I’ve been kicking myself since last tomato season. Why, you ask? Because it never occurred to me to stock up my freezer with homemade tomato sauce! However, now that those delicious, juicy ruby fruits (yes, they are a fruit) are filling up every garden in sight, I’m not making the same mistake twice. I’m going on a tomato sauce-making bender until I can’t see straight….or my freezer door won’t close….whichever comes first.
I think for most families (unless they have issues with nightshades), tomato sauce is a household staple. Throw it on top of whole grain pasta or zoodles and you have an easy dinner in no time. And who doesn’t love pizza? You need tomato sauce for that, usually! However, have you ever looked at the ingredients listed on a jar of commercially made tomato sauce? Chances are that you will see “sugar” in that list….even in the organic tomato sauces. And its usually not the last item on the list, meaning there is probably a good amount of sugar being poured over that spaghetti squash you were planning on serving for dinner. Sugar is traditionally added to tomato sauce to help cut the acidity of the tomatoes. However, tomatoes are so naturally sweet on their own that adding a bunch of refined sugar to a batch of sauce is quite unnecessary. In fact, buying commercially prepared tomato sauce at all is unnecessary! Not when you can easily make it in your crock pot on a lazy Sunday afternoon. This sauce takes just minutes to throw into the slow cooker and then simmers away for hours, blending all the natural flavors and ingredients into one wholesome sauce. At the end of the day, you have a nice little stockpile of tomato sauce to enjoy for weeks without the added sugar or preservatives.
Makes about 48 ounces of sauce
Ingredients:
6 cups diced tomatoes
1/2 medium onion, chopped,
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1-2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup (optional and omit if you are on Whole30)
Directions:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
2.Once the sauce is done cooking, remove and discard the bay leaf. Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce to a smooth consistency. If the sauce is too thin for your liking, add tapioca starch or arrowroot one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
3. Allow the sauce to cool completely. Package into air tight containers and store in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for months!
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Graciela
June 18, 2015 at 7:35 pmDon’t forget to take the bay leaf out before you use the immersion blender!!!
Taesha Butler
June 18, 2015 at 9:23 pmAbsolutely!
Dianne
June 19, 2015 at 4:09 pmdo you need to peel the tomatoes?
Taesha Butler
June 22, 2015 at 3:26 amNope!
JEANNE
June 19, 2015 at 9:58 pmcan you can it?
Taesha Butler
June 22, 2015 at 3:25 amYou might be able to. Though I have never done it, nor do I have much canning experience, so I can’t say for certain how to change the recipe to do so.
bug
July 5, 2015 at 5:17 pmDo some research about canning tomatoes, you might need to use a pressure cooker rather than regular canning methods for safest results. I don’t have experience with this, but I seem to remember that tomatoes require some additional attention that your regular jams and jellies don’t.
Reba
July 19, 2015 at 8:42 pmyou can pressure can it, or you can add lemon juice and water bath it.
Andrea
July 18, 2015 at 6:11 amwhat if you don’t have a crock pot?
Kelly
August 29, 2015 at 1:26 amMy sauce turned out really thin (it’s more like soup than sauce) and even adding the tapioca starch it is not thickening, any suggestions?
Taesha Butler
August 29, 2015 at 2:08 amTry cooking the sauce for a bit longer in the crock pot with the lid off. This should cook off some of the excess tomato juice.
DianneE
September 1, 2015 at 12:59 pmTomatoes are so acidic that you do NOT need to use a pressure cooker if you want to can them. Been doing this for years, as has my canning friends.
martin
September 1, 2015 at 2:23 pmYou should also Blanch there tomatoes before use and add some Italian seasoning. Then, you will have a modified Italian Sauce. Use a LOT of garlic.
Cindy
March 26, 2016 at 7:20 pmAbout how many tomatoes for 6 cups?
Swasey
October 12, 2016 at 9:06 pmHas anyone made this with the peel skin on the tomatoes? I didn’t k ow you had to take them off till reading the comments…
Taesha Butler
October 12, 2016 at 9:20 pmYou don’t have to peel the tomatoes. Some people just opt to. I make this recipe all the time with the skins on.
Jaime James
November 7, 2016 at 6:49 pmCan you double batch it, if you have a large crockpot?
Taesha Butler
November 13, 2016 at 12:20 amAbsoutely
Barbara Clarke
May 30, 2017 at 9:28 amAre your cup sizes different to ours? (Australia 1 cup = 250ml). Made the sauce but only got 1 jar. Tastes good though!