We have been enjoying the yummy taste of homemade oven-roasted tomato sauce for a few years now. It all started when a fellow blogger posted the Roasted Tomato Sauce recipe that looked so yummy and sounded so easy. Since we had lots of homegrown tomatoes, I made the sauce, and we loved it. So I made some more, and we froze it. We have been making roasted tomato sauce ever since.
The original recipe is very simple, just the way I like it: take what you have on tomatoes, garlic, onion, olive oil, salt and pepper, basil, oregano, and make it the way you like it. Great, eh? And you know what, it works. So yummy! The beauty of this recipe is that no peeling is necessary; the whole tomato is used in the sauce.
However, since I like to can the sauce, I have adjusted the recipe so it can be safely canned. You can be more flexible with the ingredients if you are using the sauce fresh or freezing it.
It already smells so good in my kitchen, where the tomatoes are roasting in the oven. Now you probably want to make it too. I warn you, you might never again like any store-bought tomato sauce. But that’s ok, isn’t it?
The tomato souse is good on its own, but even better as a base for a tomato sauce with ‘meatballs’ or a tomato soup.
What Tomatoes to use
The sauce is best made with homegrown tomatoes, but it also works with store-bought. It’s not as sweet as with homegrown tomatoes and a bit more watery, but still tastes much better than any store-bought tomato sauce.
For the sauce, the tomatoes do not have to be perfect; any size and shape will work. However, since we are not cooking down or straining the sauce, Roma-type tomatoes will yield a creamier consistency. Other types of tomatoes are still delicious but may be better suited for tomato soup.
This recipe is fantastic for using up an overload of summer tomatoes or for when there are too many after-ripened tomatoes indoors at the end of the season. Additionally, indoor ripened tomatoes are usually less juicy, making them ideal for oven-roasted tomato sauce.
Oregano and basil are the classic herbs for tomato sauce. A homemade dry herbal mix also works great. Once everything is roasted and seasoned, blend it until it’s smooth, the way you like it, and enjoy!
Oven-roasted tomato sauce recipe
- 10 lb Tomatoes
- 3 Garlic cloves
- 2-3 onions
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
- 1½ teaspoon dry herbs (Oregano, Basil)
- Oregano (fresh or dry)
- Balsamic vinegar and oil (optional if you are not canning the sauce)
- Bottled lemon juice or citric acid for canning.
- Wash and coarsely cut the tomatoes (use the whole tomato except the hard stem)
- Peel and coarsely cut onions and garlic
- Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar if used
- Toss it all up
- Roast in a roasting pan for 45 minutes at 400°F
- Add seasoning and herbs
- Blend it all up
Preserving the oven-roasted tomato sauce
Freeze: When freezing, you don’t have to be so exact with the measurements. If you like more garlic or onions, go ahead and add them. You can also add oil and balsamic vinegar to your taste.
When freezing food in jars, it is important to use only wide-mouth jars. Since this sauce is great both as a sauce and as a soup base, you can freeze it in different-sized containers.
Canning: This sauce can also be canned to save freezer space.
Before filling each clean, hot pint jar with the hot sauce, add 1 tablespoon (15 mL) lemon juice or 1/4 tsp (1 mL) citric acid. Leave 1/2 inch (1 cm) headspace. Wipe rim, center lid, and screw band down finger-tight.
Process the cause in a water bath or a steam canner for 35 minutes. Remove the lid of the canner, wait 5 minutes, and remove the jars. Let cool on a towel, and store for later use.
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That looks simply amazing! I have “Meatball Subs” on the menu for dinner this week, and this sauce would definitely kick them up a notch!
Well, it is very easy to make, enjoy!
That does look really scrumptious on the stove cooking! Nothing better than homemade, especially with tomato as the main ingredient!
We go through lots of tomatoes too. If there only would be a way to grow them year round here.
This is so mouth-watering!! I absolutely love home-made tomato sauce. This is exactly what I need to add to our weekly menu. ~Renee
It is a yummy sauce for sure.
We do oven-roasted tomato sauce also. Absolutely heavenly.
We add carrots when roasting to add a bit more nutritional punch. I’ve added other veggies as well but find I don’t like the flavor as much if I add too much. So tomatoes, carrots, onions, spices, and garlic it is at our house. We roast for about an hour at 400.
We freeze our sauce, since between the roasting and the extra veggies, it’s too hard to predict acidity reliably enough to can, and acidity is key to canning tomato products safely. Takes up a lot of freezer space because we do a LOT of oven-roasted sauce, but it’s sooo worth it to have it all year round, I don’t begrudge the freezer space at all.
Adding carrots sounds really good to me, especially to store bought tomatoes. It would make the sauce sweeter, thank you for the tip!
Great recipe! Sounds so good and healthy. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Friday!
I roast tomatoes every year and can, but have never added spices. Will try this year. Home made canned tomatoes are so much better that the stuff you buy. One can see and think of the summer every time a jar is opened. I started 2 years ago growing enough tomatoes to last us a year and unless im completely debilitated I will continue the rest of my life. The taste i grand.
Have you tried separating the different tomato varieties in you cannings? Is it worth the effort?
You probably mean herbs not spices, or? I too like to preserve without salt and pepper, this way I can spice it up the way we want when preparing a meal. Separating the varieties is only worth it if it matters. For example if I make a thick salsa I like to use more meaty tomatoes, for the sauce it does not matter, so I mix whatever is there.
Hi, Anna! WHOA! Oven-roasted sauce that is cannable AND freezable?! I *LOVE* finding people who are smarter than me!!! So pleased to have stumbled onto your site (courtesy due, btw, to northernhomestead.com, who gave you full credit!)!!! Thanks for the great post! If you have any cannable soup recipes or other zucchini ideas, I would LOVE to discover them!!! A very happy new follower!!!
Thank you! I do have a canned zucchini salad recipe that I also ca as a soup base. Also, there are a dozen ways to preserve zucchini thongs with a few more recipes.
I’ve been roasting my tomatoes, vacuum sealing and freezing for several years now. They are the BEST! I put them through my Vitamix when they’re done roasting, carefully fill the vacuum bags, and pulse the machine to remove the air. The roasted tomatoes keep beautifully! Also, I add hot peppers to the roast mix sometimes. Just be sure to mark the bag “Hot” so you don’t ruin your spaghetti! I’m 73 years old and wish I had known about this roasting method years ago! So yummy! Thanks for your blog. I always find some tidbit that I wasn’t aware of before! Happy Roasting!
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your experience with roasted tomatoes.