Because sometimes you gotta go old fashioned and dump a bunch of yummy veggies from your garden into a stock pot and make a rich yummy tomato sauce! This is no quick and easy recipe. This is one that you start in the morning and let simmer throughout the whole day. And the results are well worth it. This recipe is passed down from my Grandma Melba who loved spaghetti so much that she probably would have eaten it every day if she could have. She loved cooking from scratch and would often taste her recipes throughout the day to figure out what spices to add. I can remember the sweet smell of her tomato sauce, and whenever I want to eat a meal in her memory, I cook up a delicious pot of spaghetti sauce.
The key to any great tomato sauce is fresh, organic vegetables. I love a chunky tomato sauce full of Italian spices. And any Southerner will tell you that the longer you cook a sauce, chili, or gumbo, the more the flavors combine. A perfect sauce will not be too heavy in any particular flavor, but rather each and every component will play an important role in creating the whole delicious dish. You won’t taste too much onion or garlic, but rather, you will taste the WHOLE sauce and say, YES.
This tomato sauce is created with care and love. You must watch over it and come to it with patience, each time, tasting and deciding what spice needs to be added and how much. While the recipe below includes measurements, these are arbitrary. You must take your time and trust your own palate. Add what sounds right to you and make this recipe your own.
Once cooked up, this tomato sauce can be stored in a jar in the fridge for up to a week, and if you know how to can or jar properly, you should be able to store it for months. If you are going to store it for a long period of time, you should omit the olive oil and stick with 1/4 cup to a 1/2 a cup of lemon juice. The oil could cause the sauce to go bad. Feel free to add or delete any veggies that you love into your tomato sauce! We have a garden full of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, garlic and basil so these veggies always get added into our sauce!
Here’s the recipe to Sweetie Pie and Cupcake’s Famous Homemade Tomato Sauce:
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 3 hours |
| Servings |
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- 3 lbs. Fresh Tomatoes
- 1/4 cup olive oil Omit oil if storing a long time, use lemon juice only
- 1/4 cup Lemon Juice Add more if needed
- 1 large White onion Diced
- 4 Bell Peppers Various Colors
- 8 cloves garlic Minced
- 1/3 cup Fresh Basil Leaves Chopped
- 1/2 tsp Dried Thyme Or a sprig of fresh
- 1 tsp Dried Oregano Or a sprig of fresh
- 2 Bay Leaves Remove when done
- 1 tsp Dried Parsley Or a few sprigs of fresh
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1 Tbsp Honey
- 1 Carrot Grate half and add to sauce, use other half to add at end of cooking
- 1/2 cup Water Add more as needed
Ingredients
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- Peel and seed tomatoes by cutting an "X" on top of the tomatoes and dropping into boiling water for 10 seconds. Then place them in a bowl of ice water. The skin will peel off.
- Pour the olive oil into a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the diced onions and bell peppers and grated carrots and saute until tender, about 6-8 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for a minute more, until fragrant.
- Add tomatoes, chopped basil, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, parsley and salt. Add the 1/2 cup of water and allow the pot to simmer on low heat for 2-3 hours. Stir the ingredients and add spices as needed. During the last 30 minutes or so, add the other half of the carrot whole to absorb acidity.
- Add the 1/4 cup of lemon juice (more if desired) once the sauce has cooked down. This helps to preserve the sauce and add flavor. Remove the carrot half, sprigs of herbs and the bay leaves.
- Use the sauce fresh or store in the fridge up to a week. Or can according to your canner's instructions. Enjoy!
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