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Making spaghetti sauce from scratch is surprisingly easy, and not surprisingly, delicious (especially if made with locally grown or homegrown tomatoes). While this dish takes a little bit of time to prepare, it takes very little skill. I recommend to double (or even triple) this recipe for lots of leftovers with little additional effort. The extra sauce can be thrown in your freezer for another day. Now that I have spoiled my family by making this sauce with tomatoes from our garden, I am going to have to load up at the next farmer’s market and freeze enough sauce to last us until the next tomato season. Wish me luck with that one!
Also, if you think your kids will detect and detest the veggies in this sauce then try puréeing them in the food processor for a better disguise. Or you could just leave them out and increase the onion if necessary. My kids like it when I serve a side of garlic toast (whole-wheat toast topped with butter & garlic powder and toasted) with this dish.
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 pounds tomatoes fresh, or 2 cups canned plum tomatoes with juice
- 2/3 cup carrot chopped
- 2/3 cup celery chopped
- 2/3 cup onion chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil extra-virgin
- salt to taste
- 1 pound whole-wheat pasta cooked
- parmesan cheese
Sauce Add-in Options:
- ground beef
- ground turkey
- sausage
- mushrooms diced
- herbs dried
Instructions
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If using fresh tomatoes drop them into boiling water for 1 minute. Drain them and peel off the skin (when they are cool enough to handle). Once they have been boiled the skin comes off very easily (pictured). Cut canned or fresh tomatoes into coarse piece and reserve juice.
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Add the tomatoes with juice, chopped carrot, celery and onion to a large saucepan on low heat. Cook uncovered at a slow simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Add the olive oil and bring sauce to a slightly stronger simmer for 15 more minutes. Stir frequently and mash tomatoes with the back of a spoon.
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Taste and add salt as needed. I usually add a bit of salt myself.
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Combine with cooked ground beef, ground turkey, sausage, diced mushrooms and/or fresh or dried herbs if desired and serve over whole-wheat pasta. Top with Parmesan cheese.
Recipe Notes
* For a gluten-free meal, serve over spaghetti squash or gluten-free whole grain rice noodles.
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Hi!
If I’m using fresh tomatoes, would 2 lbs = 2 cups? Or about how many cups of fresh tomatoes & juice should I use?
Thank you!
Hi. Yes, 2lbs of fresh tomatoes is what Lisa used, too.
I have a bunch of very small cherry tomatoes that I would like to use up for this recipe, but peeling them seems impossible because of their size. What happens if I leave the skins on and just use an immersion blender to try and break them down?
Hi Jennifer. We’ve not tried a skin-on version so we can’t be sure of the results.
I always out the tomatoes in my vitamix with the skins on and the sauce turns out just the same.
What kind of juice are you talking about? Is it the juice from where you boiled the tomatoes
Jennifer, if you want, you can try doing what I usually do, Rinse them the day before you’re going to use them, pat them dry, place into a zip lock bag and into the freezer. The next day, as soon as you put them under the tap with warm water their skins slides off easily.
Are there any store bought sauces that are OK?
I would like to know too please :)
There are several organic brands that are tasty and fit the real food bill. I like Amy’s. Here is the ingredient list: ORGANIC TOMATO PURÉE, FILTERED WATER, ORGANIC ONIONS, ORGANIC EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, ORGANIC BASIL, SEA SALT, ORGANIC GARLIC, ORGANIC CANE SUGAR, ORGANIC BLACK PEPPER. I’ve tried several that I really like.
What kind of herbs (and how much) would you add to this? Never made homemade spaghetti sauce. Very excited to try this but I’m assuming you’d add some garlic and some kind of green herbs?
Your preference, really. Garlic, basil, oregano or an Italian blend of seasonings.