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Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce is FAR better than anything you can find in a store. You’ll love the rich, savory flavor. The best way to use fresh garden tomatoes! Canning spaghetti sauce is easy and rewarding and makes for the best pasta sauce ever!
Featured with this recipe
- Ingredients in Canned Spaghetti Sauce
- Why Can Spaghetti Sauce?
- Tomatoes: A Family Tradition
- Family Tested, Dad Approved
- How Can I Use Canned Spaghetti Sauce?
- Water Bath Canning Spaghetti Sauce
- Pressure Canning Spaghetti Sauce
- Frequently Asked Questions about Canned Spaghetti Sauce
- More Delicious Pasta Recipes
- How to Make Canned Spaghetti Sauce
- Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
This canned spaghetti sauce is HANDS-DOWN, the very best with home-grown tomatoes. We are kind of crazy about our tomatoes over here. The taste of this savory tomato sauce stays fresh and turns any pasta dinner into something special.
Ingredients in Canned Spaghetti Sauce
All you need for perfect spaghetti sauce are some herbs, spices and of course, fresh ripe tomatoes! This sauce couldn’t be simpler to make:
- Tomatoes – about 25 pounds. This recipe makes a huge batch of tomato puree.
- Onions – I start with about five large yellow onions. You’ll end up with 7-8 cups chopped onions.
- Red bell peppers – four large peppers work great.
- Green bell pepper – dice one large pepper
- Tomato paste – four 6-ounce cans should do the trick.
- Soy sauce – Sounds weird, but trust us, it deepens the tomato flavor like you won’t believe!
- Worcestershire sauce – stir in a little sauce to enhance the flavor of the tomatoes and give the sauce a meaty flavor.
- Brown sugar – a little sweetness balances the acidity of the tomatoes and all the herbs.
- Salt – a quarter cup, plus more to taste.
- Garlic – you’ll need a LOT of garlic, chopped or minced. Start with ten cloves.
- Oregano – I usually use dried herbs for this recipe.
- Basil – again, dried works great!
- Red pepper flakes – a little goes a long way with these spicy flakes. Start with a teaspoon and add more depending on your tastes.
- Bay leaves – two leaves give such delicious flavor.
- Lemon juice – for the jars
Why Can Spaghetti Sauce?
Canning spaghetti sauce offers several great benefits. It may take a little time up front but I love the satisfaction of walking into my pantry and seeing rows of freshly canned spaghetti sauce jars! Here are some more great benefits to canning:
- Long-term preservation: Enjoy homemade sauce even when fresh tomatoes are out of season.
- Control over ingredients: Customize the flavors, spices, and level of heat to suit personal taste preferences.
- Convenience and time-saving: Have ready-to-use sauce on hand for quick and easy meal preparations.
- Cost-effective: Save money by utilizing homegrown or bulk-purchased ingredients.
Tomatoes: A Family Tradition
Growing tomatoes is a “family tradition” of sorts for us. Our Uncle Larry is arguably the best gardener ever. He always has an immaculate garden and has studied and taught about gardening. The man knows ALL the tricks to get plants to grow. Uncle Larry has 10 green thumbs! His techniques have been passed around the family, luckily for us. He shared his secrets with our mom, who also grows a bountiful garden every year. To learn more about our tips and tricks for growing tomatoes, see our full guide.
Tomato growing is our family’s way to connect year after year. We compare notes on everything, from how our crops are faring, to what varieties we planted, to what has been canned so far. And of course, we love talking about all the delicious ways we can eat them! Along with the abundance of tomatoes comes a million ways to prepare them. One of our fondest memories growing up with our mom was making her delicious Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce. We’ve tweaked the recipe over the years and now it’s darn near perfection!
Family Tested, Dad Approved
Part of the reason we worked so hard to perfect this canned spaghetti sauce recipe is because of our dad. To know him is to know his passionate love for Italian food. He is super picky about spaghetti sauce; it has to be just right. Well, we’re happy to report that we served this sauce at family dinner recently and our dad loved it! He couldn’t get enough. In fact, he used a spoon to get all the excess off his plate. He’s crazy about this savory sauce, and you will be too!
How Can I Use Canned Spaghetti Sauce?
The name may say spaghetti, but this marinara sauce is so versatile, it’s sure to become one of your favorite staples, and not just on pasta night. Try it as a thickener for Italian-style soups like Minestrone, or add tomato paste to a serving to make pizza sauce. Here are some more delicious recipes that use spaghetti sauce:
Water Bath Canning Spaghetti Sauce
This particular recipe for canned spaghetti sauce hasn’t been “officially” tested for a water-bath canner. However, after MUCH research, we’ve found that if you add lemon juice to the jars, this recipe is acidic enough for canning. Tomatoes are in the “gray area” of having enough acidity, so they might be just fine on their own. But adding a bit of lemon juice ensures their acidity. If you’re still worried, you can pressure can them or add more lemon juice or red wine vinegar.
UPDATE: This recipe has been tried and LOVED by many of you. Be sure to check out the comments to see everyone’s reviews about this canned spaghetti sauce.
Pressure Canning Spaghetti Sauce
For a weighted-gauge pressure canner, you will want to process 20 minutes for pint jars and 25 minutes for quart jars. Process at 10 pounds for altitudes between 0-1,000 feet. Process at 15 pounds for altitudes above 1,000 feet. For more information on pressure canning spaghetti sauce, check out the National Center for Home Food Preservation here.
Frequently Asked Questions about Canned Spaghetti Sauce
You can add ground beef or ground Italian sausage ONLY if you are going to pressure can it OR if you freeze it instead of canning it (or you just want to eat it fresh or within a few days). Do not add ground beef if you are planning to water-bath can or steam can — it will not be safe to eat after sitting on the shelf.
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding fresh mushrooms, celery, parsley, thyme or meat it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.
We usually try to eat anything that we have canned within a year. You can probably go a couple years but probably not much longer than that. Some canning sites even say you shouldn’t go more than 6 months, but I think you are fine going longer than that.
Absolutely! This spaghetti sauce recipe freezes beautifully and lasts for several months in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers. Just make sure to thaw the sauce completely in the refrigerator before re-heating. If you DO want to add more random ingredients like ground beef or extra veggies, freezing is a good way to go if you are worried about acidity levels.
The only ingredient that has any gluten in this recipe is the soy sauce. It sounds weird to even have soy sauce in a spaghetti sauce recipe, but trust us, it is divine! Instead of cutting the soy sauce, opt for a gluten free brand. The rich flavor will knock your socks off!
READ NEXT: Ravioli Sauce
More Delicious Pasta Recipes
- Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes
- One Pot Creamy Garlic Noodles
- Nick’s Authentic Italian Spaghetti
- Old Spaghetti Factory’s Mizithra Pasta
How to Make Canned Spaghetti Sauce
Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 25 pounds tomatoes
- 5 medium onions (about 7-8 cups chopped)
- 4 red bell peppers
- 1 green bell pepper
- 4 (6oz) cans tomato paste
- 1/4 cups soy sauce Sounds weird, but trust us, it deepens the tomato flavor like you won’t believe!
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup salt
- 10 cloves garlic chopped or minced
- 3 tablespoons oregano dried
- 3 tablespoons basil dried
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/4 cups lemon juice for jars
Instructions
- Fill a large pot or Dutch oven half-way with water, bring to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, add tomatoes one at a time until you can’t fit any more (about 8-10 tomatoes).
- Boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove tomatoes one at a time with slotted spoon and plunge in an icewater bath. Peel and quarter tomatoes.
- In a food processor, cover and process green peppers and onions in batches until finely chopped (if you want to add extra flavor, saute the peppers and onions in a little oil and a pinch of salt before processing).In a large stockpot, combine the tomatoes (do not discard excess juices from the tomatoes), onion/pepper mixture, tomato paste, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, garlic, oregano, basil, pepper flakes, and bay leaves.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so (tomatoes burn easily so keep an eye on it). Discard bay leaves.If you want to make your sauce thick and smooth, use an immersion blender to blend the tomatoes until smooth with no large chunks (you can also blend it in batches in a blender).
- Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice to 9 or 10 hot 1-quart jars (depending on how much sauce you have). Ladle hot mixture into jars, leaving 1/2-in. headspace at the top. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids.
For Water Bath Canning:
- Process for 40 minutes in a boiling-water canner for altitudes of 1,000 feet or less. For altitudes up to 3,000 feet, add 5 minutes; 6,000 feet, add 10 minutes; 8,000 feet, add 15 minutes; 10,000 feet, add 20 minutes.
For Pressure Canning:
- Using a weighted-gauge pressure canner, process 20 minutes for pint jars and 25 minutes for quart jars. Process at 10 lb for altitudes between 0-1,000 feet. Process at 15 lb for altitudes above 1,000 feet.
Notes
- This recipe makes 9-10 quart-sized jars
- Our Uncle Larry is arguably the best gardener ever. He always has an immaculate garden and has studied and taught about gardening. The man knows ALL the tricks to get plants to grow. Uncle Larry has 10 green thumbs! His techniques have been passed around the family, luckily for us. He shared his secrets with our mom, who also grows a bountiful garden every year. To learn more about our tips and tricks for growing tomatoes, see our full guide.
- This spaghetti sauce recipe freezes beautifully and lasts for several months in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers. Just make sure to thaw the sauce completely in the refrigerator before re-heating. If you DO want to add more random ingredients like ground beef or extra veggies, freezing is a good way to go if you are worried about acidity levels.
My kids LOVE this sauce. I canned a big batch last year with tomatoes from my own garden. This goes so well with ground sausage. Can’t wait till garden time this year!
I love this recipe. It always taste wonderful. Thank you!
Hello, is it 2 tablespoons of lemon juice per jar?
Yes, it’s 2 tablespoons per jar
If I pressure can I belive you don’t need the 2 tbls lemon. Is that right?
Yes, that is right. If you pressure can you don’t need to balance out the acidity with lemon juice.
Getting prepared for canning this summer and very excited to make your recipe – sounds wonderful from all the comments. Question, if I leave out the peppers, would that change the flavor much?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions, substitutions, or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
What variety of tomatoes do you use for this recipe?
Roma tomatoes are great!
We absolutely love this sauce! We’ve made it for two years now with tomatoes, garlic, green bell pepper, sweet basil from our garden.
BEST spaghetti sauce! I made this sauce back in October and gave away canned jars for Christmas. Everyone LOVED it and and I’m being asked to make more!
Okay, I just made this and I am a first timer. I used my tomatoes that I froze throughout the summer.
I only ended up with 6 quart jars . . . Any ideas with where I may have gone wrong.
Hmm, I am not sure! Did you freeze the tomatoes whole?
Very good sauce. We canned 40 pints this past summer and fall. We used approximately 75% Roma and 25% Bandywine tomatoes in our mix.
It is amazing. Definatly a keeper.
If using canned tomatoes to make this sauce do you still need to add the lemon juice?
Yes, I would just to be on the safe side!
I am so sorry. I really wanted to love this sauce. But I just wasted 25 lb of my garden tomatoes. I knew the recipe was off when it called for that amount of sugar. I have never had to add any amount of sugar to my spaghetti sauce…. I now have too many jars on my shelf of this bitter terrible sauce…. I instantly went back to my Amazon account and ordered a pressure canner
I am so sorry that this recipe didn’t turn out for you. Did you end up adding the sugar? Sugar is what balances out the bitter taste.
Haven’t made it just yet, but looking forward to it! However I want to tell you since many people don’t realize:
1. Worcestershire sauce is NOT gluten-free although you can find some that are gluten free, but must be listed as such on the label
2. Liquid Coconut Aminos are a great *gluten free alternative to Soy Sauce! *Also check labels~ Braggs makes an excellent one!
Thanks, looking forward to making it tonight!
How long does this sauce last. If canned in a Water bath? How should it be stored??
It can be stored for up to a year on the shelf!
This recipe was so good that I came back for a second year! 😋
I started with about 8.5 lbs of primarily San Marzano tomatoes from my garden which I roasted. Added a few other varieties of tomatoes and followed the recipe by dividing by 1/3. Simmered for about 3 hours and it was quite thick. Water bath in 8 pint jars for 50 minutes as we live at about 6100 ft elevation. Delicious.
i have frozen all my fresh roma tomatoes. do i need to do anything different with the recipe
You should be able to follow the recipe as normal!
Brand new to canning. Can I buy the juice from the store or does it need to be fresh? Also, can I use frozen tomatoes? They were fresh this summer but I didn’t get enough at a time so froze them all.
It is best to use store-bought lemon juice! It has more consistent pH. And yes you can use frozen tomatoes.
Question! If I am making this and it doesn’t all fit into my stock pot, can I separate it into two pots and just continue to cook as normal?
Sure!
Hello! About how many medium tomatoes equals 25lbs?
Typically 3 medium tomatoes = 1 pound.
I don’t have this many tomatoes. Can I divide the recipe by 5 or 6 for 4-5 pounds of tomatoes? Will it still work fine? Not sure if I need to change any of the timings or not.
We haven’t tested it for safety at lower quantities so I can’t say for sure. You could freeze it though!
I have already put my Roma tomatoes through a saucer to core, deseed, deskin…etc… now I have the remaining sauce ready to turn into your marinara sauce recipe. I can do it this way, right? I believe it would cut down the boiling down time process, but I’m not positive. Thoughts? Thanks for this recipe!
Yes that should be fine!
This Is by far the best tasting homemade sauce I have ever made my family loved it as has my extended family members.
If I’m pressure canning, do I need to add the lemon juice? Thank you!
Yes!
I have Roma tomatoes. Can they be processed raw, skins and seeds, in a VitaMix and then boiled/simmered per the rest of the recipe prior to pressure canning?
The skin of the tomato is where most of the bacteria grows, so it is safer to peel them. I know it is inconvenient!
To clarify, add the lemon juice to the bottom of the empty, sterilized, hot canning jar BEFORE putting in your sauce and then process. Some folks who are 1st timers may be confused on this step.
Omgoodness. I felt like I had an Italian grandmother teaching me this lovely recipe. I’ve only been cooking for a half hour and honest to God, it’s good enough to eat now. But I had 30 pounds of tomatoes from my brother’s garden and I can taste this for at least a year if I’m patient 🤌
Great recipe. I did want to point out, as a personal with high gluten sensitivity, there are gluten free soy sauces that could be used. Also watch the Worcestershire as many brands are not gluten free having a malt added to them.
Had 1 jar not seal, how long is it good for in the fridge?
It should be good for about a week in the fridge!
If I wanted to use canned tomatoes what would the ratio be? I have SO many cans of tomatoes and need spaghetti sauce!
A 28 oz can of tomatoes is equal to about 2 pounds of fresh tomatoes. Hope this helps!
This sauce is excellent….very rich flavour. This was my first time canning spaghetti sauce and your instructions are easy to follow. I think the longest thing for me was the peeling of the tomatoes. This is definitely a recipe to make again next year. I got 15 , 500 ml jars and I froze a large container as well. The pantry is now well stocked for all my Italian recipes! Thanks so much for the recipe.
Thick tasty the best recipe ever.
This recipe turns out great. I love having my own spaghetti sauce in the pantry and ready to use. I add mushrooms, meatballs, or sausage when I am heating the sauce to use. It saves me hours in the kitchen. I have made this sauce for 3 years or so and I will be making it again soon.
I just wanted to say thank you for the excellent recipe. I have made tomato sauce for years, and it was never quite up to snuff, but it was still fine. This recipe takes it to the next flavour level, you are right about the soya sauce.
I find the sauce is still quite thin. I still haven’t figured out how to make it quite as thick as I want it, but this tastes wonderful and I’m on batch number 4 this season already.
Our best tip for thickening the sauce is to add tomato paste when you are heating it up to serve!
This will be the last pasta sauce recipe I will ever try! Super easy, (especially if you use the kitchenaid grinder & strainer)!! Super flavorful, just the right amount of spices. Made 9.5 quarts. Great way to use up all my garden tomatoes and peppers.
Definitely a keeper!
I doubled the batch for this recipe. Canned 5 gallons in quarts , pints, and half pints for a neighbor. I thought the sauce was extremely flavorful and is now my go to recipe for canning spaghetti sauce, I’ll try it on pizza as well. Very happy with outcome. Thank you for your recipe.
Am I able to can this recipe in a water bath in pints?
We have only tested this recipe for safety in this quantity, so I can’t recommend processing times for other sizes.
You’re never too old to start! I’m 65, and I grew up watching my mom can all summer long — with 7 children on a tight budget, canning and freezing was a MUST. But, as the youngest child I never learned and thought it was way too much work . . . it’s definitely work, but well worth it if only for the self-gratification! So, seeking to can spaghetti sauce I came across your site/recipe. It is DELICIOUS! A huge piece of advice, however, is to NOT forget the lemon juice! I finished the process at 10 pm and went to bed a satisfied canner . . . only to wake up and realize I had forgotten the lemon juice! OH NO!!! I searched the web and learned I could actually re-do the process — open the jars (12 of them!), pour them all back into the pot, bring them to a boil for at least two minutes, and repeat the canning/water bath process WITH the lemon juice this time! I will watch each jar carefully as we use them this winter, but I believe (from all the online advice) that I saved all that hard work! The positive? My kitchen smells wonderful for another day! One question — I blended most of the tomatoes to make a thicker sauce, but it still seems thinner than I’d like. I have read that I can simply add a can of tomato paste when using the sauce. However, is there another way to thicken the sauce BEFORE canning? Or is there another way to thicken the sauce when using it? Thank you!
The only way to thicken the sauce before canning is to let it simmer longer without a lid. After canning, the tomato paste method is the best way.
In my garden I have tomatoes that ripen at different times throughout the year. I have already canned several quarts of my tomatoes. If I use my canned tomatoes to make this sauce, would I need to add lemon juice again, or is the juice I already while canning, sufficient?
I would still add the lemon juice to be safe!
Do you use regular salt or canning salt
Regular salt!
wonderful recipe
I accidently simmered it covered for the time frame. Is that ok? Ours yielded a few jars more since it kept a lot of the liquid in that would have evaporated. If so, when I go to use it how should I thicken it because it is a little thin?
That should be okay. When you reheat it to serve, add a few tablespoons of tomato paste to thicken it up!
This is the best spaghetti sauce I’ve ever tasted! However, I canned this recipe, and so did my friend separately, and we both had the same problem of it tasting bitter after canning. I used a stainless steel pot while preparing and cooking the sauce. I pressure canned it in a pressure canner. I made it exactly as said. Do you know what went wrong?
Oh no! Sometimes a particular batch of tomatoes can have more acid than others, causing a bitter taste. When you heat the sauce up to serve try adding a pinch or two of baking soda to counteract the bitterness. I hope this helps!
Did you leave in the tomato skins and seeds? I’ve had that happen when I have. So now i run the tomatoes through a food mill. Worth the extra work.
I forgot to take out the two bay leaves before pulverizing the tomatoes. I managed to take out a few pieces. Is my sauce ruined?
No – your sauce isn’t ruined! Just look for any bigger pieces when you heat it up to eat.
I am confused on what or where to put the lemon juice?
Add the lemon juice to the bottom of each jar before processing.
Carbs? Anybody got an idea what the carb count for this recipe might be?
It should be listed at the bottom of the recipe card under Nutrition Facts.
I already have my tomatoes coming to the end of the boil. This is too late for you to answer but could I have cut up all the peppers and added all the other tastes now ,even if they haven’t been cooked along with these tomatoes? Was thinking of using my 6qt. instant pot to cook the additions, but I don’t like surprises. I will use this pot of tomatoes for soup, use to call is lobster soup with the cut tom’s (for the boys), add baking soda then the milk, s&p, it is very good, pint good enough for the two of us now.
Your recipe reads like a good recipe.
I had the start of a real wonderful tomato patch, but went out to look a things and the stems which were huge were all brown and the tom’s were looking like they were branded with the side of a butcher knife. Thought I could saved some, but no chance. Would your experts know what happened to them.
Maybe tomorrow I will things together for you recipe.
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions, substitutions, or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
As for your split tomatoes, sometimes that happens if there is heavy rain followed by a dry spell. The tomato swells too much and then the skin splits.
I haven’t tried this yet, but what if I grew fresh Italian herbs as well? I have thyme, rosemary, parsley and oregano growing outside. How can I add them if canning? Or can I just chop up real fine and freeze instead? Also, an Italian friend roasts her tomatoes and garlic with olive oil in the oven first…do you recommend this or feel it makes a difference? Your recipe seems much simpler!
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions, substitutions, or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning. As for freezing the herbs, I think that sounds like a great idea!
I made this sauce last year. That was the first time I ever made sauce and it turned out soooooo good!
We will never go back to store brand sauce when we can make it this fresh & delicious at home from our homegrown tomatoes.
We plan on making it again next weekend for our years supply of sauce.
Thank you so much for this great recipe!
Totally awesome sauce. I have 30 quarts canned.
Love this recipe and I’ve been using it for several years. Is it ok to use citric acid instead of the lemon juice? And what would the conversion be? I like my sauce thick so I reduce it quite a bit. Just wondering if it’s a possibility. Thanks!
Yes that is totally fine! 1 tablespoon of lemon juice = 1/4 teaspoon citric acid.
I made 14 qts. of the spaghetti sauce yesterday for my son & his family & plan on making more today for my husband & I. I have not tried it yet but what I want to know is on a few of the jars the sauce separated. There is liquid on the bottom than the sauce. I know when I make stewed tomatoes that happens & they are fine but will this be a concern. Hope the sauce will still be ok,hate to have to throw it out,that is a lot of work.
Separation is pretty normal! It should be safe and you can cook some of the water off when you reheat it to eat.
I used your recipe for a starting point. I use about 40-50 lbs of tomatoes (all types), 2-3 sweet onions, and a couple of large Italian peppers. The family would freak if I put any more than that. I placed the washed and quartered tomatoes in pots on the stove to simmer and remove the water in the tomatoes. I skim most of the water off and then place them in a colander to drain more. I then put them through a Kitchenaid vegetable strainer to remove the seeds and skins. I then place all of the strained liquid in a large pot to which I add the onions, peppers, 24oz. paste, 1/4 c of Soy sauce, 1/4 c Worcestershire sauce, 2/3-3/4 c brown sugar, 1/4 c salt, 3 tbsp each of garlic, oregano, and basil. If I have them I’ll add the bay leaves. I stir this simmering mixture for about and hour to meld the flavors then process for canning. This yields anywhere between 15 and 17 pts of sauce. The wife kept dipping bread in the sauce and saying “tastes like more” Best sauce ever.
Sounds delicious!
Hello, Can you tell me how many cups of crushed tomatoes 25# makes.
I am making this today and find it is easier to measure the tomatoes after taking the skins off and putting in a food processor.
From Boise, ID too!
Thank you, Pamela
It can vary but I would say about 11 quarts.
Do you just remove the tomato skins and not the seeds?
Thanks
Karen
Yep!
Made this recipe exactly as it in recipe! The best spaghetti sauce we have ever had, will never have it any other way! Thank you so much for sharing!
Sounds fabulous, gotta try this this year with my abundant supply of tomatoes. Thank you for the great recipe. sounds like a five star recipe❣️
Made your recipe, and it is fabulous❣️ this is definitely a keeper, and I will not ever make Any other recipe.
Do you have to process when it’s been cooked 4-5 hrs already
Yes!
Can I use dark brown sugar?
Sure!
