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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.
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!