How to Make and Freeze Tomato Sauce

Making and freezing tomato sauce is a great way to preserve the abundance of tomatoes from your garden.

It's also nice to take a bag of tomato sauce out of the freezer, thaw it out and season it for spaghetti sauce or chili during the winter months.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Green Peppers
• Sugar
• Parsley Flakes
• Salt
• Pepper
• Stock Pot
• Blender

1. 

   First wash and core about 20-25 tomatoes and cut into chunks. Try to remove as many seeds as possible. Tomato seeds tend to give the sauce a bitter taste. Place the cored tomatoes in a large stock pot. Chop up a few large onions and a couple of green peppers and add them to the pot. Add 1/2 cup of parsley flakes, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of salt and 3/4 teaspoon of pepper.

2. 

   Bring to a boil on the stove. Lower heat and leave the sauce to simmer on low for about an hour stirring it occasionally.

3. 

   Cool sauce on stove top and pour about 4 cups in a blender. Blend for about 1 minute. Pour into gallon freezer bags leaving 1/2 inch at the top of the bag to allow for freezing. Seal, Label and freeze.

Tips & Warnings

• Once sauce is thawed out, add a couple of cans of tomato paste to the sauce to thicken it up a bit.
• Add seasonings for Spaghetti Sauce (Italian Seasoning, Oregano, etc.) or chili powder and spices for Chili.

[bradmauer]

on 9/7/2009 thank you I am trying to figure out how to use all of my tomatoes

[goldiec]

on 8/27/2009 Thanks for the great tips on making and freezing tomato sauce. What do you do about your skins on your tomatoes?

[ajmaddox]

on 8/5/2009 Great article. Tomatos are in and this is a great way to save them for winter use!

[bossypants]

on 7/18/2009 This is a terrific idea for preserving summer's bounty and using tomato sauce all year round! I like that you don't have to peel the tomatoes. Thanks for the tip. Into favorites it goes!