Fresh picked in the morning – a bowl of pasta sauce waiting to be made!
The finished product!
Tomato Season is here! The daily pickings have increased from a bowl full to a bushel full – and that means it’s time to make and can our pasta sauce. Along with salsa and tomato juice – it is probably the one item on the canning shelf we use the most.
Here is our simple way to make and then can our pasta sauce so you can enjoy throughout the year.
This makes enough to can 6 to 7 quarts of pasta sauce.
We start by filling an 8 quart stock pot to the top with our Roma paste tomatoes (usually about 40 to 50 Roma’s, depending on size). We clean and chop them in to 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces (skins and all) – and then put the pot on a medium heat setting and cook down for an hour or two. Once the tomatoes have cooked down (the pot will go from full to about 3/4 full during that time) – we run it through a food mill to remove all of the skins and seeds. You are left with about a little over half of a pot of thick tomato stock.
At this point we will add the remaining ingredients to the pot. To speed up the cook down process – and to keep the sauce thick – we use our food processor to chop each of the garden fresh ingredients into a fine liquidy chop. Here is what we add to our sauce :
Pasta sauce cooking down…
The jars set inside the pressure canner
2 cups of red wine (we prefer Merlot)
4 large green peppers (chopped in the food processor)
2 large red peppers (chopped in the food processor)
2 medium Cajun belle peppers (chopped in the food processor)
* we use the Cajun belles to give just a touch of heat – you can omit if no heat is desired
3 large sweet onions (Vidalia are best) (chopped in the food processor)
(2) 12 oz. can and (1) 6 oz. can of tomato paste
8 cloves of crushed garlic (chopped in the food processor)
(2) tablespoons of fresh basil (chopped in the food processor)
(2) tablespoons of fresh oregano (chopped in the food processor)
(2) tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley (chopped in food processor)
(1) tablespoon of salt
(1) tablespoon of garlic salt
(1/2) tablespoon of black pepper
Once all the ingredients are in the pot – we just let it simmer for a few hours to cook in all of that great garden flavor. This is a great time to do some taste testing and a little pinch of salt, pepper or other spices if needed. Then – we simply jar up into 6 to 7 quart canning jars and put into the pressure canner for 20 minutes.
When finished – you have 6 to 7 winter time meals waiting at your fingertips! We often will brown up a pound of hamburger, add some freshly grated parmesan / reggiano cheese and a little fresh spices into a pan – let it simmer in a crock pot and serve over our pasta of choice for a quick wintertime meal.
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Looks and sounds delicious! Great to pull of the shelf on those cold winter days.
You are so right Holly! if you cant be in the garden in the winter at least you can taste it!
Sounds great! My roma tomatoes are just beginning to ripen, so I’ll be dusting off the pressure canner soon!
I must try this one. We picked 2 bushels of tomatoes this week (not all Romas). Do you make salsa too? I am looking for a different recipe. Just not satisfied with any I have used. Janet
We often will throw some of our other tomatoes in the mix too – the roma’s are just such a good meaty sauce tomato -its good to have them as a base. As for salsa – we do – both regular and picante…picante is our favorite – here is a link to our post on that : http://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2012/05/11/picante-salsa-recipe-great-fresh-or-canned/
Thank you for posting about this. Although it is winter here and no tomatoes in sight, I would love to have ago at making pasta sauce, been rummaging through my cook books for a receipe but no will save this post for reference.
I have never cooked in a water bath or pressure canner but would like too, just need to pluck up the courage to have ago!
Wow this looks so delicious! I have never used wine in processing ours so I will definitely try this….although I am at the end of our tomato season at this point but I might still get some locally somewhere! Thanks so much for linking up to “The Ole’ Saturday Homesteading Trading Post” this week!
LOVE your recipe! thank you so much for sharing. I cannot wait to get canning
I love the idea of canning pasta sauce with garden fresh ingredients. Your sauce looks amazing!
Okay, I realize this is of minor importance, but can I just say I LOVE those jars??? I didn’t buy them last year when I saw them, and now I can’t find them.
Do you know if there is a source other than WalMart? Your sauce looks so yummy in them!
Hi Amy
I know – we have had so many comments on the jars – and now we cant find them either. Unfortunately – I think they are an exclusive to Wal Mart 
Jim and Mary
I canned pasta sauce this past weekend, too. We had a lot of Romas but some others thrown in also. I baked mine in a roasting pan in the oven because that’s how I do my apple butter. I know, that makes no sense at all! It looks delish!
I actually had an aunt that did it close to that way – and she made great sauce! Thanks for stopping by.
The sauce looks delicious! I can’t wait to try. I dont’ own a pressure cooker
Do you have to cook it in a pressure cooker or can you cook it in the canner (perhaps boiling a little longer)…. Thanks for your help.
Thanks Melissa for the compliment – our kids really like it! Unfortunately – with all of the peppers and garlic and other lower acid ingredients – the sauce should really be pressure canned to be completely safe for storing.
Thank you for your reply. Maybe I’ll buy a pressure canner sometime. I’ll just have to find a good instruction book so I don’t blow up the sauce
Yum we are hoping to do some canning this weekend and I can’t wait. Your sauce sounds yummy.
Good luck – you will have to let us know how it turns out!!!
Made the sauce and smells delish!! Dont have a pressure canner what ate my other options. Other recipes say to add lemon juice would this help???
Glad you were able to make it!! There are recipes out there that are for water bathing – and I do know that a lot of water bathing recipes add lemon juice. With that being said though, I wouldn’t feel comfortable telling you that it would work with ours – i just always pressure can it. You could opt for freezing it though
Hope that helps out – Jim
Can I please ask why you pressure canned it and not water bathed it?
Kirsty – Tomatoes, and tomato juice can be water bathed because by themselves, they are a low enough PH to be safe. When you start to add green peppers, onion, garlic, etc – the PH level changes and needs to be pressure canned to be safe. Hope that helps.
Thank you for your wonderful blog! We live in the hot dry area of the southern interior of British Columbia and are usually overgrown with tomatoes each year. What type of food mill do you use to remove the tomatoes skins and seeds? TY Sandy