The Best Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe - (2024)

Wanting to can homemade spaghetti sauce but don’t know how! This homemade canned spaghetti sauce recipe is the tomato grower’s dream sauce. Packed with amazing flavor, quality ingredients, and the ability to enjoy your garden harvest long after your tomatoes have stopped producing!

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The Best Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe - (1)

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How Do You Add Flavor To Canned Spaghetti Sauce?

Contents hide

1 How Do You Add Flavor To Canned Spaghetti Sauce?

2 Is Canned Spaghetti Sauce Bad For You?

3 Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce

3.2 How Long Does Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Last?

3.3 Do You Have To Add Lemon Juice When Canning Spaghetti Sauce?

4 Making Canned Spaghetti Sauce

4.1 What Do You Need To Make This Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

4.2 Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

4.2.1 Ingredients:

4.2.2 Directions:

4.3 Notes On Making Canned Spaghetti Sauce

4.4 Canning And Preserving Videos:

A great way to add flavor to canned spaghetti sauce is to add some fresh romano and parmesan cheese to it as you are heating it up. It adds a great flavor and thickens the texture too.

Is Canned Spaghetti Sauce Bad For You?

No, canning spaghetti sauce straight from your garden is a wonderful way to get that fresh goodness from your garden and into your family. If you are organic gardening that just makes it all the more healthy for your family. You control what goes on your plants, in your soil, when your fruits are harvested, where they are kept, how they are stored, how they are processed, what goes into your sauce. In other words, YOU are in control and choose what you want inside your sauce and how you want to nurture your family.

Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce

Why Make Canned Spaghetti Sauce?

This homemade canned spaghetti sauce recipe is something that we make every year when the tomatoes start producing. We are super picky about our tomato sauce in this house, add in some really bad food allergies and store-bought sauces aren’t an option for us. Enter our homemade canned spaghetti sauce recipe!

Making your own homemade spaghetti sauce is super easy and a great way to get your feet wet in the canning world. You can so easily adjust this homemade canned spaghetti sauce recipe to make it perfect for how your family likes your spaghetti sauce- and it is so nice to have it in the pantry ready to go for recipes like:

  • Homemade Lasagna Recipe
  • Homemade Ravioli Recipe
  • Baked Penne Pasta
  • Manicotti Recipe
  • Wanting to make your own pasta? Try our pasta recipe!

How Long Does Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Last?

If preserved properly your homemade canned spaghetti sauce can last for five years or longer but will lose its peak flavor for two years.

Do You Have To Add Lemon Juice When Canning Spaghetti Sauce?

Lemon juice helps to ensure that your homemade canned spaghetti sauce has a safe acidity level. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice to each quart jar of homemade canned spaghetti sauce. If you don’t have lemon juice on hand you could substitute it for 1/2 teaspoon citric acid per quart.

Making Canned Spaghetti Sauce

This canned spaghetti sauce recipe is full of fresh garden flavors that will make your meals taste all the better!

What Do You Need To Make This Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

25 lb Fresh Tomatoes

1 tablespoon lemon juice (per jar)

2-3 tablespoons olive oil (or other oil)

8-9 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped

onion powder to taste

garlic powder to taste

1-2 tablespoons parsley flakes

The Best Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe - (18)

Directions:

Wash your tomatoes, we like to use our GSE Cleaner on all of our garden veggies.

Fill a large stock pan with water and bring to a boil, once the water is boiling add whole tomatoes in batches to the water. Leave the tomatoes in the water until the skin splits then gently scoop them out and place them in a bowl to cool.

Once the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off of them and use a knife to cut out the center. From here you have a few options:

A) Toss the tomatoes into a blender and blend to a sauce consistency in batches.

B) Use a stick blender to blend down the tomatoes in a high sided bowl.

C) Run the tomatoes through a sauce maker (this will remove any skin or seeds in your sauce and leave you with something that resembles a store-bought sauce).

Once your sauce is made set it aside, and in a large stockpot heat olive oil. Turn it to med/low heat and add your chopped garlic.

Stir constantly until it turns golden in color (not brown) and becomes very fragrant. At this point pour your freshly made sauce into the pan. Add in your parsley flakes and season with garlic powder and onion powder.

