Homemade Spaghetti Sauce – Easy Canning Recipe (Video)

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Homemade spaghetti sauce is easy to make and this particular recipe can either be made fresh or easily preserved for long term storage by canning.  This recipe tastes very similar to Prego spaghetti sauce, but is much healthier and less expensive of course.  This is the best homemade spaghetti sauce recipe I’ve found in my almost 40 years of canning and my family has been enjoying it for many years.  We can lots of it each year when we harvest the tomatoes, onions and garlic from our garden.  If you don’t want to can it, you can easily make this easy homemade spaghetti sauce recipe for fresh eating.  You can also make it with canned tomatoes or tomato sauce.  It’s a very simple and flexible recipe, and one you’ll want to make for many years to come.

homemade spaghetti sauce

Our family grows a ½ acre market garden each year to help supplement our family’s income and to provide food for our family of seven.  We grow a lot of tomatoes, and making spaghetti sauce is one of my go to ways for preserving tomatoes.  The only thing we buy in order to make this spaghetti sauce is the tomato paste and a couple of the spices.  It can be made for about $.50 per quart, which is a lot less than what you can purchase spaghetti sauce for at the grocery store.  We spend less than $1,000 dollars on food at the grocery store each year, and growing, canning and preserving our food is how we are able to achieve that goal.  If you’re interested in learning how to do the same, check out the other posts on our blog here.

Best Ways To Enjoy This Easy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

  • On sourdough spaghetti noodles with some meatballs or with browned hamburger for a spaghetti meat sauce, with sourdough garlic bread and frozen corn on the side.
  • As a base to make a simple red enchilada sauce.
  • To make a delicious lasagna soup with homemade sourdough noodles and homemade mozzarella and cottage cheese.
  • As a pasta sauce for making baked spaghetti which can be frozen for simple meals later on.
  • As a homemade marinara sauce stuffed into spaghetti squash and baked with mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top.
  • Use as pizza sauce on pizza crust or in sourdough pizza pockets for a quick meal on busy weeknights.
  • As a dipping sauce for homemade breadsticks.
sourdough pizza pocket

It is so rewarding to have your own spaghetti sauce on your pantry shelves.  If company stops in unexpectedly, you can always make a large pot of spaghetti.  Kids love it also, and it’s nourishing and healthy.

Simple Ingredients

Tomatoes

Fresh garden tomatoes are the best.  I use a mix of whatever I have in my garden.  San marzano tomatoes and romas, heirloom tomatoes and slicing tomatoes, and sometimes even cherry tomatoes.  Whatever needs preserved is what I use.  If you don’t have garden fresh tomatoes, you can certainly use canned tomatoes or tomato sauce.

tomatoes in roasters for homemade spaghetti sauce

Onions

We grow a lot of onions in our garden every year, and always use them in our canning recipes like this spaghetti sauce.  You can always purchase onions from the grocery store as well.  Any kind of onion will work.  A mix of red and yellow onion gives a nice flavor.

onions and garlic for homemade spaghetti sauce

Garlic

Fresh garlic cloves gives this recipe an especially good flavor.  Garlic is really easy to grow, but if you aren’t currently growing any, you can always purchase some from the grocery store.  

Tomato Paste

I usually order my tomato paste in bulk from my local grocery store to use during canning season.  It’s great for stretching your good garden tomatoes, and quickly thickens your sauces so you don’t have to boil them down for hours and risk burning them.  If you don’t have access to tomato paste, you can still boil the sauce down until it is thick, but the paste is a much better and quicker way of thickening it up.  If you have lots of tomatoes, you can also dehydrate them, and then grind them up into powder and use the powder as a thickening agent in tomato based sauce recipes.

Spices

We purchase most of our spices in bulk from Azure Standard and keep them stocked in our homestead pantry.  Here’s a list of the spices you’ll need for this recipe:

The sugar cuts the acidity of the tomatoes and gives the sauce that signature Prego taste.

Tips

If making this recipe fresh (without canning it), you can use fresh tomatoes, or you can use the same amount of canned tomatoes or canned tomato sauce.  Sometimes it’s nice to have a lot of plain tomatoes canned up in your pantry, then you can be flexible with what you make with them.  Tomato soup, chili, taco soup, spaghetti sauce, etc. and the the list goes on.

You can also freeze the tomatoes if you’re busy during the summertime, and then process them into this spaghetti sauce on a cold winter day.  Just core the tomatoes, and place them in a ziplock freezer bag.  Then thaw them out and they will be ready to make into sauce.

I like to cook the onions and garlic in a separate skillet until they are caramelized.  This really brings out their rich flavor.

The immersion blender used in this recipe makes pureeing the ingredients simple and easy.  If you don’t have an immersion blender you can use a regular blender.  

blending spices into homemade spaghetti sauce

If you are canning this recipe:

Feel free to make as many batches of this recipe as need be to use up the amount of tomatoes that you have. 

