Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Reviewed on Nov. 24, 2012 by Eika613

Easy enough, but was very weak. I was planning on giving these away as Christmas gifts, but will use my back up instead.

Reviewed on Nov. 03, 2012 by kristyc3

I gave this recipe a 4 star not because of any flaw in the taste but because of the oil in the ingredient list. Ladies, please DO NOT add the oil to thei recipe unless you are planning on freezing it. Oil is not shelf stable in home canned products. If you want the oil in it, perhaps you can add it when you heat it up. Having said all that, the recipe is really good without the oil. I only added one can of the tomato paste because my sauce was plenty thick without it. I also used my emersion blender to smooth out the sauce because I do not like chunks in my sauce. Taste wise, this recipe is great and I wll definately make it again.

Reviewed on Oct. 17, 2012 by suzyq19602003

This was awesome! I added cumin, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, and more basil. Already made a second batch since the first didn't get canned!

Reviewed on Oct. 02, 2012 by june5uke

Made this and it worked out great. Tastes so good. I got 10 quarts worth.

What I changed was that I did NOT add the canola oil, as another reviewer suggested.

I used about 12 cloves of garlic and I crushed them in my garlic press.

& I used four fresh hot peppers instead of the crushed red pepper flakes because I had them from my garden. I could have added more since they didn't make the sauce hot at all.

AND I put the sauce into pints and half pints. So I put 1 Tbsp of lemon juice in the pint jars and 1/2 Tbsp in the half pints. I processed them for about 30-35 minutes in a boiling water bath.

I learned to not put the lemon juice into the hot jars first. I now know to put in some sauce, THEN the lemon juice. Two jars cracked before I changed my ways.

Reviewed on Sep. 10, 2012 by Nic212

I accidently added the lemon juice to the mixture to boil.....will it still cook up right?

Reviewed on Sep. 09, 2012 by tippity

I made half the recipe using San Marzano tomatoes and added extra garlic and herbs. I did not seed the tomatoes and only cooked it for 2 1/2 hrs. and it was thick and made 4 qts. A meatier tomato would probably yield less juice. You could also drain the tomatoes in a colander while peeling them.

Reviewed on Sep. 06, 2012 by sstetzel

Sou.Indiana

Can I just make is as the recipe says and freeze it?

Certainly.  It should freeze very well.

Reviewed on Sep. 06, 2012 by Sou.Indiana

Can I just make is as the recipe says and freeze it? I have never canned anything and not sure exactly how to do it.

Reviewed on Aug. 19, 2012 by seebs1977

Great flavor!!! I saved calories by omitting the oil and still have a delicious tasting sauce. I also seeded my tomatoes and that made the sauce much thicker. But instead of cooking down the tomatoes first (as one reviewer had suggested), I quartered & seeded them and put them in a bowl. Once in the bowl, I mashed them with my hands and then strained them through a collander a couple times before adding them with the other ingredients. I ended up with 1 qt. and 4 pts. of tomato juice that I also heated and canned. Once I added the rest of the ingredients, I cooked it for about 5 hours in my crockpot before canning it. I only yielded 5 qts. and a little extra due to all the juice I extracted. I hope to make a few more batches with the rest of our bounty and give some as gifts at Christmas time with a box of pasta!

Reviewed on Jul. 31, 2012 by whymessz

I have a comment re tomatoes being low acid & need to be canned in a pressure canner which is not true. Acid needs to be added to tomatoes & can be safely for boiling water bath canner. read this:

http://www.foodsafety.wisc.edu/assets/preservation/uwex_addacidtomatoes.pdf

Reviewed on Jun. 29, 2012 by colonygal

I didn't quite understand what the oil was for. I left it out and still had a good product. I seeded my tomatoes to make sure the sauce was thick, so this was more time consuming, but worth it I think. I also added diced celery. I followed the rest of the recipe. We loved the flavor of the spice combination. I plan on making another batch this weekend.

Reviewed on Sep. 07, 2011 by Michigangrown77

I gave the recipe a 4 since it is delicious but we did have some issues along the way......

