Easy Homegrown Tomato Sauce Canning Recipe & Tutorial

The very first thing I learned to can was homemade apple sauce. But I had my sights set on making all of our tomato products from homegrown tomatoes. I just needed to get more comfortable with a water bath canner first and get my fear of botulism out of the way. After canning more apples that I could count that fall, I started loads of tomato plants from seed the following spring. That summer I canned tomato sauce for the first time and haven't looked back since.

The fear of food poisoning by way of poorly processed tomato sauce is real. But with the right acidity by way of BOTTLED lemon juice (fresh lemon juice is too variable), a safe acidity for canning is achieved. Combine that with cooking your stored sauce for 20-25 minutes after opening and using in recipes, and you'll be sure to kill any little botulism spores that may be lingering in your tomato product. Obviously, any cans of sauce that may become unsealed, appear bubbly on the shelf, or that smell like feet upon opening should be discarded ASAP.

This tutorial shows I make my sauce EVERY SINGLE TIME. You can use as many tomatoes as you like. Two 9x13" casserole dishes of cut and prepped tomatoes usually makes about 8 pints of sauce. Be sure to adjust processing times if required based on your altitude.

STEP ONE //
​Heat oven to 400°F. Wash fresh tomatoes. Cut deep to remove any disease or blemish.

STEP TWO //
​For paste tomatoes, cut off the core end. For larger, remove the core and cut an X in the bottom.

STEP THREE //
​Place tomatoes bottom up in roasting pans. Roast until skins begin to wrinkle, about 20 minutes.

STEP FOUR //
Once cool, remove skins. Save skins for drying into tomato powder. Put flesh in sauce pot.

STEP FIVE //
Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook until reduced and thickened, about 2-3 hours. A crockpot on low works as well for 6-8 hours.

STEP SIX //
Blend sauce until smooth. Warm sanitized pint canning jars. Place 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice into each pint jar.

STEP SEVEN //
Funnel sauce into jars. Wipe jar rims clean and seal finger-tight.

STEP EIGHT //
​Process in water bath canner for 35 minutes. After fully cooled, check seals before storing.

STEP NINE //
​To use, bring sauce to a simmer for 25 minutes. Season following your preferred recipe.