Fresh Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe for Canning

Wash and cut tomatoes into quarter chunks. Cut onions into large pieces. Peel garlic cloves. Fill a large tinfoil pan or several 9x13 pans with tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Drizzle olive oil all over the top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven at 450ºF for about an hour or until some of the tomato tops are browning.

After taking the tomatoes out, let them cool. Scoop some of the tomato chunks and juice into the blender, then blend for a few seconds until smooth.

Next, strain the blended tomato mixture into a fine strainer. The juice will come out of the bottom, and the seeds and skin will stay in. Repeat this process until you are done.

The tomato sauce is ready to be used right away or preserved. You can freeze it or can it. For safe canning preservation, be sure to follow guidelines set by the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.

I love this time of year when we are picking and eating a lot of tomatoes. We have more than we need, and it feels like there will be an endless supply of fresh tomatoes. But we know that summer will fade, and the tomatoes will be done for another year.

That’s why I love canning my own tomato sauce. As I was processing tomatoes, I did a taste test, and yep, it’s worth the effort and time. The sauce was so delicious, and it just tasted fresh, not like it was from a store.

Start with growing heirloom sauce tomatoes for the best results. San Marzano, and Striped Paste, and Roma tomatoes are some excellent varieties.