Oh my gosh, just made this last night and forgot the Lemmon juice in the jars!!! I water bathed them. Are they still ok or do I need to pitch them? Thanks in advance for your reply.
We have only tested them for safety with the lemon juice, so I can’t endorse the recipe without it. Sorry!
If you have a freezer, open them up and put the jars into freezer bags.
Do I need to peel the tomatoes if I am going to use the emulsion blender to blend it? I hate that step!
The skin of the tomato is where most of the bacteria grows, so it is safer to peel them. I know it is inconvenient!
Is it ok to reprocess if the canning didn’t work first time? Thanks
If using Romas how approximately how many would you use in 25lbs? Also are you sending them?
Depending on the size of the Romas, about 6-8 Romas per pound. And no we don’t seed them.
One of my daughters hates spaghetti sauce so I thought I would try this recipe for my garden produce this year. She said “mom print this recipe it’s a keeper”!
Finally a sauce that the whole family will eat. Not too sweet just right.
Thanks so much!
O…M…Goodness! This is absolutely delicious! We just got done using this recipe to can our harvest of tomatoes. We had to cut it in half, and omitted the brown sugar, because hubby is diabetic and the tomatoes were already super sweet, but no other changes. It has such great flavor! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
absolutely perfect – thank you!!!
this recipe is really good But do I have to do a water bath or can i simply put in sterile jars and seal
Yes, you need to do the water bath for safety.
When do the red bell peppers go in? Is it with the green bell pepper and onions?
Yes!
Do you still use canning salt?
No, just the regular salt listed in the recipe.
Can I roast the garlic first?
That should be okay!
Can you use bottled lemon juice?
Yes!
I haven’t made this yet, but I assume this is regular salt, not canning salt? Also, you never mention the red bell peppers, so I assume they go in the blender with the green pepper and the onion?
Yes to both!
Great recipe that I will use forever. Thank you!
So good! Beautiful color.Great flavor! I will make this again!
I’m very confused about the 25 lbs in ingredients vs. the 8-10 tomatoes in step 1. 25 lbs is way more than 8-10 tomatoes. Is step 1 meant to be repeated on the entire 25 lbs? Or is the 25 lbs an inaccurate amount?
8-10 tomatoes is just how many we could fit in the boiling water at a time. You have to boil them in batches. Total you use 25 pounds.
20 minutes prep time?!?! Takes a heck of a lot longer to do all the necessary steps. Pick the veggies, wash the veggies Bring the pot of water to boil alone takes that long! Slipping skins off 25 lbs of tomatoes. Sterilize the jars.
Sounds like a recipe worth trying but please give realistic times.
Is this shelf storage stable ?
Yes! For up to a year.
Have you ever used Roma tomatoes for this sauce? That’s all I have in the garden. Thoughts?
Yes! Romas are delicious in this recipe!
Hands down the best spaghetti sauce I’ve ever had! Will be using this recipe for years to come!
Hi! I’m trying to get into canning but my husband is on a migraine diet and lemon juice is off limits. Is there anything else I can use in it’s place? I know it’s less for taste and more for preservation so I don’t want to substitute something that’ll make it go bad.
You can use a half teaspoon of citric acid instead!
Made this spaghetti sauce to can. Have never canned it before. I will continue using this recipe in the future because it tastes amazing! My daughter tasted it and said I could eat a whole bowl of this!
I agree with everyone that this is a very tasty sauce. My sauce seprated when I canned it (liquid at bottom of the jar) and I assume I didn’t simmer it quite long enough. This recipe is a keeper.
This is such a flavourful sauce. It is worth the length of time it takes to simmer and reduce. We used heirloom slicer tomatoes (Berkeley tie dyes), which have a lot of liquid so I was glad to keep the liquid and reduce it to keep the flavour rather than drain it off like some other recipes. I added a few of my Serrano peppers instead of the pepper flakes. I’ll be using this recipe every year!
Does it matter what kind of tomatoes used? I have a ton of Roma tomatoes. Will they work as good?
Roma tomatoes will be great!
Excellent!
Hi, I’m about ready to make your recipe, but I wanted to ask if the recipe can be cut down for a smaller batch?
Thank you
We have only tested this recipe for safety in this quantity, so I can’t recommend processing times for other sizes.
My sauce is a bit runny, will it thicken up at all after canning?
It may thicken, but if it doesn’t you can add tomato paste to it when heating it up for serving.
We made this last year and it was great
I wish more cup measurements for tomato recipes rather than tomatoes
We are getting ready to make another batch
According to the National Center for home Food preservation “ For pints, use one tablespoon bottled lemon juice or ¼ teaspoon citric acid.”
Hope this helps.
This is good but mine is too salty. How can I adjust this before canning it? I am going to pressure can.
We have only tested this recipe for safety as written, so we can’t recommend any additions.
Do you not seed the tomatoes at all?
No, we don’t.
Came out very tasty ….I skipped the hot pepper. And cooked down 1/2 got approx 8 quarts….used some are recipes odd size jars. But I think it’s better than last year’s recipe! Thanks so much!!!!
If I am freezing the spaghetti sauce should I add the lemon juice?
You don’t have to add the lemon juice if you are freezing the sauce.
How long for pints in water bath
We have only tested this recipe for safety in quart jars, so I can’t recommend processing times for other sizes.
What about adding marrow bones?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions, substitutions, or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
If I am pressure canning the sauce, can I omit the lemon juice?
No, you still need the lemon juice.
This sauce recipe is soooo good and especially delicious! I made a batch yesterday to can. We decided to have spaghetti, meatballs and your sauce for dinner last night. Wowwie! That sauce is much better than any sauce I’ve ever eaten even in a true Italian restaurant! Kudos to you! It has the best little zip in it which comes from the red peppers. Not too much, not too little…….and as the one bear said, “Just right”! I have about 9 quarts to process out of that batch. I’m planning to go get another box of tomatoes at the fruit stand and make another batch. This is the end of me buying canned sauce at the grocery store and then being unhappy that I could not season it to my liking. This is p e r f e c t. And people out there…..DO NOT CHANGE HER RECIPE ONE TINY BIT!
I’ve made this exact recipe 5 times and it is seriously AMAZING! It tastes just like PREGO. Thank you!! Has anyone tried this recipe in a roaster pan? If so, I’d love to have instructions on how to cook it that way.
Could thesauce be cooked in a crock pot rather than on the stove?
We haven’t tested that method for safety so I can’t recommend it.
Hello, I will be making this recipe next week and I want to use 1/2 quart jars. I was wondering if the lemon juice would be halved and would the processing time change?
Thank you.
We have only tested this recipe for safety in quart jars, so I can’t recommend processing times for other sizes.
Can I chop / prepare vegetables today, store in fridge, and cook and can tomorrow??
That should work!
I added 1/4 cup balsamic vinager and 1/4 cup better than bouillon!(beef)! Also before adding any soya sauce or vinager, or any extra liquids and spices, heat up, put fine strainer into the liquid, and scoop off the water! This reduced the cooking time significantly!
Is the bouillon mixed with water or used as the way it is
Is the better then bouillon as it comes from jar or mixed with water
When I chopped up 5 large onions, I did not get 7-8 cups like the recipe says. When I chopped them up with the red and green peppers, then I got about 7 cups all together. Is your recipe calling for 7 cups of just the onions? In comparing to the NCHFP charts, they call for 1 cup of onion and they do not recommend increasing the onion and peppers for canning safety and processing times. Is your recipe approved by NCHFP? I followed your recipe but added more cans of tomato paste and some tomato/chicken bullion to our liking. I thought that the final product was absolutely delicious!!! The soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and the brown sugar did add a wonderful flavor! Thank you!
Our recipe has not been officially tested, but we follow the USDA guidelines for safe canning. Yes, it should be approximately 7 cups of chopped onion, but the size of the chop can affect the measurements a bit.
Do you remove tomato seeds?
I followed this recipe and it is fantastic! We have been taste testing on toasted bread and mozzarella cheese. Can’t wait for family dinners this fall! My plan is to make homemade noodles to take it over the top!
Best spaghetti sauce I’ve ever had, some think it is spicy. But I think it’s perfect, got just enough spice and lots of flavor!
Can you add cheese at the end right before canning?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions, substitutions, or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
This is the only sauce I have made for the last several years. It is easy to put together and delicious! Give it a try. You will not be disappointed.
AMAZING!! it was so easy to make and I haven’t finished the processing time yet – but I sampled and I can’t wait for all the flavors to be infused!!! Thank you soo much for sharing!!!
So I’m finishing up this recipe now and I ended with 12 quarts? Did I maybe have to many tomato’s? Or did I not reduce enough? It was on the stove for close to 5 hours. I did weigh my tomatoes also.
The quart amount is approximate depending on how high you fill each jar and a few other factors. If the sauce seems like its the right consistency you should be fine!
Delish!
Made this recipe with garden grown ingredients. Followed it very carefully because I am bath processing now. I did not have pots big enough to make in one batch, so I divided it between two pots, also everyone in the family tried some before canning and said it was very sweet. I agreed, it is a very sweet spaghetti sauce recipe.
All three recipes recipe sizes say 9-10 quarts, whether it’s 25 lbs of tomatoes or 75 lbs.
Any direction on amount of finished product?
The amount will track with the scale. So 20 qts for 2x and 30 qts for 3x. That number doesn’t get counted because its a note not an exact amount. I hope this helps.
Simply times it by 3.
If 25# produces 9-10 quarts, then 75# should then produce approximately 27 – 30 quarts.
Do you use 2 tablespoons lemon juice per EACH quart jar?
Yes!
When you reference 25 pounds of tomatoes in your recipe, I assume that means 25 pounds of tomatoes straight off the vine?..Not 25 pounds of actual tomato purée.
In order to keep up with my tomatoes this year, I have already puréed them and placed them in the freezer. Now I’m trying to figure out how to accordingly use your recipe?
Thoughts or Suggestions?
Yes, 25 pounds of whole, fresh tomatoes. 1 pound of fresh tomatoes typically yields 3 cups of puree. I hope this helps!
Hello, I tried this recipe today and I wasn’t planning on canning, just freezing. I did not add the brown sugar because I don’t enjoy sweet spaghetti sauce. I still cooked for close to 5 hours and the end result was WAY too salty. When I initially started cooking it (and had all the ingredients added), it was not this salty. But the end product was not awesome at all (and I ended up with half as much as I started with because it cooled down too much). I’m wondering if cooking it for that long decreased the “water” in the recipe, but obviously doesn’t get rid of the salt and maybe that’s why it was too salty. It was barely edible. Do you know why this could be or how I can adjust it?
The brown sugar doesn’t make the sauce overly sweet and it balances out the salt in the sauce. Adding the brown sugar as listed in the recipe would have helped with the saltiness.
I strongly suspect when you eliminated the brown sugar you messed up the recipe. I was surprised the recipe asked for the brown sugar rather than white but I have a chef husband who insists brown sugar is much nicer in recipes then white. That’s probably why you detected too much salt. Mine was perfect!
This is a great recipe that’s easy to can with a water bath. I’ve made this 2 years in a row, and I got 8ts last year, but only 7 this year.
I really love cooking it nice and thick, then it can be thinned with pasta water. After one year on the shelf, it still has vibrant colour and taste. Awesome, thank you!
How can I preserve it . I don’t have pressure guage and new in this field .
If roasting, how is that done?
We don’t roast the tomatoes for this recipe. Let us know how it goes if you try it!
This recipe is amazing!!! So delicious. It made 9 quarts + 1 pint. Can’t wait to use this in a lasagna. Thank you!
My sauce scorched a bit. I think I’ll have to dump it😢
I need a different pot, what size holds 25 lb of tomatoes? I don’t want to get one that is too big.
Oh no! This recipe makes about 10 quarts so you’ll want a pot just a little larger than that.
I am ready to jar and water bath the sauce , but I’m using pint jars … how long should the water bath be for pints and also would I cut the lemon juice to 1 tablespoon a jar ( I’m actually using lime juice instead of the lemon , I’ve read it gives a little better flavor and also you can use it in place of lemon juice) but I want to make sure I am water bathing long enough .
Since our recipe is for quart jars, I would try to find a recipe elsewhere that uses pint jars. We have only safely tested our recipe in quart jars.
I’m curious if you had any success processing the recipe in pints and if so, how long you processed the pints?
Could Braggs Amino Acids be used in place of the soy sauce?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions, substitutions, or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
I have your spaghetti sauce cooking on the stove now. I have used the ingredients from my own back yard garden. It smells delicious. However, I am confused about the lemon juice. Am I supposed to place the lemon juice directly into the jars our in to the sauce mixture? The written instructions say one thing & the video shows another. Please advise.
Thanks,
Shelly, from Arkansas
We usually add the lemon juice to each jar!
My first time canning sauce and I used this wonderful recipe! I gave several jars away and my family and friends can’t get enough. This year I am 4x the recipe just to make everyone happy!
Why is there a shelf life of a year?
It will stay safe to eat after a year, but we have noticed that the taste starts to decrease in quality after 1 year.
Made my first batch today, 100% by your recipe. It is fantastic! Going to restock and make another batch this week so we can give the kids some. Thanks for sharing, just found your site while looking for canned spaghetti sauce recipe. Website is very easy to navigate and full of really good looking recipes.
So if we forget the lemon juice… any tips??
We can’t endorse the safety of this recipe for canning without the lemon juice. We would recommend freezing the sauce instead.
How much lemon juice to pint jars
Since our recipe is for quarts, I am not sure. We haven’t tested this recipe with pints.
Can I use tomatoes that I have frozen from my garden?
We haven’t made this recipe with frozen tomatoes so I can’t say how it would affect taste, texture, or canning safety.
If you don’t have access to fresh tomatoes, can you use canned diced/whole tomatoes? How many ounces would 25 pounds be? I would like to make it, but can’t get any garden tomatoes and store prices are just way to high for 25 pounds.
Yes you can! A 28 oz can of tomatoes is equal to about 2 pounds of fresh tomatoes. Hope this helps!
If I wanted to add roasted veggies such as zucchini, eggplant, or squash, etc. Would it be safe as long as a pressure canned it?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
This is a great pasta sauce recipe!! Best we’ve ever had. I do have a question about water bath canning. Does putting the lemon juice or red wine vinegar in the jar, ruin the sauce by making it bitter? I froze this batch because I was concerned about that.
Thanks!!
It does not make it bitter! It just helps with the pH for canning.
I’m making this as I post. Sauce needs to simmer for a couple more hours before I process. I took a spoon and tasted it, and it’s amazing! I used all Roma tomatoes and bell peppers from the garden, didn’t have red peppers. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!
Delicious recipe! I add mushrooms and shredded zucchini. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
I have not tried this recipe yet a have a ton of tomatoes from my garden I need to use up. I’m only holding back because the bell pepper scare me a bit lol. I usually like a sweet basil tomato sauce. Is this like a roasted red pepper tomato sauce?
No, the pepper tastes does not come through super strongly. It is still very sweet!
I’m trying this recipe for the first time. Can you use tomato paste that has seasoning in it or does it have to be the plain tomato paste? Thank you.
You can use seasoned tomato paste!
Thank you!
Sounds like a very nice recipe but would love to use pint instead of Quart jars. How long to waterbath pints
Since our recipe is for quarts, I am not sure. We haven’t tested this recipe with pints.
Good Day
I would like to make this sauce with 28oz canned tomatoes.
Would you know how many can I would need?
How many quarts does it need to make the sauce?
Thank You
A 28oz can of tomatoes is equal to about 2 pounds of tomatoes. Hope this helps!
Can you cut this recipe down some and make a 1/2 batch? I only have about 15lb of ripe tomatoes and don’t want them to go to waste.
Yes, this recipe can be cut in half. Thanks for asking!
I’m going to make this tonight and I’m wondering if I could substitute balsamic vinegar for the soy sauce and still have it be safe for canning. My instinct says yes becuase it’s acidic but I can’t seem to find a straight answer on the Google.
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions, substitutions, or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Great recipe… tried it last year and it’s now a favorite. Will be making more sauce in next few days. My friends asked for the recipe as well. Thank you.
Thank you! I’m happy it’s a keeper for you. We love it!
Ok this was my first year gardening. I had one tomato plant so I had to freeze tomatoes. I wanted to peel but wow what a chore so I used my emulsion wand. Turned out AMAZING!!! Of course it’s just a base sauce. Can’t wait to add meat and mushrooms etc! My daughter did say it was a bit sweet but what does she know lol.
Amazing sauce!!! I roasted my tomatoes in my pellet smoker before making this sauce to add a little extra to it
Yum! What a great idea. Thank you for sharing!
The sauce smelled so good but when. We tasted it, it was really salty and had to much pepper. I’m hoping that when I add meat to it, it won’t taste as salty. 1/4 cup of salt seems like way too much.
I’m sorry that the salt wasn’t to your taste. Hopefully the meat helps balance it out!
Is this sauce taste sour or acidic? I made sauce for the first time last summer saying my garden fresh tomatoes and it was almost a sour taste. Very acidic I guess you could say. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again! Thank you! Also- I do not have any paste tomatoes is that ok?
It shouldn’t be sour or acidic! It has brown sugar in it to balance out the acid in the tomatoes. And the tomato paste is a key ingredient – the sauce will be too thin without it.
The water bath instructions only give processing time for quart jars. Do you happen to have the length of time for processing this recipe in pint jars? Should I use the same length of time?
We haven’t tested this recipe with pint jars, so I can’t say.
Made this last summer and everyone loved it !
Doing again this year too !
It’s a 5 star for me
Thank you, Annie!
This is the best sauce recipe I have ever tasted!! I have thrown away all my other recipes. I gave this away for Christmas last year and everyone raved about it. It is THE BEST!!!! Thanks for sharing!!
It’s not acidic tasting or sour like? I made some last summer and it was heartburn in a jar! I’m really hoping this will be great!
My sauce is always so watery and thin. What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried turning up the heat and adding thickener like cornstarch but no luck.
You may need to add more tomatoes. If the sauce is still thin when you are ready to heat and serve it, you can add tomato paste and it will thicken right up!
How do you get rid of the seeds?
We don’t usually get rid of the seeds. They just get blended with everything else!
I was not a spaghetti fan. Until now! This sauce is amazing! I use it for all my recipes that require sauce. I love it so much I am specifically growing the veggies just for this sauce.
can I make this recipe but only use tomato paste as I have canned a lot of paste
We can only endorse this recipe as written for canning.
I make this recipe using Amish Paste tomatoes and it’s just amazing. Everyone loves it.
I printed this recipe and will make it for sure when I am canning. My question is concerning the lemon juice….do you use bottle lemon juice or fresh lemon juice? I will write it down on my recipe sheet for I know which one to use. Thanks for sharing this recipes and all your amazing recipes.
You can use either! You won’t be able to taste it, but it helps make the recipe safe for canning.
I have been told to only use bottled lemon juice because the acid levels in fresh lemon juice is inconsistent. Is this not so?
Oh, I hadn’t heard that, but that makes sense!
Bottle is recommended for canning as pH level is constant. Fresh lemon pH varies from le.on to lemon.
Frances is correct. You need to use bottled lemon juice to ensure proper pH.
Are we adding 2 TBSP of lemon juice per jar?
Yes!
This is the first time I have attempted to make Spaghetti sauce . All my favorite ingreedients were used . Can’t wait to taste it . Respectfully Yours. James L Dobson
Does the sauce and jars need to be hot if you are pressure canning? If my canner only holds 4 qts do I just keep the rest of the sauce at a simmer while that is processing, reheat or would a little cooler be fine? Is there a difference in the taste/texture when you PC vs WB?
Yes, the sauce needs to be warm when you are pressure canning. You can keep the rest of the sauce at a simmer, or throw it in the crock pot! We haven’t noticed any significant differences in taste or texture between canning methods.
Hi I love this recipe, made it for the first time last year. My daughter who is 14 will not eat any pasta sauce unless its this one. My only questions is do you have to do the water bath? My Italian patients are telling me I can skip this process and just put the sauce in my jars, place a warm towel over them and let them sit over night, is this correct?
We have only tested the canning safety of this recipe as written, so I can’t speak to that method.
Sounds like they hot pack. With the lemon juice in their it should be acidic enough to be find. I would do a small one as a trial.
What type of tomatoes do you recommend?
We love Romas!
I had a wide variety of tomatoes last year (Romas, Beef Steak, Celebrity, Cherokee, cherry and a few more that I can’t remember) and each batch turned out great!! I had to boil the batch more if juicier tomatoes were used, but each jar turned out no matter what type of tomatoes we used. This is THE BEST recipe!
I made this and water bath canned 7 quarts. I also put 4-1/2 qts in the frig. We have used one already. Very good ladies. My Daughter-in-law took one home and my son text me the next day and said.” The sauce was spot on”.
Can you add parmesan cheese or any kind of Italian dry cheese?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
No dairy products can be used in canning. You can add cheese if you will be freezing instead of canning. Alternatively, you can make the recipe as written, can it, then add Parmesan when ready to use.
Can I substitute fresh basil for dried basil? (I’ve got it growing in my garden.)
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Any chance you would be able to tell me how much sauce equals one serving? It sa
It says 60 servings… and one serving is 5oo something but not how much is in a serving
Each quart jar has about 4-6 servings so I would say a serving is between 1/2 and 1 cup.
Fed my family the old country Italian Spaghetti Sauce recipe and the Spaghetti made a number one hit with the Raynard’s on Mother’s Day made fresh Garlic Bread to go with and a side salad and served a cold Sparkling Grape Juice for beverage for dessert was Creamy Coconut Pie ..everyone was pleased at the table yesterday and they want me to start this tradiotion again next Mother’s Day …
Absolutely amazing flavor!!!! This is now my absolute favorite homemade canned spaghetti sauce!!!! Better than anything on the market (and I’m a HUGE Prego fan)!
I didn’t change one thing about this recipe! Perfection!
Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!!!!
Can the bell pepper be omitted or would it make the sauce unsafe for canning? Thanks!
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Are you able to skip the tomato paste? Would you just cook down longer? Would you added more whole tomato?
If you don’t add the tomato paste, it will be very thin.
I froze a lot of whole tomatoes at the end of summer. How long should I boil them for if you boil fresh ones for 1-2 minutes for this recipe?
We haven’t made this recipe with frozen tomatoes, so I can’t say for sure.
We freeze our tomatoes every summer and when we’re ready to use them we set them out and when they turn white and are frosty looking the skins will slide right off.
I used frozen tomatoes for my marinara sauce. Thawed them for a day or 2 in a colander over a pot in the fridge, lots of water drained out, skins will slip off, then used them as normal after, however, not for this sauce. Yet.
If I want to use my canned tomatoes from this fall, sounds like you are saying 1 pint is approx 1 pound of tomatoes, or is the above 1 lb in 14.5 oz can for store bought canned tomatoes?
A 14.5 ounce can from the store is about 1 pound of fresh tomatoes. A pint jar is 16 ounces so it is a little over a pound of fresh tomatoes. Hope this helps!
I have canned whole peeled tomatoes I’d like to use but how do I substitute for fresh? I used lemon juice when canning them so would I need to adjust lemon juice?
A 14.5-oz can of tomatoes is equal to about 1 pound of fresh tomatoes. And yes I would still add the lemon juice as listed in the recipe.
Hey There!
I made this recipe with Roma tomatoes about 6 months ago. I’d like to make another batch, but was thinking of using crushed tomatoes this time. How many ounces/cups of crushed tomatoes should I use in place of 25# of fresh tomatoes?
