Making & Canning Homemade Pizza Sauce

Pizza sauce is not spaghetti sauce.  It is not salsa.  It is not chunky, lumpy or full of green peppers and odd stuff.

Pizza sauce is simple, smooth, spreadable and not complicated.

This pizza sauce is simple & you’re sure to love it.

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes
• Onions & Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Fresh Basil
• Salt
• Lemon Juice (for cans)

It just doesn’t take a lot of fancy ingredients to make fabulous pizza sauce.  I grow pretty much everything I eat, so this sauce is no exception.  Almost everything in these jars came from my garden.  Which brings me endless joy.

Homemade Pizza – Handmade Crust from fresh flour, Fresh Pizza Sauce from the garden… This will not last long!

I have made 2 batches this summer and we are quickly inhaling the first batch.  If I don’t want to run out by next summer’s harvest I’m gonna need to keep making this.

Perfect, Simple, Homemade Pizza Sauce

First, let’s prep the tomatoes.

The great thing about pizza sauce is peeling your tomatoes is completely optional.  I peeled my first batch.  I left the peels on the tomatoes when I made my second batch of pizza sauce.  Guess what?  I can’t tell a difference.  If anything, the batch with the peels is more appealing because it’s more of a “red” color than “orange.”  The taste is the same.

The reason peels don’t matter in pizza sauce is because everything is going to get blasted with an immersion wand.  I literally emulsify this into a thick sauce.  You will never know there was a peel in the pot.

Begin by washing and removing the cores from the tomatoes.

Next, quarter your tomatoes & squeeze out most of the seeds & juice.

You really don’t want to skip this step.  If you make your pizza sauce with all that juice you will have some seriously watery sauce….. or you will have to cook your sauce for 6 hours to get rid of all the juice…. or you will have to add a can (or 10) of tomato paste to thicken it. 

You could use a food mill.  If you are like me and do not have a food mill you can just shove all the seeds out with your thumbs and toss the tomato “meat/flesh” into your giant sauce pot for the sauce.  No need to get EVERY seed out, but try to get most of them (they will make your sauce bitter).

It’s OK if some seeds make it into your sauce.  We’re going to puree this with the wand – so the seeds will be turned to paste, like everything else.

Notice how I am using a strainer to catch all the seeds?  What is draining into the pitcher underneath the strainer is pure, beautiful, tomato juice that I will be putting in cans later.  Go here to see how I can the juice.

Now, we have a whole bunch of clean, de-juiced, tomatoes.

Go grab a cutting board – we need to chop the garlic & onions.

Grab a giant, heavy-bottomed pot.  You want it to be large enough to hold all the pizza sauce.  You want a nice thick bottom so your sauce doesn’t scorch while it simmers.

Add the oil to the bottom of the pot and the onions.  Sautee on the stovetop until the onions begin to be translucent.  Add the garlic and cook another couple of minutes.

Dump the tomatoes right on top of the onions & garlic.

Turn off the heat and get ready to mush some ‘maters.

Wash your hands and dive in.  Squish all the ‘maters into small pieces.  When all the big hunks are squashed, turn the heat back on to medium-high.

Stir in the 3 Tbsp of salt & bring it back to a simmer.  Let this cook for 30 minutes (so the veggies will be nice and tender).

This is the time to get out your immersion wand and go to work.  Blend the contents until you have…. sauce.  There will no longer be hunks of tomato, bits of onion or pieces of garlic.  It will be a wonderful, full-flavored sauce.

My precious next-door neighbor.

Now we add the basil!

We blended everything before adding the basil on purpose.

You do not want to “blend” the basil with an immersion wand, or anything else for that matter, or you will have green pizza sauce.  It would taste the same, but look like it died.

To avoid green sauce, add the basil AFTER you blend everything else up.

Wash fresh basil, remove stems & chop into bits.  Shove as many of the basil bits as you can possibly get into 1/2 Cup.  You want lots of basil – it’s wonderful.  Toss the chopped basil into the sauce & continue to simmer.

The sauce will have a red-orange color with pieces of fresh basil floating around making everything fabulous.  Cook until desired thickness (if you removed most of the juice it won’t take as long).

When the sauce is glorious and thick, taste it one last time before canning.  Add salt if needed.

For the Canning:

1. HOT JARS:  The jars must be hot.  Filling cold jars with hot sauce can result in breaking glass.  To easily heat jars, run them through the dishwasher on the sanitize option.
2. LIDS & RINGS:  Be sure to use brand new lids to ensure a good seal (you can reuse rings).  Toss the rings and lids into the dishwasher with the jars so they are clean as well.
3. Add 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar.
4. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars.  Leave 1/2 inch headspace.
5. Wipe rims clean and adjust 2 piece lids.  This means put the flat lid on first then screw the ring on tightly.
6. Process in boiling water bath for 35 minutes.  Begin timing after water boils.
7. I place my hot jars filled with hot pizza sauce into hot water (not boiling).  If your jars are dunked into crazy boiling water this can also cause jars to spontaneously explode.  I’ve done this. It’s not fun.
8. Be sure the water level is 1-2 inches over the jars.  Add additional water if necessary.
9. Bring back to boil – then start a timer for 35 minutes.
10. After 35 minutes remove jars and set to cool.  Leave undisturbed for 24 hours before moving to long-term storage.

