Freezer Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

One of the best ways to preserve your fresh picked tomatoes without the need for any specialized equipment is to make freezer spaghetti sauce. Homemade, thick tomato sauce that can be used for pasta, pizza, casseroles and more.

As much as I love making pasta sauce for canning, there are times when we have a small batch of tomatoes that I need to preserve before they go bad. So that is when I pull out this recipe.

It is a great recipe to make when the garden season is wrapping up, leaving you will a smaller volume of random vegetables. Although, it is also a great recipe for those who are looking for a smaller batch recipe throughout the harvest season.

Recently we have received more and more requests for recipes that are smaller in size. Although we have several recipes for preserving the garden’s produce, many of them require several pounds or even bushels of produce.

And there are many people who have just a couple of tomato plants in their garden. However, in order to make 1 quart of spaghetti sauce, you will still need at least twenty, medium-size paste tomatoes.

But luckily there are friends and neighbors who are very willing to share the harvest from their garden. This is especially true if it is towards the end of garden season.

And if you still don’t have enough tomatoes, there are Farmer’s markets and roadside stands where they are readily available for purchase.

What Type of Tomatoes To Use For Spaghetti Sauce?

Just like with our Canned Pasta Sauce Recipe, it is best to use paste tomatoes to make spaghetti sauce. This is because paste tomatoes have thicker walls that produce a thicker sauce than standard slicing tomatoes.

However, because we are not canning this recipe you can use a variety of tomatoes, including low-acid tomatoes if you have them on hand.

However, if you use non-paste tomatoes, your sauce will be thinner and will require increased time to simmer and thicken.

Do I Peel The Tomatoes To Make Spaghetti Sauce?

You could peel the tomatoes if you prefer, however I don’t bother. Instead, I prefer to use an immersion blender after the sauce has cooked down to blend the tomato skins into the sauce.

However, this isn’t a required step if you don’t have an immersion blender. You can use a blender or simply keep the sauce chunky. Although we like the smoother texture of the sauce that the immersion blender produces.

Freezer Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

*Complete recipe instructions including specific measurements, cook temperatures and times are located in a printable recipe card at the bottom of this article. However, be sure to keep reading for helpful tips and tricks when making this recipe.

*makes approximately 2 quarts

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 small sweet onions*
• 4 cloves garlic*
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 16 cups roughly chopped tomatoes, about 40 Roma tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional

*Use less if you aren’t a huge fan of onions or garlic.

Optional Ingredients:

• Sugar
• Crushed red pepper flakes

INSTRUCTIONS:

The first step in making this freezer spaghetti sauce is to prepare the vegetables. First, chop the tomatoes into 1 inch chunks.

There is no need to remove the skin, as they will break down and get pureed later in the recipe. Once you have them all chopped, place them in a large bowl and set them aside.

Next, chop the onion and green pepper into large chunks. Then peel the garlic by smashing it with the side of a large knife. The peel will then come off easily.

Use A Food Processor If You Have One

Now it is time to finely dice these vegetables. The quickest and most efficient way to do this is to put your onion, garlic and green pepper in a food processor.

I use our Hamilton Beach Food Processor throughout the year to chop vegetables and make sauces for all sorts of recipes. It really is a huge time saver in the kitchen.

Once the vegetables are in the bowl of the food processor, push the pulse button until the vegetables are finely chopped. However, be sure not to puree the mixture as you want a little texture in your finished sauce.

If you don’t have a food processor you can finely dice the vegetables with a sharp knife or run them through a large kitchen grater.

Now place a large stockpot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once hot add the onion, garlic, green pepper mixture and cook until the onion becomes transparent.

Next, add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, basil, parsley, salt, black pepper. If you are using the sugar and red pepper flakes, add them at this time as well.

Now bring the freezer spaghetti sauce to a boil, stirring frequently. Once the pot comes to a boil reduce the heat and bring to a slow simmer.

Allow the sauce to simmer for approximately 2 hours, stirring occasionally so that the bottom of the mixture does not stick to the pot.

Slow Cooker Option

If you prefer, you can make your freezer spaghetti sauce in a crock pot instead of on the stove. Follow the same directions to prepare the vegetables but add the ingredients to a slow cooker instead of a stockpot.

Then cook on low for 3-4 hours, removing the lid for the last two hours to produce a thicker sauce. 

Blend The Sauce

No matter what method you used to cook your sauce, if you did not peel the tomatoes, you will most likely want to blend the mixture to produce a smoother sauce.

It is easy to do this by placing an immersion blender in the warm spaghetti sauce and mix until the skins are pureed and you have the consistency that you prefer.

Although, you can also use a high speed blender to blend the sauce into a smoother consistency if you prefer. Just remember to fill your blender only half full of the hot sauce so that you don’t have a small explosion of freezer spaghetti sauce in your kitchen.

If you want to add cooked ground meat to your sauce, do so at this time and let it simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes.

Finally, let the sauce cool completely. Ladle the sauce into quart size, air-tight freezer containers. Cover and place in the freezer for up to 6 months.

However, you can make the spaghetti sauce last longer by allowing it to freeze and then remove the frozen sauce from the container. Then seal it in a Food Saver bag to keep it in the freezer for up to one year.

We prefer to use the same quart size containers that we use to freeze our homemade soup bricks. Just be sure to label the spaghetti sauce so that it can easily be identified among the frozen soups.

And a final important point to remember, whether you call it spaghetti sauce, pasta sauce, or red sauce, this is a versatile sauce recipe that can be used in a variety recipes. Just pull it out of the freezer, thaw, heat and serve!

Enjoy!

Mary and Jim

Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.

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