Thanks so much, this recipe is truly phenomenal.
A 14.5-oz can of tomatoes is equal to about 1 pound of fresh tomatoes.
If I am freezing the sauce can I omit the lemon juice
Yes!
25LBS of tomatoes will make 9 quarts with this recipe? Or is the 9 quarts 3x the recipe. Thank you !
25 lbs of tomatoes makes 9-10 quarts of sauce. Hope this helps!
Can I sleep sub the lemon juice for lime juice for canning?
We have not tested that substitution for canning safety.
I made this recipe with my garden tomatoes. It is one of the best sauces I have ever had and I can’t believe I made it myself. THANK YOU for the awesome recipe!
We’ve made this recipe for the last few years and absolutely love it. My husband refuses all other sauce recipes.
With that being said – he’s now unable to eat seeds. Could we run the tomatoes through our Norpro sauce master to make a tomato sauce, which would remove the seeds and skins, but leaving the juice and pulp and then add that to the pot with the onions, peppers, etc?
I don’t feel like it would change the acidity, but wanted to chat and see. I know that’s kind of an interesting question. Hopefully as it’s asked it makes sense.
Yes that should be fine!
I made this spaghetti sauce and it was delicious but way to salty, can I cut back on the salt? I need to make more, I just use my last jar today!
Yes, if you feel that it is too salty you can definitely cut back on the salt. Season along the way to make sure you are getting the exact amount you like. Hope this helps!
About freezing: I have found that just having something frozen isn’t enough. You have to have it way colder than that. I have frozen stuff at 25 degrees for years and it came out as if it were just made. What kind of stuff? ANYTHING! Meat, soup, vegetables, anything. Exactly how cold? Darned if I know. What I do is set the temperature as cold as it will go and I have found that of all the freezers I’ve ever owned, that seems to be 25 degrees F. I think, therefore, that is probably an industry standard for manufacturers. So crank your freezer down as far as it will go and you can freeze stuff FOREVER! I,ve frozen a casserole for 4 years and it was like just made. But if you have it just cold enough to be just frozen, say 30 or 31 degrees, look out! It won’t keep.
Exactly! My freezer above my fridge does not freeze things as hard as my 22 cu ft upright. Things from the fridge freezer thaw in no time, but the stuff from the big freezer take forever, Had a vacuum sealed roast from 2020 the other day, was like fresh.
Do I need the salt? I have kidney failure and salt is my enemy as to why I wanna make my own vs store bought
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Thank you! 😊
How many cups of tomatoes equals 25 pounds? Thanks!
2 cups of chopped tomatoes = 1 pound
I’m about ready to make this recipe for the third year in a row, saved in my bookmarked favorite recipes. I make it just as is, only half a recipe at a time since I don’t have a pot that big! My kids are on the cross country team and we have weekly team dinners before races, so I go through a lot of spaghetti sauce. Love being able to use my own garden tomatoes!
Wow – what a compliment to know you’ve made this three years in a row. I’m so happy you like the recipe. What a lucky cross country team to have you cooking homemade meals for them with garden tomatoes!
do you skim the foam off the top or leave it?
It doesn’t matter – it’s up to you, but it’s easier to leave it. Thanks for asking!
Wow this recipe is wonderful! I was looking for a spaghetti sauce recipe with home grown tomatoes and this one is GREAT!!! Great flavor and easy to make. This will be my go to sauce with my home grown San Marzano tomatoes. Yummm. Thank you for posting this wonderful family recipe.
Thank you, Ann! I’m so happy you love this recipe as much as we do!
Can you use yellow and green peppers along with red?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Hello! About how many cups of red peppers does the recipe call for? I have homegrown red peppers that are much smaller than the ones you buy at the store and wanted to be sure I used the right amount. Thanks!
Each pepper we use is about 1 cup chopped. Hope this helps!
I am cooking this recipe but running out of time on the boil. Can I stop boiling and continue in 8 hours?
I am not sure. We haven’t done it that way before. Sorry!
Good morning, instead of adding 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar to each jar, what are your thoughts about whisking in 2 cups of the red wine vinegar with 10 tablespoons of cornstarch (to help thicken) right before placing into the jars, to help incorporate the vinegar throughout the whole batch. Do you think this would be a safe way to add the acid before water bath canning?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
I don’t think cornstarch can be water bath canned. Try adding more tkmato paste to thicken and boil it down longer?
Clarification question. The recipe calls for 25 lbs of tomatoes, but in the directions it says to place 8-10 tomatoes in the Dutch oven and bring to a boil. It then continues with the rest of the recipe. Are you supposed to boil the rest of the tomatoes, or do you proceed with the recipe as written with only the 8-10 tomatoes? I’ve never canned tomato sauce before, so I’m reading it as a newbie.
You boil the tomatoes in batches of 8-10. That is how many normally fit in a Dutch oven. It will take a few batches, but you don’t want to crowd the Dutch oven!
I would love to try this recipe but my stomach can’t tolerate peppers. Is there a substitute?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Is this recipe actually safe for water bath canning? It varies a lot in terms of peppers, garlic, etc… From any at ball or the national food preservation site
Yes we have had this recipe tested. Exactly as written, it is safe for canning.
Made this again this year. It’s my GoTo sauce. I think I made twenty quarts. Only difference is that I used fresh oregano and bay leaves. Also added about three tablespoons of Better Than Bullion Beef to the 3x recipe. Gives it even more umami.
If you use beef broth, I hope you’re pressure canning instead of waterbath canning.
This is the ONLY recipe I will use to batch cook spaghetti sauce now. I followed the recipe exactly. I actually used tomatoes that I had frozen because I hadn’t had time to process them from fresh. I filled 10 quart baggies (measured out about 24 ounces per bag, standard size of Ragu or Prego that I would use), and froze them. I cooked from frozen today, added a pound of ground beef, and boiled it down a bit. It was seriously the best spaghetti sauce ever.
This turned marginal tomatoes (weird texture, so-so flavor) that were otherwise inedible into way better than store bought sauce. The first batch was actually a bit salty, even using Kikkoman Low Sodium soy sauce. So, the second batch I adjusted by reducing the soy a touch and just waited until near the end to add any salt. I also use citric acid in lieu of the lemon for attaining the acidity for canning. Worth the effort.
For 2023, I’m excited to try this. Have been using Mrs. Wages and it’s getting too expensive and I’d like to try to use a recipe instead. So I’m hoping this works great. How did it taste after sitting for a while, like a month or so later. Just concerned about the salt. I have a pH meter, so salt is not necessary to preserve. Just wondering how it tastes after it’s processed for a while. Thanks!
I’ve made this twice this season. Love it! I cut the recipe in half because I didn’t have 25 lbs of tomatoes each time and I got 6 quarts both times. Thank you!!
Sounds delicious, will definitely try this.
Can you use yellow tomatoes in this recipe instead of red?
We haven’t tried that! We only have the recipe approved for canning as written.
If you are pressure canning this recipe, do you need the lemon juice still?
Yep!
Wonderful flavor and not too spicy for my sensitive stomach.
If I plan to can this recipe in pint jars, do I cut the lemon juice in half?
Yes!
Why do you need the lemon juice? Can I pressure can with out it?
The lemon juice helps balance the pH to make it safe for canning. Don’t skip it!
What is half?
Canned 8 quarts today with about 3/4 of a jar left over! DELICIOUS! Used my partial jar for dinner adding cooked sweet Italian sausage and homemade pasta!
Thank you for the recipe! Do I have to add the sugar to make it shelf stable?
Yes!
I have to say I was skeptical about the soy sauce but it indeed deepened the flavor. Making it again this year. 🤯
The salt in this recipe is it regular table salt or pickling salt? Have not canned spaghetti sauce yet but am excited to try it. Thanks
Regular salt works just fine!
Absolutely love this sauce recipe! I’ve used it throughout my canning season and have gotten so many compliments! My husband is definitely a fan!! I had some left over from my last batch and used it as pizza sauce – didn’t alter it at all and he said it was the best pizza I’ve ever made! Thanks so much for sharing!
Can the filled jars really be frozen?
Thanks
Yes! Jars can be frozen if you leave about a half inch of space at the top for expansion.
I would like to run my tomatoes through a kitchen aid fruit and vegetable strainer that removes the seeds and pulp turning the tomatoes into a liquid. I imagine this would affect the recipe as 25lbs of tomatoes with pulp being cooked down is different than a liquid base to start with. Would I need more tomatoes and how much? Thanks.
It should be about 40-45 cups of pureed tomatoes!
This recipe is absolutely delicious. I don’t agree with the prep time of 20 minutes though. I don’t even blanch my tomatoes and it takes me over an hour to cut everything and get it into the pan. Either way, the end result is totally worth it to have cans of this sauce waiting for future spaghetti and lasagna recipes
Why do you boil the tomatoes? Could you just quarter them and cook?
Also, I saw a video of someone making their sauce in a slow cooker. Could this be done with this recipe and then process as stated in the recipe.
Sorry for all the questions. I’m new to this. Thank you!
Boiling the tomatoes helps the skin peel off much better! Yes, you can make the sauce in a slow cooker as well. Just make sure to leave the lid off so the extra liquid can evaporate.
What serving size is the nutrition information for?
It is for 1 quart jar!
Delicious. I skip the peppers. But it’s great!
I will be making the sauce tomorrow I do not have lemon juice but I will be using citric acid is that acceptable in place of the lemon juice for the water bath canning? Thank you!! I know it is with tomatoes but I want to know if it is acceptable in making the sauce?
That is totally fine!
I just wondering if I could a add more peppers than what you have as in yellow and orange as I have alot of peppers I would like to use up.
When canning, you just want to make sure your acidity levels are correct. The recipe we have here has the correct acidity levels but I can’t vouch for the correct acidity if the recipe is changed. If you use more peppers, I would add a little more lemon juice to each jar just in case. Hope this helps!
Is there a way to make a smaller amount? Would the simmering time be the same, etc? What are your suggestions??
If you use a smaller amount you may not need to simmer as long. You can just simmer until you get the consistency you are looking for. Hope this helps!
This tastes amazing but after I finished I realized I forgot to put the lemon juice in the jars😭. Should I dump them out you think? So sad right now and like I said I did 13 quarts and had a little leftover so we ate it and this recipe is very good. Will definitely do this one again, only the right way next time.
You probably don’t need to throw them out but to be safe, I would add the lemon juice to the jars and re-process them. To be safe, I would check the National Center for Home Food Preservation for guidance on how to do this properly. Another option would be to freeze them. Make sure there is room in each jar for expansion before freezing or your jars will break. Hope this helps!
We just finished a batch ended up with about 12 quarts . If the sauce a little watery can we just cook it down a little before we use it on our spaghetti or pasta.
Yep! That is the best way to do it. Just simmer it down until it thickens. It shouldn’t take too long. You can also add a little tomato paste if you want to thicken it faster.
Just did a 50 pound batch of roma tomatoes from our family garden using this recipe. We have it in the fridge right now to keep overnight and will start stewing them up tomorrow.
I’ll report back how well it went but if the initial taste tests are any indication, we found us a great large batch recipe. Now we just need the heat and time to the bring the flavours together.
I’ll report back tomorrow.
I did this with the tomatoes I froze last week and it turned out amazing! My only addition was 3 habanero peppers because we like it spicy. I will now be using this recipe for all my spaghetti sauces.
Can I use a mix of tomato types? Such as Roma and heirloom!
Sure!
Do I need to water bath after adding lemon juice/ wine vinegar? How long will the sauce keep for? Thanks!
Yes, you definitely want to process any canned foods including this recipe if you are wanting to use for long term storage. We always try to use all of our shelved canned foods within a year. Hope this helps!
Sounds excellent and will make tomorrow but before I do so, I have a question.
Forget the recipe, can someone explain to me just why we can use fresh peppers, onions, tomatoes without being dried or dehydrated but you“cannot” OK using fresh basil? I don’t understand. It all simmers for 5 hrs. So just WHAT Is the reason for only using dried basil?
I would like to know that too. I have a lot of fresh herbs in the garden.
If I will be freezing the sauce, do I still need the lemon juice?
No, if you freeze the sauce you don’t need the lemon juice.
Superb!
Why do you have to boil the jars for 40 minutes if this is the hot water bath method? Won’t the jars seal? We were always brought up you either did the cold water bath or you did the hot jars with the boiling ingredients and they sealed… if I’m reading this correctly you are doing both?
We try to follow the National Center for Home Food Preservation guidelines as closely as possible. If you are comfortable canning a different way that is totally up to you.
Hi! Has this been tested for safety? Nervous with all the veggies but it looks delicious!!!
Yes! We have tested this recipe for safety. Don’t forget the lemon juice!
Thank you so much ❤️
It’s 2 T per quart jar? Would it be 1 T per pint?
Yep!
Is that 25 pounds of tomatoes?
I have bay leaves & red pepper flakes, but no basil or oregano. Could I substitute Italian seasoning? I’m right in the middle of chopping & almost have everything ready to start simmering. I don’t want to run to the store.
That should be fine!
I’m so excited to try this. Have you ever baked this in the oven instead of the stovetop? Wondering how long and at what temperature. Thank you!!
We have not tried that! Let us know how it goes if you try it.
I am going to roast the vegetables and tomatoes, that should give it great flavor.
I made this recipe, and it’s the bomb! I grew up in an Italian community and was raised on homemade spaghetti sauce. The only minor things I added were 1 Tb crushed fennel and a splash of dry red wine while cooking. In place of the lemon juice to cold pack, I substituted it for red wine vinegar. The recipe yielded 5 qts. If the garden holds out, I’ll can another batch. Can’t wait to use the sauce with our favorite pastas.
This is my 3rd year making this sauce. We have found that it needs more cook time to thicken it up more. I am currently canning the sauce that has been cooking for 24 hrs, and it looks amazing. I love stocking my shelves with home cooked goods
This recipe is an A++ recipe! I want to thank you and you family for sharing! The submersion hand blender was quick and easy! The taste and thickness is perfect!
Do you have a pizza sauce Recipe?
There is a pizza sauce recipe in this guide to making authentic pizza: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/neapolitan-pizza/
I have just made the sauce and would like to process sauce with meat in the pressure cooker. Do I just brown the ground beef and add to the sauce?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Can I add mushrooms to this recipe?
If the recipe is altered we can’t guarantee that it is safe for canning. If you want to add mushrooms, it is probably safest to add them to your pasta dish or to your sauce after it has been canned and you are ready to use. Simply heat the mushrooms with the sauce before serving. Hope this helps!
Can this recipe be made without the sugar?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
I am processing through the tomato mill tonight and will make this tomorrow. How many cups of tomato’s is it after they are processed?
It is about 48 cups of pureed tomatoes!
Would I be able to use citric acid instead of the lemon juice in each jar?
Absolutely!
I forgot to add lemon juice, do I need to re do them all?
The recipe is only safe for canning if the lemon juice is added.
I made this sauce today smells amazing it’s been out of the water bath for about 45 minutes and I haven’t heard any of the jars pop. How long does it normally take before u hear them pop / seal what can I do if I don’t hear them pop starting to get nervous lol.
It can take up to 24 hours! Did they eventually pop?
Is there a reason you wouldn’t use fresh herbs from the garden? Are dried better? This sounds amazing BTW !
Of course fresh herbs from the garden are delicious! However, we have only tested this recipe for canning safety with dried herbs.
Excellent consistency and flavor. I have canned two batches and look forward to winter meals with this great sauce.
I have the KitchenAid fruit and veggie strainer and am wondering if I could use that. If so, at what point in the recipe would I use it? (I’m new to canning)
Thanks!
Using a strainer might make it a little too watery. You definitely want to keep some of the meat of the tomato in the sauce. If you feel like you still get a lot of the tomato pulp then I am sure it would be fine to use. Hope this helps!
Yes, that helps. Thanks.
I used the Kitchenaid strainer and it was wonderful. I used romas, simmered for 5 hours. I used an immersion blender on one can to experiment and next time I make this I will use the immersion blender for the whole batch. It smooths it out and makes it thicker. I just bought more tomatoes to make another batch.
Perfect. Thanks for your answer.
Hello, just wanted to ask if you are to remove the seeds in this recipe? It’s the first one I noticed it didn’t say to unless I missed that step. It sounds delicious 😋🤤!
No, the seeds do not need to be removed. It really comes down to personal preference. We never take them out but it’s up to you.
1st time making pasta sauce and this recipe is the real deal. Turned out great! I didn’t have time to simmer and can the same day, so after bringing sauce to a boil and simmering for about 1 hour, I put it in the fridge for 48 hours then brought up to boil again and simmered for 3 hours before finally canning. I used 3 12 oz cans of paste for a super thick sauce.. Delicious!
I did the pressure canning method but forgot the lemon juice. It’s been about six hours since the cans sealed. Do I need to open them and add the lemon juice and re pressure seal, or will they be ok without it?
We can only vouch for the safety of the recipe as listed, so we would have to recommend adding the lemon juice.
This sauce tastes amazing! I could not keep the men in my household from eating it! I said stop it I will not have enough to can! Thank you for sharing this time tested incredible recipe!!!❤️❤️❤️
Can I substitute minced garlic in a jar for the fresh garlic?? What would you advise as a 1 to q sibstiturs?
You can use minced garlic from the jar!
the best ever, all my friends make it since i gave them a taste. canning it has turned into a yearly event, we are at it as we speak !!!
We love this recipe! We do start with roasting the tomatoes on our pellet grill first. Extra flavor and helps soften them to run through strainer. We cook this in our Nesco but have found we don’t scrape the upper sides off as it simmers down… can taste burnt. 3rd year making this recipe and shared it many times! We also process this in our pressure cookers.
Do you have to use lemon juice if you are pressure canning? I thought lemon juice was only for water bathing?
We use lemon juice with either method!
I want to make this spaghetti recipe. We are not fans of peppers. Can we leave them out of the recipe without compromising the acidity level?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
I am looking at making this tomorrow and you mentioned that you could add lemon juice or red wine. I would like to add red wine do I just substitute for the lemon juice at the same measurements.
Red wine vinegar is an appropriate substitution for the lemon juice. Not just red wine.
Would fresh basil work? I’ve got a ton I need to use…
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Understood. Thank you!
From my canning experience, you can cook them in for flavor, but must remove for canning. .. But do your own research.
Can you prepare the sauce one day and can it the next? I have my tomaotes ready to go but I won’t have time to let it simmer and get it canned all in one day within the next day or so. Is that a problem? I am fairly new to canning.
I advise doing it all in one day, that way your tomato mixture is piping hot when you add it to the jars. Canning is tricky because you don’t want any chance of spoiling or contamination between the hot spaghetti sauce pot to the cans. It is probably best to do it all in one day if possible. Hope this helps!
OK. Thanks. I guess my tomatoes will have to wait another day. I bought them Monday and ran them through the Kitchen Aid strainer Monday night. I will take care of it all starting Thursday morning. Hopefully the juice/pulp will still be fresh enough. Had I known a bunch of conflicts were going to creep up, I would’ve waited to process them until today. They would’ve been fine. But I will do all the rest tomorrow. I look forward to trying the recipe!
I made a mistake!!! I added my lemon juice in the pot with all the sauce and its cooking now! Do i add mor elemon juice when i add them to the jars or is canning it not a good idea anymore?!
I would add a little more to each jar just to be safe!
I made it yesterday and I agree with everyone that it is a fabulous recipe! I followed it precisely and the whole family said it has a very rich flavour. I am tempted to buy more tomatoes and make it again.
I used the KitchenAid strainer attachment (saves SO much time!) to process the tomatoes and I am wondering if I buy more tomatoes and run them through the strainer and freeze it, could I then make this again in a few months time when I am less busy processing everything else that needs to be done?
When I don’t have time to do everything in one day, I leave the mixture in my cooking vessel and cool slightly at room temperature. I then place the mixture in my cooking vessel in the refrigerator. When I’m ready to can, I bring the mixture to a boil so it’s hot. Then I proceed with canning.
Excited to try this recipe! Couple questions: instead of simmering for 4 hours, could I put it in a crock pot all day or would this make it too runny? Also, how long would you process pint jars in a water bath canner?
You can definitely put in a crock pot all day but make sure the lid is off — it will splatter so I don’t know how to best combat that. For the pint jars, only 2-3 minutes less.
If the crockpot method is used, is it still the same amount of time as the stove version or longer?
It would be longer, maybe 6-8 hours.
By far the best I’ve ever had!
Can you use an instant pot to do this recipe?
We haven’t tried it in the instant pot, so I am not sure.
Do I need to use the lemon juice if I’m going to freeze the sauce?
Nope!
My water bath canner only holds 7 quart size jars. Can I let the sauce for the last few jars continue to simmer while the first batch is processing and then process the last few after the first are done? I’m new to canning.
Yep! I do that all the time. I almost always have to work in batches when canning. Hope this helps!
I started making this later in the day
I followed the recipe and cooked the sauce for 5 hours when I stared to can I realized the sauce was thin. I’m wondering what I did wrong? I went ahead and canned it hoping I can thicken it when I use it. Any suggestions for the next time?
Thin sauce can be a result of a few different things like the consistency of the tomatoes or the simmering time. If the sauce is too thin when you are preparing to eat it, you can add some tomato paste to thicken it up.
I made this last year and am currently making it again. Best spaghetti sauce we’ve ever had! Love that it’s not too acidic like some sauces are!
This is my go-to for thick and rich marinara sauce! The combination of ingredients is perfect, and doubling the recipe works great! Thank you for pulling the perfect variety and quantity of ingredients together!
Good morning I’m trying this recipe today but one quick question,are we using fresh bay leaves or dried whole leaves?
You can do either one. I usually just use dried whole because that is what I have on hand. Hope this helps!
I made this last year and it was delicious!! I freeze mine and it works really well. I am curious why you say you need to completely thaw it before heating it?
Would it work to put it in crockpots on high with the lid off and cook it down that way?
Yes you could cook it down that way for sure 🙂 You may still want the lid partially on to avoid splatters.
I made this recipe but with 20 lbs of tomatoes cause that’s all I had. Anyways, I gotta say Thank you for sharing this recipe. It came out AMAZING. Hands down the best sauce I’ve ever eaten and I’m not exaggerating. Y’all I highly recommend you try it out.
I want to use the KitchenAid fruit and veggie strainer to prepare the tomatoes. Can I do that and still follow this recipe?
Absolutely! It will just make it easier for you 🙂
This is the 3rd year in a row I’ve made this recipe and all my family raves over it! I use it throughout the year as pizza sauce by adding some tomato paste. This year I accidentally put 2 TBS of lemon juice in the pint size jars instead of the quart. Will that mess with the flavor/canning for acidity levels?
Nah, it shouldn’t affect it too much. You should be totally fine. I doubt it will even affect the taste at all. Hope this helps! Also– so glad you have enjoyed the recipe!!! – Erica
Is the processing time the same for pint size jars as it is for quart? (40 minutes?)
Technically the smaller jars can be processed quicker, but we don’t have exact time measurements for smaller jars, so I would stick with 40 minutes to be safe.
What is the lemon juice for? I’ve made other recipes of spaghetti sauce for 45 years and have never had this ingredient before.
It is for adding acidity for canning!
Can I add celery to this recipe?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
How many cups of chopped tomatoes would be 25 lbs?
About 2 to 2 1/2 cups is about a pound
Is it necessary to do the water bath right after jarring the sauce, or can I refrigerator sauce and do the water bath the next day?
Thank you.
