Any tomato sauce recipe is a pretty plain recipe to make at home. Still, we choose the store bought option over the homemade one every time. The cheep packages that go for 2 – 3 dollars a jar are almost always low grade. The taste may be good and the price affordable, but these tomato sauces are nothing compared to the more expensive brands like Victoria all-natural marinara and Cucina Antica garlic marinara.
Easy Tomato Sauce Recipe
If you’re the kind of person who likes homemade versions of popular foods, this tomato sauce recipe is right for you. You can use it in spaghetti and meatballs, pizza, add it to smoothies or soups.
Ingredients for 1 jar:
- 1 pound tomatoes
- 1 small/medium onion
- 1 clove garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Seasoning to taste: rosemary or oregano recommended
Preparation:
Chop the tomatoes, onion and garlic. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan, and add the onions. Cook on a low heat until softened, not brown. Add the garlic and chopped tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes then add the seasoning. Simmer on low/medium until you get the texture you like.
If you’re not a fan of standing over the stove for an hour, you can also bake your tomatoes into a sauce. Cut the tomatoes in half and place them in the pan with the cut part in the oil. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and bake the tomatoes for 30 – 40 minutes. Their skins will be easy to remove after they cool down, so all you have to do next is break them up with a fork or a handheld blender. Depending on how thick you like your sauce, you can place them in the oven for another half an hour, until the juices disappear.
Tips and tricks for tomato sauce recipe
Tomato sauce made from scratch is fairly easy to make. But if you’re used to the store bought stuff you may need some tricks and tips to make it look more commercial. Tomato skins tend to roll up when fried, which can be off-putting for many, especially kids. You can either pulse the sauce when it’s done in a food processor, or skin the tomatoes before cooking them.
Tomatoes are not the kind of veggie you can easily peel, so bake them before turning them into a nice sauce. Place them in a baking pan on medium/high heat in the oven, and let the heat soften the insides. They need around 15 – 20 minutes to soften up, after which you can easily skin them. If they are ripe, you can massage the entire tomato with the dull end of a knife. That will loosen up the skins from the body, after which you can easily peel them off.
If you like to shelve more jars to last you a month or more, I will be best to keep your tomato sauce in containers in the freezer. They can survive up to 2 months in the freezer, or up to 2 weeks in the fridge. You can also heat the jars in the oven before pouring the sauce, then place them back in a heated oven until a crust is formed at the top. The crust will make sure mold stays away for a longer period of time.