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This homemade canned spaghetti sauce is FAR better than anything you can find in a store. You’ll love the rich, savory flavor. The best way to use fresh garden tomatoes! Canning spaghetti sauce is easy and rewarding and makes for the best pasta sauce ever!
This canned spaghetti sauce is HANDS-DOWN, the very best with home-grown tomatoes. We are kind of crazy about our tomatoes over here. The taste of this savory tomato sauce stays fresh and turns any pasta dinner into something special.
Ingredients in Canned Spaghetti Sauce
All you need for perfect spaghetti sauce are some herbs, spices and of course, fresh ripe tomatoes! This sauce couldn’t be simpler to make:
- Tomatoes – about 25 pounds. This recipe makes a huge batch of tomato puree.
- Onions – I start with about five large yellow onions. You’ll end up with 7-8 cups chopped onions.
- Red bell peppers – four large peppers work great.
- Green bell pepper – dice one large pepper
- Tomato paste – four 6-ounce cans should do the trick.
- Soy sauce – Sounds weird, but trust us, it deepens the tomato flavor like you won’t believe!
- Worcestershire sauce – stir in a little sauce to enhance the flavor of the tomatoes and give the sauce a meaty flavor.
- Brown sugar – a little sweetness balances the acidity of the tomatoes and all the herbs.
- Seasonings – Salt, garlic, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and bay leaves is all you need to season this delicious sauce.
- Lemon juice – for the jars
Why Can Spaghetti Sauce?
Canning spaghetti sauce offers several great benefits. It may take a little time up front but I love the satisfaction of walking into my pantry and seeing rows of freshly canned spaghetti sauce jars! Here are some more great benefits to canning:
- Long-term preservation: Enjoy homemade sauce even when fresh tomatoes are out of season.
- Control over ingredients: Customize the flavors, spices, and level of heat to suit personal taste preferences.
- Convenience and time-saving: Have ready-to-use sauce on hand for quick and easy meal preparations.
- Cost-effective: Save money by utilizing homegrown or bulk-purchased ingredients.
Tomatoes: A Family Tradition
Growing tomatoes is a “family tradition” of sorts for us. Our Uncle Larry is arguably the best gardener ever. He always has an immaculate garden and has studied and taught about gardening. The man knows ALL the tricks to get plants to grow. Uncle Larry has 10 green thumbs! His techniques have been passed around the family, luckily for us. He shared his secrets with our mom, who also grows a bountiful garden every year. To learn more about our tips and tricks for growing tomatoes, see our full guide.
Tomato growing is our family’s way to connect year after year. We compare notes on everything, from how our crops are faring, to what varieties we planted, to what has been canned so far. And of course, we love talking about all the delicious ways we can eat them! Along with the abundance of tomatoes comes a million ways to prepare them. One of our fondest memories growing up with our mom was making her delicious Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce. We’ve tweaked the recipe over the years and now it’s darn near perfection!
Family Tested, Dad Approved
Part of the reason we worked so hard to perfect this canned spaghetti sauce recipe is because of our dad. To know him is to know his passionate love for Italian food. He is super picky about spaghetti sauce; it has to be just right. Well, we’re happy to report that we served this sauce at family dinner recently and our dad loved it! He couldn’t get enough. In fact, he used a spoon to get all the excess off his plate. He’s crazy about this savory sauce, and you will be too!
How Can I Use Canned Spaghetti Sauce?
The name may say spaghetti, but this marinara sauce is so versatile, it’s sure to become one of your favorite staples, and not just on pasta night. Try it as a thickener for Italian-style soups like Minestrone, or add tomato paste to a serving to make pizza sauce. Here are some more delicious recipes that use spaghetti sauce:
Water Bath Canning Spaghetti Sauce
Water bath canning tomatoes is the most common way to can tomatoes, but it must be done the right way. Tomatoes are in the “gray area” of having enough acidity, so you need to add a bit of lemon juice or citric acid to ensure it reaches the correct acidity for canning. You can learn all about water bath canning in my water bath canning guide. If you want to learn about the basics of canning and other ways to can, check out my Canning 101 post as well. Between these two posts, you will learn how to be a water bath canning pro in no time!
How to Use a Pressure Canner
For a weighted-gauge pressure canner, you will want to process 20 minutes for pint jars and 25 minutes for quart jars. I like to use the Presto 16-Quart Pressure Canner, which is great for canning spaghetti sauce, homemade jams, and more. You can get it for $78 at Walmart to start canning your own sauces.
Process at 10 pounds for altitudes between 0-1,000 feet. Process at 15 pounds for altitudes above 1,000 feet. For more information on pressure canning spaghetti sauce, check out the National Center for Home Food Preservation here.