You will have more success doing it right after jarring the sauce. You want the contents of the jar to be piping hot when you do the water bath. Hope this helps!
My friend and I are having a canning day this weekend and making this recipe. When you peel and quarter your tomatoes, do you remove the core or just leave it? We will be using Roma tomatoes. Thank you!
We only remove the top part of the core that the stem is attached to. You don’t want to have that rough spot in your sauce. We do leave the center pulp and seeds in though. Hope this helps!
I use Roma tomatoes as well. I still run my tomatoes through a food mill. Seeds tend to make your sauce taste sour.
I was wanting to can my own, home grown tomatoes into sauce and found your recipe. Can I omit the sugar? Being diabetic, I can’t do any processed sugar.
Yes, you can omit the sugar. Hope this helps!
What size stock pot do most use? If I double recipe can I use a larger stock pot and cook at once?
Yes, absolutely. I use the largest one I can possibly find. If you can find a huge, restaurant kitchen-sized stock pot that would be awesome.
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Would love to make it as a one meal serving versus canned. Would you happen to have the recipe for 1 quart?
You can just half the recipe for quart jars!
I made a smaller version of this yesterday. Canned 6 pints. It is delicious! Thank you for a quality recipe!
Can you use cherry tomatoes for this sauce?
Sure!
Could I use tomato juice for this recipe, instead of chunk tomatoes? How many gallons of juice equals 25 pounds of tomatoes?
Tomato juice would be much too thin for this recipe. You could maybe get away with crushed tomatoes but tomato juice will be too runny. Hope this helps!
Made your spaghetti sauce last night, that was the best spaghetti sauce I have eaten, my husband loved it, I canned 18 Pints, thank you for sharing this recipe with us
You said to add 8 to 10 tomatoes and then peel. 8 to 10 at a time? Because that would not be 25 lbs. I want to do this recipe again, but I have Roma tomatoes. I’ve been trying to judge the amount of 25 lb with all the ingredients. My recipe has been extra watery. I have been using frozen tomatoes that thaw and then I peel and I am also using fresh that I boil and throw in a ice bath. Any suggestions would help! Thank you!
Yes, 8-10 at a time. You need to do this in batches because 25 pounds will be too much to do at one time. If you are using frozen tomatoes you will definitely have a more watery liquid. Perhaps thaw and drain off some of the liquid or allow more time for the tomatoes to boil down. hope this helps!
I agree. You would have to drain water from frozen tomatoes. I tried usING for spaghetti sauce once before, and frozen creates way too thin sauce for me, even after draining. I use frozen tomatoes to make and can plain tomato sauce, along with all the peels and clean scraps from making spaghetti sauce. Cook for an hour or two, run through tomato mill and then cook for another 4 hours. This lets me get every drop of goodness out of tomatoes. I’ll even freeze scraps from first batches until I have enough for a canning.
What about the seeds? Are they ok in the sauce?
We usually leave the seeds in and our family likes it!
Have now made this four times just this harvesting season. Any tomato works and don’t skip the soy sauce! I used lower sodium soy and much more red pepper because we like it spicy. Also used citric acid to can instead of lemon juice. My favorite sauce for pizza, dipping, lasagna, everything. So worth peeling all those tomatoes, even the cherry. Thank you for sharing!!
You bet! So glad you like the recipe!
I use an immersion blender and it takes care of the peels.
Thank you! Just what I was wondering. I will do just that. No waste.
I am wanting to try this sauce but I’m wondering about the nutritional values…. like the sodium, is the values listed per jar or per the whole batch.
The nutritional information is per serving, not per jar. Hope this helps!
I put the lemon juice in sauce prior to cooking will it still be fine?
Yes, that should be alright!
Wonderful!!!!
I mis-read the recipe and didn’t add the tomato paste but was using paste tomatoes and it thickened nicely. I made 1/4 batch as a test run. Only substitution I made was Jalapeno pepper in place of green pepper & omitted the red pepper flakes (only because I grew the tomatoes, peppers & Jalapenos, so might as well use them). Never got a chance to can it LOL. Perfect amount for 1 lb spaghetti. Needless to say, this will be my go to recipe & she’s right, add the weird ingredients. This sauce is AWESOME! Will be making (and canning) full batches as soon as my tomatoes are ready. Thank you!
Can I make pint sized instead of quarts with this recipe?
Sure! Just half the amount of lemon juice in each jar.
CAN I USE PINT SIZE JARS INSTEAD OF QUART?
Of course!
Could you substitute citric acid for the lemon juice
Yes. It citric acid can be used instead of lemon juice. 1/4 teaspoon powdered Citric Acid is equivalent to 1 Tablespoon lemon juice. Hope this helps!
This recipe looks great! Wondering if I can use fresh herbs instead of dry?? I have a lot to harvest!
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Doesn’t sauce need a little oil in the recipe to help coat the pasta??
Contrary to popular belief, oil actually causes the sauce to slide off the pasta. The best way to get sauce to stick to a pasta is to add a little bit of the water from the pasta pot before you drain it!
I found this recipe last year when i wanted a change from my recipe. I came back to this recipe this year because after sitting on the shelf and all the flavors join together, this recipe is outstanding. My 25 pounds of tomatoes are on the stove now for my second year after harvesting some from the garden. The only change i made is using dehydrated onion, because i feel safer with acid levels. Thank you so much for this recipe outstanding.
Second year making this recipe, it’s by far our favourite. We add some jalapeños to give it a kick.
There is only two of us in the household eating so a quart is a lot of sauce for the two of us.
How much lemon juice would you use for pint sized jars??
You should use 1 Tablespoon for pint sized jars! Glad you guys liked it!
Can I use citric acid instead of the lemon juice?
Yes. It citric acid can be used instead of lemon juice. 1/4 teaspoon powdered Citric Acid is equivalent to 1 Tablespoon lemon juice. Hope this helps!
My family loved this sauce and ate one of the 9 jars in one night! Today when I checked on the remaining 8 jars, I noticed there was separation.
Should this occur? I made the batch of 9 jars about a month ago and they are stored in dark, cool, area. Thank you in advance.
Separation can happen, and it is totally fine! Just give it a good shake before using.
One comment says I can add meat to this recipe. Cooked ground beef? Then you would HAVE to use the pressure canner if meat is added?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Any suggestions if I am 5 pounds short of tomatoes?
I am attempting to make this recipe however, I do not have 25 lb of tomatoes. Do you have details to reduce the amount – such as cooking times etc.? I have approx 10 lbs of tomatoes.
You can use canned tomatoes for the rest of the 25 lbs if you’d like! We do not have exact measurements and cooking times for a reduced amount of tomatoes.
What kind of tomatoes do you recommend? I have cherry and Roma with that work? Do you have to peel the tomatoes?
Cherry and Roma work great! And yes, you do peel the tomatoes. You’ll see in step 2 an easy way to peel them!
Can I use coconut aminos in place of soy sauce?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Please explain what the soy sauce does? Thank you
It adds a deeper umami or savory flavor to the sauce. It is so delicious!
This is going to be my first time canning spaghetti sauce how long after canning the sauce should you wait to eat it.
You can eat it right away!
OMG…this is the best tomato sauce I have ever made…was a little iffy on the soy sauce, but followed the recipe as written and turned out fabulous. I used 25 lbs of several different verity of tomatoes from my garden to make this sauce. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe and will defiantly use again!!!
That is so great to hear! Thank you for sharing. We are happy that you tried it and loved it!
Is there a soy sauce substitute I can use?
Have a soy allergy.
Some substitutes can be tamari, fish sauce, or Worcestershire sauce. These may alter the taste and texture of the spaghetti sauce too. You may want to try it before canning and make sure that is the flavor that you like. Hope that helps!
How much meat should I add to this recipe?
You can add 1 to 2 pounds of meat to this recipe. It is delicious mixed together!
I am glad I found this recipe to use again this year. I have been canning for over 40 years and by far this is the best! I made this sauce in a large insta post and pressure canned it to save time. I’m all out and need sauce so I’m attempting to cut the recipe down to use up my canned tomatoes for a single meal. Wish me luck. Thank you so much for sharing
Wow! So glad that we can help. You are going to do great!
I don’t have a pressure cooker so I will water can . How long do I boil the sauce in the jar? First time canning
You will boil the water for about 1 to 2 minutes long. Have a fun time canning!
In the video, a liquid was added to the stock pot and stirred about at the very end just prior to placing into jars. Was this the lemon juice? Does the lemon juice also go into each jar?
Good eye! Yes, the last ingredient is the lemon juice. You can either do it this way or add lemon juice to the jars once they are heated.
Interested in trying to make this sauce and wanted to make sure that fresh squeezed lemon juice is okay to use.
Yes, that will be great as well. Enjoy canning!
No – You should not use fresh squeezed lemon juice for canning as the ph can vary. Use bottled juice only.
Can I add cook type clear gel to my batch?
Yes, that would work well too! Enjoy your spaghetti sauce. Homemade is always best!
My first year gardening a few veggies. I plan to try this, however I would like to know if you remove the seeds or not? I noticed this was asked earlier this year but question had no reply. Thank you
Either way is fine! You don’t have to remove them, but you can if they bother you.
Is it safe to add chopped mushrooms to this recipe?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
I have a recipe for roasted garlic, tomatoes and onion spaghetti sauce that I will be pressure canning. Is it safe to add ‘canned’ crushed tomatoes to recipe? Thank you
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
I am excited to try this recipe but I have regular tomatoes not roma will it still be okay and can you use citric acid instead of lemon juice?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Looking for to trying this recipe once my tomatoes start to ripen. What is your preference to water batch canning (shelf life 1/5 yr) vs pressure canning (shelf life?)
Thanks and appreciate you sharing this great recipe
Both are great options! We eat this spaghetti sauce pretty quickly so we don’t need more than half a year on the shelf!
Hi! I’m interested in making this recipe but am wondering about the hours it simmers. Is that to blend the flavors? Would it be okay to just simmer for about an hour? Thanks!
Yes, it is to let the flavors blend. You can shorten the simmering time if needed.
I made this recipe for the first time and I am a little new at canning. When I jarred all the sauce up I ended up with 11 jars. I felt like I fallowed everything. Now I am worried that the acid level will be off. So I added an extra tablespoon of lemon juice.
Help! Do you leave the seeds in or do you deseed the tomatoes after you peel them? Looking forward to can ing this sauce!
Can you substitute raw cane sugar for the brown sugar? I am so excited to make this recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Substitutions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Hello, so excited to try this recipe this summer.
If i’m pressure canning do I still add lemon juice to each jar?
Thanks so much!
Yes! You should still add the lemon to make sure the acid levels are right for canning.
I don’t have a scale to weigh my tomatoes, which are medium to large in size. About how many tomatoes would I need to use to make 25 lbs?
Usually 2 average sized tomatoes equal 1 lb. I hope this helps!
What kind of tomatoes are the best for this sauce?
Our favorites are Roma or San Marzano!
This recipe sounds amazing and I would love to can it, could I use tomatoes I have already canned? If yes, how many quarts would I use for your recipe?
We’ve had other readers say that 5 quarts of canned tomatoes works great for this recipe!
OMG! this is the best sauce ever!!
Since we had a super good crop of tomatoes this year I’m very thankful I found your recipe. I made a couple of batches and canned several quarts. Now I wish I had even more. We love this sauce so much we drink it like V8 juice. I did grill the green peppers and onions before adding them into the sauce.
Thanks for a wonderful recipe that I will use for years to come!
I’m so happy you love this recipe as much as we do! Thank you for sharing your tip for adding grilled peppers and onions. Great idea!
I thought adding other things like fresh vegetables messed with the pH of the total batch and we weren’t supposed to do that to stay safe.
The green peppers and onions are already in the recipe. This reader just grilled them before adding.
I love making spaghetti sauce from my garden tomatoes and veggies. It taste so fresh and I can add more or less of what I like.
We make spaghetti a ton & to have this on hand, makes it so nice & convenient. Plus, it tastes so good!!
Hi! I just made this recipe and I am super stoked! I do have a few questions, once taken out from the 40 minute water bath is it bad to press on the lids right away? Does that mess with the air in the jar? Also how can you really test if you canned the sauce properly?
You can tighten the lids as soon as they are cool enough to touch. It doesn’t mess with the air. There isn’t really a way to “test” to see if it is canned properly. The best way to tell is if the seal on the lid is pressed in. If it still makes a “pop” sound when you press on the top of the lid after it has cooled completely, it didn’t seal properly. You will want to put that jar in the fridge and use it within a few days. Hope that helps!
Can I use a high quality canned tomatoes leaning towards a cento san marzano. If canned tomatoes work would I still use 25lbs of canned tomatoes. Has anyone used canned tomatoes with good results. Thanks
Yes, that would absolutely work, and yes still 25 pounds. Hope you enjoy!
Have used this recipe 2 years in a row and have loved it. We did a couple of different things to make a more sweeter sauce. 1) roast the tomatoes with skins on in the oven for 30-40 min at 400 f. Roast until the skins start to break. This brings out the tomato sweetness
2) carmelized the onions
3) sauteed the peppers
All 3 of these really make the recipe TOP NOTCH
Please help! I’ve had really good spaghetti sauce recipes but when canned, they ended up tasting like an Italian seasoning factory! What has been your take on this after it’s sat on the shelf for a month or two? I’m hoping this one works. Any ideas?
We haven’t had this issue with this recipe. If it is too intense, you can always add a little tomato paste or canned tomato sauce.
Hello,
How long will this last on the shelf if canned properly in a water bath?
It should last a year on the shelf!
I love having homemade spaghetti sauce on had during the winter months. It tastes so much for fresh too!
Oh yes this was absolutely delicious. Good thing my kiddos know how to make pasta noodles. They loved this sauce with it and will make a batch of noodles to have with the sauce for an afternoon snack. Daily!! lol It’s SO good.
Rich in flavor, this spaghetti sauce is delicious!! I will be making a big batch to store in jars!!
Love this!! We eat a lot of spaghetti & having the sauce on hand & made already, makes my life so much easier!
Thank you so much for this amazing and really delicious spaghetti sauce recipe! It’s super easy to make! Will surely have this again, Highly recommended!
Hello, I will be making this for the third time in less than a year. This is going to be the 2nd time I’ve doubled the recipe. I have given over half of it away and everyone wants more. I roast all my veggies first and then put everything through the vitamix before cooking it. I’m going to even roast the tomatoes a little before putting them in the vitamix this time. I’m sure it will add a little different flavour as well.
I was wondering if you have a recipe for tomato paste? I would like to try making that next.
So glad you’ve loved this recipe! We don’t have a recipe for tomato paste, but that is something we might look into in the future!
I removed the water from the tomatoes as they were cooking and it basically came out as paste. The flavour is great. A happy accident on my part. Just thought I’d share.
So much flavor🍅🫑🌶🧅🧄
Awesome sauce!! I thought I was done canning for the season but a friend gave me 45 pounds of tomatoes. Used half the tomatoes for juice and decided to try your recipe for spaghetti sauce. Made a batch this week and canned 7 quarts but ate for dinner what I didn’t can. Huge recipe! Used an 18 quart electric roaster to simmer it as I didn’t have a kettle large enough! Didn’t peel or de-seed tomatoes, just left in chunks, slowly adding more as they started to cook. Used an immersion blender to get rid of big chunks and peel. But waited to add onions & peppers until after using blender, I wanted a chunky sauce! Was short on peppers and garlic but it was still delish! Added a bottle of Guiness Beer and some powdered beef base. Started in morning and went about my business, occasionally stirring. Simmered in roaster about 6 hours. Pressure canned it. Now, hoping I can get more tomatoes and make another batch!! Thanks!
Great flavour a wee bit spicy but nice. I put mine in ziplock bags and froze the sauce about 1.5 cups foe 2. This will be my go too . Just another 50lbs of garden fresh tomatoes to do.😊
Can I use a water bath canner instead of a pressure cooker?
This particular recipe for canned spaghetti sauce hasn’t been “officially” tested for water-bath canning. However, after MUCH research, we’ve found that if you add lemon juice to the jars this recipe is acidic enough for canning. Tomatoes are in the “gray area” of having enough acidity, so they might be just fine on their own. But adding a bit of lemon juice ensures their acidity. If you’re still worried, you can pressure can them or add more lemon juice or red wine vinegar.
Can you use a steam bath canner for this recipe?
Yes!
Can you substitute the brown sugar with Swerve brown sugar to make it a bit more keto friendly?
We have only approved this specific recipe for canning safety, so we cannot recommend any substitutions. Sorry about that!
I have used this recipe and substituted with the “swerve” bs substitute. Turned out amazing! Making another batch now! My new favorite sauce recipe!!❤
Does the lemon juice change the flavor of the sauce?
We don’t ever notice it! It is just for pH leveling for canning.
Could you substitute vinegar, 5%, for the lemon juice?
We have only approved this specific recipe for canning safety, so we cannot recommend any substitutions. Sorry about that!
According to this canning site, 4Tbsp of 5% vinegar per quart can be used in place of lemon juice, but may change the flavour (perhaps because you need twice as much). Red wine vinegar might be nice, or it might not be noticeable enough to be worth the change, I might try with a few jars. https://nchfp.uga.edu/tips/summer/canned_tomato_types.html
The spice blend in this recipe is yummy! Thank you! Instead of blanching tomatoes, I usually roast them (skin on) with onion and garlic (and pepper, if using) prior to immersion blending and simmering. Roasting adds flavor and you can peel off the tomato skins once they cool a little.
Can I half the recipe? I haven’t tried the recipe yet since i’m a novice to canning, but would like to start out small. Thanks!! 🙂
Sure!
Best ever. Making it second year!
If I use fresh basil how munch should I use?
We have only approved this specific recipe for canning safety, so we cannot recommend any substitutions. Sorry about that! If you do want to add fresh basil, you could freeze the sauce instead of canning. The rule of thumb ratio for dried herbs to fresh herbs is to multiply by three, so 9 tablespoons of fresh basil should do the trick!
A previous comment asked about cup measurements. I replied with another question, but decided to post my own comment for others with the same questions.
You stated that a large onion yields 3 cups chopped. I have regular sized onions, which yield 1 – 1 1/2 cups chopped. If you use large onions for this recipe, then you’re using about 15 cups chopped? Regular onions would yield about 7 cups chopped. Onions are a low acid vegetable, so the quantity makes a big difference in the acidity of the sauce for canning.
Also, while I’m here, I substitute a few Jalepeño peppers for some of the green or red peppers without changing quantity. It gives it a little extra “kick.”
Great Recipe!!
You want about about 7-8 cups of chopped onions.
Thanks so much! We love this sauce! My husband doesn’t want me to tell our kids I made it, “because they’ll want you to send them some!” Which I do , of course!
The flavor is amazing but ours turns out runny. Do you do anything to thicken it up when you use it?
You can add an 8oz can of tomato paste to thicken it up when you use it from the can! Hope this helps!
I bottled 24 quarts of Tomato Juice and didn’t know what to do with the 12 pounds of leftover tomato meat. This recipe saved the day, smelled and tasted delicious!! I got 5 quarts of sauce but just realized i put lime juice not lemon in my jars, is that going to be ok?
Yes it should be fine! They have a very similar pH!
You can also dehydrate the tomato meat and powder it to use as flavoring!
quick question, Do you add 2 tablespoons to each jar or batch?
Each jar!
How much lemon juice for pint size jars?
1 tablespoon for pint jars 🙂
Do you put the lemon juice in the jars and leave it? What’s the juice for?
The lemon juice is to help balance the pH of the sauce to be safe for canning. Hope this helps!
I love garlic. Wouldn’t having extra garlic eliminate the need for citric acid?
We have only approved this specific recipe for canning safety, so we cannot recommend any substitutions. Sorry about that!
Is the instructions correct that you have to simmer this for 4-5 hours?
Yep! That is how the flavors get really strong and blend together well.
Also, one more question. I have a dial gauge pressure canner. Not a weighted gauge. Is there a difference in the processing times? Or am I even able to use a dial gauge canner? Thanks!
I haven’t used a dial gauge canner, so I am not sure! Maybe there is some info on Google?
I’m confused. If we used a weighted gauge canner, how can we tell we are at 10lbs of pressure. Shouldn’t it be a dial gauge anyway??
My canner is weighted gauge. Two rings, five pounds with no rings (the weight holder is five pounds on its own) and each ring is five pounds. So if you have two rings on it’s fifteen pounds total.
Hi! I’m planning to use mostly San marzano tomatoes and try your sauce this week. My question is with the weight. Do you weigh the 25 pounds of tomatoes before or after trimming and dicing? A lot of my tomatoes are all different sizes and if I weigh them before cooking, the weight would change after trimming and coring them. Thanks!!
We usually weigh them before we trim and core them!
This sauce is the best I have ever tasted. I made it this afternoon and am going to heat it up and water bath can it tomorrow when I get home from work. Thank you for such a great recipe! I omitted the oregano and red pepper flakes because I didn’t have any. I just added extra dried basil from my garden. I will definitely be sharing this recipe with anyone who grows tomatoes, it’s so delicious! I can’t wait to crack a jar open this winter and enjoy it.
So glad you like it!!
Do you need to deseed tomatoes?
You can if you want to, but it isn’t necessary.
Can’t wait to try this. It will be my first time canning tomato sauce. Some of the jars I will using are 48 oz, how long should I process them in the water bath?
For the larger jars, I would add 5 minutes. Here is a link to the National Center for Home Food Preservation to read more about canning times and elevation: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/selecting_correct_process_time.html
I always use fennel bulb chopped finely sautéed with peppers and onion in my sauce recipe, and add Romano cheese.. would these be safe to add to the canning recipe using the water bath way..
The fennel bulb is fine to add with the peppers and onions, but don’t add the cheese. It’s best to add the cheese when you prepare the sauce to serve later. Thanks for asking!
Can I used fresh basil instead of dried?
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning. If you are going to change our recipe in any way, I would suggest freezing it instead.
You can add fresh basil but the issue is that dried is more flavorful. You can insti-dri basil in the oven.
I accidentally got 3 green peppers and 2 red. Will that be ok?
Yes, that is totally fine 🙂
I will be making this in the next few days to can in a hot water bath. Instead of lemon juice can I is citric acid and if so how much. I’m following your recipe but I have 70# of tomatoes. TIA
Yes. It citric acid can be used instead of lemon juice. 1/4 teaspoon powdered Citric Acid is equivalent to 1 Tablespoon lemon juice. Hope this helps!
Do I have to put lemon juice in if I am pressure canning my jars?
Yes! The lemon juice helps to balance the acidity of the recipe.
What if if going to be freezing sauce instead of canning? Still need lemon juice and 1/2 inch space?
You will need the 1/2 inch space since the sauce will expand when it freezes, but you can omit the lemon juice!
I can’t wait to try canning with this recipe. May I use canned diced tomatoes from the grocery store? I hope so; just purchased 25 pounds worth 😀
Yes!
We canned this recipe exactly as written last September/October and found the taste to be perfectly awesome! We processed the filled jars with our pressure cooker canner and felt very confident in the outcome of the canning process. On inspecting the jars this summer I’m finding a wavy ring of lighter orange hanging around the top 1/4 inch of sauce in the jars. This is happening in the wide mouth jars we used. We’re not seeing that same orange layer in the small mouth jars we canned of the same recipe. ( Different batches though) Have you or anyone here had that happen? Wondering about safety if product… so sad because we loved this recipe sooo much!
