Toss your intimidation to the side! All you need to make the most delicious tomato sauce ever is fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil. Homemade tomato sauce is both easier and faster than you might expect, and our go-to, basic tomato sauce recipe is truly that simple. From a speedy Marinara recipe, to a lightly creamy, Simple Tomato Sauce to serve over Bow Tie Pasta, we’ve made a lot of homemade tomato sauce recipes over the years, and this one is our most classic. You’ll still reach for the jarred stuff sometimes (we do!) but when you want pasta night to be just a little more yummy, you can whip up this tomato sauce recipe and treat yourself to the best bowl of spaghetti ever.
What You’ll Need For Homemade Tomato Sauce
Fresh tomatoes. Roma tomatoes are ‘famous’ sauce tomatoes, and we love that they’re pretty available year-round. Of course, if it’s summertime and the heirloom tomatoes are ripe and perfect, feel free to use those to make this fresh tomato sauce. Whatever you use, make sure your tomatoes are ripe. Overripe is OK, even, but we don’t want them to be underripe.
Fresh garlic. Just two cloves, and since you’ll blend the finished tomato sauce, there’s no need to chop it up.
Extra-virgin olive oil. Half a cup of olive oil is the secret ingredient here! It’s what makes this tomato sauce so rich and yummy. It doesn’t have to be the absolute fanciest olive oil, but do make sure it is extra virgin.
Kosher salt.
Basil. Basil is optional, but especially in the summertime, we cannot resist adding fresh basil to our tomato sauce. Fresh basil leaves make the tomato sauce a little more fragrant, fresh and summery. If you don’t have them, it’s fine to skip them.
How To Make Homemade Tomato Sauce
Simmer tomatoes, olive oil, salt, garlic, and basil.
Use your spatula or spoon to smash the tomatoes gently as they simmer.
When the sauce starts to thicken up, you’re mostly done!
Blend it until it’s mostly smooth but still has a little texture to it.
Eat it up! Usually, we toss it with pasta and top it with a dusting of Parm and call it dinner.
Yes, You Can Freeze Tomato Sauce!
Leftover tomato sauce is no problem at all. You can store it in the fridge for a few days, or you can even freeze it. To freeze your homemade tomato sauce, let it cool and pour it into a freezer-safe zip-top bag. Label it with the date, and freeze! It’ll keep for up to 3 months.
Tips For The Best Homemade Tomato Sauce
To core the tomatoes: Remove the stem and then use a sharp paring knife to remove the tough top of the tomato, right around where the stem was. Here's a pretty handy video of how it’s done!
If you don’t have an immersion blender, it’s OK to use a regular blender. Just be careful to work in batches, and let the sauce cool slightly before blending it so you don’t end up with any messes.
Serve homemade tomato sauce any way you love to use the jarred stuff. If you really want folks to go wild, serve it over homemade pasta, like our Homemade Pappardelle recipe!
More Tomato Sauce-y Dinner Recipes
Tomato Sauce Tonight! What’s For Dinner Tomorrow?
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