Easy, Homemade Tomato Sauce
From pizza to spaghetti, a good tomato sauce is a staple in cooking. Most store-bought sauces, however, are high in sodium and sugar. With having a little one, especially, we’re conscious about our diet. An easy, cost-effective, and healthy answer is to make our own. Making our own also cuts down on waste because we’re not buying the sauce from a jar that will be tossed (or best case, recycled).
How to make your own homemade tomato sauce:
In a large casserole dish, place 8-9 tomatoes, 1 bulb peeled garlic, 1 onion (quartered), and 2 sweet peppers. Bake for 60 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the onion starts to brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
Cut the tops of the peppers and tomatoes.
Place everything in a blender and blend well.
Add ¼ cup sugar
Jar and refrigerate.
Optional add-ins:
Red wine
Herbs (basil, oregano, or parsley)
Hot peppers
Carrot (as a sugar replacement)
Chopped vegetables such as mushrooms, peppers, or eggplant
Meat
Tips:
If you’re using your sauce over pasta, mix 1 cup of pasta water with your sauce.
With this recipe, I made two large jars and one small jar of sauce. It cost us about $18.00. For that price, we could have bought only two jars of the high-quality sauce, though you can definitely get cheaper sauces, but they’re likely going to be full of sodium (and much more sugar than I used).
I didn’t pressure can my sauce, so they were refrigerated right away and used within 5-7 days (according to several sources online). Be your own judge. If you want it to last longer, I recommend either canning or freezing.
Stock up if you have a garden and an abundance of tomatoes (or can get some from the farmer’s market when tomatoes are in season)
Thanks for reading!
💜
Laura
