ISO Your Favorite Tomato Sauce Recipe (TNT)

[Saphellae]

I'm looking for everyone's favorite tomato sauce recipe for canning. I just have a basic one (tomatoes and citric acid/lemon juice). I bought a bushel of tomatoes and they are ripening... great deal on them too, $20 dollars!

[Katie H]

Hey, Buttercup!

I have what you are looking for and it's a sauce I've been making for well over 10 years.

Check out my original post here. I prefer to make it using Roma tomatoes, but other tomatoes will work well. After making my first batch of this, I quit buying/using any commercially-canned tomato sauce. It's sooooo yummy, even if I say so myself.

I just finished canning 10 jars of this sauce and can't wait to make more.

[Saphellae]

Looks awesome Katie!! I was actually hoping one of them would be oven roasted :) :) :)
The US site on canning says you should process tomato sauce for 35 ish minutes - but yours is only15?
Also I have lemon juice / citric acid - should I be using that with your recipe.

OMG I have a whole bushel of tomatoes, I'm going to be roasting all day ! LOL!

[Katie H]

No, I'd leave the lemon juice/citric acid out. You'll love the sauce. It's awesome for any recipe that asks for tomato sauce. I haven't bought commercially-canned tomato sauce in years because of it. It's also great as a simple pasta sauce.

Have fun.

[NotActuallyaHero]

I hope you guys don't mind me linking off the forum, but I posted a recipe for the simplest but still super delicious tomato sauce I know how to make on my blog.

It's not a spectacular recipe but it's super easy and turns out great.

Basic Homemade Pasta Sauce

[Katie H]

Actually, Hero, the OP was asking for a tomato sauce suitable for canning rather than a pasta sauce. I just mentioned that the sauce I created stands on its own as a pasta sauce.

[NotActuallyaHero]

Ah, very sorry. In that case, do what Katie said.

[Snip 13]

This is my favourite recipe.

2 pounds of tomatoes chopped ( I leave skins on but remove if you prefer )
2 tsp of paprika
2 tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp of dried thyme
1 tbs of lemon juice

Gently simmer all of the ingredients till reduced to your liking. Boil in a water bath for 20 mins. Or use your own canning method.

[sparrowgrass]

Like Katie, I roast my tomatoes and veggies instead of simmering. Much easier, and less cleanup. Oil a sheet pan (with sides), cut your tomatoes, peppers, onions in half, leave the garlic whole, and bake at 400 for about an hour. Then use a stick blender or do it in batches in the food processor. I do add some vinegar to the sauce before canning, and I can it in the pressure cooker, because onions and peppers are low acid.

Soak the pan for a few minutes, and the brown bits rinse right off.

[Katie H]

One of the reasons I prefer to roast my tomatoes for sauce is that they caramelize a bit allowing their sweetness to come to the fore and a great deal of the water is evaporated, resulting in a wonderfully rich tomato mass. This last batch of 10 jars I made was the best ever.

The skins just practically jump off and I scrape all the yummy bits into my food processor for the sauce. No, I don't scrape the skins into the processor, just the scrapings from the bottom of the pan the tomatoes were roasted in.

[Saphellae]

THanks Katie!

How long will the sauce last, stored in the dark (out of the fridge) and canned in a water bath?

I'm going to be doing this tomorrow night - the tomatoes have been on the counter (ie. taking over) for three days and they are READY!

[Katie H]

I still have a few jars that were canned in 2008. I used one a couple of days ago and it was just fine. I usually use all my sauce up and I was surprised to discover a few jars in the back of the pantry. I didn't worry, though, because the color was good and the seal on the jar was firmly intact.

[Saphellae]

Thanks so much Katie for all of your help with this. I'll let you know how it turns out !! :) :)