I suggest making this homemade sauce recipe in electric roasters and use roaster liners.  This makes the clean up easy, and if you need to step away, you can just turn the roasters down and the sauce will be just fine.

Purchase your spices in bulk – it will save you a lot of money and make it simple and easy to whip up this yummy sauce anytime.

This spaghetti sauce can also be frozen, but I much prefer it canned in case of long term power outage and to save room in my freezer.

This recipe only needs to be water bath canned, which is very simple and easy to do.  Instructions in the video linked below.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here

Tools You May Need

Large heavy bottom stock pot, electric roaster or crockpot

Roaster liner or crockpot liner (if using a roaster or crockpot)

Sharp knife

Cutting board

Immersion blender or regular blender

Canning jars – I prefer narrow mouth quarts

Canning funnel

Measuring cup with a handle

For Jars canning lids

Camp Chef Stove – for outdoor cooking and canning

Water Bath Canner

How To Make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

If using fresh tomatoes, core whole tomatoes and place in roaster, large heavy bottom stock pot or slow cooker.  Do not peel or take the seeds out.  We will blend them up later, and you’ll never know they are in there. 

coring tomatoes for homemade spaghetti sauce

If using canned tomatoes or tomato sauce, just dump them into the roaster, large heavy bottom stock pot or slow cooker.

Turn roaster on 350 degrees, crockpot on high or stockpot on medium-high heat to begin heating tomatoes.  I like to put a lid on in the beginning to help them start cooking faster.

In a separate skillet, saute chopped onions and garlic in a small amount of fat like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, or even beef tallow.  

caramelized onion and garlic for homemade spaghetti sauce

Cook until caramelized, and then add to the tomatoes.

Add all the spices to the tomato mixture.

adding spices to homemade spaghetti sauce

Once the tomatoes are soft, use an immersion blender to blend the sauce well.

blending homemade spaghetti sauce

Add tomato paste and blend again.  

Turn the heat down to a low simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavors to blend.  

Serve fresh over pasta 

OR

Ladle into clean jars using canning funnel and measuring cup

Place lids and rings onto the jarred sauce.

Process in a boiling water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Allow to cool.  Once jars are sealed, remove the rings and store on your pantry shelves.

If eating fresh, you can store leftover spaghetti sauce in an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.

If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21

Yield: 24 one cup servings

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce - Easy Canning Recipe (Video)

homemade spaghetti sauce

Homemade spaghetti sauce is easy to make and this particular recipe can either be made fresh or easily preserved for long term storage by canning.  This recipe tastes very similar to Prego spaghetti sauce, but is much healthier and less expensive of course.  This is the best homemade spaghetti sauce recipe I've found in my almost 40 years of canning and my family has been enjoying it for many years.  We can lots of it each year when we harvest the tomatoes, onions and garlic from our garden.  If you don’t want to can it, you can easily make this easy homemade spaghetti sauce recipe for fresh eating.  You can also make it with canned tomatoes or tomato sauce.  It’s a very simple and flexible recipe, and one you’ll want to make for many years to come.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 quarts tomatoes
  • 2 onions chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 2 tsp. oregano
  • 2 tsp. black pepper
  • 4 tsp. salt
  • 4 tsp. parsley
  • 4 tsp. basil
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 2 quarts of tomato paste (64 oz)

Instructions

If you're making this for fresh eating, feel free to cut the recipe in half.

If using fresh tomatoes, core whole tomatoes and place in roaster, large heavy bottom stock pot or slow cooker.  Do not peel or take the seeds out.  We will blend them up later, and you’ll never know they are in there. 

If using canned tomatoes or tomato sauce, just dump them into the roaster, large heavy bottom stock pot or slow cooker.

Turn roaster on 350 degrees, crockpot on high or stockpot on medium-high heat to begin heating tomatoes.  I like to put a lid on in the beginning to help them start cooking faster.

In a separate skillet, saute chopped onions and garlic in a small amount of fat like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, or even beef tallow.  

Cook until caramelized, and then add to the tomatoes.

Add all the spices to the tomato mixture.

Once the tomatoes are soft, use an immersion blender to blend the sauce well.

Add tomato paste and blend again.  

Turn the heat down to a low simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavors to blend.  

Serve fresh over pasta 

OR

Ladle into clean jars using canning funnel and measuring cup

Place lids and rings onto the jarred sauce.

Process in a boiling water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Allow to cool.  Once jars are sealed, remove the rings and store on your pantry shelves.

If eating fresh, you can store leftover spaghetti sauce in an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

24

Serving Size:

1 cup

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 123Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 449mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 6gSugar: 19gProtein: 5g

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