Spaghetti Sauce for Canning (Use Fresh or Frozen Tomatoes)
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My husband came in from outside the first time I was canning spaghetti sauce, smiled and said the house smelled like an Italian restaurant – a good Italian restaurant. I had to agree.
This sauce takes a while to cook, but the end result is delicious! It’s great for pasta sauce, pizza or topping spaghetti squash. Gluten free and meatless (you can add meat just before serving if you like).
We take you through the recipe step by step with photos, plus share tips for working with frozen tomatoes. A good homemade spaghetti sauce recipe for canning is a must in our house, because many store bought spaghetti sauces use ingredients like genetically modified high fructose corn syrup and soybean oil – not things we normally eat.
I start a batch in the morning, and slow cook it while I’m working on other things in the kitchen, like prepping the rest of the ingredients and canning equipment. Paste tomatoes yield a thicker sauce with less cooking, but you can use any tomatoes that you have available.
Spaghetti Sauce Recipe for Canning with Fresh Tomatoes – Step By Step Instructions
(Scroll down to bottom of post for print friendly version of recipe.)
My favorite canning spaghetti sauce recipe is adapted from The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery. This recipe is very close to the “Spaghetti sauce without Meat” recipe listed on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website, so you know it’s a safe canning recipe.
Salt and pepper can be adjusted to taste, or substitute Italian seasoning for the oregano. It’s okay to substitute an equal amount of fresh basil for some of the celery, green peppers or mushrooms.
You can also cut this spaghetti sauce recipe in half or to a fourth. Just keep the processing time the same, or freeze the marinara sauce in freezer bags or freezer safe containers instead of canning.
When we’re ready to serve the spaghetti sauce, we open a jar and heat it up, or brown some ground beef or Italian sausage and add the sauce to the skillet.
Ingredients
- 30 pounds tomatoes
- 1/4 cup butter or olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 5 minced garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 cup chopped celery or green pepper
- 1 pound sliced mushrooms (optional)
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 tablespoons oregano flakes
- 1/4 cup minced parsley
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or unrefined cane sugar
Directions
Wash 30 pounds of tomatoes. Remove cores and quarter tomatoes.
Cook 20 minutes, uncovered, in large pan or pans to soften tomatoes. I cook mine at medium high heat in an assortment of heavy bottom stainless steel pots. I have also used a Nesco roaster and a slow cooker.
Thick bottom pans prevent accidental scorching, frequent stirring is recommended. Don’t use aluminum – it will react with the acid in the tomatoes. When I cook on the stove top, I start with four pans and cook the sauce down to one 8 quart stockpot.
Put tomatoes through a food strainer or food mill. I have a Back to Basics food strainer that works beautifully. (The Back to Basics strainer isn’t available anymore, but this Norpro strainer is similar.)
Years ago I used a chinois strainer. I still use it for small batches, but for large batches the food strainer can’t be beat. It’s so much faster! KitchenAid also makes a strainer attachment for their mixers.
Cook down tomatoes to reduce volume and make a thicker sauce. We start with four pots and end up with one. This is the base of your spaghetti sauce.
While the tomato sauce is cooking, you can do the rest of the prep work, like chopping the rest of your veggies, filling the canner, and getting the lids and jars ready.
My pressure canner uses three quarts of water, to which I add one tablespoon of white vinegar to reduce hard water build up on the jars. I wash my jars in the dishwasher and keep them hot until I’m ready to fill.
I keep my lids in hot water in a one quart saucepan (do not boil lids), and use kitchen tongs for lifting them out of the water. The latest generation of canning lids from Ball do not require preheating, but I have a stock of lids that I am still working through.
To Finish the Sauce
Sauté in 1/4 cup butter or olive oil until tender: onions, garlic, celery or green pepper, and mushrooms. Combine sautéed vegetables and tomatoes. Add salt, black pepper, oregano, parsley and sugar.
Bring to a boil. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Reduce heat to simmer, keep hot while waiting to process.
Canning the Spaghetti Sauce
Fill jars, leaving 1 inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process in a pressure canner 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts.
If using a weighted-gauge canner, set at 10 pounds pressure at 0-1,000 feet above sea level; set at 15 pounds pressure at higher altitudes.
If using a dial-gauge canner; set at:
- 11 pounds pressure at 0-2000 feet above sea level
- 12 pounds at 2,001-4,000 feet
- 13 pounds at 4,001-6,000 feet
- 14 pounds at 6.001-8,000 feet
- 15 pounds above 8,000 feet
Allow canner to cool and release pressure. Remove jars and set on towel on counter. Let rest until cool, or overnight.
Remove rings, wipe any spills. Date and label and store in a cool, dry location, out of direct sunlight. Best used within 1-2 years.
Yields around eight pints of home canned spaghetti sauce.
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What About Canning Spaghetti Sauce Without a Pressure Canner?
You need to use a pressure canner for canning this spaghetti sauce recipe, since it contains low acid ingredients like oil and onions. Freezing spaghetti sauce is a good option if you don’t have a pressure canner.
To use a water bath canner, the food you’re canning must have a pH of 4.6 or lower.
The homemade spaghetti sauce recipes with lemon juice added to make them safe for water bath canning taste like lemons to me, not tomatoes. I’ve tried them, but I can’t recommend them.
