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Easy Homemade Tomato Sauce

Little Life of Smiths
An easy guide to making a homemade tomato sauce that you can the water bath method to preserve and enjoy for many years to come.
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Prep Time 1 day
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • Tomatoes
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Lemon Juice

Instructions
 

  • First, start by washing all of your tomatoes. I usually run water in my sink with a little apple cider vinegar and let the soak as I quarter the up and get pans ready.
  • While you are doing the first step, I like to sterilize my jars. To do this, you need to wash the jars and boil them or I like to fill them half way with water and line a baking sheet with my jars and put in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
    Once your tomatoes are washed, start to quarter them up and place on a baking sheet. Cut out any bad spots you see. I typically leave the core in as well. If the tomatoes are really large, you can cut the quarters a little smaller. You want the pieces about the same size so they roast evenly.
  • Once you fill a sheet with your tomato quarters, you want to drizzle olive oil all over the top of them. Then generously top with salt and pepper.
  • Stick your pan in the oven to roast at 400 degrees for about 30-50 minutes. You want the tomatoes pretty soft in order to get everything blended up well.
    While your tomatoes are roasting, fill your water bath canner and get the water boiling.
    When the tomatoes come out, I like to drain the excess liquid off the pan. Add the tomatoes to a large bowl and use your immersion blender to blend the pieces into a smooth sauce.
  • Fill each jar with the hot liquid sauce. Leave 1/4 inch headspace. For pints add a tablespoon of lemon juice and for quarts add two tablespoons of lemon juice. The lemon juice is to make sure your acidic level is high enough that bad bacteria does not grow.
  • Place your jars in the boiling water and water bath can pints for 35 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes. Different altitudes do require different canning times so it is always wise to double check yours.
    Once they are done canning, lift jars out with the jar lifter and allow to rest until you hear the seals seal up. This can take some time, sometimes overnight for some, but most will seal up quickly.
  • Be sure to date and label the tops. Fresh preserved food really has a long shelf life but I recommend using within two to three years. Happy Canning!