Now, we just need to make some pizza crust & we have dinner!

Homemade Pizza for Dinner (or lunch) is always a hit

For homemade pizza crust go here.

To get weekly updates, tips and recipes subscribe via email (here).

Happy Canning!

Candi

Print Recipe

Pizza Sauce

Pizza sauce is simple, smooth, spreadable and not complicated. This pizza sauce is easy to make (no peeling tomatoes- Yay!) & you’re sure to love it.

Course

Condiments & Spreads, Preserves

Cuisine

Canning, Italian

Servings

pints (approximately)

Ingredients

• 20 lbs tomatoes after peeling & removing cores, seeds & some juice you should have 1 gallon (4 quarts) of tomatoes
• 2 cups onions diced
• 12 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp Salt
• 1/2 cup basil finely chopped fresh -npacked tightly
• lemon juice bottled

Course Condiments & Spreads, Preserves Cuisine Canning, Italian Servings pints (approximately) Ingredients 20 lbs tomatoes after peeling & removing cores, seeds & some juice you should have 1 gallon (4 quarts) of tomatoes 2 cups onions diced 12 cloves garlic minced 2 tbsp olive oil 3 tbsp Salt 1/2 cup basil finely chopped fresh -npacked tightly lemon juice bottled

Recipe Notes

Begin by washing and removing the cores from the tomatoes.

Next, quarter your tomatoes & squeeze out most of the seeds & juice.  You do not need to peel tomatoes.

You could use a food mill.  If you are like me and do not have a food mill you can just shove all the seeds out with your thumbs and toss the tomato "meat/flesh" into your giant sauce pot for the sauce.  No need to get EVERY seed out, but try to get most of them (they will make your sauce bitter).

Grab a giant, heavy-bottomed pot.

Add the oil to the bottom of the pot and the onions.  Sautee on the stovetop until the onions begin to be translucent.  Add the garlic and cook another couple of minutes.

Dump the tomatoes right on top of the onions & garlic.

Turn off the heat and get ready to mush some 'maters.

Wash your hands and dive in.  Squish all the 'maters into small pieces.  When all the big hunks are squashed, turn the heat back on to medium-high.

Stir in the 3 Tbsp of salt & bring it back to a simmer.  Let this cook for 30 minutes (so the veggies will be nice and tender).

This is the time to get out your immersion wand and go to work.  Blend the contents until you have.... sauce.  There will no longer be hunks of tomato, bits of onion or pieces of garlic.

Add basil AFTER you blend everything else up.

Wash fresh basil, remove stems & chop into bits.  Shove as many of the basil bits as you can possibly get into 1/2 Cup.  You want lots of basil - it's wonderful.  Toss the chopped basil into the sauce & continue to simmer.

The sauce will have a red-orange color with pieces of fresh basil floating around making everything fabulous.  Cook until desired thickness.

When the sauce is glorious and thick, taste it one last time before canning.  Add salt if needed.

For the Canning:

1. HOT JARS:  The jars must be hot.  Filling cold jars with hot sauce can result in breaking glass.  To easily heat jars, run them through the dishwasher on the sanitize option.
2. LIDS & RINGS:  Be sure to use brand new lids to ensure a good seal (you can reuse rings).  Toss the rings and lids into the dishwasher with the jars so they are clean as well.
3. Add 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar.
4. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars.  Leave 1/2 inch headspace.
5. Wipe rims clean and adjust 2 piece lids.  This means put the flat lid on first then screw the ring on tightly.
6. Process in boiling water bath for 35 minutes.  Begin timing after water boils.
7. I place my hot jars filled with hot pizza sauce into hot water (not boiling).  If your jars are dunked into crazy boiling water this can also cause jars to spontaneously explode.  I’ve done this. It's not fun.
8. Be sure the water level is 1-2 inches over the jars.  Add additional water if necessary.
9. Bring back to boil – then start a timer for 35 minutes.
10. After 35 minutes remove jars and set to cool.  Leave undisturbed for 24 hours before moving to long-term storage.

Now, we just need to make some pizza crust & we have dinner!

Disclaimer:  Always follow directions specific to your equipment and elevation for canning.  Dispose of any home-canned goods that show signs of spoilage which can include: bulging lids, leaking, corrosion, cloudy, mushy, moldy foods or disagreeable odors.

 

Share this Recipe