Simple Italian Tomato Sauce for Canning (No Acid)
No garlic. No oil. Just tomatoes, salt, basil, and a long, slow simmer. This recipe will help you make a tomato sauce so good, even the picky Nonna might stop lecturing you. Freeze it, can it, or enjoy it now!
Servings: 3 pint jars (16 oz. or 500 ml)
Ingredients
- 11 lb. fresh tomatoes 5 kg. (Roma preferred, but any will do. You may have to adjust cooking time)
- 1 ½ tbsp. salt
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves loosely packed
Instructions
- Wash the tomatoes thoroughly under running water.
- Slice them in half or quarters and remove seeds and excess juice using a spoon or your hands.
- Grate de-seeded tomato (use food mill or box grater) to remove skins.
- Transfer the tomato purée to a large stockpot.
- Chiffonade the basil and add to a pot together will the salt.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat but make sure that the mixture continues boiling. After 10 minutes reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
- Cook uncovered for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. The sauce should reduce in volume and thicken to a pourable but rich consistency. If the tomatoes were particularly juicy, and the sauce is still watery, extend the simmering time as needed.
- If you prefer a smoother sauce texture, blend it at this point of the recipe preparation
- If freezing, make sure to use freezer safe containers with tight fitting lids.
- If you are canning this sauce, make sure you have canning jars ready by the end of the cooking period. Follow to the next step of these instructions.
- Carefully ladle your hot Italian tomato sauce into clean, sterilized canning jars.
- Process in a canner.
- Let the jars cool completely before storing them in your pantry.
Notes
We process our tomato sauce in the atmospheric steam canner.
| Style of Pack: Hot | Process Time at Elevations of: | ||
| Jar Size | 0 - 1,000 ft | 1,001 – 6,000 ft | Above 6,000 ft |
| Pints (16 oz, ~500ml) | 40 min | 45 min | 50 min |