The Best Tomato Pasta Sauce For Canning
This is the best tomato pasta sauce for canning! Follow this delicious recipe and learn how to can your own fresh, homemade tomato sauce.
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It’s tomato season, the time of year when you can find juicy, ripe tomatoes everywhere. Whether you shop at the farmer’s market or grow your own fresh garden tomatoes, nothing beats that straight off the vine taste.
There’s a good reason grocery store tomatoes can’t compete. Sun-ripened tomatoes just have so much flavour!
My favourite use for all this produce is to make a fresh tomato pasta sauce. This basic tomato sauce is a great way to use that abundance of tomatoes you have growing in your garden.
The chopping takes a bit of work, but the combination of fresh tomatoes, fresh herbs, and other fresh produce, creates a rich flavour you just can’t replicate with store bought. We also love to make this homemade salsa recipe which is great if you have a few leftover tomatoes!
The best tomatoes for sauce:
There are many types of tomatoes, but Roma tomatoes, sometimes called plum tomatoes, are absolutely perfect for creating sauces and soups. They are very “meaty”, meaning there is a lot of tomato “flesh” and not as much water as other varieties that are often just filled with seeds and tomato juice.
I also like to make freezer spaghetti sauce for easy weeknight meals! So if you want to skip the canning, be sure to check out that recipe.
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Basic Canning Supplies:
- 12 Quart Water Bath Canner with Lid – best for foods with high acidity like salsa, tomatoes and fruit.
- Ball Mason Jars – sterilized quart sized jars work best for this recipe.
- Snap Lids and Rings – new, unused snap lids are needed to get a good seal on your jars.
- Canning Jar Lifter – this is used to lift the hot jars safely out of the boiling water bath.
- Magnet Snap Lid Lifter – this makes pulling the snap lids from the water after being sterilizer much easier.
- Jar Canning Funnel – perfect for pouring the sauce into mason jars.
- Ladle – for scooping sauce into the jars.
- Over the Sink Strainer – this is my go-to strainer for processing a lot of tomatoes.
- Rubber Tongs – for grasping hot jars and lids when sterilizing.
- Tea Towels – used for cleaning and handling hot jars.
- Stock pot – for cooking the sauce.
- Wooden spoon – to stir the tomatoes.
- Cutting board – used to chop up the vegetables.
- Sharp knife – these are my favorite for slicing and dicing.
- Can opener – for the tomato paste.
- Measuring spoons and cups – for measure ingredients.
- Paper towel – perfect for wiping down the jars and clean up.
- Immersion blender or hand blender – for finely blending the sauce in the pot.
Ingredients:
- 10 lbs roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 can tomato paste
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 2 stalks of celery, diced
- 1 large white onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to Can Tomato Sauce:
1. Dice and chop up all of the vegetables and put them into a large stock pot.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and allow the sauce to cool for 10 minutes.
5. Use the immersion blender to mix the sauce to your desired consistency.
6. Using a ladle and funnel, pour the mixture into sterilized jars leaving 1 inch of head space from the rim.
7. Wipe the rims of the jars clean with a damp paper towel.
8. Seal with snap lids and rings.
9. Fill the processor half full of water and bring it to a boil.
10. Place the jars in the processor, making sure that they are covered in water and process at a boil for 20 minutes.
11. Remove jars from the canner with a jar lifter and place them on a towel on the counter to seal. Snap lids will “pop” and be indented when the cans have sealed.
12. Mark with the date and contents.
13. Once cooled, store in a cool dark place.
Trips and tricks:
- Be sure to check out my Complete Guide to Canning for all of the tips and tricks to get started with the process of canning.
- For an extra smooth sauce with fewer seeds, use a food mill or food processor. A potato masher works very well for a chunky sauce.
- You can saute onions before adding them to your pot.
- This easy recipe for a simple marinara sauce is the perfect way to use up other vegetables you may have. Try shredded zucchini or chopped red bell pepper.
- Roasted tomatoes have a uniquely delicious flavour. Make roasted tomato sauce by spreading whole tomatoes out on a sheet pan and cooking for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F before dicing.