Turn down low and simmer slowly for about 20 min to let the seasonings mingle.

While your sauce is simmering prep your canning equipment: Fill your canner with water (it should be 2″ over the top of the jars) and get it boiling. Sterilize your jars, and get everything else ready.

Once your canner is ready to go, begin filling quart jars with your homemade spaghetti sauce leaving a 1/2″ headspace. Add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice per quart.

Wipe the rim of the jars with a clean cloth or paper towel. Place a new canning lid on the jar top, screw the ring on top (don’t over tighten the ring), and put the jars into the boiling water in the canner.

Once your canner is full place the lid on top and set the timer for 45 minutes.

When the homemade canned spaghetti sauce recipe is finished canning, remove your jars to a thickly toweled flat surface and allow them to cool for 24 hours.Remove the rings and check the lids to make sure they have been sealed properly. If the lids pop up and down when you push on them they didn’t seal properly- just put those ones in the fridge.

Wipe down the outsides of the jars of homemade canned spaghetti sauce and lids with a damp washcloth. Label, date, and store your jars of sauce out of the sunlight in a pantry. When you are ready to use your canned spaghetti sauce just pop open the lid and add it to whatever dish you wish. You can also add cheese to your sauce once it’s open.

Makes 8 quarts.

Notes On Making Canned Spaghetti Sauce

  • Always use quality ingredients, you do not want to can tomatoes with bad spots.
  • You can also use pints for this homemade canned spaghetti sauce recipe. Process them for 35 minutes.
  • Adjust the herbs to your taste or add other herbs like basil to your sauce.

Have a question about making this homemade canned spaghetti sauce recipe? Drop them in the comments and we will try to answer them.

Before you go check out these other preserving and canning recipes:

  • The Best Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
  • Best Copycat Rotel Tomatoes and Chilies Recipe
  • How To Can Beef Stew For Beginners
  • 11 Must-Have Canning Supplies
  • The Best Homemade Ketchup Recipe
  • Reusable Canning Lids: Tattler Lids Review
  • Canning Green Beans
  • Canning Beef With A Pressure Canner
  • Canning Peaches
  • Canning Crushed Tomatoes
  • 7 Of The Best Preserving Pears Recipes
  • Pear Butter Recipe
  • Blueberry Preserves
  • Delicious Blackberry Preserves
  • Apple Orange Preserves
  • Cherry Pie Filling
  • Caramel Pear Pie Recipe
  • Food Preservation | 10 Best Ways Of Preserving Food At Home
  • Pickled Eggs Recipe
  • Zucchini Relish
  • Delicious Three Bean Salad
  • How To Make Sauerkraut
  • 6 Secrets To Making The Best Crisp Pickles
  • Homemade Dill Pickle Chips Recipe
  • The #1 Best Homemade Claussen Pickles Recipe You Are Here!
  • How To Grow A Kombucha Scoby
  • How To Make Kombucha Tea
  • How To Make Apple Cider Vinegar In 6 Easy Steps

Canning And Preserving Videos:

The Best Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe - (2024)

FAQs

How do you make canned spaghetti sauce better? ›

8 Ways to Elevate Canned Spaghetti Sauce
  1. 1 - Extra virgin olive oil. Adding a good amount of a flavorful olive oil will go a long way in infusing flavor into your sauce. ...
  2. 2 - Fresh garlic. ...
  3. 3 - Meat. ...
  4. 4 - Hot pepper flakes. ...
  5. 5 - Red wine. ...
  6. 6 - Fresh or dried herbs. ...
  7. 7 - Cheese. ...
  8. 8 - Cream and/or butter.
Feb 26, 2018

Do you have to add lemon juice when canning spaghetti sauce? ›

The short answer is, yes. It is critical when home canning tomatoes, whether they are whole, crushed or juiced, to acidify them during the canning process by adding bottled lemon juice or citric acid.

Does homemade spaghetti sauce need to be pressure canned? ›

Unripe tomatoes consist of a lot more acid as compared to fruit that has reached maturity. That is why it is recommended to make spaghetti sauce or preserve tomato-based sauces through the pressure canning method that requires no acid to be added to the sauce and ensures that the taste remains fresh even after days.

