Recipe Collection: How to Make & Can Tomato Sauce

Written by Kate Tietje and updated in June of 2022. 

Tomato sauce wasn’t even my first project, but it was the one that weighed most heavily on my mind.  While friends were gathering strawberries and other earlier crops to make jellies, jams, and all sorts of things, I was just waiting.  My family won’t eat jellies and jams, so there was no reason to make any.

But tomato sauce!  We go through that like crazy!  It was one of the biggest things I’ve planned to can!!  But I actually did this one in a few different stages, so I “perfected” my technique a bit.  I’ll share with you how I did it and explain why some other ways are not my preferred method.

2022 update: Tomato sauce is the item I’ve canned the most over the years (I’ve been canning since 2009).  I still use the method I started with because it’s easy and yummy.  I’ve done at least a couple thousand jars over the years — more some years than others.  This is my tried-and-true recipe!

You’ll need a lot of tomatoes to get started.  You’ll need at least 20 lbs. of tomatoes at a time for a single recipe to make it worth your time.  (That will make approximately 5 quarts when cooked down.)  I have a big family, so I often process hundreds of pounds of tomatoes yearly.

In a perfect world, I grow and harvest my own tomatoes.  But, things don’t always go as planned, and I may not get enough from the garden.   Or, they may trickle in, making it difficult to get enough to make a large batch of sauce.  I usually combine my home-grown tomatoes and tomatoes from nearby Amish country.  Boy, are we busy when this haul comes home!

Making the sauce is truly not hard.  Over the years, I have taken the time to seed or peel tomatoes and abandoned doing so.  It doesn’t make a big difference to the final sauce texture — and since I don’t notice the skins or seeds much, why take the time?

If you’re more sensitive to that sort of thing, you can take the time to do both if you prefer.  If you’re processing a lot at once like I was, it slows you down.  But it’s up to you.

How to Make & Can Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 20 lbs. of tomatoes
• 1 lb. of onions (about 1 large)
• 6 – 8 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp. salt (or to taste)
• 2 tbsp. basil leaves

Directions:

Step 1: Quarter your tomatoes into chunks.  If they’re very large, you can chop them into eighths instead.   Romas sometimes don’t need to be chopped at all.

Step 2: Fill your blender with the chopped tomatoes, then blend until smooth.  If you prefer a chunkier sauce, you can blend in less time or skip the blending entirely (although I have never tried skipping it).

Step 3: Blending turns the tomatoes into a foamy, pink puree.  Pour this into an 8-qt stock pot.  Continue quartering, blending, and pouring until all the tomatoes are in.

Step 4: Turn the pot on medium heat and allow it to slowly come to a boil.  The foam will rise to the top, and after a while, it will look more like normal ‘tomato sauce’ (i.e., red liquid), but it will be really thin.  Continue to let it simmer for an hour or so until it’s partially cooked down.

Step 5: When the sauce is about half as thick as you’d like, chop the onion and garlic.  Add the veggies, salt, and basil to the pot.  (Your kitchen will now smell amazing.)

Step 6: Continue to simmer the sauce on medium heat until it is as thick as you’d like.

Now it’s time to can!  If you’re new at this, read my blog, How to Can Using the Water Method, first.

Step 7: Fill clean jars with hot sauce, leaving approximately 1″ headspace (I fill to the bottom of the threads).

Step 8: Lid the jars and place them in a large stock pot, properly set up to can.  Fill with hot water and turn it on.

Step 9: Process quarts for 30 minutes (from a rolling boil).

Step 10: Remove jars from the pot and set them on the counter to cool.  Watch for them to seal within the first 30 minutes or so.  If they don’t seal within 24 hours, re-process or put them in the fridge to use right away.

Print Recipe

How to Make & Can Tomato Sauce

Servings: 5 quarts

Ingredients

• 20 lbs. of tomatoes
• 1 lb. of onions about 1 large
• 6 - 8 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp. salt or to taste
• 2 tbsp. basil leaves

Instructions

• Quarter your tomatoes into chunks.  If they're very large, you can chop them into eighths instead.   Romas sometimes don't need to be chopped at all.
• Fill your blender with the chopped tomatoes, then blend until smooth.  If you prefer a chunkier sauce, you can blend in less time or skip the blending entirely (although I have never tried skipping it).
• Blending turns the tomatoes into a foamy, pink puree.  Pour this into an 8-qt stock pot.  Continue quartering, blending, and pouring until all the tomatoes are in.
• Turn the pot on medium heat and allow it to slowly come to a boil.  The foam will rise to the top, and after a while, it will look more like normal 'tomato sauce' (i.e., red liquid), but it will be really thin.  Continue to let it simmer for an hour or so until it's partially cooked down.
• When the sauce is about half as thick as you'd like, chop the onion and garlic.  Add the veggies, salt, and basil to the pot.  (Your kitchen will now smell amazing.)
• Continue to simmer the sauce on medium heat until it is as thick as you'd like.
• Fill clean jars with hot sauce, leaving approximately 1" headspace (I fill to the bottom of the threads).
• Lid the jars and place them in a large stock pot, properly set up to can.  Fill with hot water and turn it on.
• Process quarts for 30 minutes (from a rolling boil).
• Remove jars from the pot and set them on the counter to cool.  Watch for them to seal within the first 30 minutes or so.  If they don't seal within 24 hours, re-process or put them in the fridge to use right away.

What’s your favorite way to use tomato sauce?