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There is nothing quite like walking into my parent’s house and smelling a huge batch of our Homemade Tomato Sauce. Our Sunday sauce isn’t just any recipe; it’s the taste of tradition and comfort. A recipe passed down through generations – my Nonna taught this recipe to my mom, who taught it to me, and now I’m thrilled to share it with you. For decades our big batch of homemade tomato sauce recipe has been the heart of our Sunday dinner which brings everyone together, sharing conversation, sipping wine, and allowing us to start the week off on a good note.
Making a great sauce takes time to perfect. One of the most crucial steps is knowing exactly how to cook the garlic. If you allow it to cook too long it will result in a bitter sauce. You want the garlic fragrant and sweet before adding in the jarred tomatoes. It’s a subtle tip – although, it’s one that makes all the difference.
Table of Contents
- ♥️ Why You’ll Love Homemade Tomato Sauce
- 🗒 Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Homemade Tomato Sauce
- 🍝 How To Make Homemade Tomato Sauce
- 🍅 What is the difference between passata vs crushed tomatoes?
- ✔️ Variations
- 🤝 Pairs Well With
- 🤔 FAQ’s
- 🍴 Leftovers? Lucky you.
- 🤝 Hungry for more?
- Watch the recipe video
- 💌 Let’s Stay Connected
- Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe
♥️ Why You’ll Love Homemade Tomato Sauce
Tradition: this isn’t just a recipe, it’s a taste of tradition and comfort.
Versatile: use this homemade tomato sauce on pizzas, soups, stews and pasta.
Homemade: free from preservatives and artificial flavours often found in store-bought varieties.
🗒 Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Homemade Tomato Sauce
- Extra-virgin olive oil: which will infuse into the tomatoes during the cooking process, adding a subtle richness which will enhance the flavour.
- Canned or jarred Italian tomatoes: San Marzano or Mutti are known for their balance of sweetness and overall flavour profile.
- Tomato paste: tomato paste is highly concentrated, once it’s cooked down, it creates a concentrated tomato flavour.
- Garlic: adds an aromatic flavour.
- Carrot: provides sweetness to the sauce.
- Red pepper: adds another layer of natural sweetness.
- Dried oregano: adds an earthy flavour and is a classic ingredient in many tomato sauces.
- Red pepper flakes: for added spice.
- Fresh basil: adds a herbaceous and bright depth of flavour.
🍝 How To Make Homemade Tomato Sauce
Grab a pot: first, grab a large pot, preferably a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot.
Fry: secondly, add the olive oil and fry the carrot, red bell pepper, garlic, spices and tomato paste.
Add the tomatoes: then, add your tomatoes.
Boil: next, allow the sauce to boil covered for one hour, and uncovered for another hour.
Finish: finally, finish with fresh basil and salt to taste.
🍅 What is the difference between passata vs crushed tomatoes?
Passata, also known as strained tomatoes have a very smooth consistency which has been processed to remove all of its seeds, skin and chunks. Crushed tomatoes have a thicker consistency than passata containing bigger chunks of tomatoes.
✔️ Variations
Tomatoes: for this sauce, we recommend using either Italian passata (which are strained tomatoes) for a smooth consistency or crushed tomatoes if you want more texture.
🤝 Pairs Well With
- Oven Baked Ribs with Espresso BBQ Sauce
- Eggplant Salad
- Beef Cutlets
- Eggplant Meatballs (aka Polpette di Melanzane)
- Italian Chicken Cutlets
🤔 FAQ’s
Crucially, allow the tomato sauce to cool down completely. Then, select your storage of choice (ie: freezer safe bags or containers). If using bags, squeeze out as much air as possible before laying flat in the freezer.
Secondly, divide the sauce into portions that make sense for you.
The sauce will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months.
To re-heat, allow to thaw in the fridge the night before and then simmer on the stove until warm throughout.
Absolutely! Using ripe tomatoes, specifically during their peak season will make a delicious tomato sauce. Nevertheless, they will require a bit more effort: blanching, peeling, washing.
In general, a longer simmer of 2-2.5 hours is typically what we aim for. This will allow the flavours to meld together, the sauce to deepen in colour and slightly reduce.
Nope! Though, the tomato paste will add a richer and more vibrant tomato flavour.
🍴 Leftovers? Lucky you.
Store your homemade tomato sauce in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
🤝 Hungry for more?
- Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill & Chive Dressing
- Sheet Pan Chicken and Potatoes
- Ground Beef Stir Fry with Spicy Mayo
- Eggplant Parmigiana
Watch the recipe video
Watch the full recipe on Instagram
💌 Let’s Stay Connected
Keep in touch with me on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest! If you do make this recipe (or any recipe of mine) don’t forget to leave a review.
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- 1 large pot
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup olive oil, extra virgin
- 14 cups passata (strained tomatoes), we use Mutti – 5x 680mL jars
- 5 cups water
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic, large, whole
- 1 carrot, large, peeled
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 heaping tsp salt, or more to taste
- handful fresh basil
Instructions
- Grab a large pot: preferably a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot and set to low/medium heat.
- Fry the carrot and red bell pepper: add the olive oil, and once hot add your carrot and red bell pepper and fry for 4-5 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- Fry the garlic and spices: reduce the heat to low/medium and add your dried oregano, red pepper flakes and whole garlic cloves. Fry the garlic for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent it from browning or burning.It should turn fragrant and just begin to lighten in colour, or remain pale, but never brown deeply.
- Add the tomato paste: stir in the tomato paste and cook for about 2 minutes, allowing it to deepen in color.
- Add the tomatoes: next, add your canned or jarred tomatoes into the pot. After emptying your can/jars of tomatoes, fill the empty container with 1 cup of water. Secure the lid and give it a shake, ensuring you capture every last bit of the tomatoes that are left on the sides. Then, pour this flavorful tomato-infused water directly into the tomato sauce.
- Boil: bring the sauce to boil then reduce the heat to simmer, cover and allow to simmer for one hour.After 1 hour, remove the lid and continue simmering for another hour uncovered.
- Add the basil and salt: during the last 15 minutes of cook time, add a handful of fresh basil and salt to taste.
- Remove the veggies: remove the carrot, red pepper and whole garlic cloves.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can’t wait to try this recipe but wanted to let you know you’ve got some extraneous text right in the middle of your descriptions above the recipe. You may want to remove that!
Yes I took it out! My followers on instagram told me. I was clearly listening to a video while using voice to text and it was added in. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention though! xo
I assume you five the carrot and red pepper?
I take the pepper and carrot out before adding the pasta to the sauce. It’s there just for flavour.
Do you use whole tomatoes? Tomato purĆ©e? Crushed tomatoes? Canāt wait to make this but just want to make sure I do it right
I would also like to know if you are using canned whole tomatoes, crushed or purƩed.
I use what I have on hand but usually I do a combination of crushed and pureed! Let me know if you have any other questions.
So delicious we used with your stuffed pepper recipe!
Not the greatest cook here, so excuse this possibly dumb question:
Do you leave the carrot and red pepper whole? It doesnāt say, and your video wonāt play for me.
Help!
Not a silly question at all! I take it out at the end, before serving! I take the garlic, pepper and carrot out! Hope this helps.
I think she leaves it whole. It’s just there for flavor and easier to remove if it’s whole.
A perfect sauce
What is 14 cups in ounces i.e how many jars or tins of passata please.
I just finished making this and it is so good. I have so much sauce left over.
Hi Jessica! Yes, it’s a large batch of sauce! Freeze some! Use it for soups, stews, pastas chilli – happy you loved the recipe!
Is 14 cups of tomatoes right? That seems like a lot.
Hi Michelle – yes it is, this is a big batch of sauce, so prepare to freeze a good portion! -Sammy
This worked exactly as written, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
How much water do you add. You mention fill half the empty container but containers are all different. Do I put 7 cups of water or just half of one of the bottles of passata?
Can you add meatballs or ribs or sausage to it, if you can at which point doyohdo it?
Can you add meatballs or ribs or sausage to it, if you can at which point doyohdo it?
Hi! You can. If you add meatballs I would add them (raw) directly to the sauce to simmer for about 30-45 minutes or until they are cooked through (which will depend on the size). Ribs are typically added to tomato sauce after the sauce is simmering and has developed some flavor, but before the ribs are fully cooked. Hope this helped! -Sammy
When you say add half the jar of waterā¦.do you mean each jar???
Hi – yes, with each jar!
Hi Linda – I actually just updated the recipe to make it easier to read! It now says, after emptying your can/jars of tomatoes, fill the empty container with 1 cup of water. Secure the lid and give it a shake, ensuring you capture every last bit of the tomatoes that are left on the sides. Then, pour this flavorful tomato-infused water directly into the tomato sauce. So use 5 cups total š – Hope this helps! -Sammy xo