Basic Tomato Sauce

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This super simple tomato sauce recipe is a pantry staple and is simple to make following my Tutorial on processing tomatoes. Whether you’ve followed my tutorial or processed your tomatoes the slower way you are left with the basic tomato sauce that can be canned and used for any recipe that calls for tomato sauce. The basic recipe makes a great base that can be seasoned later and used for pizza or pasta sauce or whatever your heart desires.

How To Make Tomato Sauce

Once you have your tomatoes reduced down to about half of what you started with and they are to a tomato sauce consistency you are ready to can them. This can be done with either a water bath or pressure canner. For canning tomato sauce I always use pint jars. I find they are the best size and I don’t have to worry about opening up a quart jar and not using it all.

Following the directions in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving add 1 tbsp. bottled lemon juice and ½ tsp. of salt to each prepared pint jar before filling each jar with hot tomato sauce. Ladle sauce into prepared jars and leave ½ headspace. Remove any air bubbles and wipe the rim with a clean lint-free towel. Place prepared lids on jars and finger-tighten the rings.

If you’re using a water bath place jars in the canner and completely cover with water. Process pint jars for 35 minutes. Wait 5 minutes before removing jars then cool, label, and store.

If you’re using a pressure canner you will be able to process a larger quantity of jars at once, and they will process much faster, but you’ll follow the same quantities of lemon juice and salt but you’ll need to leave 1 inch of headspace when filling the jars. Once jars are placed in the pressure canner adjust the water level according to your manufacture’s directions. Lock the lid and boil over medium-high heat. Venting for 10 minutes before closing the vent. Heat until you’ve reached 10lbs. of pressure and process pint jars for 15 minutes. Once the heat is turned off let the pressure return to zero naturally. Allow an additional 2 minutes before opening the vent and removing the canner lid. Wait another 10 minutes then remove jars and cool, label, and store.

You Will Need:

• Canning Jars
• Lids & Rings
• Clean Lint Free Tea Towels 
• Canning Utensil Kit
• Water Bath Canner Or
• Pressure Canner 
• Bottled Lemon Juice
• Canning Salt
• Processed Tomatoes