I’m not exactly sure what you mean. It is normal to have some discoloration in the headspace of the jar after canning and after it has been on the shelf for a few months. It could be some of the oil that the veggies were sautéed in that has risen to the top. As long as the jars are completely sealed you should be fine.
Is it possible to send a couple of pictures of the jars to you?
Thanks so much for sharing this awesome recipe! I’ve been chopping and freezing our homegrown tomatoes for the past weeks, and I finally had enough ready to make the spaghetti sauce today. It tastes so good, and I can’t wait to share it with my family soon. YUMMY!!!
How are you chopping and freezing? Blanching first? I just am new to this and don’t have enough tomatoes yet!
How many cups would this be of skinned, seeded, drained tomato’s? Or how can I measure by cup verse weight at no tomato’s have the same water weight
You should have about 40-50 cups, give or take a few. This is just an approximation. It will vary based on water amount and how much is drained off. Hope this helps!
What kind of salt?
Just table salt will do!
Another one of your answers to this same questions stated 1 lb= 1.5 cups chopped tomatoes. 25 lbs would equal 37.5 lbs in this answer. That is quite the difference between 37.5 and 50 cups.
Also wondering what kind of pot to use. My largest one holds 25 cups of chopped tomatoes. How do you get 37.5 cups plus all the other ingredients in one pot? Thought someone mentioned a nesco, but I can’t find that response. Thanks
I would go by the 25 lbs. You would either need to get a bigger pot or split it into two batches with the pot that you have. Hope that helps!
I am interested in making this recipe. Has anyone every tried to do it in an instant pot to cut down on the time?
I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I’m excited to! If I use pint size jars instead of quarts do the pressure canning instructions remain the same? Also, about how long can this sauce be kept on the shelf after canning?
Yes, pint sized jars should be fine. The sauce stays good on the shelf for about a year!
So my tomatoes are ripening in intervals…so im taking skin off, seeding em, blending them the freezing em to make sauce when its cooler. Didnt add anything like spices or anything to em. When i defrost n drain excess water from them…what is the ratio of weight for blended tomatoes?
1 pound of fresh tomatoes roughly equates to about 3 cups for pureed tomatoes. If you are draining off the liquid after freezing, it will probably reduce that amount by a bit, depending on how much liquid you drain off. Hope this helps!
If I was using frozen tomatoes I wouldn’t drain off the liquid when the thaw. You’ll be losing flavour. Just cook them down.
Is it possible to cut this recipe down to require 1/4 of the ingredients? I want to make about 5 pints to try it out. I can’t find a tested canning recipe for spaghetti sauce that is on the small scale. Any help is so appreciated!
If you are going to adjust the scale of this recipe, I would suggest freezing it instead of canning it. That way you can try out the taste without the risk of canning an unsafe recipe. I hope this helps!
I first made this recipe in 2018. I wrote the recipe down but somehow lost it. I was so happy when I googled canning homemade spaghetti sauce that this recipe came up!!! This is by far the BEST recipe I have ever used. We are making 4 batches today. Kitchen is in chaos with all the kids helping but wouldn’t have it any other way. Thanks so much for the recipe and the memories I have of our family together in the kitchen. 😊
This is why we do what we do! Thank you so much for sharing this sweet review!
How many grams or oz of peppers chopped up and how many grams or oz of onions chopped up?
You would have to use a conversion chart to determine the grams & oz. I didn’t use grams and oz to prepare the recipe so I can’t tell you for sure. The amounts of the ingredients don’t need to be exact, you can just use liquid measuring cups to determine the amounts you need. Hope this helps!
Do you remove/strain out the seeds? I’m going to make this today and would rather not deal with the extra steps.
We don’t take the seeds out, but you can if you want to add the extra step. Thanks for asking!
Hello! It’s planting season in Minnesota and I’m going to try your recipe! What tomatoes do you recommend for this canning recipe?
San Marzano or Roma are the best for spaghetti sauce!
If I am not waterbathing, but pressure canning, can I delete the lemon juice step?
This is so good, I don’t want to add lemon juice.
Unfortunately, for this recipe the lemon juice is necessary! It helps the pH of the sauce to be safe for canning. I don’t notice much of a taste change when I add it! I hope this helps!
Do you have to fill the jars to the rim with the sauce for the water canning?
I could only find BIG jars and really don’t want to open a big jar for the 2 of us
Unfortunately, yes, you will want to fill them as stated in the recipe. Otherwise you will have too much headspace in the jar and could cause discoloration of the sauce. Hope this helps!
Oh my goodness this is amazing spaghetti sauce. I just canned 6 quarts and planning to get more tomatoes to do more this week. It’s delicious!
Could I add mushrooms to this recipe and if so how much do you recommend adding? Thanks much
We have only gotten approval for canning for this exact recipe. Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning. If you are really wanting to add mushrooms, I would suggest freezing the sauce instead of canning.
Is it okay to freeze them instead?
Yes you can freeze the sauce!
I will be pressure canning this recipe. It says you can add meat, but not how much. Is there a certain amount that is safe to add?
If I use citric acid instead of lemon juice, how much would I add to each quart jar?
Thanks!
I don’t have an answer for you regarding the meat. We have only confirmed the canning safety of this recipe exactly as written. In regards to the citric acid though, that should be okay. One tablespoon of bottled lemon juice is equal to 1/4 teaspoon citric acid, so just adjust as necessary. Hope this helps!
Do you think I could omit the sugar?
If you are going to can the sauce, I would not omit the sugar because we only have this exact recipe approved for canning and changing it could be dangerous. If you want to leave the sugar out, you would need to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
I can’t get good quality fresh tomatoes at the moment. I was wondering if I could substitute with canned? And if so, do you know the conversion?
Yes you can use canned! I would use about 12 quarts (or 3 gallons) of tomatoes. Try to get halved or whole tomatoes, as diced will be too watery.
Wondering if you have ever had the problem of the added acid making the final sauce too acidic? Perhaps lemon juice is the wiser choice (I used citric acid), but how would you recommend pulling out the extra acidity?
If the taste is too acidic, you can add a little baking soda when you are heating the sauce up to eat. If that doesn’t work, you can also add a little butter to neutralize the acid. Hope this helps!!
Just wondering if this is a tested recipe. Thank you.
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by tested, but we’ve been making it for years!!
I’ve made this the last few years & it’s our favorite! I don’t think we can go back to store bought
I have many Roma’s; and I plan to seed them; do I need to add more than 25 pounds of tomatoes to make up the loss of seed, etc.??
Yes, you will want to add more tomatoes because you will be losing juice from the tomato as well as seeds. How many more will depend on the size and ripeness of your tomatoes. Thanks for asking!
Can this be frozen instead of canned? Thank you.
Yes!
I have been making red sauce for years, trying to find the perfect recipe. Last year I found your recipe and my family and friends love it, hands-down the best red sauce we’ve had. It rivals five star Italian restaurant sauce!
This year we planted 40 tomato plants and I am starting on my first batch of red sauce. Thank you so much for posting this delicious recipe.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this sweet review! We are so glad you love this recipe!
Good sauce, but found too sweet for my taste. Plan to try again with 1/2 the sugar.
I love finding good from scratch replacement recipes! This is a gem of a find, thank you!!!
This is wonderful! I go through so much spaghetti sauce! With trying to stock up, this is the perfect thing to make a bunch of!
Hello
This looks wonderful but curious why so high in carbs?
Thanks Denise
The nutrition information is per quart jar. So, that is how many carbs are in the whole jar.
Extremely flavorful! It’s so great to have homemade pasta sauce on hand anytime I want it! Just head down to the basement, grab a jar, and bask in the wonderful smells of homemade sauce! I found my neighbors are huge fans of getting a jar gifted to them, too!
Question? If i use canned tomatoes, say San Marzano should I include the juice the tomatoes are packed in?? Thanks, JOhn
Yes, I would add the juice that they are packed in.
This sounds similar to our family recipe. I totally understand using soy sauce. It adds the umami to the sauce that I use anchovies or anchovy paste for. I also use regular sugar so I will definitely try with brown sugar. Thank you for sharing.
Can I add other veggies to this recipe like carrots and zucchini if I am canning the sauce?
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning. If you are unsure about whether or not it will be safe to can, you can always freeze it.
Is it a spicy sauce with the red pepper flakes.
Our family is very sensitive to spicy foods and we don’t have a problem with this recipe!
Can the peppers, onions and tomatoes be roasted first?
Sure!
i forgot the worchestire sauce, would it make a difference, or should i substitute something else
I would add some extra soy sauce just to make sure the acidity stays at the right level.
This has become our families favorite spaghetti sauce. I made 37 quarts of sauce and I am getting reading to make another 37. Thank you for sharing this. It takes work and I can see where people would be hesitant, but do yourself a favor….you won’t regret it!
i put all the lemon juice in the pot by mistake , what should i do
If you put the sauce into jars right after you added the lemon juice, you should be fine. However, if you let it boil after you added it, it might have boiled some of it off. I would still add about 1 tbsp to each jar. Hope this helps!
Can I skip the red peppers and use all green? I am trying to use up my garden haul and have a ton of green peppers!
Yes that should be fine!
My family loves this sauce! This is the first
year I’ve tried making Spaghetti Sauce, although I’ve canned lots of things over the years! Delicious 😋
Will it still be safe for canning if I make this recipe without the onion? I am allergic.
I can’t really speak to the safety of any recipe besides the exact recipe we listed. If you are worried about it, you can freeze it instead of canning.
what is the approximate yield on this recipie I want to can it in pints because there is only two of us at home quarts would be too much im thinking
This recipe would make 20 pints!
Is there any chance that you have cup measurements for the onions and peppers? I freeze my peppers throughout the summer and it would be great to know for sure how much to use. Thanks and I can’t wait to try this recipe!
One pepper usually yields 1 cup chopped, and one large onion usually yields about 3 cups chopped. I hope this helps!
Are you saying you use large onions? So about 15 cups of onion? I have regular size onions, and each yields about a cup when chopped.
You want about about 7-8 cups of chopped onions.
I’m downsizing the recipe in half. Can I add Zucchini, mushrooms and/or other vegetables in this recipe for canning and how do I figure out how much other veggies to put in it? Would they require prepping differently then the others in this recipe?
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.
Yum! So good! I made this today-follow the recipe with one exception- I added one cup of merlot in the beginning. Will definitely be making again. Thank you for sharing!
I am canning my sauce today and cant wait! Do you put 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in EVERY jar?
TY
YES, you want to put it in every jar. Don’t worry, you won’t be able to taste it. It just keeps it safe when canning. 🙂
I forgot to pit kemon juice in the jars. What should I do?
I wouldn’t can it. I would freeze it instead! I worry that the acidity won’t be high enough to can.
I had already added 2-3 more lbs of tomatoes BEFORE reading the Q&A. I canned all 9 quart sized jars and added the proper amount of citric acid to each jar before filling. Should I be concerned that I added a few more tomatoes? Thank you for the recipe!
I think that should be okay, if you added the citric acid.
Could you freeze this sauce once made?
Absolutely!
Absolutely wonderful sauce. Making a second batch!
Do you have to use tomato paste?
Yes, if you don’t use the tomato paste, it will not be the right consistency. It will be too runny.
I usually use tomato paste when I make this but forgot to get some the last time I made it. I just tried to remove more of the seeds and gel. It was a little bit thinner but still worked well over pasta!
Absolute favorite pasta sauce BTW! My most picker eater was heart broken when we ran out over winter! 🙂
By far the best pasta sauce I have ever canned for my family. So good that my husband grabbed a pan and cooked some rotini to eat it immediately once he tasted it. I made 8 quarts, looks like I will be making more!
Can you use canned tomatoes?
Sure!
This is a really good recipe. My husband does not like tomatoes or any kind of tomato based sauce, and even he thought it was really good. My daughter, who is also not a tomato fan, asked for spaghetti for dinner after I let her taste the sauce just so she could have more!
Do you remove the seeds from the tomatoes before you can?
We usually don’t remove them, but you can!
Can I cut this recipe in half and still can it, my tomatoes gave up this year and only produced sm tomatoes.
Yeah of course!
If half the recipe, would the simmer time still be the same?
Yes, I would think so. You still want the flavors to have time to meld together.
I was wondering if anyone has had success replacing the brown sugar with Sukrin Gold Brown sugar alternative and the soy sauce with coconut aminos?
If you elect to freeze the sauce would you eliminate the lemon juice? Thanks!
Yes! You don’t need the lemon juice if you are freezing.
Does this recipe use canning salt or just regular salt?
We just use regular salt, but I’m sure canning salt would work too!
Can you use citric acid instead of lemon juice?
Sure!
Can you add garlic? My man loves it?
Yes, you should be fine adding garlic. 🙂
Can I use sliced peppers and onions instead of chopping them?
Sure!
If pressure canning do you need the lemon juice?
Yes. The tomatoes don’t add enough acidity by themselves.
I forgot to add the lemon juice!!! The jars are already boiling. What do I do? Is it all ruined now?
Unfortunately, I would not continue with the canning. I would freeze it instead. The acidity level won’t be right and it will be unsafe.
How many cups of tomato’s would this be?
One pound of tomatoes is about 1.5 cups chopped. Hope this helps!
I accidently added the lemon juice to tomatoe sauce instead of jars. Should I still add the lemon juice in jars before I pressure cook them?
I don’t like green peppers. Can I leave those out of the recipe? Or is it not a noticeable taste in the finished recipe?
I don’t think its very noticeable, especially because it is pureed. However, if you are worried about it you can substitute more of another pepper.
Could I cut the peppers down to 2 green and 1 red? I will be pressure canning. Also if I’m doing multiple batches would it be okay to make the sauce and leave it in the fridge a day or two before heating back up to can?
Yes to both of your questions!
I made this recipe last year, it was amazing! Just wondering if I use more green peppers than red, will it mess with the acidity level?
I think that should be fine!
This is the third year we are making this sauce. It is delicious and the only spaghetti sauce my granddaughter wants to eat anymore. We use a Victoria Strainer to put the tomatoes through. It removes the skin and seeds and produces the maximum amount of pulp. It makes it so easy and quick to prepare the tomatoes for cooking. We use 2 – 18 ounce cans of tomato paste, fresh basil and Italian parsley from my herb garden, only 1 tsp of red pepper and 1 cup of dry red wine. Perfecto! We also pressure can the sauce per the recipe. We make 2 batches so we can give some as Christmas gifts.
Making the sauce tomorrow. Can I use a Nesco roaster to simmer the sauce for the 4 hours?
I’m not sure what a Nesco Roaster is, but as long as it heats the sauce to a simmer you should be fine!
Making the recipe now and it tastes great! I want to make a second batch but don’t have enough bell peppers. What do you think about using Italian peppers instead of bell peppers?
I think that would work!
This was delicious! Best recipe I have tried so far! I did NOT blanch and peel my tomatoes because that is a lot of work. It was not a necessary step! I just rough chopped up everything, threw it in the pot together with the other ingredients and cooked on the stove for 4 hours. I also used about 3 T of fresh chopped basil from my garden as I do not have dehydrated basil but once my tomatoes are bursting out of my garden so is my basil:) I then used an immersion blender to make it nice and smooth, but that isn’t needed if you prefer a chunky sauce. I added lemon juice to the jars to ensure acidity was there for long term storage.
We are making this now but unless I’m missing it, the recipe doesn’t say when to use the red bell peppers. We are just going to use the food processor on them along with the green bell pepper and onions. Thanks!
That works!
This is absolutely delicious! We’re going to try using some of it as pizza sauce. In the nutrition info, how much is a serving? Thanks!
The nutrition info is for one quart jar! Hope this helps!
So one quart jar is 332 calories? Just want to make sure I’m calculating correctly 😊
Yep! That’s right.
I changed red pepper flakes to cayenne powder. Reduced to 8 huge cloves. Still a strong garlic taste. The bell peppers used were 3 green, 1 red.
These changes were due to on hand and personal preference.
It turned out amazing! A spicy yet sweet sauce with a deep flavor.
I followed the recipe to the T and I must say it is so delicious. Reminds me of my Mom’s sauce she use to make and she was very much Italian. I boiled all the tomatoes for about 10 minutes after cutting into quarters and then put through a mill removing all but the juice Leaving behind skins and seeds. Pressure canned. Can’t wait to make sourdough bread to dip into a warm cup of it. My Levain is fermenting for the bread tomorrow. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
As my tomatoes are ripening, I’m processing them (taking the skins off) and chopping and putting in the freezer to later make my sauce. I didn’t actually weigh the tomatoes first.
If I weigh the finished chopped up tomatoes, 25# should still be fine for the recipe, shouldn’t it??
Yes! That should work!
This is amazing and I took a shortcut by pressure cooking it. I used to make passatta with my toms, this is far better
Is it ok to add fresh basil instead of dried? Do I need to adjust anything?
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.
I want to add dry red wine to this recipe. Problem?
We haven’t tried it with wine before, so I can’t say whether or not it will be safe for canning.
Love the sauce! First time I did the water bath method but thinking of using my pressure canner next time (tomorrow)Does one come out tasting better than the other?
I haven’t noticed a difference between methods, but let us know how it turns out!
I used a tiny flour/water mixture in this sauce while simmering. I have read on multiple sites it is not safe- is this true?
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.
This sauce is delicious! It is now my favourite spaghetti sauce. I used a stick blender to smooth the sauce a bit and I think accidentally ground up the bay leaf. Oh well. Still tasted great!!!!
Great sauce!! I added celery and charcoal grilled the onions and peppers for that something extra👍✅
Wondering about type of tomatoes used? Roma/paste tomatoes or can you get good results with juicier tomatos too?
We usually use Romas but we have readers who have had success with pretty much every type!
We are currently making this recipe and we are just wondering how much this recipe makes? Just so we can have the proper amount of jars ready to go.
Also, Have you ever added fresh parsley to this recipe? If so, how did it fair? If not, do you see this being an issue?
We usually get about 10 quart jars. As for the parsley, I haven’t tried adding fresh parsley before. Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.
I made this and its currently in the water bath. I felt like it was not as thick as spaghetti sauce normally is. Is that how it is supposed to be? When I use it down the road should I just use some tomato paste to thicken it?
Ours is usually thick, but you can definitely use tomato paste to thicken it up when you are preparing to serve it!
Can this recipe be simmered in a crock pot overnight?
I haven’t tried it that way before, so I am not sure! Let us know how it goes if you try it!
Can you use fresh basil…how much would you suggest if can be substituted? Thanks
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.
I have basil in my freezer from an earlier harvest- did you use fresh? How did it turn out?
I made the sauce and it only filled 6-32 oz jars which I thought was strange. I went through the water bath canning process and everything turned out fine. Then I realized I forgot the tomato paste! Will it still be ok/safe to store and eat? All that work and I forgot an ingredient 😩
That should be fine!! It might be a little runny when you go to heat it up to eat, but you can add the tomato paste at that point to thicken it up.
Instead of cooking on the stove, can you prepare this in a crockpot?
Thank you!
I think that would be fine!
I want to add zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers and maybe hamburger or polish sausage slices. How would I do that while maintaining the proper acidity level?
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning. We have only tested this recipe with the ingredients we have listed.
I can’t seem to locate any info through the National Center for Home Canning about adding Soy Sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Can you direct me? Thanks so much.
I have found in the 2016, All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving, where you can use 4 tbsp of soy sauce as a seasoning per 2 quart jars in simple one jar vegetables but have found nothing concerning Worcestershire sauce yet.
This sauce is absolutely delicious! So easy to make too.
What about the seeds?
I just usually leave them in!
I am pressure canning so how long would I need to pressure can for?
Pressure can at 10 pounds for 25 minutes at elevation 0-1000 feet.
Just a friendly reminder if PRESSURE canning and adding meat to this…you have to PRESSURE CAN for 90 minutes. Again, this is only if you are adding meat to the sauce and PRESSURE CANNING.
At a fruit and vegetable stand I was at today they said a1/2 bushel of tomatoes weighes about 25lbs
I have Two 5 gallon buckets of Roma tomatoes so how many lbs would that be for adding the ingredients?
2 medium Roma tomatoes are about 1 lb. Hope that helps!
After blanching and peeling the tomatoes, can I run them through the food processor before cooking/simmering the sauce? (Instead of just quartering them and then running them through at the end.)
Sure! That should work!
Use a scale!
If a 5 gallon bucket was full to the top of water it would be 40 lbs, but tomatoes do not pack tight like water so it would be significantly less. Depending on the tomatoes I typically get 25-30 lbs in a 5 gallon bucket, I just weigh mine on the bathroom scale and subtract a lb or two for the bucket. Close enough.
Is the 25 pounds of tomatoes before or after they’re peeled and cored?
We usually measure before!
I made this and it’s cooking down right now. If I am using a pressure cooker does the acid level matter?
No, if you are pressure canning it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to add lemon juice.
Years ago, my aunt and myself came up with our own spaghetti sauce recipe that we loved. A few years later, I had several jars where the lids popped off. I lost a lot of spaghetti sauce because of it. I talked to several people then ended up at our local extension office talking with the lady from the NC State Extension Department. She told me that tomatoes in our time do not have the acid that older tomato varieties have and that no matter what I am canning, if it has tomatoes in it, I should always add 1 tbsp off lemon juice per quart before pressure canning.
Hi!
New to canning. My only experience is using a water bath for canned apples. Is “Process for 40 minutes in a boiling-water canner” the same as a water bath for 40 minutes?
Thanks!
Yes, water bath is the same thing. Hope this helps!
Ms. Erica Walker, can I blend the tomatoes before cooking instead of blending it when it almost done. I do not have an Immersion Blender. Your opinion please. Thank you.
Yes, you can blend before cooking if that is easier for you. Hope this helps!
Can I blend with peels?
Sure!
how long and at what pressure do you pressure can the spaghetti sauce?
Pressure can at 10 pounds for 25 minutes.
Is the salt in this recipe canning salt or regular salt? It’s my first year getting serious about canning, and the salsa was a success so I’m super excited for spaghetti sauce!! 😁
We use regular salt, but canning salt works too!
If I make me own sauce and add lemon juice will water bath canning be ok
I can’t guarantee that if you make your own recipe that the acidity levels will be safe, with or without lemon juice. I don’t know your recipe so I can’t say.
This recipe is absolutely delicious!! I am cooking it down now and don’t be afraid of the soy sauce! Everything blends in harmony. Although I have been cooking it now for 7 hours as I think I had a few extra tomatoes. Its excellent!
Using a pressure cooker, what are the recommended settings: 15lbs for 15 minutes?
10 pounds for 25 minutes, depending on your altitude. Add 5 lbs of pressure if over 1000 feet.
Can I adjust the recipe for 10 lb of tomatoes.and I will be using a pressure canner.
Sure! That should work!
Hi! So excited to try this recipe. Quick question, roughly how many cups is 25lbs of tomatoes ? I usually measure vs weigh
We don’t measure our tomatoes in cups, but typically 2 average sized tomatoes equal one pound. Hope this helps!
If I want to cut this recipe (pending how many romas I can pick from the garden) what increments would you suggest cutting the tomato quantity down by?
You can adjust the quantities as needed, if you click on the number of servings, above the ingredient list, there is a slider that you can move up and down to change the recipe quantities. Hope this helps!
I canned Spaghetti sauce for the first time ever yesterday. I used this recipe and instructions, and I think its the best Spaghetti sauce I’ve ever had. it turned out great. Thank you for the recipe,
I’d like to use fresh basil and oregano. How much would I use?
