How to Make and Freeze Fresh Tomato Sauce
This recipe for How to Make and Freeze Fresh Tomato Sauce is one I used for years when I had a big garden that produced lots of tomatoes!
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A lot of people are into canning tomato sauce, but I’ve been able to successfully avoid the home canning impulse for quite a few years now, even though most of my family has that gene. I prefer the flavor of frozen tomatoes to canned, and always freeze slow roasted tomatoes and Sausage and Basil Marinara Sauce every year which I make from garden tomatoes.
The recipe I’m posting here is for the sauce that I make when I’ve already made roasted tomatoes, marinara sauce, and eaten tomato salads for weeks and the garden is still producing tomatoes! It’s nothing more than plain tomato sauce, but oh what flavor when you make the sauce yourself from tomatoes still warm from the sun and picked the day you make the sauce.
Do you have to peel the tomatoes?
The most inspiring thing about my recipe is the flash of brilliance I had when I realized that you don’t have to peel the tomatoes. You can put them in a food processor and puree everything, and then when you cook them the peeling disintegrates into the sauce for brighter tomato color and more flavor.
What if you don’t want tomato seeds in the sauce?
This method will produce a rather rustic tomato sauce which still has the seeds. You can use a food mill (affiliate link) to remove seeds when you defrost the sauce if you’re making something where you want a more pure type of sauce.
How long will the fresh tomato sauce keep in the freezer?
This sauce will keep at least a year in the freezer if it’s in containers with a snap-tight lid.
How do I use this versatile sauce?
Freezing the sauce without seasonings creates endless possibilities for using it. Add garlic, oregano, basil, or other seasonings when you use the sauce to create soups, stews, pasta sauces, or other dishes this winter.
How to Make and Freeze Fresh Tomato Sauce
This recipe for How to Make and Freeze Fresh Tomato Sauce is one I used for years when I had a big garden that produced lots of tomatoes!
Ingredients
- use about 6 large tomatoes for each cup of sauce
Instructions
- It’s important to use tomatoes that are well-ripened and it’s best to pick them the day you make the sauce if that’s an option.
- I’d estimate that it takes about 6 large tomatoes to make a cup of sauce, but make as much as you can because this tastes wonderful in the winter when you’re dying for the flavor of fresh tomatoes.
- Put tomatoes in the sink and rinse well with cold water.
- Cut out stem area of each tomato and discard.
- Cut each tomato into pieces about 1 inch square. (Don’t make the pieces too large or the tomatoes won’t puree easily.)
- Using the food processor with the steel blade, puree diced tomatoes in batches and add to large heavy stock pot. The puree should be nearly all liquidized when you add it to the pot.
- Turn the heat as low as you can get it and cook the mixture until it is reduced by at least one half and as thick as you want it.
- I usually cook my sauce at least 6 hours to condense it down to the thickness I want. Your house will smell delightfully tomato-like while you cook this.
- I like to use a rubber scraper to scrape off the caramelized tomato that sticks to the side of the pot as the level decreases and do that about once every half hour.
- When sauce is condensed and thick, put into individual plastic containers and let cool on the counter for an hour or so.
- When sauce is cooled, snap on plastic lids and freeze.
- This will last for at least a year in the freezer. When you’re using the sauce, if you want a more pure tomato sauce that doesn’t have any seeds you can put it through the food mill after it’s thawed.
- Freezing the sauce this way with no added seasonings at all creates endless possibilities for using it. Add garlic, oregano, basil, or any other seasonings you want when you use the sauce to create soups, stews, pasta sauces, or other dishes this winter.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Sauce Recipes for more ideas like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2006, and I have made this type of sauce many, many times though the years (although now I sometimes have to buy tomatoes at the Farmers Market). The recipe was last updated with more information in 2021.
108 Comments on “How to Make and Freeze Fresh Tomato Sauce”
Thank you! However, you do not suggest mixing the rue with the tomatoes? Plus, can I freeze the tomatoes before I simmer them for six hours?
I am not sure what you mean by “rue”? Do you mean the caramelized tomato that sticks to the side of the pot? I do mix that back in.
I haven’t ever tried freezing raw tomatoes, but you can definitely freeze the sauce before it’s cooked six hours if you don’t mind a thinner sauce.
