Easy Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe
Tomato season is in full swing! Making tomato sauce is one of the easiest ways to use all those tomatoes your garden produces. And an added bonus is that the sauce freezes well so you can make large batches to enjoy during the winter months. Read on to learn why tomatoes are healthy, why you should make your own tomato sauce instead of buying it, and for my delicious recipe.
Health benefits
Did you know tomatoes are technically considered a fruit? Though nutritionally speaking, tomatoes are much lower in sugar and calories than other fruits and are therefore more like a vegetable. Tomatoes are an excellent source of lycopene, which has been shown to offer numerous benefits, such as:
Improved prostate health and fertility for men
Tomatoes also contain potassium, folate, fiber, and vitamins C and K.
Store-bought vs homemade
Most store-bought tomato sauces are packed with sodium and can contain a fair bit of sugar. For example, 1/2 cup of Prego traditional sauce contains 480 mg of sodium! When making sauce at home you can control how much salt you put into your recipe. With enough garlic, onion, and basil, you can reduce the amount of salt needed to make your sauce taste great.
Easy Homemade Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 3 lbs tomatoes (I used a mix of Roma and San Marzano)
- 6-oz can tomato paste
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
- Pinch of sugar
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, bring water to a boil.
- Wash tomatoes, then slice a small "x" on the bottom of each tomato.
- Blanch tomatoes: Place them in the boiling water for about 30 seconds then remove and allow to cool. Once the tomatoes are cool, remove the skin.
- In the same large pot or in a large saute pan, heat olive oil, then add onion and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add peeled tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste, garlic, and basil.
- Add a pinch of sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- At this point, your sauce is ready to enjoy, but the longer it simmers, the more flavorful it will be!
This tomato sauce can be served over pasta or lower-carb alternatives like spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles. It can also be used as a sauce for pizza, lasagna, or chicken parmesan. Eat the sauce right away or freeze it for later!
As you can see, homemade tomato sauce is easy, delicious, and more nutritious than store-bought varieties. It does take a little more time to prepare, but don’t let that deter you!