Made my first batch and used tablespoons instead of teaspoons for the red pepper flakes. Had to throw out the entire batch!
We recommend dried herbs, just because using fresh can mess with the acidity and make the canning unsafe.
ABOUT how many tomatoes is 25 lbs?
It really depends on the size of your tomatoes but 2 “average” tomatoes equals close to 1 pound.
I weighed my tomatoes and it took 3 for 1lb except for the few larger ones. We like a chunky sauce so I hand chopped the onions and peppers. It cooked for 4 1/2 hours and didn’t cook down a lot. How can I thicken it up without losing the chunky? I am pressure canning so acidity isn’t an issue.
You could add some tomato paste, or a thickening agent like cornstarch!
I’m not sure I would agree with your suggestion to use cornstarch as a thickening agent. I pressure can all my sauce and yours is without a doubt the best recipe I’ve ever used but using flour or cornstarch in any preserving process is a bad idea.
You are so right, Lorrie. No cornstarch. It messes with the density.
Hi! I’m planning on making your recipe once my tomatoes have all ripened. I was wondering if I can use purple bell peppers in place of the red peppers since that’s what we have grown.
I think that would be ok but I don’t know much about the acidity of purple bell peppers. I can’t say for sure though because we have never done it that way. If you are really concerned about it you can always contact the National Center for Home Food Preservation and they can tell you what you can and can’t do. Hope this helps!
Excellent recipe! Only change I made was I oven roasted my tomatoes to remove the skins and oven roasted some of the garlic. I scaled the sugar back to 1/3 of a cup since oven roasting makes the tomatoes and garlic sweeter. Definite keeper!
What temp did you roast at and for how long? Which shelf and use oven setting or broiler?
I am not the original poster. I roast at 450 degrees for 40 minutes, all racks.
I am not big on following recipes exactly but I did use all ingredients except the peppers. I sautéd the onions with olive oil til translucent and also used fresh basil and oregano. I have 12 pints processing now and also had some for dinner. It was delicious! The soy sauce, Worcestershire and brown sugar combo is amazing! I will can with this recipe again! Thanks!
If you use a pressure canner instead of a water bath, would you still need the lemon juice?
No, you don’t need the lemon juice if you are pressure canning.
Instead of using the stove top to cook the tomato mix, can you do it in the slower cooker?
Sure!
USDA home canning guide states to add acidity no matter the canning method.
Can I use Hunts tomato sauce. I only have about 10-12 pounds
If it is pure tomato sauce with no other added ingredients you should be find adding it without throwing off acidity levels. Hope this helps!
This is the best homemade spaghetti sauce recipe I have ever made.
I did add about 1/2 cup olive oil and a little thyme to the recipe.
Thanks for the 5-star rating! We are so glad you loved the recipe!
When do the red peppers go in?! With the green peppers and onions? Theres no direction for them
You add them with everything in step 4!
Most recipes for this call to strain , do u not do this step or did not mention
Strain what exactly? The seeds? You definitely can but it isn’t necessary.
Can I use red wine or balsamic vinegar in place of lemon juice?
It needs to be lemon juice to get the correct acidity levels. The only other substitution I know of that you can use is 1/2 teaspoon citric acid for quart jars. Hope this helps!
Is it 2 Tbs. of lemon juice per jar or divided among 9-10 jars? Can’t wait to try it!!!
Per jar!
what kind of tomatoes do you use? We have regular and romas, is it ok to use both?
Yep! You can use whatever combination you have available.
CAN sliced mushrooms be added to the sauce without issue?
If you are pressure canning, you should be fine. I can’t say for sure with water bath or steam canning. The acidity levels can easily be thrown off if any adjustments are made to the recipe as written. I would play it safe and add sautéed mushrooms when ready to serve. Hope this helps!
Can you use lime juice instead of lemon juice?
I think that should be fine!
How long should quart jars be processed in a pressure canner at 10psi?
25 minutes
Do you take the seeds out of the tomatoes?
We don’t usually, but you can if they bother you!
If I omitted the brown sugar, would it hugely affect the taste of the sauce?
Adding or omitting ingredients can mess with the chemistry of this recipe and make your sauce unsafe for the shelf. If you want to remove the brown sugar, I would recommend freezing the sauce instead of canning. Hope this helps!
Can I leave the garlic out and it’s still ok to can?
Adding or omitting ingredients can mess with the chemistry of this recipe and make your sauce unsafe for the shelf. If you want to omit the garlic, I would recommend freezing the sauce instead of canning. Hope this helps!
I only had 12.5 pounds of fresh tomatoes so did a half batch of this sauce. Hope it turns out. The sauce has been simmering for 2.5 hours and already smells so good.
How did your batch turn out? I have about 10-12 pounds of tomatoes out of my garden and am trying to find a good canned spaghetti sauce recipe.
I only had 12.5 pounds of tomatoes, so I halved the rest of the ingredients. It turned out great! I am planning on freezing it since I don’t have enough canning lids.
This is a delicious sauce, although not what I am used too. The soy sauce combined with the Worcestershire is too savory for my taste. I will definitely make it again without these two ingredients.
I never used soy sauce in a canned spaghetti recipe with home grown tomatoes. Does it make a big difference in the taste? Just making sure before I make it.
Thanks!
I think it does! It gives it a deeper savory flavor.
The sauce is very thick and tastes too sweet. Any way to safely thin it out and adjust the sweetness?
You could add some chicken broth or beef broth, but messing with the ingredients can make it unsafe for canning. So, if you do add more liquid, I would suggest freezing it instead of canning.
Can I add mushrooms to this recipes, or would it mess with the consistency?
Adding ingredients can mess with the chemistry of this recipe and make your sauce unsafe for the shelf. If you want to add mushrooms, I would recommend freezing the sauce instead of canning. Hope this helps!
Can you substitute or take out the brown sugar?
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. It could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.
You list that this has 3288mg of sodium. Is this per the whole batch? I’m looking to make this and my daughter is on a low sodium diet. I figured with the tom. Paste, Worcestershire sauce and low sodium soy sauce it would be 395.5mg per quart jar.
Yes, that nutrition information is for the whole batch!
I don’t have enough tomatoes for 25 pds. If I were to cheat just a lil’ and buy a few cans of Hunts whole tomatoes, how do I know how much they weigh? Just go by what the can indicates? If so, I use the juice that is in the can?
I read all the questions and answers. How kind of you to answer so many questions. Thank you!
Yes you can totally cheat (we have done this with San Marzano tomatoes and it’s awesome). Yes, go by the weight on the can, juice and all. We are always happy to answer questions 🙂 We want you to have success with our recipes so ask away! We are happy to help!
Can I pressure can this?
Absolutely!
Any kind of tomatoes or a combination of Roma’s and others?
I like using mostly Roma’s for sauce, but you can mix and match whatever you have on hand!
How many cups does 25 pounds equal?
We don’t measure our tomatoes in cups, but typically 2 average sized tomatoes equal one pound. Hope this helps!
I have done some recipes using variety of cherry, slicing and Roma tomatoes. The recipes I have used just core tomatoes, quarter and blend in processor, skins and all. Would this affect this recipe?
No, that should be fine! As long as its about the same amount of tomatoes.
Can u add parmazon cheese ?
Adding cheese makes it not safe to can. If you decide to add cheese (which it might make it a bit grainy) I would try to freeze it instead of canning.
Love this recipe. 2nd year using it and my family loves it. Plus you can’t beat fresh spaghetti sauce in the middle of winter!
How much red wine vinegar should you add to this recipe to make it safe for water bath canning? This is my first time and I don’t have a pressure cooker.
We use about 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar or lemon juice in each can. Hope this helps!
Worcestershire sauce isn’t gluten free. Any suggestions for substitutes while keeping it at safe levels? We’ve got tons of tomatoes ready for cooking and we’re so excited to try out this recipe!
We use the brand Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce from the store and that one is gluten free!
I forgot the lemon juice is my recipe still going to be okay to eat?
Honestly I wouldn’t risk it. If you don’t want to re-can the sauce with the lemon juice you can always freeze it. You can freeze it right in the jars, just make sure to leave a little room from expansion so the jars don’t break.
Do you have to deseed the tomatoes after peeling or do you leave the seeds in the sauce? If so, are they noticeable?
No need to de-seed. They aren’t really noticeable but if it bothers you, you can definitely leave them out. Hope this helps!
Do you remove the seed pods from the tomatoes (in addition to the skins and hard core)?
We don’t remove the seed pods but you definitely can if you don’t prefer them.
Do you put the red peppers in the food processor with the green peppers and onions. I can’t find the red peppers in the instructions?
Yes, you can process all the peppers and onions together. Green and red 🙂 Hope this helps!
Looks good
When using a stove top pressure cooker to can how long do I leave it in the pressure cooker?
If you are pressure canning, you will want to process for 25 minutes for quart jars. Hope this helps!
I recently retired and decided to do a vegetable garden. The whole time all I could think about was making home made spaghetti sauce but was very nervous about my lack of skills. Your recipe and instructions were my saving grace. This is the best sauce I have ever eaten and my husband is planning a larger garden for next year. LOL The one suggestion I have is if you have an outside kitchen you might want to mix the onions and peppers out side to avoid death by onion. LOL
Thank you and everyone who commented with helpful hints you made my experience so enjoyable that I am now moving on to other recipes with confidence.
Wow thank you so much for this comment! I am so glad to hear your garden has been a success. Gardening is actually something I have found to be very therapeutic. I have been surprised how invested my kids are in it too. I am glad that it is something you are enjoying! The spaghetti sauce is our favorite but we also use the tomato juice, diced tomatoes, and salsa recipes a lot as well (you can do a search for any of these on our site and they will come up). Let us know if you try any other recipes and how it goes! – Erica
Has anyone used balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice? Also, we have been roasting, skinning, pureeing and freezing our tomatoes for 3 weeks, and are planning to make sauce tomorrow. If we are weighing the tomatoes now, after processing, does anyone have an estimate on how much to use? Thank you! We are so excited to try this recipe.
Tried this recipe last year and it was great! I froze instead of canning worked great. My neighbor had an abundance of tomatoes too so combined several types of tomatoes and gave them them a quart. They rated it a 5 too and they’re a tough crowd. Thanks for the recipe plan on repeating this year!
Thanks for the 5-star rating! We are so glad you guys loved the recipe!
If I use pint jars, how much lemon juice per jar do I use, and do I still process for 40 minutes?
1 tablespoon of lemon juice should work!
Can I add mushrooms to this?
This is our general advice for additions to canning recipes, as mentioned in the post: “Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding more produce, meat or anything else it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.”
Has anyone cooked this in a crockpot?
Do I really need to boil this for 4-5 hours? Would 2-3 be sufficient?
The longer you boil it for, the better it will taste. Boiling breaks down the ingredients and lets the flavors mesh. I would suggest boiling the full 4-5 hours, but if you are in a time crunch you can try 3. I can’t speak to how it will affect the flavor or texture of the sauce.
If you are using a pressure canner, do you have to add lemon juice, and does pressure canning affect the taste or texture?
Pressure canning should work fine! You do still have to add the lemon juice though!
Hi is this 25 lbs of tomatoes after they are peeled and coded or before? Thank you!
We usually weigh them before. Hope this helps!
Loved this recipe! The only tweak I made was changing out the 1/4 cup soy sauce for 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar (also a gluten free option unless your buying dirt cheap brands then check your ingredients.) for two reasons. A) In my humble opinion, I think the richness spoke of is coming more from the Worcestershire sauce. And B) I just like a little red wine background note in my sauce 🙂 Granted B probably made me say A just to have a justification…lol. It was either the soy or the Worcestershire sauce that had to go, and my grandfather would come back from the dead and haunt me if I EVER took Worcestershire out of a recipe!
I have early girls, romas, heirlooms. Do you recommend any type out of the 3? I was thinking romas. Also, should I stick to one type or can I mix and match?
Romas are always great, but you can mix and match!
Can I use fresh basil in this instead of dried?
We recommend dried, just because using fresh can mess with the acidity and make the canning unsafe.
If you are just making to use fresh or to freeze vs can, do you still add any lemon juice?
No, you can skip the lemon juice if you aren’t canning.
Could I put the sauce in a crock pot and let it simmer for several hours verses stove top?
I don’t see why not!
May I use commercially canned tomatoes to make home canned spaghetti sauce? It sounds counterproductive, but asking for a friend (wink).
Sure! (wink)
Does it matter what kind of tomatoes you use? Can you mix them? i.e. Roma and beefsteak?
It doesn’t matter what kind you use. Go for it!
We have made this recipe three times so far this summer (about 32 quarts worth)! It is soooooo good! No need to change anything! We did follow the suggestions to roast the onions and peppers first and at the end, we used the immersion blender to get it to a smoother concistency. So far, we have eaten it over spaghetti squash from the garden for a tasty meal, all fresh from the garden!
You can’t beat fresh produce straight from the garden! Sounds delicious!
It was a lot of work but turned out great. I put it in pint jars and got 17 pints.
I used sea salt and low sodium soy sauce. Also reduced thr red pepper flakes 1/2. Turned out absolutely great. Thank you so much !!!!
I wanted to add Parmesan to the spaghetti sauce. Can I do that if I add lemon juice?
I wouldn’t add the Parmesan to the spaghetti sauce before canning. I would wait to add Parmesan until you are actually serving. Hope this helps!
We have a small deck garden, so 25lbs of tomatoes sound like an impossible yield. If we halve the ingredients, or even cut them to 1/3, would the recipe still work?
It should! Let us know how it turns out if you try it!
Anybody ever use a kitchenaid mixer food grinder/strainer attachment to process
Your tomatoes instead of blanching them to remove skins? Does it make them too watery?
I use a Food Strainer and Sauce Maker for Tomato and my sauce is thicker! I highly recommend this method instead of the blanching/ice water method.
Can I roast the tomatoes to remove the skin instead of boiling it? Would that add more flavour to the sauce?
Oooh yes! That sounds delicious! I will have to try that next time I make it!
Could you tell mew how it turned out roaring the tomatoes? And did you season them with s and p? How looking did you roast them and temp? Dis toy quarter them or roast whole? Thank you and sorry dir soooo many questions. Sincerely Christina
Can I pressure can with or without the lemon juice?
You don’t need to add lemon juice if you are using a pressure canner. Hope this helps!
Recipe sounds great but I have a problem with all of the sodium. I want to can my own sauce but cannot use salt/sodium due to high blood pressure. Would leaving it out be a problem…other than making it bland as all get out???
You can use low-sodium soy sauce! That should help bring the sodium down. Hope this helps!
What kind of onion yellow, red or white
I use white in this recipe!
Water bath for 40 minutes or pressure /canner ?
Do the bay leaves stay in?
No, you remove the bay leaves after cooking.
Can i chop the tomatoes after roasting them, and then put everything in the stock pot and cook for 4 hrs? Or do the tomatoes have to be cooked first and then blend all together?
I have a question. Can u puree the tomatoes to get the seeds and skin off at same time b4 u add to stockpot along with all other ingredients?
You can try it… we have never done it that way before. We have always kept the seeds in but we have never kept the skins on. I’m not sure if leaving the skin on will alter the acidity (I am guessing it won’t) but it might be something you will want to research just in case. AS far as pureeing– absolutely! It’s way good pureed.
Hi can I add black olives? And if I add meat how long do I pressure cook for?
Adding ingredients can mess with the chemistry of this recipe and make your sauce unsafe for the shelf. If you want to add olives and meat, I would recommend freezing the sauce instead of canning. Hope this helps!
If I need to use canned tomatoes, what is best and how much would you recommend?
San Marzano tomatoes are by far the best. Other than that, any whole or halved tomatoes would be great. Diced tomatoes might be a little too watery. I would do about 12 quarts of tomatoes (about 3 gallons) if you can! It will cook down some so you will end up with about 10 quart jars. Hope this helps!
so adding the lemon juice; do i still need to hot bath?
Yep! That is how we usually do it.
How
Much lemon juice to put in quart jars?
Debbie, yes you would still need to water bath them. The lemon juice is a sort of fail safe to ensure that the product in the jars is acidic enough to safely can them using a water bath canner. Low-acidity foods cannot be safely canned in a water bath and therefore must be pressure canned to be safe, but acidic foods are just fine (hence, the additional lemon juice). Hope that helps to answer your question!
On the subject of lemon juice your recipe says, “ Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice to 9 or 10 hot 1-quart jars (depending on how much sauce you have). ” Because acidity is so important to safety, please clarify – is it 2T per jar or 2T divided between 9 or 10 jars? I assume 2T per jar but want to be sure. Thanks
2T per jar is correct!
I just replace the red wine vinegar ounce for ounce instead of lemon juice?
If freezing do I need the bath & lemon juice?
Nope! You can just put it straight into the freezer.
Hello, will this recipe work without sugar? Any substitute I could use that work? Thanks.
You can substitute honey, or I’ve heard of people adding a sweeter vegetable like carrots.
Can i omit the onions and replace with zucchini? We don’t eat onions.
You want to be careful when adding and switching around ingredients because it can alter the acidity of the sauce. I think it would be fine to take the onions out but I am not sure about adding zucchini unless you plan on pressure canning. Hope this helps!
First time making this sauce and it turned out great. I used cans of diced tomatoes instead of fresh and just put them in the blender. The flavor is great.
This is the best sauce I have ever had!!! Followed the recipe exactly! Only got 6 quarts but that’s alright, going to be making more!!!
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!!
Hi, thank you for a great recipe! I would like to try it but 25lbs of tomatoes is quite a lot! Can you help with scaling down the rest of the ingredients if i want to try a smaller quantity first e.g 1/3 of the recipe?
Thanks
Yes, I will send you an email. Thank you for asking!
Hi…
I have made this recipe a number of times over the past couple of years. I love it!! I have nearly ran out, but thankfully, I have enough tomatoes in my freezer for about a half batch that I plan to prepare tomorrow! I have found many uses for this… especially after heating and adding a little tomato paste, creating a marina sauce that works well for mozzarella sticks, pizza, and many pasta dishes. I highly recommend this!! Thank you, ladies!! ; )
I’m so happy you like this recipe as much as we do! It is my Mom’s “famous” recipe and it is truly the best spaghetti sauce ever – in my humble opinion. 😉
love this recipe and so does everyone else!!
Do you always keep the seeds in the sauce? If I wanted to remove the seeds do you have an easy method you would suggest?
We have always kept the seeds in the sauce! Let us know if you find a method to remove them!
If using pint jars instead of quart jars should I still use 2 tablespoons of lemon juce per jar?
If using pint jars, you can just use 1 tablespoon!
This is our new favorite spaghetti sauce recipe to can. My granddaughter won’t eat any other spaghetti sauce now. This was our second year of making it and we just love it. Thank you so much for sharing it with everyone.
Thank you so much!! We love when our family favorites become your family favorites!
Just finished making this and let me tell you it taste amazing. It takes all day to make it but so worth it. Definitely adding this to my recipe box and will be making it every year. Thank you for sharing this recipe
So glad you liked it! Canning always takes forever but always worth it! Thank you so much for your nice comment!
Hi
I’m getting ready to make this after we are on our last big batch of tomatoes. However one recommendation I would have your recipe at the end talks about putting the jars in a boiling water canner.
This will automatically make most first time canners think they need something special versus an accurate water bath in a great pot.
If you prefer canning in a large pot, you definitely can, it’s just not what we have tried so we can’t fully recommend it. A water bath or steam canner is what we have used with success and it is what we can comfortably recommend. Thanks for your comment though, I am sure many of our readers will find it helpful!
OH MY DELICIOUSNESS!!!! This recipe is a keeper! So many will make changes without first trying it the way it’s written. I like to make a recipe as is and then if I want to change it a bit to suite my tastes, I’m ok with it. BUT, don’t change it until you try it the original way! This recipe is perfect. The only problem I had was it didn’t cook down. It might be that I didn’t have the heat high enough. I’ve tried different recipes and this will be my go-to from now on! SOOOO GOOD! Thank you!!!
Thank you!! I am so glad you liked it and I totally agree. You’ve got to just try it before making adjustments!
I would like to add ground beef to this canning recipe. I’ve use beef before in the recipies and would like to do the same with this one. I only pressure can when using ground beef. However, you never mentioned how much ground beef would go into this recipe. I add citric acid to my quart jars as well to make sure there’s enough acid. Thank you
I have never used ground beef in the recipe before because I don’t have a pressure canner. It really depends on how meaty you want it. You could probably use at least 7 pounds. Sorry if this isn’t every helpful– if you try it, please come back and let us know how it turns out!
I was thinking of adding some zucchini and shredded carrots. Dont have preasure canner just reg canning. Will adding such items make sauce un eatable with regular canning process?
If you plan to pressure can it, you could probably add zucchini and carrots. For regular canning, I’m not sure how those ingredients will work with the acidity levels. If I were to guess, I would say you may want to leave them out. When it comes to canning it is better to take the more cautionary route. Just my opinion though. Sorry if this isn’t much help!
Step 7 calls for adding lemon juice to hot 1-quart jars. Does that mean I’d have to boil the jars prior to putting in the sauce. I have never tried canning before so I just want to be sure that I’m following all the steps to ensure safety. Also, rather than simmering for 4-5 hours uncovered on the stove, would it be possible to do this step in a slow cooker?
No, you don’t need to boil them. I either just run them through the dishwasher or you can rinse and dry them. This is just so the jars are clean and sanitized before putting food in them.
You can do it in a slow cooker but the purpose of doing is to get the sauce to reduce down and thicken. When it is covered in a slow cooker, condensation will form on the lid and drip back down into the sauce. If you did it in a slow cooker I would leave the lid off so it has a chance to simmer down a bit. Hope this helps!
I have read through all these comments and I can’t believe no one else had any problems with the sauce sticking to the bottom and eventually burning. I used a large stock pot, stirred the sauce a LOT, actually more like every 5 or 10 minutes, the element was on medium low so that it was barely simmering. The sauce turned quite dark as it was simmering but as comments indicate above, I thought it was the worchestershire sauce or maybe the soy sauce, but when I was putting it in jars and got to the bottom of the pot it was quite burned. The sauce doesn’t taste burned though… is this burned bottom normal or do I just have a cheap pot? Also, I would like to see the superchef who can do the prep in 20 minutes… it took me over an hour just to peel all those tomatoes!
Hi Lynn– We have a heavy canning stock pot so we have never had issues with burning. If you consistently have a burning problem I am guessing it has something to do with your pot. Also, we will double check that prep time to make sure it is more accurate. Thanks for catching that!
Best ever been canning this recipe ever since I found it best around
Thanks
Thank you so much! Have you gotten lots of batches this year?
Mine turned out better than a jar from the super market. My first batch didn’t, (to thin, to much water perhaps from the blanching and not properly straining) BUT it took a considerable amount of time. I ended up with almost 8 jars and I had 6 hours into it. And to be clear i want to say the flavor was better then a jar from the store. Cost was almost the same and I provide my own tomatoes. But for 6 hours and almost 8 jars, I personally would of needed it to be more then “better then a jar from the store” to invest 6 hours of my time again. I have only been canning for a couple years. I can spend less money and not even half the time on a salsa recipe that’s amazing. My point is, it’s time consuming so plan on that. I’m not complaining, and the recipe tells you this from the start. I just wanted to reiterate that to anyone considering giving this a go
What happens if you have sauce that comes out of the jars during the water bath. They are sealed but have sauce on the sides and in the water
I think as long as they sealed you should be fine. The jars were probably just a little too full. If you are worried about it, you can always clean them up and re-process or keep them in the fridge and use them within the next couple weeks. Hope this helps!
