Homemade Garden Tomato Sauce

Homemade Garden
Tomato Sauce

32 pounds of garden tomatoes. About 8 quarts of sauce. A simple, unseasoned tomato base made with just two ingredients when canning. It’s the same tomato base I use in my Rich & Rustic Bolognese, and a great starting point for lasagna, chili, soups, and other sauces.

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Eight quart jars of homemade garden tomato sauce on a blue towelPlay video
Homemade garden tomato sauce in quart jars
PREP TIME20 MIN
COOK TIME4 HR 15 MIN
TOTAL TIME4 HR 35 MIN
YIELDABOUT 8 QUARTS

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS RECIPE

Amish Paste, San Marzano, and Early Girl tomatoes bring their own characteristics to this flexible tomato base. Keep it unseasoned and decide how to flavor it when you use it.

INGREDIENTS

  • 32 lb fresh garden tomatoes (Amish Paste, San Marzano, and Early Girl)
  • 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice per quart jar, for canning acidification

METHOD

  1. Prepare the tomatoes. Wash the tomatoes, remove stems and cores, and trim damaged areas. Cut into manageable pieces.
  2. Soften the tomatoes. Place the tomatoes in a heavy-bottomed, nonreactive pot. Cook over medium heat for approximately 45 minutes, stirring as needed, until softened.
  3. First food mill. Pass the softened tomatoes through a food mill fitted with a medium screen to remove skins, seeds, and fibrous material.
  4. Reduce the tomato pulp. Return the milled pulp to the pot and simmer uncovered for approximately 2½ hours, stirring regularly to prevent scorching.
  5. Fine food mill. Pass the reduced sauce through a fine food mill screen for a smoother texture.
  6. Finish reducing. Return to the pot and simmer approximately 1 hour more, until the desired consistency is reached.
  7. Prepare for canning. Thoroughly wash and sanitize jars. For each quart jar, add 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice as the acidifying ingredient.
  8. Fill and process safely. Fill jars and process using a current, tested tomato-sauce canning procedure that matches the sauce consistency, jar size, and altitude. Follow its specified headspace and processing time; this cooking method alone is not a complete canning procedure.

Home-canning safety: This page documents how I cooked and milled my tomato base; it is not a complete tested canning recipe. This concentrated sauce has not been verified against a tested canning recipe; do not assume it is safe for shelf-stable storage. For future batches, use a tested tomato-sauce procedure and follow its consistency, acidification, headspace, processing time, and altitude requirements exactly. Refrigerate or freeze sauce when the process has not been validated. See National Center for Home Food Preservation.

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