How do you make spaghetti sauce taste richer? ›

You make foods richer by adding fat to them. For a tomato sauce you could begin include bacon, pancetta, sausage or another meat to the sauce. I like to braise beef shanks in tomato sauce, shred the tender meat and mix it into the sauce. You could also simmer beef or chicken bones in the stock as if making a stock.

What gives spaghetti sauce depth of flavor? ›

Olives and capers add a punch of briny goodness and give tomato sauce some real personality. Toss in some chopped or whole, pitted olives and/or a handful of drained capers after heating the sauce for several minutes. Or, if you're adding garlic or sautéed vegetables, add to the sauté just before you pour in the sauce.

Should you add sugar to canned spaghetti sauce? ›

If tomato season is over and you resort to canned tomatoes, a minute amount of sugar can enhance the sauce. However, you may not need it if you make sauce from in-season homegrown San Marzano or another sweet variety of tomatoes.

How do you make canned spaghetti sauce not watery? ›

Cornstarch: Make a slurry of half water, half cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Cornstarch is a powerful thickener, so start by whisking in no more than 1 tablespoon of the mixture per 2 cups of simmering sauce; stir and simmer for 2 minutes, check the thickness, and repeat with more slurry as needed.

Should you put sugar in spaghetti sauce? ›

Don't skip the brown sugar.

Adding a bit of sugar to your homemade spaghetti sauce helps to cut the natural acidity of the tomatoes and helps to balance the sauce. For an extra kick, add a sprinkling of red pepper flakes to your sauce. Only add this if you like some spice, though!

How many pounds of tomatoes for a quart of sauce? ›

A bushel weighs 53 pounds and yields 10 to 12 quarts of sauce-an average of 5 pounds per quart.

Do you have to peel tomatoes for canning spaghetti sauce? ›

Same goes if you're canning tomatoes for a later time, when they'll probably be turned into a sauce. Though it's completely a matter of preference, for the smoothest, mellowest sauce, you might consider peeling.

Do you have to add vinegar when canning tomato sauce? ›

Acidifying Home-Canned Tomatoes and Tomato Products

To ensure safe acidity in whole, crushed or juiced tomatoes, add lemon juice, citric acid, or vinegar prior to processing: Acid should be added directly to the jars before filling with product.

Is it safe to water bath can spaghetti sauce? ›

Otherwise, that beloved family spaghetti sauce may need a tweak. Safe water bath canning of tomato sauce requires the addition of a tablespoon of acid in the form of vinegar, lemon juice or commercial citric acid per pint of sauce to be certain that pH levels are safe.

Can you overcook homemade spaghetti sauce? ›

Let it go too long, though, and you can over-concentrate the flavors. Eventually, it will even burn. Also, while those rich brown flavors are nice, there is a limit. Eventually it just tastes murky.

How do you preserve spaghetti sauce in a Mason jar? ›

Process the spaghetti sauce in a water or steam bath canner for 40 minutes (add 5 minutes if you live at 1,001 to 3,000 feet – if you live at higher elevation than that, you'll want to use a water bath canner since steam bath canners shouldn't be used to process jars longer than 45 minutes).

What is the secret to the best spaghetti? ›

For best flavor, use certified San Marzano tomatoes. Add Parmesan cheese into the sauce while cooking. Use no salt added tomatoes. Use ground beef to cut down on sodium content.

What is the most important ingredient in spaghetti? ›

Tomatoes is the most popular ingredient in spaghetti sauce dishes. In fact, over 90% of spaghetti sauce recipes contain tomatoes. Variations of tomatoes include: tomato sauce: 15% of recipes.

What is the secret ingredient in tomato sauce? ›

Approximately three dashes or ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg is plenty for a jar of tomato sauce. If you are making a large batch, add a bit more for good measure. While the flavor should be subtle, you still want it to make the other ingredients shine, so feel free to play around with the quantity until you get it just right.

What is the secret to perfectly sauced pasta? ›

Once the pasta is in the sauce, add pasta water. This is the most vital step in the process. Starchy pasta water doesn't just help thin the sauce to the right consistency; it also helps it cling to the pasta better and emulsify with the fat and cheese you're going to be adding.

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