Heirloom Tomato Sauce for Canning
If there is one thing I wish I put up more of each year it would be this Heirloom Tomato sauce. My older son has adoringly nick named it the “special sauce” and I can’t think of a more fitting name.
Without a doubt, canning marinara is the most tedious and labor intensive thing I can. It’s truly a labor of love. It’s a full day endeavor and it takes a lot of tomatoes and yields a fairly small amount for how much work is involved. With that being said, it’s also the most rewarding thing I put up. This sauce surpasses any jar you can buy in a store and you can’t beat the ease for a quick weeknight dinner over some steaming hot pasta. The first year I canned this I made a double batch and put it pints instead of jars. My husband loved it so much that I’d come home from running errands and he’d be making himself a mid afternoon snack of a big ol’ bowl of pasta. I had to put an end to that pretty quickly so he wouldn’t eat it all before October!
I don’t want to scare you from making this because it’s truly worth the effort! It’s definitely a job for two people though. One person will be overwhelmed and work all day. And more than two people means too much work for too little yield. Trust me when I tell you that two people is the perfect number to tackle this sauce! I’m lucky that I have a dear friend that loves canning as much as I do. She picked up almost 70 lb of tomatoes on Monday and we spend all of Tuesday and the better half of Wednesday putting up a batch of this marinara and a ton of crushed tomatoes.
You can bet that I hid these 3 quarts and will be rationing them out over the winter months. If I can bring myself to go at it again, I’ll make another batch and let my husband binge on an afternoon bowl of spaghetti but until then I’m hiding the “special sauce”. If you give it a go, you’ll totally understand.
Canning week might be coming to an end but I just might have a few more recipes to share with you in the upcoming weeks. Thanks for following along all week and be sure to visit Completely Delicious to get this recipe for Peach Jalapeño Chutney recipe. And The Vintage Mixer for this Apricot Shrub for Homemade Sodas recipe.
And last but not least, don’t forget to enter our canning week GIVEAWAY! Have a great weekend, everyone! xo
PrintHeirloom Tomato Sauce for Canning
- Yield: 6 quarts 1x
Description
A homemade marinara that is the epitome of summer. Heirloom tomatoes, garlic and white wine make for a killer tomato sauce recipe for canning!
Ingredients
- 16 lb heirloom tomatoes, picked over and washed in throughly in warm water
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 36 small cloves garlic, peeled (about 3 heads)
- 3 cups olive oil
- 6 cups chopped yellow onions
- 6 cups dry white wine
- 12 stalks fresh basil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Cut tomatoes in half and remove core and scoop as many seeds out as you can. Save seeds, cores and any accumulated juice in a separate bowl and save.
- Lay tomato halves in two roasting pans, cut side up. Sprinkle half the chopped garlic and dried thyme over the tomatoes and drizzle with half of the olive oil. Roast uncovered for 45 minutes.
- Remove tomatoes from oven and let cool until easy to handle.
- Remove the tomato skins and add them to the bowl with the seeds and cores. Add tomatoes to a separate bowl.
- Heat remaining olive oil in a large stockpot and add onions. Cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes until nice and soft. Add remaining garlic and cook an additional 5 minutes. Turn heat to medium high and add white wine. Simmer for 20 minutes or so until wine is reduced by just over half.
- Meanwhile, mash the roasted tomatoes with your hands and then stir them into the simmering onion mixture. Using a fine mesh sieve, place the tomato seeds, cores and extra juice over the pot and press them so that all the additional tomato juice drips into the pot. Discard the seeds and skins. .
- Bring the sauce to a boil add the whole basil stalks (don’t chop the basil!!) and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Remove basil and add a tablespoon of salt and lemon juice. Cook 5 minutes more.
- Ladle marinara sauce into 6 quart size sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the tops of the jars with a clean, wet paper towel. Center a lid on each jar and screw band on just finger tight. Process jars in a hot water bath for 40 minutes.
Notes
For each 1000 feet of altitude over 3000 feet, add 5 minutes of processing time. At 7000 feet, I processed my jars for a total of 55 minutes.
63 Comments
Sounds so good. Thanks very much.
What do you mean by whole basil stalks?
Instead of using just the leaves, I want you to use the entire stock with the leaves attached so they’re easy to remove.
Wow, those tomatoes are BEAUTIFUL. I so wished that I lived closer to you. I’d totally come hang out all day and help with canning (and have you teach me!). 🙂
This one looks like it’s deliciously worth all of the effort. Definitely a “special sauce”!
Even though this is a tedious task, it totally would be worth it. I’m extremely picky with the kind of canned/jared tomato sauce I use. It all is always too sweet for me. When I studied abroad in Sweden I remember loving their jared tomato sauce because it was more savory than sweet! So i’m LOVING that you didn’t add sugar. Saving this recipe for sure. One day I will have enough ambition to try it 😉 Thank you!
You could always make it and skip the canning process. This sauce freezes beautifully!
I wish there were two of me so I could spend all of September putting up tomato sauce. It really is liquid gold! Thanks for getting me hooked on it! 🙂
I’m planning on making this sauce tomorrow! My husband and I are roasting the tomatoes we speak, and all other ingredients have been purchased. With three littles, we’ve found it helps if we do as much prep the night before 🙂
Question- can I omit the thyme and sub dried basil instead? Our garden basil got eaten by birds 🙁 and I can’t find it fresh in stores for the life of me!
Thanks for this delicious looking recipe! I am making a double batch 🙂 I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Canning is so particular in terms of maintaining the right PH balance. I’m not sure about subbing dried basil for the fresh….