- If you don’t enjoy tomato skins in your sauce, blanch them first to remove it. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add tomatoes and cook for just 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the tomatoes to a large bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Now the skins will peel off easily.
What to serve with tomato sauce:
- We take a jar of this camping to make this delicious Campfire Spaghetti Bake!
- A glass of red wine pairs perfectly with a plate of pasta smothered in homemade spaghetti sauce.
- For meat lovers, cook up some ground beef, then add in your red sauce.
- Sprinkle your meal with parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes for a little extra kick. Finish the plate with a garnish of fresh basil leaves.
- This homemade marinara sauce makes a great pizza sauce too!
Next time you want to whip up one of your favourite pasta recipes, just head to your pantry and pull out a jar of this homemade tomato sauce, and enjoy the fruits of your labour.
Easy Canning Recipes:
- Crunchy Dill Pickles
- The Best Salsa for Canning
- Canning Tomato Sauce
- Easy Pickled Onions
- Apple Pie Filling
If you love this tomato pasta sauce, please give it a five star review and help me share it on Facebook or Pinterest so that others can enjoy it too!
Canning Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 10 lbs roma tomatoes diced
- 1 can tomato paste
- 2 large carrots diced
- 2 stalks of celery diced
- 1 large white onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- 1. Dice and chop up all of the vegetables and put them into a large stock pot.
- 2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
- 3. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
- 4. Remove from heat and allow the sauce to cool for 10 minutes.
- 5. Use the immersion blender to mix the sauce to your desired consistency.
- 6. Using a ladle and funnel, pour the mixture into sterilized jars leaving 1 inch of head space from the rim.
- 7. Wipe the rims of the jars clean with a damp paper towel.
- 8. Seal with snap lids and rings.
- 9. Fill the processor half full of water and bring it to a boil.
- 10. Place the jars in the processor, making sure that they are covered in water and process at a boil for 20 minutes.
- 11. Remove jars from the canner with a jar lifter and place them on a towel on the counter to seal. Snap lids will “pop” and be indented when the cans have sealed.
- 12. Mark with the date and contents.
- 13. Once cooled, store in a cool dark place.
Nutrition
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Do you know what the pH is for this sauce? Just wanting to know if it is safe to can in a boiling water bath, or if pressure canning is needed.
The pH of this tomato sauce is about 4.5. Tomatoes are highly acidic making them safe to can using the water bath method. Be sure to process them for the directed length of time and test that the snap lids have popped. If you are unsure, you can always use a pressure canner as well. More tips are in my Complete Guide to canning.
I would like to try this, you do not need to peel the tomotoes? Thanks!
No peeling needed as they get blended in with the sauce. You can blanche the tomatoes and remove the peels but its not needed.
I was looking for a recipe that used some carrot and celery, and found this one! However, I noticed a few things that might have been a typo: headspace (other recipes call for 1/2”), lack of acidification, and process time (most other recipes call for 35-45 minutes depending on jar size and altitude). Have you made this recipe before and was it shelf stable for a year?
Lets see… 1/2″ of headspace is adequate but I like to err on the side of caution with 1″, tomatoes are naturally high in acidity, processing time varies on jar size, larger jars for longer and smaller jars for shorter times, just be sure that the snap lids “pop”. We make this recipe every year in the fall for the last dozen years or so. It is shelf stable for a year but usually doesn’t last that long.
Just another follow up: the recipe calls for 10 lb tomatoes to yield 6 quarts. I usually used metric, so I’ll show my math that way:
1 qt = 1 L = 1 kg of water (or tomatoes)
Assuming all of the other ingredients add up to about a kg, wouldn’t starting with just 4.5 kg of tomatoes make a very thin sauce? The total mass of all ingredients is only 5.5 kg, which might barely fill the 6 quart jars.
This measurement is going to depend on a lot of things, the first being what kind of tomatoes that you use. Romas will be more fleshy and create a thicker sauce, while beefsteak will have more juice. Plan for 6 quarts and use more or less jars as needed.