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Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

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This easy homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes is simply one of the best sauces I have ever made. Perfect for using up all those tomatoes coming out of your garden for tomato season!

During the month of August, everyone and their brother started giving me their tomatoes. I also like buying a lot of tomatoes from the farmers market. So many great heirlooms out there and they are my favorite to eat. They are great on sandwiches with my homemade pimento cheese and on salads.

So, what do I do with all the fresh tomatoes everyone gives me? I taught myself how to make this easy recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce from scratch. It uses all fresh ingredients and fresh produce and is a great way to use up any tomatoes that are getting over-ripe.

This spaghetti sauce is super easy to make and tastes better than any store-bought tomato sauce you will buy. It is a rich hearty sauce made with fresh basil and all kinds of fresh herbs. I even use this sauce as a pizza sauce.

The best part is that you can make a huge batch of this and freeze it in an airtight container for the winter as well. I use these freezer containers for all my sauces and soups. I use these freezer containers for all my sauces and soups.

How to Make This Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

You can use whatever tomatoes you want for this recipe. Different tomato varieties will give you a sweet flavor. For me, the best tomatoes are the Purple Cherokee tomatoes, but Beefsteak, Roma tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes, Pink Girls, or even Brandywine work for this recipe. Honestly, the tomato variety is your own personal preference.

You could even use cherry tomatoes and make a cherry tomato sauce for a delicious Summer Pasta Salad.

Start by adding chopped tomatoes, onions, and cloves of garlic. Place on a sheet pan, toss with extra virgin olive oil, and roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Of course, you can saute onions first before putting them on the tray but that is really not needed. Cooking them on a sheet pan is enough to soften them.

Transfer the fresh veggies to a food processor with a slotted spoon and pulse a few times to get it all incorporated. If you want a smooth sauce, continue pulsing until everything has been chopped up fine. You can also use an immersion blender if you do not have a food processor.

Now, pour it all into a large pot and heat over medium to medium-low heat for about an hour.

While the sauce is simmering, add in the basil, oregano, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.

This sauce just keeps developing flavor the longer it cooks. If you want to leave it on longer than an hour, that is totally fine. It will create a thick sauce as it cooks down some.

When ready to serve, choose your favorite pasta shape and cook it over medium-high heat according to the package directions. If you are feeling up to it, you can totally make homemade pasta (it tastes so much better!).

Serve the pasta with a big helping of fresh tomato sauce on top and then add as much Parmesan cheese as you want. Trust me when I say that I would grate the entire block on my plate if I could.

This easy sauce is great to make this time of year. It has SO much flavor. It's even better the next day too.

And, if you want to make it a super healthy dish, you can totally serve it over zucchini noodles.

How to Store Fresh Tomato Sauce

You can store the tomato sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of weeks. I like to store mine in a mason jar. If you want to use this for later use, make sure to add a little store-bought lemon juice to each mason jar before you water bath can the sauce.

Check out these other pasta recipes below!

Of course, if you need a good bread recipe to go with your pasta, make a batch of my Cheesecake Factory Honey Wheat Bread.

Yield: 6 servings

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

Homemade spaghetti sauce is so easy and delicious to make. This sauce is made with fresh garden tomatoes. It is rich and hearty and everyone loves it.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 12-14 tomatoes fresh from the garden
  • 1 head of garlic sliced in half
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 10-12 fresh basil leaves
  • 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano
  • 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon of pepper
  • pasta of your choice

Instructions

  1. Cut tomatoes into halves and place on a sheet pan. Add the whole head of garlic that you cut in half. Also, add the onion to the sheet pan.
  2. Drizzle on olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper. Mix the veggies and toss with olive oil.
  3. Roast in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.
  4. Remove the sheet pan from the oven. Allow the tomatoes to cool for about 15 minutes.
  5. In a food processor, add tomatoes and onions. Squeeze out the garlic cloves into the sauce.
  6. Add in the herbs and spices.
  7. Pulse several times until you get the desired cut on your tomatoes. For a chunkier sauce, pulse fewer times. For a finer sauce, continue pulsing until everything has been minced finely.
  8. Add everything to a saucepot and simmer on low for at least an hour.
  9. Serve over your favorite pasta noodles.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 156Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 646mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 4gSugar: 12gProtein: 4g

Did you make this recipe?

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Loretta

Thursday 12th of October 2023

Made this sauce with the last of our garden tomatoes.. love it! I added ground beef and it was just perfect.

Jennifer Sikora

Saturday 14th of October 2023

It really is. I love how versatile this sauce is.

Shiela

Tuesday 8th of August 2023

As I have surmised, this recipe is made with cherry tomatoes. Not good with “romas as it makes very seedy sauce. This recipe does not state which tomato’s to use. Live n learn n get loves. Although very flavorful, but again it was crunchy.

Jennifer Sikora

Saturday 12th of August 2023

I didn't use cherry tomatoes. I used regular red tomatoes I had on hand. Sorry to disappoint you.

Shiela

Tuesday 8th of August 2023

I made this sauce exactly how the directions state. It had a wonderful flavor but the seeds in the romas did not cook down.

Jennifer Sikora

Saturday 12th of August 2023

I am sorry that you had issues with the seeds. No one else has so I apologize for that. Keep trying with different tomatoes.

Melissa

Sunday 6th of August 2023

This recipe pretty much stunk! It didn't make enough to feed my family of 4 and we aren't big people! The onion and garlic did not cook very well, they were still hard so I had to put those back into the oven. The skins on the tomatoes were AWFUL! This was my first time making spaghetti sauce and I definitely won't be using this recipe again.

Jennifer Sikora

Sunday 6th of August 2023

Hi Melissa I am sorry you feel that way. Everyone else has loved it so maybe you missed a step or something? If you pureed it in your food processor it should have been fine. But then you have to cook it for an hour on the stovetop. I am sorry you had a bad experience.

Melissa

Saturday 5th of August 2023

How much dry spices would I use? Oregano is extremely hard to find near me.

Jennifer Sikora

Saturday 5th of August 2023

I would say 2 teaspoons of oregano and about that same amount for the basil. Taste it after you get it mixed in and add more if you need to.

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