Can you please tell me what the lemon juice does and why you use it? It’s my first time making this recipe and I don’t want sour…we are more of a sweet sauce family.
It won’t be sour. It is to make the sauce more acidic to make it safe for canning. You won’t even taste the lemon juice, promise 🙂
Is that 2 tbsp of lemon juice in each jar?
Yep!
Hi. Just trying this receipt today, if processing would be 40min/quart, what would a pint be? Thanks.
If you are doing pints, you only reduce the processing time by 5 minutes. Hope this helps!
This recipe is so great! I just finished my canning tonight and I’m super happy with how everything turned out! I used liquid aminos in place of soy sauce so my sauce would be gluten free but otherwise followed the recipe. Thanks for posting it!
I’m so glad you are happy with this recipe. I love your gluten-free revision and with your permission will add that as a note on the recipe. The work of canning will be so worth it when you enjoy this spaghetti sauce throughout the year. It is delicious!
Depending on your whorchestershire sauce Heinz is gluten free but Lea Perins is not so read your label. Just a little info for you all
I am in the process of making this sauce as I type.
Could you omit the tomato paste by removing excess juice from the tomatoes?
You could do that but the yield will be quite a bit less. I can’t tell you how much less for sure because we haven’t done that before, so if you try it, let us know how much you yield!
My sauce is really runny! What could I do to thicken it?
You can let it cook down more or add tomato paste. Hope this helps!
This sauce is delicious. Made exactly as is. Will definitely make again
Can you make the sauce, refrigerate it overnight, then reheat the next day and then can?
Any time you heat and cool and reheat and cool, you are increasing the risk of food bourne illness. I would suggest canning right after heating. Hope this helps!
I have done it many times with no ill effects. In fact, I’ve refrigerated the tomato sauce for a couple of days and then canned it. I think as long as you reheat it up to boiling and then can it that you would be okay. This is my experience and I’m no expert but it has worked for me and I’ve been canning tomatoes for at least 15 years. I generally use an acidic tomato for canning, like early girls. It may be different with tomatoes that aren’t as acidic.
My tomatoes are non existent this year because of the weather. Can a person buy tomato sauce and substitute that for the fresh ones?
A great substitution is the canned crushed San Marzano tomatoes. You can also try our spaghetti sauce if you don’t have the amount you need for canning. You can either use fresh tomatoes or crushed tomatoes. Hope this helps!
What is the shelf life for this? Excited to try it!!:)
We try to eat everything we can within a year. Hope this helps!
Do you have to use the sugar?
You don’t HAVE to use the sugar but it will make the sauce taste better. It gives it a tasty dimension. Hope this helps!
What kind of tomatoes should I use? I’m planning my garden for spring and want to include the right variety for making recipes like this one to can.
We use Jack’s whopper tomatoes, some early girl, some celebrity… Roma works great. It really depends on what grows best in your area. Climates and elevations can totally make a difference. The best thing to do is call a local greenhouse, nursery, or garden supply store and just ask them what typically grows best in your area. Hope this helps!
I have a food strainer that I use for peaches and apple sauce that separates the peels and seeds for me. Can I use this in the first steps? I really don’t want the seeds in my sauce.
Absolutely!
This spaghetti sauce is everything and more you talked about! I am a 1st time sauce canner and although the cooking process of 4-5 hours was long, it was worth it. My sauce turned out amazing! I will not try any other receipt. Thank you so much for sharing. I just need more tomatoes to ripen. Thinking I need to stock pile this sauce. It is going to go fast!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️💕🍅🍅🍅
Thank you so much for your kind review, so glad you love the Spaghetti Sauce and your first time canning it was a success! It goes pretty fast at our house too, haha!
I made this recipe this week and it is fantastic. I had some canned tomatoes from last summer I wanted to use up and thought I would give it a try. Five quarts of canned tomatoes worked out great. I am picky about my spaghetti sauce and I adore this recipe! Next time I will use a tiny bit less brown sugar but that is just my taste preference. Excellent and easy recipe. Thank you!!!
Hi Kathryn- thank you so much for your kind comment! Thanks for sharing how you made this a success with your pre-canned tomatoes. Great tip!
My husband and I grew all the vegetables in our garden and bought the rest of the ingredients, this year we are going to grow herbs as well. My entire family raves over this spaghetti sauce, 5 stars, none of us have ever had a sauce as good as this, except the children under 5. So this year we are halving the red pepper flakes so they can enjoy it like the rest of us. Thank you so much for sharing!
This is awesome!!! We are so glad your family loves this recipe as much as ours does! Thanks for the wonderful review!
Can you pressure can this instead of water bath?
Absolutely!
Do you add that much lemon juice to each jar? Can you just put it in the sauce?
It is important for canning that you add it to each jar.
I did. 25 minutes at 11 lbs per quart.
Would it be possible to use Roma tomatoes for this recipe?
Absolutely!
I just made this sauce and while it’s good I was wondering what type of onions you use in your recipe. Also since I couldn’t find good tomatoes in my area I decided to use whole plum tomatoes that were canned. I used 15 cans and the 4 tomato paste, but I feel like I should have added more paste since it’s not as thick as I would have liked.
Hi! I’m new to canning and followed this recipe, however, after reading a few other canning recipes, the boiling water bath instructed to bring to a rolling boil. However I started timing at a gentle boil, like I saw a few boil bubbles and started to time it, and did the full 40 minutes. Is a boil a boil or does this make my canning method unsafe? Even after the 40 minutes of a boiling water bath it never came to a full rolling boil. Made me think such a huge pot wouldn’t actually come to a rolling boil.
You probably want to have the water be at a full boil before starting the timer. Did all of your cans seal? I can’t tell you for sure whether it is safe or not. You might have to make that call. If you are unsure, you could possible contact someone at foodsafety (dot) org and get a more definite answer. Sorry I can’t be of much help here!
Going to try this today. Just wondering if you can use fresh herbs instead of dried? Or will that effect the final PH level?
We haven’t tried it with fresh herbs, so we can’t speak to how it would affect this recipe.
I made the sauce and made a mistake and only bathe them for 10 minutes instead of 40 minutes but the jars sealed. Are they still good?
I would say you are probably ok if the jars are sealed, your mixture was probably already hot enough when you added it to the jars and started processing. If you are worried about it, you can always reprocess them without breaking the seal but you are probably ok. Check them after they have cooled to make sure they are all still sealed properly. If so, you should be good to go!
would you still use 25lbs if using roma tomatoes? thank you
Yes!
I can’t wait to give this a try. I wonder if anyone has tried… 1. Fixing the sauce in an Instant Pot and/or 2. Canning then in an Instant Pot?
Can you tell I got an Instant Pot for Christmas? 😉
You can do both.. but you would have to make a much smaller batch. This is for quite a large batch. Hope this helps!
I used a Victoria Strainer last year instead of removing skins using a water bath and then blending the tomatoes. It worked great and the kids loved to crank the handle for me.
Those are so cool! Our mom has one and it is awesome for making tomato juice. Great idea!
I’m going to try this recipe as it looks the best that I’ve seen but I am making it for my husband who is a bit picky about his spag sauce lol. He likes meat in it and likes cinnamon in his sauce. I’m not sure if I should add the cinnamon or not, do you think it will clash with the soya?
Cinnamon… now that is one I haven’t heard yet! If he likes it, then sure, why not? haha You can definitely add meat as well. We almost always add meat as well. Totally up to you!
I was looking for a new recipe to do the last of my tomatoes and came across this one. What an awesome discovery! We got 9 quarts from it. We will never make Mrs. Wages again! What a great way to end our canning season. I think next year I may juice half the tomatoes so we don’t have so many seeds. I could eat this sauce plain it has such good flavor. Thank you!
What a huge compliment! Thank you so much! Glad you were able to end off your canning season with such a successful batch. 😀
Hi! My tomatoes are finally getting a nice rich color and I am I credibly excited to dive into the world of homemade pasta sauce- but I was wondering if heirloom tomatoes would work with this recipe?
Yes, they should work great! Let us know how you like this recipe after you make it!
This turned out awesome! Very, very good! Only thing I changed was the tomato type, I used roma tomatoes and I sliced them in large slices, brushed them with garlic oil and roasted them in the oven for about 1.5hrs at 425. I then put everything in a blender and blended it all, then in to canning jars and processed for 40 min. Best ever!! Thank you for the great recipe!
Todd H
Thank you so much for your comment! I’m so happy you like the recipe. Using roasted Roma tomatoes with garlic oil is genius. It sounds so flavorful! Don’t you just love having all of those jars of delicious spaghetti sauce in the pantry?!
Every year I hot water can salsa with the tomatoes and hot peppers I grow and I got about 30 pints of it this year. I’ve always wanted to can a batch of “gravy” as some in my family call it (tomato/spaghetti sauce) and after a particularly bountiful haul of tomatoes this weekend I decided that the time for me to try to make it was now. I came across your recipe and went to it. I didn’t quarter the tomatoes, I chopped them with a knife and I didn’t use an immersion blender. I always remove the seeds when I make salsa, but I left them in for this sauce and I’m happy with it that way. The only variations I made was I went with 6 small cans of tomato paste instead of 4 because I like a thicker sauce and I went with a half teaspoon of ground cayenne because I discovered I was out of red pepper flakes. I tried it before I canned it and it is delicious! I can’t wait to have it on my pasta later this week! I ended up with 10 quarts which is perfect. I’m definitely saving this recipe, and the next time I make it I think I may roast the peppers beforehand.
Hi Michael – Thank you for your nice comment! I love the idea of roasting the vegetables beforehand. I have been wanting to try roasting them but every time I get in the canning mood, I always forget. Definitely going to try with my next batch! Hopefully I can squeeze in one more big batch this year. Thank you so much for the 5-stars!
This is my first time canning and I love the taste of this recipe. But I forgot to add the lemon juice! Am I doomed? Should I just toss the jars in the freezer or pop the lids and add it?
Oh nooooo! You may be able to get away with it but I would do what you suggested in your comment just to be safe. I would either freeze them or re-process them after adding the lemon juice. Those acidity levels are crucial when canning. Be sure to seal with new lids if re-processing. Hope this helps!
I am unsure how many tomatoes I started with, but I have the pulp ready to go. Wondering how many cups/quarts/etc. of pulp this recipe would require? Thank you!
I’m not sure I understand the question.. before simmering you should have close to 10-12 quarts of pulp. After adding the other ingredients and simmering it down you should be pretty close to 10 quart jars. Hope this helps!
Can you clarify if it really has to cook. For 4-5hours. The time outline at the beginning of the recipe doesn’t align with what’s in the recipe. 4-5 hours seems like a long time.
It is up to 4-5 hours. Technically it will taste fine after 10 minutes simmering or so.. but for the BEST taste, you will want to simmer longer. This really give the tomatoes a chance to simmer down and have a deeper flavor. It also allows all the flavors to really blend together nicely. Hope this helps!
This sauce is AMAMZING!!! We even had to make a second batch because we went through the first so quickly. Thank you for sharing!
You bet! So glad you liked this recipe! We always BLAZE through the spaghetti sauce. We have pretty much been canning every week.
This is the most amazing sauce! However, like some of the above posters, I do not feel comfortable preserving it with only a water bath. Some canning references go so far as to suggest a full mixed-vegetables long processing for a recipe like this. However, I found a very similar recipe on the National Center for Home Food Preservation. They recommended 11 pounds/20 minutes for pints, and 25 minutes for quarts, with the normal adjustments for altitude.
Here is the link to the NCHFP recipe I found: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html
Your recipe is much better. Thank you for sharing it!!
Thanks for this info! It is always a good idea to be extra cautious with canning 🙂 You can always use a pressure cooker if you are unsure!
I am making this now and realize I will not have enough time to let it simmer before I have to run around with the kids. Do you think it will be okay to simmer for a while now and complete the process when I come back later tonight?
Yes, that should be fine but I wouldn’t leave it at room temperature. Could you put it in a slow cooker while you are running kids around?
I have a lot of green peppers to be used up. Would it change the taste much to switch out red for green?
Also, any suggestions for using frozen tomatoes…I’m assuming they will be extra runny…
Excited to try this!
Yes, frozen tomatoes will probably make it more runny. Also, you can totally use all green peppers if you want! You shouldn’t notice a big difference. Let us know how it turns out for you!
About how much juice is 25# of tomatoes? I have been making juice as my tomatoes ripen. I have about 3 gallons.
I’m not exactly sure how much of the 25# is juice. If you are making canned spaghetti sauce you are probably going to need the pulp as well, not just the juice. Is that what you are asking?
WOW! Made this sauce this past weekend and it is AMAZING. Better than Prego! Took quite a bit of time, but so worth it! I followed the recipe exactly and got 10 quarts. Will be making more as long as my tomato plants keep producing. I am so glad I found this recipe; thanks for posting it!
Thank you so much for sharing your success with this recipe! I am preparing to make another batch, too. My family doesn’t like the store-bought anymore so I have to can as much as I can each season to last us! 😀 Thanks so much for the 5-stars!
Does it turn out as good if you half the recipe? I know sometimes cutting the recipe in half doesn’t turn out as good.
Yes, it should turn out just fine halved 🙂
When quartering the tomatoes, do you remove the seeds before blending?
This is a must try recipe when my tomato harvest is in.
Thanks for your response.
We usually don’t remove the seeds (too much work) but you are welcome to if you would like! Hope this helps!
THIS IS THE BEST!!!!!!
I’m so glad I pushed on this choice when my choices for making sauce came up! Thank you for sharing this family secret, no longer buying bottled ????
Thanks so much for the 5-stars! So glad you enjoy the spaghetti sauce as much as we do. It’s my favorite thing to make with fresh garden tomatoes!
I forgot to add the lemon juice to the jars before canning. Can I empty and wash the jars and reheat the sauce and start over with the canning process? This is my second batch and we love it! First batch I added the lemon juice????
You can but that is a lot of work! You can also keep them in the fridge for a few months. Darn it, I have forgotten to add the lemon juice before too and oh man, it stinks to start again 🙁
I am also new to canning, started this year with pepper jelly, and other jellies. Anyhow, it seems like no one has had an issue with botulism since this has posted. I was wondering, if I make and can about half, would it help prevent something like botulism if it was stored in the refrigerator? Just a thought. I plan on making it. I think I read this somewhere else about canning, that if you are concerned you could keep it in the fridge. I am so excited to try it… We have a family dinner every week and I think this is what we will be having this week! In fact, today I am playing hooky from work because I have so many tomatoes and other stuff to can that I needed an extra day, especially with the cold weather coming in early this year.
Yes, you can absolutely keep it in the fridge. The nice thing about canning, though, is that you can keep all the jars in your pantry where there is more space. This recipe usually makes a nice big batch so storing them in the fridge may be difficult. It would work great if you maybe had an extra fridge? We haven’t had anyone write in with an issue with canning and storing normally so you are probably ok not storing them in the fridge if you didn’t want to!
When canning do you cover jars with water and do you cover with lid to process
Yes you will definitely want to make sure the lid is on when you are processing. If I am using a water bath canner I will make sure the jars are completely submerged in water. Hope this helps!
Recipe sounds good. But I would pressure can it. Let me tell you why. The lemon juice is sufficient if we’re only canning tomatoes but recipe also has peppers and onions, both low acid foods. Those must be pressure canned.
We did a lot of research and made sure the acids from the lemon juice balanced out the onions and peppers, but if you are still unsure, definitely pressure can it if you want!
I have never used soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce in spaghetti sauce before today, but I will from now on. This sauce is amazing! Thank you for posting it!
This sounds amazing. Would like to try this soon but one question, for the brown sugar do you us light brown sugar or dark brown sugar?
I used light brown but you can definitely use dark. It won’t make that much of a difference. Hope this helps!
Thank you much appreciated. Can’t wait to try it.
Unfortunately, my family and I didn’t care for the sauce. The flavor was much too strong and spicy for our taste. I also found it to be quite oily when cooked for 4 hours and extremely dark in color. The Worcestershire sauce just didn’t do it for us.
Sorry this was a miss for you! I’m not sure what you mean by “oily”.. I can’t say that I have had it turn out oily before. You can definitely leave the Worcestershire sauce and red pepper flakes out if it isn’t to your liking! Feel free to modify how you see fit. :/
Will this homemade sauce taste similar to prego sauce that you buy in stores. Because I love prego sauce.
It isn’t as sweet as Prego sauce, but it our favorite spaghetti sauce to use now! You could probably add a little extra sugar to make it sweeter like Prego if you wanted to, but I wouldn’t overdo it. If you want to make it thicker like prego when serving, just add a small can of tomato paste to the sauce when heating before serving (after it has been canned and you are pulling it off the shelf to eat). It will be nice and thick like Prego. Hope this helps!
Would it be ok to make it without taking the seeds out. I ran across this recipe after I had already started cooking the tomatoes with the seeds in.
Yes, it should be fine 🙂 If you blend it in the blender it should take care of most of the seeds.. hope this helps!
I have some sweet basil plants is it ok if I add some?
Definitely! Fresh basil is amazing in this sauce.
Hey ! We’re building a house so I want to have plenty of recipes for next spring !
How much does this make in pints?
We have 12 acres, I’m thrilled to get started , I’ve canned strawberry jam and tomatoes last year .. nothing to crazy !
Hi Jennifer– For each quart jar you should be able to get about 2 pints. I am guessing you will get about 18-20 pints jars for each batch. Good luck with all the new land! That should be a blast!
Hello! I canned this recipe last season and it was wonderful! I’m wanting to make a batch for a fundraiser and was wondering how many ounces of tomato sauce would I need to substitute for fresh tomatoes?
Thanks so much!
I haven’t measured out how many oz. of tomato sauce … instead of tomato sauce I would probably use crushed tomatoes. For a whole batch you would need quite a few! Do the cans of crushed tomatoes say how many tomatoes are in each can? That would give us a start to figuring out how many to use!
If I make this in pint jars would I still use 2 TBSP lemon juice in each jar?
No– you would only use 1 Tbsp. Hope this helps!
Hi! This recipe sounds great! Was just wondering if you use canning salt or regular table salt?
You can use either, I actually used Kosher salt
I didn’t read through ALL the comments and I apologize if this has been asked already, but can I use fresh basil and can this or do I have to freeze it?
Yes, you can use fresh basil 🙂 Hope this helps
I have made the Taste Of Home recipe 2 years in a row and then came across this one. I am going to use this as I like the 4 red peppers vs the green as the red are usually sweeter. Also no canola oil in yours which I like and brown sugar vs white. I am going to make this tonight and can’t wait to see which I like better (a little worried about the soy sauce but I will trust)
haha I know the soy sauce sounds weird, I promise you won’t be able to even taste it. It just gives a deeper flavor that just salt alone. I actually always add a little soy sauce when I make spaghetti sauce (even when I am not canning it)! So excited for you to try it, be sure to let me know what you think!
My home smelled amazing! Every time my DH walked into the kitchen, he took in a big breath and of course a sample. I followed your recipe very close, only added a few jalapenos and used fresh basil. I had about 30 lbs of field tomatoes and ended up with 11 quarts. I am so happy I found your sauce. I have been canning for many, many years and by far this is one of the best recipes I have every done. This totally ROCKED!
Rebecca— Thank you so much for the nice comment! 😀 I am so glad you like the spaghetti sauce. Thanks for sharing how many quarts you yielded with your tomatoes. That is always helpful to other readers so they know what to expect. Great idea using jalapeños and fresh basil, too. YUM!
Added fresh mushrooms after about 2 hrs and also 1 LB of browned and strained hamburger. Didn’t blend the onions, garlic or peppers – but we chop them very fine – and substituted Red Chili pepper flakes instead of red pepper flakes for a bit more bite. Also added 1 TBSP of smoked paprika and this came out the best I’ve ever had. I added the lemon/lime (yes I used half lemon and half lime instead of only lemon) to the entire mixture about 30 minutes before canning. It will all be gone within 3 months anyways! Doing this because we have such a huge crop of tomatoes this year.
So glad you like this recipe! Hopefully you pressure canned this if you used ground beef… I don’t think it is safe to use a water bath or steam canner if you are adding protein. :/
Think I am going to make this today. Looks yummy.
Let us know how you like it!
Hi, I am just making your sauce pretty close to your ingredients, I like it chunky so left my mushrooms (which I added) and peppers and onion a little chunky. Last time I made it i used a food processor for peppers and onions and they were really cooked out when sauce was done. as when I buy canned sauce I always buy the chunky style and we like that. Thanks for your recipe,
Yum! I love the idea of adding mushrooms! Great idea, thank you for sharing!
did you water bath or pressure can with the mushrooms
I do not own an immersion blender. Can I use my ninja blender or will that puree it too much?
You can totally use the ninja blender.. you will just have to do it in batches and may be a little more messy. If you like it a little on the chunky sire you can just pulse it until you get the consistency you like. Hope this helps!
What is the shelf life for this spaghetti sauce once canned thru the water bath process? I don’t think I saw that anywhere on the recipe. Excited to try the recipe ????
Typically in canning forums they it is best within a year but we have gone 2-3 years and it has been fine 🙂
if I used fresh oregano do I have to freeze it? thanks
I don’t think you would need to freeze it– just add at least 5x the amount so you get the same flavor. Hope this helps!
made this yesterday. we are some tonight. ” best sauce you ever made” from my husband. did not change a thing on the recipe
So glad that you (and your husband) liked it! 😀
Hi. Am curious as to why if they are growing tomatoes with less acidity,why can with lemon juice,wouldn’t it make more sense to grow the tomatoes they were instead of creating a problem for people who home can.I have been canning for 40+years,never had any problems.no I didn’t add citric acid nor lemon juice to any of my sauces,juices,soup,ketchup all which were made using roma an beefy tomatoes.
Simmering now and it smells delish! It seems to be reducing nicely after 2 hours — will it continue to reduce (and get thicker) after more time?
Yes, it will keep reducing the longer you have it on. Hope you like it!
Well..how was it?
I looked and looked and looked for a spaghetti sauce recipe i thought would be worth my time trying to make. I have been so excited to try this recipe and we finally have enough tomatoes to try it! We are getting ready to make it and I will be posting back with how it goes and our opinions of it!
I am excited to hear how you like it! Be sure to come back and let us know!
Ah, I found this again! Last year I made this recipe and canned it, gave it to coworkers and everyone raved about it. Sadly, I did not bookmark the site, so I feared that I had lost it! It’s time to make some more sauce today, and absolutely LOVE this recipe! Thanks for posting it for me to find (and again a second time).
So glad you liked this recipe!!! It is a favorite of ours, too! Actually getting ready to make a batch this week– we can’t get enough!
After the 25 lbs of tomatoes are skinned and seeded, how many quarts or litres will there be ? Mine are already at that point.
It should make anywhere between 7-10 quarts (we usually get about 9)
I am interested in making this. I am new to canning and was wondering if I could add carrots, zucchini and olives to it? I love texture in my sauce!
You need to be careful when adding veggies when canning because it can throw off the PH-balance. I don’t know for sure what those veggies would do to the balance but if I were you I would add them when you are preparing your meal AFTER you have already canned, but that is just me. I would saute the carrots, zucchini, and olives and then pour the sauce over and heat before serving. Hope this helps!
Sounds really good! Do you get rid of all the tomato seeds or just blend them up too? Thanks!
We just blend them up– it makes it easier 🙂 Hope this helps!