Where to Buy Canning Jars
We like to use 1-quart canning jars from Ball. They’re the BEST for canning spaghetti sauce. You can get 12 of them at Walmart for around $16, which makes it a little over $1 a jar and one of the more affordable ways to start canning. We also like to use them as drinking glasses, food storage, flower vases, and more, so you’ll get a ton of use out of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do not, I repeat, do NOT skip this step. Stick a reminder note on your jars or tie a ribbon on your finger so you don’t forget. You absolutely can not safely can tomatoes without bringing up the acidity first. If you forget to add the lemon juice you will need to open the jars, add the juice, replace with new lids, and reprocess.
You can add ground beef or ground Italian sausage ONLY if you are going to pressure can it OR if you freeze it instead of canning it (or you just want to eat it fresh or within a few days). Do not add ground beef if you are planning to water-bath can or steam can — it will not be safe to eat after sitting on the shelf.
Be really careful when adding or omitting ingredients to a canning recipe. You are usually fine adding spices but when it comes to adding fresh mushrooms, celery, parsley, thyme or meat it could throw off the acidity levels, thus making unsafe for canning.
We usually try to eat anything that we have canned within a year. You can probably go a couple years but probably not much longer than that. Some canning sites even say you shouldn’t go more than 6 months, but I think you are fine going longer than that.
Absolutely! This spaghetti sauce recipe freezes beautifully and lasts for several months in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers. Just make sure to thaw the sauce completely in the refrigerator before re-heating. If you DO want to add more random ingredients like ground beef or extra veggies, freezing is a good way to go if you are worried about acidity levels.
The only ingredient that has any gluten in this recipe is the soy sauce. It sounds weird to even have soy sauce in a spaghetti sauce recipe, but trust us, it is divine! Instead of cutting the soy sauce, opt for a gluten free brand. The rich flavor will knock your socks off!
Still Have a Question about Canning Spaghetti Sauce?
This recipe has been tried and LOVED by many of you. Be sure to check out the comments to see everyone’s reviews about this canned spaghetti sauce. We also answer a lot of canning questions that have been asked in the comment section so if you have any questions, read below and I am sure you will find the answer you are looking for! Still can’t find an answer? Leave a comment and we will try to answer it as quickly as possible. With the sheer volume of comments we get, it may take a few days for us to respond but we try to get to every question!
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More Delicious Pasta Recipes
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- Nick’s Authentic Italian Spaghetti
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How to Make Canned Spaghetti Sauce
Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 25 pounds tomatoes
- 5 medium onions (about 7-8 cups chopped)
- 4 red bell peppers
- 1 green bell pepper
- 4 (6oz) cans tomato paste
- 1/4 cups soy sauce Sounds weird, but trust us, it deepens the tomato flavor like you won’t believe!
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup salt
- 10 cloves garlic chopped or minced
- 3 tablespoons oregano dried
- 3 tablespoons basil dried
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/4 cups lemon juice for jars
Instructions
- Fill a large pot or Dutch oven half-way with water, bring to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, add tomatoes one at a time until you can't fit any more (about 8-10 tomatoes).
- Boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove tomatoes one at a time with slotted spoon and plunge in an icewater bath. Peel and quarter tomatoes.
- In a food processor, cover and process green peppers and onions in batches until finely chopped (if you want to add extra flavor, saute the peppers and onions in a little oil and a pinch of salt before processing).In a large stockpot, combine the tomatoes (do not discard excess juices from the tomatoes), onion/pepper mixture, tomato paste, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, garlic, oregano, basil, pepper flakes, and bay leaves.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so (tomatoes burn easily so keep an eye on it). Discard bay leaves.If you want to make your sauce thick and smooth, use an immersion blender to blend the tomatoes until smooth with no large chunks (you can also blend it in batches in a blender).
- Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice to 9 or 10 hot 1-quart jars (depending on how much sauce you have). Ladle hot mixture into jars, leaving 1/2-in. headspace at the top. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids.
For Water Bath Canning:
- Process for 40 minutes in a boiling-water canner for altitudes of 1,000 feet or less. For altitudes up to 3,000 feet, add 5 minutes; 6,000 feet, add 10 minutes; 8,000 feet, add 15 minutes; 10,000 feet, add 20 minutes.
For Pressure Canning:
- Using a weighted-gauge pressure canner, process 20 minutes for pint jars and 25 minutes for quart jars. Process at 10 lb for altitudes between 0-1,000 feet. Process at 15 lb for altitudes above 1,000 feet.
Notes
- This recipe makes 9-10 quart-sized jars
- Our Uncle Larry is arguably the best gardener ever. He always has an immaculate garden and has studied and taught about gardening. The man knows ALL the tricks to get plants to grow. Uncle Larry has 10 green thumbs! His techniques have been passed around the family, luckily for us. He shared his secrets with our mom, who also grows a bountiful garden every year. To learn more about our tips and tricks for growing tomatoes, see our full guide.
- This spaghetti sauce recipe freezes beautifully and lasts for several months in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers. Just make sure to thaw the sauce completely in the refrigerator before re-heating. If you DO want to add more random ingredients like ground beef or extra veggies, freezing is a good way to go if you are worried about acidity levels.
