This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy.
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!
READ NEXT: Ravioli Sauce
More Delicious Pasta Recipes
- Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes
- One Pot Creamy Garlic Noodles
- Nick’s Authentic Italian Spaghetti
- Old Spaghetti Factory’s Mizithra Pasta
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.
Hi, could you tell me what kind of tomatoes you used…field or Roma?
Plan on making this weekend so just want to make sure I get the right tomatoes from the farmers market.
Thanks
The exact varieties we used were Park’s Whopper and Celebrity tomatoes, however Romas work great! They are nice and meaty and make for a great canned spaghetti sauce. You really can’t go wrong.
Directions don’t include the red peppers anywhere- do you just add those with the processed green peppers/onions at the stock-pot stage?
Also, if you’re using a pressure canner rather than a hot-water-bath canner, do you still need to put in lemon juice?
Looking forward to trying this recipe!
Yes, add the red peppers with the peppers and onions. You do not need to add lemon juice if you are pressure canning. Check out our Canning 101 guide for more tips on canning. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your recipe it worked out and tasted wonderful. I chose this recipe over many because of your family story and your photo of uncle Larry who I believe is the best gardener in the world! Thanks again for the easy to follow instructions.
love this recipe thank you thank you thank you 🙂
Love the recipe! Only tip I can add is to not add the cold lemon juice into the jars first, as I have had hot jars crack from the temperature differential. Otherwise, great sauce!
Do you have a recipe similar for using a water bath for canning
You can use a water bath canner using the same amount of processing time. Check out our guide to water bath canning for more tips!
I don’t have a pressure canner…..do you have instructions if I’m doing a water bath?
Yes you can water bath can for the same amount of time as a steam canner (we used a steam canner in this recipe, not a pressure canner). Check out or full guide to water bath canning for more tips!
Can you omit the peppers amd it still be safe to can?
Yes. It will still be safe to can 🙂 Just be sure to add the lemon juice to the jars. Check out our guide to water bath canning for more tips and info.
This recipe was AMAZING! I tweaked it a bit and added a head of celery and some carrots from the garden and also used 18 cloves of garlic instead of the 10 recommended. I’m OBSESSED! Will be making this every year now!!
Can I pre peel the tomatoes and freeze them to make the sauce and can another day?
I forgot to add the lemon juice, do I have a problem?
Yes, the lemon juice ensures that the sauce has the proper pH for canning. The only recommendation I can safely give is to reprocess the jars with the lemon juice added to each jar.
2 questions: can i roast tomatoes in oven rather than blanch and peel?
I think it will save time. Second question: do i process pints for 50 minutes or is the time slightly less? Cant wait to try this recipe!
Yes you can roast the tomatoes, that should be fine. IF you do pints, process for 5 minutes less. Hope this helps!
Hi, I’m excited to try this recipe and plan to give it a shot once all my tomatoes are ripe. However, we’ve had a lot of heat this year and the tomatoes are ripening slower and at different times. Question – Can I use tomatoes that have been in the freezer? – Thanks.
I wouldn’t recommend using tomatoes that have been in the freezer. Freezing changes the texture of the tomatoes and it won’t taste quite right. You can use the tomatoes to make the sauce but I probably wouldn’t use them for canning. Hope this helps!
I’ve used my frozen tomatoes and it works great. The freezing and thawing actually breaks down the tomatoes, which is great for sauces.
You taught me something today! I didn’t think frozen tomatoes would work well, but you have proven me wrong. Thanks for the tip!
I love your uncle Larry!! He was a my neighbor when his sweet wife passed and when I saw his pic, I knew this recipe was for me!! Can’t wait to try it!!
Hi Alisha- Small world! That’s awesome you were their neighbor. This warms my heart. Both he and our aunt Echo were and are the best gardeners we know. I will have to tell him you reached out. I am sure he will be happy to hear you are making this recipe and thinking of them 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe I just love it. I added garlic and jalapeños and it cans beautifully
Planning to can some of this sauce this year. I use a lot of sauces during the year and this sounds very good.
This is the second year that I have made this wonderful sauce. It is easy to put together and so flavourful. I canned 19 pint jars (500 ml here in Canada) and one small portion for the freezer and I used some of the sauce for supper. Even if you don’t water bath can the sauce I would highly recommend freezing it. The taste is fantastic!
How much lemon juice did you put in your jar using 500ml jars?
For 500mL jars (or pint jars), use 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Delicious, this receipe is a keeper! I omitted the soy sauce, red pepper flakes and used 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid instead of lemon juice. This recipe made 9 1/2 quarts for me.
What am I to do with the red peppers? I don’t see them in the instructions.
You process them in the food processor with the green peppers and onions! Hope this helps!
I have made 2 batches of your pasta sauce. House smelt amazing. My husband’s mother was born in Southern Italy, and I have always made my sauce the way she did. We loved this recipe and will definitely make again. Thank you for sharing
I accidentally added the lemon juice to the mix while cooking. Is this an issue and/or how can I alleviate the taste of lemon but still have the acidity for canning
You should still add the lemon juice to the jars – it shouldn’t affect the taste of the sauce!
Is 2 TBD lemon juice for each jar or divided between all of the jars?
It’s 2 tablespoons per jar. Don’t worry, it doesn’t affect the taste at all. It’s just to bring up the acidity.