Thanks the recipe. I looked around for a good pasta sauce that could be canned – either pressure or hot water. I followed the recipe exactly. I did not saute the onions and peppers (since some folks think this is controversial). The sauce took about 5 hours to reduce. I was hoping this was as good as the sauce I made last year. Well, gotta say, this recipe knocked it out of the ball park. It is nice, thick, spicy, delish! Some small children might like it due to the pepper flakes. I didn’t know what kind of onions to use – so I used a couple varieties. I love my salsa thick, rich and flavorful, and this recipe delivers. I yielded 9 quarts. Thanks for sharing.
Patty- Thank you so much for your comment! I am so glad that you like it! Thank you for sharing how many quarts you yielded. 🙂
Is it necessary to use lemon juice if freezing the sauce? Or is that just for canning?
Thank you.
just for canning– you won’t need to add if freezing.
Is this supposed to be spicy…I followed it exactly…seems spicy
Sounds like it would make great chili….spaghetti sauce, not so much.
It is delicious! It sounds strange but the flavors work!
Delicious! I’ve been canning tomatoes for some time, but spaghetti sauce was a first for me. I have a huge basil plant and so I used fresh basil, about two cups. (We really like our basil.) Otherwise followed the recipe exactly. Thanks!
So glad you liked it! We would definitely use fresh basil if we had that much readily available– great idea!
If not canning and making a smaller portion can you make this in a crockpot? If so how would you do that?
Yes, you can– you would want to probably do 1/4 to 1/5 of the recipe and just put it in the crock pot.. depending on the size of your crock pot.
Sorry haven’t tried your sauce yet. Just did my own and am commenting for those asking about pressure canning. I process @ 11# for 20 min for quarts, 15 min for pints. Have not had a problem in 40 years of canning. My sauce has mushrooms in it also just an FYI. Your sauce looks wonderful, think I will try it next time, enjoy trying new things!
I’m going to try this recipe because we like a sweeter sauce and this looks like it might be but I’d be interested in your recipe too. It’s always good to try a couple different recipes to see whats the best fit for the family 🙂 I prefer using a pressure cooker to water bath so your recipe would be great.
Hi!!
I’ve made your sauce one other time and it was awesome! I remember last time I made it, I was a little confused with the processing instructions.
Your instructions say:
“Process for 40 minutes in a boiling-water canner.”
Just to be *crystal* clear, you mean to submerge the jars in boiling water (cover by 1inch) and then boil for 40 mins… Right?
I may just be having a brain fart, but I cannot remember what I did last time I made this sauce!! I *think* I processed it in a pressure canner, but I cannot remember how long or at what pressure.
Can you clarify? This recipe is definitely a keeper!! It’s going into the Family Bible (what we call my Grandmother’s cookbook).
Thanks!
Yes, you are right. You will want to use an actually water-bath canner (I am assuming that is what you have). You can do it in a pressure canner but since I don’t have one myself, I don’t know what times and pressure to recommend. I hope I was able to answer your question! So glad you like the recipe! It is a favorite around here, too!
I already diced my tomatoes from the garden and froze them in a bag. I would now like to can them and use this recipe. I have 22 pounds that I have diced up already and kept the juice also. I saw that if you use a canned diced tomato, you should add sauce. Do you think I should add sauce, or is the juice enough? I am hoping 22 pounds is enough, considering I already skinned them and cut out the cores. Do you think 22 pounds with sauce will work?
I mean 22 pounds with *natural juice, not sauce. Will the juice alone and 22pounds work. Sorry.
I’m not exactly sure how well it will go from frozen to canned. You probably would want to add at least a little sauce so it isn’t runny. Maybe simmer it down and see what you think? Hope this helps!
Also how does adding the lemon juice to the bottom of the jar effect the acidity of the food? Thanks again
Cassandra
It raises the acidity to a safe level for canning. Hope this helps!
Just made this last Sunday. Tastes great but one question. Why process so long? Mine was a great consistency after 2 hrs and seems to have thickened more over the last week. Thanks
Cassandra
The processing time is for safety for canning. As far as the simmering goes, if you like the consistency after just 2 hours you won’t need to simmer any longer! If you are happy with it– great!
Hi Erica. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I am curious if you have tried it with red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice? Also, I would like to use pints instead of quarts so I assume only one tablespoon of juice at the bottom of each jar then? Thank you.
Yes, if you do pints, just do 1 Tbsp of lemon juice– as far as the substitution goes, you will probably want to stick with lemon juice just to make sure you have enough acidity. I’m not sure red wine vinegar has enough.
Hi Erica,
I just bought a electric Pressure Cooker and was wondering if I could make the Sauce in it? I have never used it before so kind of scared. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A pressure cooker or pressure canner? A pressure cooker would be great to make the sauce in– it just needs to be in something where is will simmer down to the thickness you would like. The only issue I could see with a pressure cooker is that it is typically something you would cover– which might make it difficult for the excess steam/moisture to boil off. When you boil it on the stovetop you keep it uncovered so it can reduce down. I haven’t tried it in a pressure cooker though so it might be totally fine! I know this might not seem like a whole lot of help– let me know if you try it and how it turns out. I would definitely be interested to know!
Do I drain some of the liquid if I used frozen/thawed tomatoes? The water is almost covering the tomatos in the pan
I have never heard of using frozen tomatoes for canning before so I’m not exactly sure. There shouldn’t be much or any water– it should just be pure tomato juices. If it isn’t boiling down and thickening right, I would definitely drain the water off
I need some help. I had 25lbs of tomatos that I froze and have thawed out. There is a LOT of water it seems. The water level is almost as high in the pot as the tomatoes, should I drain some of it? All of it? Thank you!
Okay so I don’t can. It’s pretty intimidating for me, so I’m really just interested in this recipe for a small batch… for a one time dinner. Any idea how I might adjust for that?
I haven’t ever made this as a non-canning dish before. You could probably just adjust for how many pounds of tomatoes you are using and divide the ingredient amounts by that number. Hope this helps!
I just spent all day making this. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but it’s not very good. I followed your recipe to the letter. So disappointed.
Hi Gloria– definitely feel free to modify to your tastes. Last time I doubled the herbs and added a little more salt and it was wonderful. Some people like more Italian flavor, some like it more minimal. I usually taste and add, taste and add until it’s perfect. What type of tomatoes did you use? That can affect the taste, too.
I used Romas. The sauce has the unmistakable taste of bbq sauce.
I see this is an older post, but in the hopes it can help other people thinking of trying this recipe I thought I would reply. I know that the brown sugar can settle on the bottom and caramelize if not stirred frequent enough….I would think that may be the bbq taste you got (sweeter) and even the tomato paste can settle at the bottom and burn giving off a different flavor. Just ideas I’m throwing out as I haven’t seen anyone else comment on that flavor and this is my second batch I’m making today!
Everyone who has eaten this spaghetti sauce says that it is the best they have ever tasted.
Thank you so much! We are big fans, too 🙂 I just made a batch last week.. Mmmmm
I gave a jar to my daughter & family last year. They ended up with 5 jars of my sauce because they loved it so! Thus I’m making 2 batches this year. 😉
I would really love to try this recipe! But It’s just my husband and I. Could I make it on a smaller scale? I’m not a canner so anything left would have to be frozen.
You can definitely make it on a smaller scale.. you could just use a recipe converter to make as much as you would like. This will also freeze well if you want to make extra.
I just made the last night, I woke up in the middle of the night realizing I forgot the garlic, do you think it is still safe? I can just add garlic when I use it??
Yes, that is totally fine.. you can just add it when re-heated. No biggie 🙂
Just tried canning with my daughter. We must have done something wrong. I do not have the right canning bath, so I put 4 pint jars in one of my big pans, boiled them covered for 45 minutes. But the lids didn’t pop. What can I do to save it?
Did they pop after they had cooled?
I have a high speed Vitamix blender that really pulverizes do I still need to take the skins off
It’s totally up to you. I use my blendtec sometimes but I always still remove the skins. Let me know if you decide to try it and how it turns out!
I always leave my unblemished skins on in tomato sauces and when jarring whole or crushed tomatoes. There are a lot of great vitamins and tomato skins. They may add a little bitterness that requires a little spice adjustments. The same is true with using tomato seeds. I use them. I used the Vitamix to blend the sautéed onion and peppers. Worked well. At the end of the cooking process I used the immersion blender, and was so very happy that I did. This recipe filled to the brim my16 quart stock pot. That amount of sauce to process in the Vitamix would’ve been very cumbersome endeavor. The immersion blender (a handheld stick that you insert in the pot to blend) allows you to manage the chunkiness or smoothness of your sauce. That is something that’s very difficult to do in any table top blender. And the whole pot is blended the same. Back to the tomato skins and seeds—the immersion blender broke down all of the skins and most of the seeds. I could’ve ran the immersion blender longer to break down all of the seeds but I really liked the consistency of the sauce that I had. Two thumbs up! 👍😍👍
1/4 cup of salt-I hope I am assuming right by using canning salt?
I just used Kosher salt. Taste it though because when I made it today I used quite a bit more salt. Make it to your personal taste in saltiness 🙂
Hi ladies:) I am in the middle of many roma tomatoes. I have put them through the food strainer because I have many grand children I watch so I have to work in shifts. I strain all my tomatoes & the next day I make my sauce & can. I need your help in figuring out how many gallons of juice I would use for this recipe? I sure hope you can help this grandma! Thanks for your time.
Chris
I actually just canned today! It was about 2-ish gallons of tomato juice/pulp for one batch
Thanks!
I was wondering, can you use a food mill instead of peeling and coring all the tomatoes. My grandma and mom aways used this as it cuts out all that extra time. Or is there a reason you cook it that way?
Yes, that would probably work– You just want to make sure you are still getting a lot of the meat of the tomato (pulp).
Just made a batch of this spaghetti sauce, it is absolutely delicious!!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe!!! I will NEVER, again buy spaghetti sauce in a store, there is no comparison, Thanks again!!!
Thank you so much, I’m so glad you liked it!
I want some sauce
25 pounds of tomatoes equals what size basket of tomatoes? Will I be able to find Roma tomatoes in quantity as I live in New England?
You can use any kind of tomatoes. We used Early Girl and Park’s Whopper tomatoes last time and it was wonderful. It’s tough to estimate basket sizes… I would say about a 2/3 full 5-gallon bucket is about 25 Lbs.
What preasure and for how long in a preasure cooker canner for the sauce we live in Florida
I haven’t pressure-canned this recipe before but here is a great resource I found online for you.. it has everything you asked: http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html Hope this helps!
Another great way to skin your tomatoes is to put them whole in the freezer. When they are thawing out the skins slip right off. I found this out because I added tomatoes to the bag in the freezer as they ripened on the tomato plant. Was able to skip the boil/cold bath step completely!
I also buy onions and bell peppers [esp. the red ones!] when they are on sale, chop them up and freeze in bags of 1 cup each for future recipes.
Great ideas! Thank you so much for sharing your tips!
I like using a victoria strainer, it takes the skin and most of the seeds out and gives me the tomato juice and pulp. it is also quick and easy, and the kids love helping turn the handle. I can run the skins through twice to get a little thicker pulp.
I use 2 #10 cans of tomato sauce and 2 #10 cans of diced tomatoes and it turns out great every time
Thanks Steve
Thank you for the tips!
Thanks! I have one #10 can of tomato sauce… I see I’ll have to get more. I know I can 1/4 the recipe but I’m canning the sauce and I might as well can four #10 cans rather than one #10 can.
How much is is #10 cans? Not familiar with that size (not an experienced cook!)
Thanks!
A #10 can is the large food service size – some stores have them in the “institutional” foods section.
They hold about 12 3/4 cups of product, usually much cheaper and easier than opening lots of smaller cans.
Have you done this with cans of diced tomatoes? Is it basically the same? We are well past canning season in WI.
We haven’t done it with diced tomatoes– It would probably work just fine if you could figure out the right tomato to diced tomato ratios!
Erica – this recipe looks great. I don’t have a pot large enough for all the tomatoes. Would a Nesco work? If so, what temp would you set it to?
We have never used a Nesco roaster for cooking down tomatoes before. If you use it for simmering a lot, you may be fine, I just do’t know what to recommend as far as a temp goes. Sorry I wasn’t much help with this one!
It says cook time is 1 hour, but then it says to simmer for 4 to 5 hours?
You want to reduce it for as long as you can… 1 hour is the minimum. 4-5 hours is suggested. Hope this helps!
Our extension service says that processing spaghetti sauce in a boiling water bath is not recommended. Do you know why they would say that? I tried this recipe a few weeks ago. It worked great and we really like it, but now I’m wondering if I should go get a pressure canner.
I have read on some sites that they say spaghetti sauce isn’t acidic enough– that is why we added lemon juice to the jars. From all the recipes I have seen online and other canning recipes, I feel confident that the spaghetti sauce is fine (I wouldn’t serve it to my family unless I felt good about it). If you are worried about it you can definitely pressure can or freeze it.
Fortunately we have safely survived 48 years of water bath canning tomato recipes.
Wait a minute, maybe that’s what is wrong with me!
Grew up canning with Mom in a water bath canner. She never had a pressure canner. Didn’t learn to use one till I got married and my mother in law taught me. Mom even waterbathed green beans. (3 HRS) but I am living to tell the story. We never got sick from beans or anything else. If the lid was not sealed when she took it from the basement, she threw it out.
She did all her tomatoes and peaches water bath too.
Finished making a whole batch. First time I have done it from scratch with fresh tomatoes. AND IT WAS AWESOME!!! Even my daughter who usually is very picky and doesn’t eat spaghetti loved it! I did freeze instead of can and the second week it was just as good after defrosting. thanks!!!
Erica, sorry another question…at what point do u do the immersion blender? No where on the recipe did I see that, but I could have missed it. Also does garlic just gets thrown in as a whole clove or do u mince it?
You use it right at the end after it has simmered for a few hours. You do it right before funneling into the jars. Hope this helps!
I am not finding anything about this in the recipe itself. What am I missing? I don’t even know what an immersion blender is..
Here is a link to an immersion blender: http://amzn.to/1Jg8qpM
Oh, and definitely mince the garlic.. I will put that on the recipe!
Can I add tomato, peppers and onion cut up into very small pieces in sauce after it is blended? Before canning.
What kind of tomatoes would you say would be best to use?
We used big boys and early girls but Romas would work great! Really, any tomato would be fine. You just want to use nice, juicy tomatoes if you can!
Is “red bell pepper flakes” the same thing as crushed red pepper (the spicy pepper)?
haha yes, that was a typo on my part. I changed it on the recipe. It is correct now 🙂
I just finished my spaghetti sauce. It is delicious!! Mine sauce is quite thin and so I am wondering if I should have let it simmer longer. Anyway just wondering if I added too many tomatoes or if it is just a thinner sauce. Thank you so much for sharing it!!
If you want to thicken it up you can add more tomato paste.. it could have been watery tomatoes or it needed more time to simmer. Could be a number of reasons but tomato paste should fix that 🙂
Do you remove the seeds?
I didn’t but you sure can! I honestly don’t even notice them in the sauce
For us, the seeds actually add flavor and a little more texture. Thank you for the recipe. Jill
Do you leave tomatoes whole?
You put them in the boiling water whole, yes. You take the skins off and cut them up after they are boiled and plunged in the water bath.
I have read it a few times now and looks awesome! But… am I missing something? It says to process the green peppers and onions- I don’t see where it says what to do w/ the red bell peppers? Is it supposed to be both bell peppers there?
Also- for us canning dummies 😉 is it saying to pour the hot sauce into hot jars? How do you recommend getting the jars hot- soaking in hot water..? Sorry to ask probably a super basic questions- but this looks amazing and I’d love to make some- but want to do it right and not waste so much!
You can definitely heat them in water. What I will usually do is run the jars by themselves in the dishwasher and get them out right when the load is done so they are nice and hot. I will take them out of the dishwasher, dry them off, and pour the sauce in. You are right about the peppers, both red and green are processed. I will get that right on the recipe 🙂 Thanks for the catch!
Do you cut up the tomatoes any smaller than in quarters?
You definitely can… because you use an immersion blender it all gets blended together anyway. If you have huge tomatoes you can definitely cut them up more!
How long would I process if I do pints instead of quarts?
You would process the same amount of time, even if they are in pints. Technically you could probably take a minute or two off but I like to be on the safe side when it comes to canning 🙂
If you were to pressure can it, at what lb pressure and for how long?
I haven’t done this in a pressure canner (I don’t even own a pressure canner). You might want to look for a similar recipe online that is specifically for pressure canning and go off of that. Sorry I’m not of much help here– I just don’t want to point you in the wrong direction since I don’t do pressure canning!
If I am using pints. Do I just add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice jar?
Yes, that should be just fine 🙂 I think 2 would be too much for a pint.
Like your new picture, very nice…. Love your blog, come here often.
Do you have this recipe in a smaller version? I really want to try it before I make such a large amount. Like your father, I am picky about spaghetti sauce.
Probably the best thing to do would be to quarter the original recipe. Are you wanting to can the recipe or just try it out or freeze it?
I was just wondering the same thing. I have very little freezer space and would rather just make smaller portions that I’ll use within a month or so.
Can I use fresh basil? I have a lovely, healthy plant and hardly ever get to use it. If so, will i need to dry it first in the oven?
If you are using fresh basil and freezing it you should be fine using fresh! No drying necessary 🙂 Hope this helps!
I already chopped and pureed my tomatoes before finding this recipe and I didn’t peel them. Can I still use for this recipe without my tomatoes being peeled?
Yes, of course! You may just want to cook it down longer so those skins aren’t tough. You should be totally fine.
How much does this make?
It makes 9-10 quarts
Hmmm….I just mad this and got 14 quarts. I was careful to weigh the tomatoes before and after boiling them. Perhaps the difference was the size of my onions. I used five of the ginormous sized ones that are just under a pound a piece.
Way awesome that you got more than you were expecting! There could be several reasons for this. The sauce may not have simmered down as much or bigger onions (as you suggested). Hope this helps!
I don’t believe my eyes when I saw your ad on FB today. I’ve been looking for a good homemade sauce recipe. Today, I went to the market and got 25 lbs. of tomatoes, but really couldn’t find a good recipe until I saw your’s … now all I gotta do is get started …. Thanks so much for this recipe and I’ve faved your blog for future recipes.
haha sounds like we posted just in time! Glad we could help and excited that you are a new follower! 😀
Does this sauce taste ok if frozen?
Yes it will still taste great frozen 🙂
How is freezing sauce a better method then open kettle canning?
It’s not necessarily “better”.. some might like doing it better that way because it is easier.
Hello Erica!! Our mutual friend, Jean W. introduced me to your blog. I’m so excited to explore it more and get to know a local foodie! 🙂
Natasha! I can’t wait to hang out with you and get to know you better, I love meeting new blogger friends!
This sauce is delicious. Made exactly as is. Will definitely make again
Has this recipe been tested for canning safety to make sure the acidity level is sufficient to prevent botulism?
This recipe was based off of several recipes, including Taste of Home and Ball Canning. This is what one of the sources said: “Anything canned in a boiling water bath needs to be high acid (for the science minded types, this means that it has to have a pH of 4.5 or below). This is because botulism cannot grow in high acid environments. However, tomatoes are in the grey zone, typically having a pH right around 4.5. Because of this, tomatoes need to be acidified when canned, so that the acid levels are pushed into the safe zone and the pH becomes something lower than 4.5. That’s why all other good instructions for canning whole tomatoes includes two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice per jar (you can also use citric acid if you prefer).”
If you are still worried about it you can pressure can it or just freeze it.
Hopefully this helps clear things up!
Ok, just to be clear- do you add the 1 1/4 c. Lemon juice to the sauce? OR – Do you put 2 tablespoons into the jar just before putting the sauce into the jar?
Sorry, just want to do it right!
You put it directly into the jars… 🙂
Make sure your lemon juice is heated up!! I lost 3 jars before I realized!!! =(
The lemon juice doesn’t need to be heated… it will heat up in the jars when you process them. Where have you heard that the lemon juice needs to be heated??
I think Tori meant adding cold lemon juice from the fridge into heated jars can cause them to break.
It is such a small amount of lemon juice per jar… I don’t think it will break the jar. I never had any problems with it. I hope this helps!
That’s exactly what I meant Barry. I had taken my lemon juice out of the fridge and put 2 tbsp into each jar… on my 5th jar I heard that dreaded “tink” and on inspection I had broken 3 out of the 5 jars (they were brand new so it wasn’t from just age). Anyway, the remainder of the jars I had omitted the lemon juice because I didn’t want to break anymore jars and it turned out great! We survived and this was seriously the BEST sauce we have ever had. So here we are getting ready for another year of harvesting and canning! Thanks for the recipe!!! (It was so worth those broken jars!!) =)
So glad you like the recipe and I am glad you survived– though we recommend the lemon juice, we are glad it worked out ok for you without it 🙂
I’m using quarts do I use only 1 tblspoon? Per jar?
I’m a bit confused, Cook time: 1 hour, Processing 40 min. Total time: 2 hours. But in the directions, # 5. Simmer uncovered for 4-5 hours.
Thanks for letting us know, that is just a typo. We will get that fixed!
Does the lemon juice change the flavor of the sauce?
No, it doesn’t. I promise the spaghetti sauce won’t be sour 😉
In the instructions I’m going by it doesn’t say how exactly the red bell peppers are prepared or incorporated.
You find this in step 3 of the recipe when it refers to the peppers. This is for all the peppers, including the red bell peppers. Hope this helps!
How long would you process in a steam canner?
You would do it pretty much the same– I would maybe add like 5 more minutes to the time so it has a little more time to cook through.
As a canning/preserving instructor I do not recommend steam bath canning anything that processes longer than 20 minutes, rather it should be water bathed. That being said, I would pressure can this recipe, even with the acid being added to each jar.
Liz, I made this recipe last year, and it is delicious. However, I would also be more comfortable pressure canning it. Do you know how I would determine which weight to use and how long to process it?
Do we need to add lemon juice if we’re pressure calling it?
Made this recipe with
Addition of 2 more cans paste and if not thick enough when heating to eat u can add instant potato flakes..works well n u never can tell….THIS IS BEST RECIPE I HAVE MADE…AWESOME..froze n canned it..have made 2 1/2 batches..next year
MORE…
I didn’t should I be concerned ?
Hi Liz, because you’re a canning instructor I have a question for you. I think I forgot to put lemon juice in one of the three batches of jars I did. I water bath canned them for 45 minutes and all sealed. Should I need concerned and do I need to dump it back into a pot and re-can it? P.S. I canned it 11/14. Thanks!
Hello I made this recipe, I absolutely love it. I made a third of the quantity due not sure how it would turn out. Tastes better than canned sauce. Cannot wait to make some more.
Do you use dried herbs or fresh?
This will be my third year making this recipie it lasts us about 6 months with 200lbs tomatoes but we eat this sauce 3-4 times a week never any spoiled cans sits great gets better the longer it sits am looking forward to canning 400 lbs tomatoes this year to keep up with our families sauce needs
And our family members coming to visit always ask to have the sauce or if we have an extra can lol we use it all summer in our homemade pizza cooker to make pizza as well and anywhere else pasta sauce can be used ……
The reason I make my own is the commercially produced sauce is way too sweet. I never add sugar to spaghetti sauce.
Steam canning takes the same amount of time as water bath canning. You just don’t have to use all that water so it makes the process go faster.