Nothing beats basic homemade tomato sauce…it’s fresh, delicious, versatile and eco-friendly! Make sure to stock up when local tomatoes are in season!
Basic Homemade Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 lbs fresh tomatoes (about 8 medium)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Remove stems or leaves, if necessary, from tomatoes. It is not necessary to remove the core or seeds.
- Drop tomatoes in the blender and blend until smooth, in batches if needed. You should end up with about 8 cups of puree.
- Put the puree in a large saucepan, straining through a mesh colander, if desired, to remove seeds. Add salt.
- Simmer on low for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in lemon juice.
- Hack: Store sauce, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze cooled sauce in one-cup servings in sealed freezer-safe bags or containers for up to 6 months.
- Hack: To make tomato paste, double line mesh colander with cheesecloth and place in a bowl. Put 1 cup of cooled tomato sauce in the colander. Cover and leave in the refrigerator overnight. Using cheesecloth, squeeze out any remaining liquid. Yield: 3 tbsp.
- Hack: If you have leftover tomatoes and no time to make a sauce, simply puree them in the blender and freeze the fresh puree in sealed freezer bags or containers to cook with at a later date.
For more ways to deal with an overabundance of fresh tomatoes during the growing season, click here for advice for saving them for later use!
Suggestion: Use this fresh tomato sauce to make spicy Spanish rice or homemade chili beans!
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