This sauce looks so good! Every time I make tomato sauce at home, it looks orange, not beautiful and red like this!
Thanks for recipe…. Just checking … Is olive oil 3 cups or 3 tbs??
Thanks!
3 cups
Is this recipe correct…. 3 cups olive oil?
Yes!
When you say “Process jars in a hot water bath for 40 minutes” is the water bath boiling water or just hot water? I want to do this correctly! 🙂
The water needs to be boiling. Once you put the jars into the boiling water, bring the water BACK to a boil and them time 40 minutes from there.
Your recipe calls for yellow onions. I have on hand white onions out of my garden. Would this substitute be fine?
I think it would be just fine!
Hi! Im making your sauce right now, and I noticed in the recipe it says to add a tablespoon of lemon juice and salt at the end. What am I doing with the 1/4 cup of lemon juice the recipe asks for? Thanks so much! Really excited to try this out!
You divide the 1/4 cup of lemon juice, using a 1 tablespoon of lemon juice + salt into each jar before canning.
Hi Kelley, I’m sorry if I sound nit-picky, but I really am looking forward to this sauce turning out, and am half way through! Your recipe calls for 1/4 lemon juice, which equals 4 tablespoons. This recipe yields 6 quarts. I don’t mind doing the math, however the recipe says add to sauce while still in pot. Is there a difference if we add to the pot and not to individual jars?
You can just add it right into the pot as called for.
Went I picked up all the stuff for this I didn’t realize I’d need 2 bottle of wine. I bought one thinking it was enough. I’m knee deep in this recipe, can I sub anything for half the wine?
If you don’t follow the recipe as written, I don’t recommend canning it for long term storage.
Thank you for your quick response!
Any adjustments I should make in halving the recipe?
Nope!
I’ve already simmered the sauce for 60 min but still seems to thin, can I continue simmering until it thickens?
Simmer it as long as you like. It’s not an overly thick sauce.
May I ask why roast the tomatoes? What it do to the tomatoes taste?
It caramelizes the sugar in the fruit and gives the tomatoes more flavor!
I’m roasting my tomatoes as I write this. Because I only have larger tomatoes (Amish) type. I guess I will have to roast them longer. Is that right?
How did it come out? I think I’m going to try to make tonight
It’s awesome! I make it every fall.
Yep!
when do you put the olive oil from the roasted tomatoes back into the mixture? I’m making it this afternoon. It’s an experience!
I typically don’t like making sauce with heirlooms because it’s usually to sweet. I just made this sauce with my over abundance of heirlooms or they were going to go bad so…why not give it a shot! AMAZING sauce! This will now be in my canning recipes forever. I did put most of the tomato “meat” in a separate bowl and whizzed it with my immersion blender. I preferred the consistency. I’ll be doing another batch in a couple weeks. Fantastic recipe!
I tried this last year and OMG, it was sooo good but not nearly enough to last. So this year, I planted 100 plants and I am looking forward to making at least 5 batches, along with homemade ketchup, salsa, pizza sauce and diced tomatoes. This was by far the best tomato sauce I have ever had. Thanks for posting this!
I’m relatively new to canning and I read recently that oil as an ingredient when canning can contribute to botulism. There was no further explanation, so I’m not sure if that risk is eliminated by bringing it to a certain temperature or what. Your thoughts?
It’s important follow a trusted recipe! Oil is ok as long as it’s used in the correct amount and then canned correctly.
Usually it’s 2 TB of lemon juice per quart of tomatoes. Is 1/4 cup enough??
Yep!
Would this be ok to pressure can? If so do you know the lb and time?
I don’t recommend canning. It’s very freezer friendly though!
Do you mean pressure canning as you give directions for WB canning?
No I mean WB canning.
Hi. Your recipe provides instructions for water bath canning but this comment seems to indicate you do not recommend canning at all. Should we infer from that this is not a safe canning recipe?
I have canned this sauce successfully in the past. Please check your local University canning guidelines and make any adjustments recommended!
Hi! Thank you for this recipe! I’m making it now and am in the last simmer stage and realized I’m left with black pepper and the other half of the thyme. When was that supposed to go in, at the end? I see it listed in the ingredients section but not in the recipe. Thank you again!!
Do i use the juices from roasting the tomatoes in the oven?
I do!
After roasting the tomatoes and peeling the skin off I have a lot of juice left in the pan. Should all that juice go into the sauce as well?
Yes!
Do you ever have an issue with your jars sealing with all that oil? 3 cups seems like a lot for a canning project. Typically oil should not be used when canning.
Id like to try this because it looks delicious, but I’m hesitant to use the oil.
I haven’t had any issues with my jars not sealing.
I made this yesterday and followed the recipe exactly. Half of my jars did not seal.
That’s always such a bummer. Everyone once in a while I have jars that don’t seal.
We are planning on trying this recipe with fresh heirlooms from our garden tomorrow, but also have pounds of heirlooms frozen (cored and scored). What do you think about using the frozen tomatoes for this recipe? Would they roast in the same way? Or would you adjust the method? Thanks!
I don’t recommend making this with frozen tomatoes.
Ok about to make this recipe and want to know what others did… do you measure out 3 cups of olive oil and drizzle over tomatoes before roasting? Or do you split the measurement before. If so how much for roasting vs once your adding to the pot to cook… same with garlic and thyme? The recipe doesn’t say divided so I just want to make sure before I go for this.
Yes, divide it among the pans of tomatoes!
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What brand of dry white wine would you suggest please. Not familiar with wines