Growing and preserving your own tomatoes just makes good sense. It is such a great feeling knowing exactly what's in your food. This homemade tomato sauce is slow cooked and then canned so it's shelf stable.
Use your homegrown tomatoes or buy tomatoes from your local farmers market.
Why make and can homemade sauce
There's nothing better than a vine ripened, homegrown tomato. The taste just can't be beat. Those amazing vine ripened tomatoes also make a delicious homemade sauce.
We often have more tomatoes than we can eat fresh so we make good use of those amazing tomatoes by preserving them to use all year long. We can whole tomatoes and diced tomatoes and we also make homemade sauce.
Tomato sauce is a great ingredient to have in your pantry to use in so many different recipes.
Traditionally tomato sauce is made using meaty roma tomatoes, but it can also be made with juicier tomatoes. This year we had several heirloom varieties and I used them to make our sauce.
If you are new to canning, you'll want to read How to Water Bath Can before you begin!
Ingredients
- Fresh tomatoes
- Bottled lemon juice - you need lemon juice if you are going to can your sauce. If you decide to freeze your sauce, the lemon juice is not needed.
Step by step directions
- Core and quarter your tomatoes
- Add tomatoes to a large stock pot on medium low heat
- Cook until tomatoes have broken down and much of the liquid has evaporated
- Strain sauce to remove seeds and skin
- Put sauce back in a pot over low heat and simmer until desired consistency is reached. This can take several hours. I often let mine simmer all day, giving it a stir from time to time.
- Place lemon juice in canning jars and then ladle sauce into jars. You need one tablespoon of juice per pint and 2 tablespoons for each quart.
- Wipe the rim of the jars clean
- Place lid on jar and then screw on ring
- Place jars in a canning pot and boil for recommended time
Processing times
To process tomato sauce in a hot water bath, process pints for 35 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes. Add additional time for your elevation.
| Altitude Feet | Increase Processing Time |
|---|---|
| 1,001- 3,000 3,001- 6,000 6,001- 8,000 8,001-10,000 | 5 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 20 minutes |
Recipe tips
- The amount of time it takes to cook the sauce will vary. This will depend on the type of tomatoes used, how thick you want your sauce and your stovetop.
- The yield will vary depending on how long you cook your sauce
- I do not add any seasoning to this recipe. Instead I add it when I am making a recipe with the sauce.
- There are many devices available to remove the peels and seeds from the sauce. I use a chinois strainer because I already have one that I use for other canning recipes, like my seedless blackberry jam. The strainer works well, but it does take some time.
- After processing, allow jars to cool at room temperature for 12 hours. Then remove rings and wash jars. The rings can be replaced or left off for storage.
- Label contents and add date to jars
- Store in a cool, dark area
A Note on Home Canned Food
Improperly home canned food can carry the risk of causing botulism. If eaten, this can cause a serious form of food poisoning that can lead to paralysis or death. Please follow safety procedures and inspect your food before consuming.
- Always inspect your home canned food before eating
- If in doubt, throw it out!!! The FDA recommends throwing out the food and the jar.
- Do not taste if in doubt!
- Throw it out if -
- the can is bulging, leaking or swollen
- the container looks damaged or abnormal
- the container spurts liquid or foam when opened
- the food is moldy, discolored or smells bad
- the seal is no longer intact when you examine the food
Recipe Faqs
In order to safely process food using a water bath canner, the foods need to have a certain acidity level.
The acidity level of tomatoes varies depending on the variety and even depending on where the tomatoes were grown.
Adding lemon juice ensures that the acidity level is safe for canning. Citric acid can also be used instead of lemon juice.
Recipes with tomato sauce
At the end of your gardening season, if you end up with several green tomatoes and don't want them to go to waste, check out this recipe for green tomato relish!
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Be certain to check out all my home canning recipes.
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- Large Canning Pot
- Quart Canning Jars
- Canning Jars - 16 oz
Ingredients
- 30 pounds tomatoes
- Bottled lemon juice
Instructions
Cook Sauce
- Remove core and quarter tomatoes. Add to a large stock pot and cook over medium low heat until tomatoes have softened and broken down.30 pounds tomatoes
- Remove peel and seeds by running tomatoes through a chinois strainer or a food mill
- Return sauce to stock pot and cook until sauce has reduced to a thick consistency. This may take between 6-8 hours, depending on your tomatoes and your stove. Stir sauce to prevent scorching
Can Sauce
- Prepare canning jars by washing and rinsing well. You can use pint sized jars or quart sized jars.
- Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice to each pint sized jar or 2 tablespoons to each quart sized jarBottled lemon juice
- Add sauce to jars being certain to leave a ½ inch headspace
- Wipe rim of jars and then place clean lids and then rings
- Place jars into a large canning pot partially filled with hot water
- Once all jars are in canning pot, add additional water to pot if needed. The water should cover the jars by at least 1 inch.
- Place cover on canning pot and increase heat to high. Once water comes to a boil, set timer for processing time. Pints need 35 minutes and quarts need 40 minutes, plus additional time for your elevation (See chart below)
- When time is finished, turn off heat and leave jars in the hot water bath for an additional 5 minutes. This helps prevent siphoning of the liquid from the jars.
- Remove jars and place on a cooling rack. Allow to cool for 12 hours. Check seals to make certain they are sealed.
- Remove rings and wash jars. The rings can be left off for storage or may be placed back on jars.
- Label and date jars and place in a cool dark place for storage
Notes
- The amount of time it takes to cook the sauce will vary. This will depend on the type of tomatoes used, how thick you want your sauce and your stovetop.
- The yield will vary depending on how long you cook your sauce. The longer you cook, the thicker it will become and the less yield.
- I do not add any seasoning to this recipe. Instead I add it when I am making a recipe with the sauce.
- There are many devices available to remove the peels and seeds from the sauce. I use a chinois strainer because I already have one that I use for other canning recipes. The strainer works well, but it does take some time.
- After processing, allow jars to cool at room temperature for 12 hours. Then remove rings and wash jars. The rings can be replaced or left off for storage.
- Label contents and add date to jars
- Store in a cool, dark area
- 1,001- 3,000 ft. - add 5 minutes
- 3,001- 6,000 ft. - add 10 minutes
- 6,001- 8,000 ft. - add 15 minutes
- 8,001-10,000 ft. - add 20 minutes
Nutritional Disclaimer:
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. To obtain the most precise nutritional information in a provided recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the exact ingredients you are using when preparing the recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from the Ball Blue Book.
Rose says
If you don't have 20 -30 pounds of tomatoes, can you still use this recipe for a smaller batch, including the measurements of lemon juice? I would like to do a small batch but the garden isn't producing huge flushes of tomatoes. I would like to do a few jars maybe 4 or whatever the end result may be.
Kathy says
Yes! A small batch works too and makes it a perfect way to preserve your homegrown tomatoes.
lulu says
Can I add salt, seasoning, herbs etc? Onion garlic?? Or is this just a basic sauce only. First time canning and I just don't want to screw it up, but I would like to make a sauce we love which has all of those above plus 1 tsp. sugar.
Kathy says
Hi Lulu,
Yes, you can add salt, dried herbs, garlic, onions and sugar if you'd like. Processing time will stay the same. Good luck with canning! It's such a great feeling when you're done and the jars are all stored in your pantry!
Kathy 🙂
Valentina says
I know I've said it before, but you must have the best stocked pantry ever. I imagine it like a store. I'd grab a jar of this and your peaches for sure! 🙂 ~Valentina
Kathy says
We do have quite a bit! I love having lots available, especially since it's all homemade! 🙂
David @ Spiced says
That crop of tomatoes looks amazing, Kathy! We opted for just a couple cherry tomato plants this year, and even those had a difficult time. (We had a really rainy summer.) We find that the larger tomatoes don't quite ripen in time before the first frost, so we lose a bunch of them. Either way, this tomato sauce sounds fantastic! It's the perfect way to save that summer flavor for cold winter days.
Kathy says
We've had the issue a few times when we've lost the crop due to an early frost. That is so frustrating. Our tomatoes did really well this year, which was exciting. We also had a neighbor share some of their tomatoes so we ended up with a bunch!
Nita Yager says
Why do you have to add lemon? My grandma & mom canned tomatoes for years & did not use lemon?
Kathy says
Canning recipes have changed over the years and so have tomatoes. With the variety of tomatoes available today, they vary in acidity levels. Since you can't guarantee the acidity level, lemon juice is added to ensure it's at a safe level for water bath canning. If you don't want to add the lemon juice, you can always pressure can your tomato sauce.