Citric acid lowers acidity without changing the flavor of the sauce, but there’s still the issue of the oil. Use the freezer instead.
See “How to Can Food at Home” for a review of safety basics.
How long does home canned spaghetti sauce last?
The flavor and nutrient levels in your home canned spaghetti sauce are best when used within one to two years. If you store the sauce in the freezer, try to use it within six months.
We’ve used a few home canned items at five years of age, but the flavor is not as good.
Never use a canned product with a broken seal, bulging lid or other obvious signs of damage or spoilage.
How do you thicken homemade spaghetti sauce for canning?
Low, slow cooking is my default option to thicken the sauce and concentrate the flavor of the tomatoes.
Other options include:
- Weigh and freeze the tomatoes, and then allow them to thaw in a colander to remove excess liquid before proceeding with the recipe.
- Can the sauce when it is somewhat thin, and then add tomato powder or dehydrated tomato puree to thicken when you heat the sauce for serving. I use this option when I make sauce out of cherry tomatoes or other very juicy tomatoes instead of paste tomatoes.
Some people grind up the skins and seeds to thicken the sauce. For our tastes, this made the sauce so bitter that we couldn’t eat it. Also, the skin and seeds of the tomatoes are where most of the lectins are.
Why Remove the Seeds and Skin?
Lectins are a type of protein that can bind to carbohydrates, and act as part of the plant’s self defense mechanism. They are difficult to digest, and may contribute to leaky gut syndrome. They may also have a negative effect on the immune system in sensitive individuals.
By removing the skin and seeds, we remove the majority of the lectins, making the tomato sauce easier to digest.
If You Don’t Have Enough Ripe Tomatoes from One Picking
If you don’t have enough ripe tomatoes at one time for canning spaghetti sauce, you can store tomatoes that are very ripe or damaged into the freezer, until you have enough for the recipe.
Our ripe, undamaged tomatoes will easily keep for a week or more at room temperature. Cracked or otherwise damaged tomatoes will only last a day or two before spoiling and/or attracting fruit flies. They should be processed in some manner within 24 hours, if possible.
I usually core the tomatoes and half or quarter them (depending on the size) before freezing. Then, when I am planning on canning spaghetti sauce the next day, I place them in the sink overnight to thaw. In the morning, you can pour off some of the clear juice if you like so that the cook down quicker. Weigh them out, dump them into your stockpot, and start cooking.
If you have fruit that’s refusing to ripen, check out “4 Reasons your Tomatoes Aren’t Ripening – And What You can Do About it“.
If you have tomato blossoms, but no fruit, we have help for that, too.
PrintCanned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe – Fresh or Frozen Tomatoes
Never buy spaghetti sauce from the store again.This homemade canning spaghetti sauce recipe is slow cooked and loaded with flavor. May also be used fresh or frozen if you don’t have a pressure canner.
- Prep Time: 5 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 pints
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Canning
- Cuisine: American-Italian
Ingredients
- 30 pounds tomatoes
- 1/4 cup butter or olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 5 minced garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 cup chopped celery or green pepper
- 1 pound sliced mushrooms (optional)
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano flakes
- 1/4 cup minced parsley
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or unrefined cane sugar
Instructions
- Wash 30 pounds of tomatoes. Remove cores and quarter tomatoes. Boil 20 minutes, uncovered, in large pan (or pans).
- Put through food strainer or food mill. Cook down tomatoes to reduce volume and make a thicker sauce. Reduce volume by 1/2 to 2/3rds.
- While the sauce is cooking, finish the remaining prep work, like chopping your veggies and getting the lids and jars ready. Prepare pressure canner according to manufacturer’s instructions.
To Finish the Sauce
- Saute in 1/4 cup butter or olive oil until tender: onions, garlic, celery or green pepper, and mushrooms.
- Combine sauteed vegetables and tomatoes.
- Add salt, black pepper, oregano, parsley and sugar.
- Bring to a boil. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Reduce heat to simmer, keep hot while waiting to process.
- Fill jars, leaving 1 inch headspace. Adjust lids.
- Process in a pressure canner 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts. If using a weighted-gauge canner, set at 10 pounds pressure at 0-1,000 feet above sea level; set at 15 pounds pressure at higher altitudes. If using a dial-gauge canner; set at 11 pounds pressure at 0-2000 feet above sea level; 12 pounds at 2,001-4,000 feet; 13 pounds at 4,001-6,000 feet; 14 pounds at 6.001-8,000 feet; or 15 pounds above 8,000 feet.
- Allow canner to cool and release pressure. Remove jars and set on towel on counter. Let rest until cool, or overnight. Remove rings, wipe any spills. Date and label and store in a cool, dry location, out of direct sunlight. Best used within 1-2 years.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
You may also enjoy:
- Home Canned Salsa Recipe – Plus 10 Tips for Canning Salsa Safely
- 2 Homemade Ketchup Recipes
- Home Canned Tomato Soup
- How to Can Tomatoes
- Pickled Cherry Tomatoes for Canning, Plus More Cherry Tomato Ideas
This article is written by Laurie Neverman. Laurie grew up in the kitchen, learning baking and home cooking from her momma. At age 15, she and her mom and two sisters created Irene’s Custom Cakes & Catering. This was her summer job through most of high school and college.
Originally published in 2009, last updated in 2024.