghetti sauce!
While paste tomatoes are the best option for sauce you can use any tomatoes you have. From cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes to large slicing tomatoes. I usually use a mix of them all! Using just paste tomatoes will give a smoother sauce, while using other kinds will leave you with a sauce that has some seeds and you will have to cook it down longer due to the higher liquid content in the tomatoes. All will result in a delicious sauce it just depends on your preference. Same goes for peeling vs not peeling the tomatoes, it's completely optional. I have done it both ways and for me personally I usually do not peel. The sauce won't be as smooth but it requires less prep time. So if you are looking for a smoother, seedless consistency go with peeled, cored, paste tomatoes. If you don't really care then just core whatever you have, throw them in a pot and cook them down!

Tools needed for making this sauce:

Large stock pot
Immersion blender
Large baking dish
Cutting board
Sharpe knife for chopping

Ingredients needed:
8-9 lbs tomatoes- can be paste or any kind you have on hand.
2 bell peppers- red or green preferably but can use any color you have
2 large garlic heads
2 large onions
Basil
Oregano
Bay leaves
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Pepper
Salt
Sugar
Red pepper flakes
Tomato paste

You start off by putting your cored (and peeled if desired) tomatoes in a large stock pot. Turn it on to medium/high heat and let them cook down. Stirring occasionally and smashing down on them some. Once your tomatoes are going you can prepare your other veggies. For this recipe we will be roasting our other veggies before adding them to the pot with the tomatoes. Roasting veggies brings a wonderful depth of flavor to your sauce. You will start by cutting your bell peppers in half. You will dice half of each one and set to one side of baking dish. The other half just cut into two pieces and place on the other side of the dish. You will cut the tops off of the garlic heads and leave them whole. Place in the dish cut side up. Cut one onion in to quarters and place in dish, and dice the other onion. Place the Diced onion on in the dish with the Diced bell peppers. Drizzle olive oil over all the veggies and roast in your oven at °400 for 45 min - 1 hour.

Once your tomatoes have started to slightly cook down use an immersion blender to puree them. Bring to a slight boil then lower heat to medium and continue letting them simmer.
When veggies have finished roasting pull them out and let them cool down for a few minutes. Once they are cool add the large pieces of onion and peppers to the tomatoes sauce. You can squeeze the garlic heads and the insides should easily come out. I recommend doing this in a separate bowl so no unwanted pieces end up in the sauce. Once you have extracted the garlic from its shell add it to the sauce and use your Immersion blender to puree the veggies into the sauce (leaving out the Diced veggies). Once everything is smooth you can now add in your Diced veggies and your other ingredients. Stir it all together and continue to simmer UNCOVERED 6 - 8 hours, until you are happy with the consistency.

When the sauce is done I usually eat some that night and then can the rest. With the sauce that I plan on eating that night I will cook up some ground beef or Italian sausage and add it and simmer for a few minutes. I do not can the sauce with any meat in it. While I'm sure you can I'm not comfortable enough to do so. I just add it on the day I eat it!

You can freeze or can this recipe. This recipe has not been tested by the FDA. So if you choose to can it do so at your own risk. I choose to can it when I make it and I do so using a electric pressure canner. If you choose to water bath can please follow proper guidelines to do so and add the required amount of critic acid, so it has a the proper amount of acidity for safe canning.

Tools needed for canning:

Paper towels or clean cloth
3-4 wide mouth quart Mason Jars with lids and rings
Ladle
Canning machine
Canning tongs
Citric acid ( if water bath canning.)

When pressure canning I fill my sterilized Jars with the hot sauce. Make sure the wiped and clean so nothing interferes with the seal. I then place on my clean lids and rings. Tighten to finger tip tight. Place your hot Jars into your pressure canner. Fill with the proper amount of water for your machine and pressure can quarts for 25 minutes or pints for 20. Again these times are for pressure canning the times will be different for water bath canning. Please do your research for proper canning time using a water bath canner.

Post contains affiliate links.

Ingredients:

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 2 onions, one quartered, one diced

- 2 heads of garlic (tops cut off)

- 8 -9 lbs tomatoes peeled and cored

- 2 bell peppers( red/green) one quartered, one diced.

- 2 tablespoons tomato paste

- 1 tablespoon dried oregano

- 1 tablespoon dried basil

- 1-2 tsp of red pepper flakes

- 2 tsp sugar

- Salt and pepper to taste

- Bay leafs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425
Start tomatoes in a large pot on medium/high heat.
Cut bell peppers in half. Dice half of each pepper and cut the other half into two pieces. dice one onion and quarter the other, cut the tops off of the garlic heads.
Place all other veggies in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, roast 45 min-1 hr.
When roasting is done add quartered veggies and garlic to pot of tomatoes. (Garlic should easily squeeze out of the bulb. I would do this in a separate dish before adding to the sauce to keep unwanted peels from falling into the sauce.)
Use immersion blender to blend down the sauce till smooth.
Add in remaining diced veggies and seasonings .
Simmer sauce 6-8 hrs.
When finished remove bay leaves.
Add in cooked ½ lb Italian sausage and ½ lb ground beef before serving over pasta. (optional)