I have a guage pressure canner. Can you tell me the pounds of pressure for that?. And time?
Using a weighted-gauge pressure canner, process 20 minutes for pint jars and 25 minutes for quart jars. Process at 10 lb for altitudes between 0-1,000 feet. Process at 15 lb for altitudes above 1,000 feet.
How many cups of tomatoes do you believe the 25 pounds would equal to? I have a bunch in my freezer that I skinned and mashed, but I would love to use them for this recipe ! Thank you!
1 pound of tomatoes typically yields 3 cups of purée or mashed tomatoes. Hope this helps!
My tomatoes are frozen, have any changes for using frozen tomatoes?
If you are using frozen tomatoes you will definitely have a more watery liquid. Perhaps thaw and drain off some of the liquid or allow more time for the tomatoes to boil down. hope this helps!
My 25# made 13 qt. I just realized I never added the lemon juice….
Will this still be OK??? 😳
We cannot guarantee canning safety if the recipe is not followed exactly. The lemon juice is important to achieving the proper acidity levels. I would recommend reprocessing the jars.
Can I use a crockpot to cook the spaghetti sauce in, rather than the stove?If so, do you know how many hours?
You would need to cook the sauce over the stovetop first and then put it in the crock pot to simmer. It would need to simmer for probably 6-8 hours. It would need to simmer uncovered for the water to escape. Also, make sure your crock pot is big enough to hold the whole batch first, as this is a large scale recipe.
This sauce tastes great! I followed the the recipe for the most part. I used just a tad less onion. I ended up with about 5 cups. I bought a 25 lb box of tomatoes at the farmers market but didn’t weigh them (rookie mistake!). I either didn’t let them cook down enough or put too many in. I am getting about 24 to 26 pints instead of the expected 20 pints. I am pressure canning if that makes a difference. Will this be ok?
Unfortunately, we can only guarantee canning safety if the recipe is followed exactly.
Do you remove the seads from the tomatoes?
We don’t remove the seeds because we usually blend the sauce a little with an immersion blender before canning.
This is the best sphgetii sauce I have ever canned. I love the little spicy kick it has.
I am planning on pressure canning this sauce. Do I still add the lemon juice? Also if I add ground beef and maybe summer squash, would that change the processing time? I am new to canning so I want to be sure. Also I am using the presto digital canner if that makes a difference. Thank you!
We have only tested this recipe for safety exactly as written. If you are adding or omitting ingredients we cannot guarantee canning safety. You can make additions or substitutions safely if you plan on freezing the sauce instead of canning.
Hi! I’m about to try this recipe this weekend – I’m excited! I am a total newbie, so apologies if this question is obvious, but for the “1x” size recipe, when you say use a “large stockpot”, how large??? I have to go buy a pot – I want it to be big enough to accommodate this recipe with the full 25 pounds of tomatoes, but I also don’t want it to be too large (big pots are expensive!) what size pot is best for this?
The yield at the end is 10 quarts so you’ll need the pot to be at least that big plus some room at the top so it doesn’t spill!
Has great flavour will make it again. My only fault with it is that I think it is to thin, we like our sauce a bit thicker. Any suggestions on how to get it thicker. I made 31L bottles.
When you heat the sauce to serve, add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste! This plus some simmering should help it thicken!
This could very well be the best spaghetti sauce I’ve ever eaten. O
I personally think this recipe is way too spicy, but it is a good recipe so I will be making another batch without any of the red pepper flakes.
I made this recipe yesterday and it’s delicious! I had 68.5lbs of tomatos, green peppers, basil and hot peppers I had dehydrated all from my sisters garden. I did primarily pints, because that’s what is most convenient for me. My yield was 55pints and 7 quarts. My total time from start to finish was about 12 hours. I pressure canned mine, and can get 18 pints or 7 quarts in my canner at a time. A small tip that may help is making sure your blanching water is boiling or on the verge. The more tomato’s you add the more you have to turn it up. I ran into this and had trouble peeling the skins after I had been going for a bit. The recipe was easy to follow and tastes great, highly recommend!
Im using a pressure canner. Do I still use the lemon juice?
Yes!
What kind of salt should I use
You can use any kind of salt – canning salt will dissolve faster but we use regular salt all the time.
can i use fresh basil and oregano? would it be the same amounts?
We can only endorse the recipe as written for canning purposes. Omissions, substitutions, or additions can be safely made if you plan to freeze the sauce instead of canning.
Love this recipe, from a confirmed ‘recipe tweaker’ this is high praise. NO TWEAKING NEEDED, DON’T MESS WITH PERFECTION!
Hi, have you ever added red wine to this recipe? Or should it be added when you reheat it from the jar?
We haven’t tried adding it since it would change the acidity and we can’t guarantee the canning safety. You could definitely add it when reheating!
Hi Erica, I was wondering can you put tomatoes through a mill to get rid of seeds and skins first? Thank you for recipe it looks great and can’t wait to try.
Rick
Sure!
Do you put 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice per jar?
Yes!