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Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

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This easy homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes is one of the best sauces I have ever made. Perfect for using up all those tomatoes from your garden for tomato season! For more recipe inspiration with garden tomatoes, check out my list of Easy Tomato Recipes.

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

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

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 overripe tomatoes.

This spaghetti sauce is 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 fresh herbs. I even use this sauce as a pizza sauce.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

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

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 personal preference.

You could even use cherry tomatoes and make a cherry tomato sauce for a delicious Summer Pasta Salad or my tomato basil risotto. Cherry tomatoes are even great for recipes like my Whipped Cottage Cheese and Tomatoes.

Start by adding chopped tomatoes, onions, and garlic cloves. 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 before putting them on the tray, but that is not needed. Cooking them on a sheet pan is enough to soften them.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

Transfer the fresh veggies to a food processor with a slotted spoon and pulse a few times to incorporate them. 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.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

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

This sauce keeps developing flavor the longer it cooks. If you want to leave it on longer than an hour, that is 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 up to it, you can make homemade pasta (it tastes so much better!).

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

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 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, and it's even better the next day too.

And, if you want to make it a super healthy dish, you can 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 few weeks. I like to store mine in a mason jar. If you want to use this for later use, add a little store-bought lemon juice to each mason jar before you water bath can the sauce.

Check out my recipe for How to Make and Can Homemade Tomato Juice.

Check out these other pasta recipes below!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

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?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Jaimee

Wednesday 30th of October 2024

Thank you for the instructions. I did change the recipe and added some things and did not use sugar. But I had no idea how to make homemade spaghetti sauce among other things that I still do not know how. I am grateful for you posting this recipe. Everything was soft including the seeds. Although my sauce wasn't as red as the pictures but tasted AMAZING.

Jennifer Sikora

Thursday 31st of October 2024

glad you liked it

Aimee

Saturday 12th of October 2024

I have a late bumper crop of San Marzano tomatoes- a real treat living in Maine at this time of year - and wasn’t sure what to make with them. I came across this recipe and got excited to try a different way of making sauce. I didn’t read the reviews until after I’d already put the tomatoes, onions and garlic into the oven to roast and was worried I wouldn’t get good results based on one review - boy was that review wrong! The sauce is absolutely perfect and my kids Thayer home from college for the weekend are so excited to eat this tonight for dinner! This will be my next go-to recipe for all things tomato! The seasoning was perfect too. Thank you!

Jennifer Sikora

Sunday 13th of October 2024

I am so glad to hear you loved it! Thank you for not paying attention to one negative review and making your own decisions about the dish. This is our go to pasta sauce for everything!

Amanda lipsey

Saturday 31st of August 2024

Just made this tonight with the abundance of tomatoes taking over my garden. It was so easy and super delicious!!! Thank you!!

Jennifer Sikora

Tuesday 3rd of September 2024

You are so welcome!!

Hannah

Monday 19th of August 2024

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago with fresh tomatoes and it was delicious! My family loved it! I doubled the batch and froze half. I am making another batch and I just removed most seeds prior to roasting the tomatoes. I also blanched my tomatoes first to remove skins.

Jennifer Sikora

Wednesday 21st of August 2024

I am so glad you like it. It is always a favorite here too and a great way to use up those garden tomatoes.

Traci

Monday 19th of August 2024

Where has this recipe been all my life?!? So easy. So rich. So delicious. And I love the way my kitchen smells from start to finish. I simmered mine for an hour and a half and it had a thick texture and deep flavor. Thank you for sharing!

Jennifer Sikora

Wednesday 21st of August 2024

The smell alone is a reason to do this, right? It smells amazing!

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