As described – takes a long time to cook but well worth it. Unadulterated tomato sauce to add to countless recipes. In fact, I am making another batch today – batch #2. God send recipe for using up this year’s bumper crop of tomatoes!
So glad you are enjoying it. And lucky you to have all those tomatoes.
Are you cooking at the low heat with lid or no lid
Without a lid. You want the liquid to evaporate to thicken the sauce. I would stir occasionally.
thanks for this. I get so confused with so many variations. this looks simple. 3 questions however.
would I not add salt to this mixture?
could it also go into freezer bags or is it too runny?
does it matter which tomatoes I use, and can I mix them, ie roma and beef steak, cherry?
thanks again!
You can add salt if you prefer. I like to freeze without any seasonings and add them when I use the sauce.
I don’t have much experience with freezer bags but it will probably work fine.
I think you can use a mix of red tomatoes, although I don’t think cherry tomatoes are the best for this because they have a lot of skin and not much meat to them.
Do you have to add lemon juice or anything to prevent botulism?
Nope, I have made it this way for years.
First time making sauce to freeze. So easy and WOW– so bright in color. The house smells divine. Thank you.
Hello, is there a reason why I need to thaw my sauce completely before reheating? Â I have been putting it in a pot to heat slowly and thaw. Â Just want to be sure and safe. Â Thank you!
No reason at all, it is absolutely fine to thaw the frozen tomato sauce in a pan. Glad you are enjoying the recipe!
I thought you could freeze tomato sauce
I didn’t know how long it would last
My aunt froze fresh squeeze limons
For limonad
If we could only freeze lettuce
I waste a lot of lettuce, lol! I have frozen fresh limes and lemons, but it was a mixed result for me and now I just prefer to freeze the lemon juice or lime juice to use later in recipes. You can use the search bar to find that post. I do that all the time!
So glad i found this! Everything i was finding was for pasta sauce and I wanted to replace my pantry staple also wanted something I could freeze. I used the food processor, then a slow cooker, then the stove top. It was still a tad to chunky for my taste, so i used my stick blender and smoothed it some more. So happy with the results. The seeds add that homemade rustic flare. I have so much to freeze.
So glad you liked the way it turned out. It has been many years since I shared this post and I still make it exactly like this!
Can you freeze it in a glass jar?
I don't think I would because it's hard to predict how much the sauce will expand when it freezes and you don't want broken glass in your freezer. If you have frozen similar things it might work, but I don't have any experience with that.
I used to take tomato sauce with bread in morning breakfast. Therefore, I will definitely try this yummy sauce recipe. Thanks for this nice sharing.
Try putting up your tomatoes this way ! I take my fresh picked tomatoes, core and rinse. throw the whole tomato in the freezer for about 24 hours to a hard freeze..Rinse under hot water, the skin falls off, and throw the frozen balls in a large pot and simmer down..(I use a 23 quart pot)..no need to chop the tomato, they macerate down to a perfect sauce consistency..add your onion garlic, herbs, freeze in plastic containers, pop out when frozen and vacuum seal..I put up an average of 20 gallons each summer..I plant around 40 plants each year ~
Bernadette, glad that worked well for you!
So I tried the idea of putting the pureed tomatoes into the tea container and let them set overnight. I woke up to a layer about 2-inches thick of "water" that I just drained out. Great idea … thanks for the recipe and the site. Love the no-heat lunch ideas too.
Just came across this and am making the tomato sauce as I write this, have much more to do. Will be a busy week. I am freezing in 1 pint jars this year. See how that turns out. Thanks for the recipe.
Paul, it's interesting how we end up doing so many things like our parents did them, isn't it?
What a great blog! My mother used to do this, and recently, that gene has surfaced in me. Dad also grew a ton of basil, so mom would toss a bunch in the blender, and puree' with olive oil, pour into ice cube trays and freeze. After it was frozen, she quickly transferred to a freezer baggie. In winter, she would float a cube or two on her sauce. She did the same with Sage, and other herbs.
My sister puts a whole peeled carrot into her sauce when she cooks. The sugars sweeten the sauce. She simply pulls it out out before serving or freezing.
Now, I am hungry….
I am making this as we speak. Virtually every receipe I looked at online was for "spaghetti" sauce and I wanted plain ole tomatoe sauce.