We followed the recipe except we added mushrooms and we used Olive oil in place of canola. The spices are an excellent mix and we really love the flavor. The problem we had is with the sauce thickening, after 5 hours we still have juice rather than sauce. We ended up adding 2 additional cans of tomato paste and we cooked the first batch for 7 hours. I took some advice from my mother-in-law for the second batch and added only the tomatoes to the kettle and boiled them down for an hour. We then removed 7 cups of the juice before adding all the remaining ingredients. We ended up adding 2 additional (so 6 total) jars of tomato paste but the second batch did only take 5 hours to cook. We only got 7 quarts from each of our batches, not sure how we ended up with 2 less than the original recipe poster.

We did love the flavors and are making a third batch tomorrow!

Reviewed on Sep. 06, 2011 by annie1992

Connie, I agree, the standards for canning do not include canning with a cup of oil. Plus, I don't think two tablespoons of lemon juice is enough with all those low acid vegetables.

for the poster who forgot the lemon juice, I don't think I'd eat it. However, if I were inclined to use it, I'd be sure I boiled it hard for at least 10 minutes to be certain I destroyed any botulism spores.

Reviewed on Sep. 05, 2011 by klingram

Easy to make and really good. I've got 14 quarts in my cabinet now. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.

Reviewed on Sep. 03, 2011 by MMIRLO

I just made spaghetti sauce for the first time. I have always made salsa with our tomatoes and this year decided to try making spaghetti sauce. So far I love this recipe!! I did however add a few more spices to the mix and I still tasted excellent! The only worry I have is, while pouring the spaghetti sauce into the jars to seal, I remembered that I'd forgot to put the lemon juice into the jars!! I know it's for the acid levels, but I want to know if the sauce is still going to be good or will it make you ill? I really hope I don't have to throw out the sauce.

Reviewed on Sep. 02, 2011 by semenick

This sounds great! I have been making my own sauce for 40+ yrs & never though of canning it. I always freeze my sauce. I'm going to try this.

Reviewed on Aug. 22, 2011 by karlaleuchs

I love this recipe. Great taste. To make my sauce thicker I de-seeded my tomatoes by cutting them in half horizontally after being peeled and sticking my finger in the seed cavity so that the seeds squirt out. We like our sauce chunky, so I used some tomatoes that weren't quite ripe. They don't cook down to mush. I also added some mushrooms to my sauce.

Reviewed on Aug. 19, 2011 by greeneeeeeeeeeeeeethumb

My son and I canned a double batch today substituting a few ingredients and adding a few things. We Used a Kitchen Aid with a strainer attachment to save time with the seeds and skins. We also heated the oil in a frying pan to rid any chance of botulism. Cool before adding to the mixture. Very nice for the upcoming winter months, especially when pouring over our banana hot stuffed peppers. We start that tomorrow as soon as my wife brings home the cheese, sausage, barley, etc. I have a very good recipe so we can stock away for the winter months. Thank you for this great dish.

Semper Fi

Reviewed on Aug. 14, 2011 by connie105

This recipe is a bit worrisome for me with the addition of oil. Anything canned with oil or meat, needs to be processed in a pressure cooker to ensure higher heat to kill the botulism-producing spores that can survive boiling water temps. no matter how long they are boiled. The only safe way is to raise core temps to 240 - 250 degrees F.

Tomatoes are a low acid food already, and should really be process with a pressure cooker. I do see that you added alot of lemon juice to raise the acid level, but I wouldn't want to take the chance.

Reviewed on Sep. 07, 2010 by Ab0628

Thanks for this recipe! We have been four batches total the last two weekends. We have always made salsa before with our tomatoes, and this year we decided to try spaghetti sauce. Love the spice combo in this recipe. The first week we followed the recipe as is (except for adding mushrooms) ;the second week, I drained the tomatoes and doubled the tomato paste as we like a thicker sauce. We also cooked the sauce in a roaster the second weekend, which cut the simmering time to around two hours. I cooked some Sunday night with hamburger and was very happy with the results. My husband ate it as sloppy joes, and my sons and I had it over penne. We may make another batch this weekend!

Reviewed on Jul. 23, 2010 by savanna2

I can a lot , and grow different varieties of tomatoes in my garden. This recipe is what i have been waiting for. I think i can modify it into a garden variety by adding diced celery, carrots, and mushrooms to it when i make the sauce to can. I would have to split the sauce into 2 batches for that.

Before heating and serving the sauce for dinner, i could saute some sausage or ground turkey, hamburger, or even some chicken cubes to make it a meaty sauce.