Homemade Tomato Sauce (Using Fresh Tomatoes!)

When it comes to making really good homemade tomato sauce, I always turn to this incredible recipe because it’s so simple, so good and uses only three simple ingredient (fresh tomatoes, onions and butter!).

Fresh tomatoes are just so versatile, and there are endless incredible homemade foods you can make with them, like this easy homemade tomato juice, these oven sun dried tomatoes, and the best homemade ketchup.

How to Make Homemade Tomato Sauce

• Prep the vegetables. Chop up the onion and tomatoes.
• Cook. Saute the onion in butter over medium heat and then add the tomatoes.
• Simmer for 30 minutes.
• Prepare the food mill. Use a food mill that has been fitted with the disk with the largest holes. Set it over top of a pot. A food mill is a kitchen tool used for pureeing or grinding sauces or soups. I like it because it can be used for both hot and cold foods.
• Puree. Transfer the tomato sauce (with any juices) to the mill and puree.
• Season. Season with salt to taste and serve immediately.

How Long Does Homemade Tomato Sauce Last?

When you make this particular homemade tomato sauce recipe, you can reasonably expect the sauce to stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to one week. You’re going to want to transfer any unused sauce to a mason jar or something similar that’s airtight. A mason jar would be perfect for this.

Keep an eye on your leftover sauce; once you begin to notice the edges turning green, it’s time to toss it out.

Pro tip: Add a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice into your tomato sauce to increase the acidity, which may help you to extend the shelf life of this sauce by an extra day or two.

What Are Some Other Dishes That You Can Make with Homemade Tomato Sauce?

I wasn’t kidding when I mentioned how many different recipes make use of homemade tomato sauce as a base. Here are a few examples of some other dishes that you can make with this recipe.

• Pasta sauce (it’s amazing with spaghetti)
• Pizza sauce
• Marinara dips
• Chili sauce
• Meatloaf sauce

How Healthy Is Homemade Tomato Sauce?

Making your own homemade tomato sauce has the added benefit of providing you with quite a few great benefits for your health thanks to the tomatoes.

Tomatoes contain an antioxidant known as lycopene that has been found to protect against cellular damage caused by harmful free radicals in your body. (1)

On top of that, both tomatoes and red onion also contain anti-inflammatory compounds that help against chronic inflammation.

Can You Freeze Homemade Tomato Sauce?

While you might not be able to keep homemade tomato sauce in the refrigerator for very long, you can definitely still freeze it in order to extend the shelf life.

Once the sauce has completely cooled, you can then transfer it to either a freezer-safe, airtight container or bag. Frozen homemade tomato sauce can stay good for 3 to 4 months.

When you’re ready to reuse the leftover tomato sauce, I would recommend thawing it out overnight in the refrigerator first. To reheat it, simply warm it up over medium heat in a saucepan and add a splash of water if needed.

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Other Must Try Tomato-Based Sauces

• Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Alfredo Pasta – If you’re anything like me and you enjoy rich and creamy pasta sauce, this recipe is for you. It’s a delightful take on the classic alfredo recipe made with only the freshest ingredients.
• Sun Dried Tomato Pesto – This rendition of pesto sauce made with ‘sun dried’ tomatoes (they’re actually oven dried!) has such an amazing blend of flavors. Try it and you’ll know what I mean!

More Good Tomato Sauce Recipes

• Basic Marinara Sauce (The Comfort of Cooking)
• Three Ingredient Tomato Sauce (The Modern Proper)
• Instant Pot Marinara Fresh Tomato Sauce (Simply Happy Foodie)
• No-Peel Tomato Sauce (Marie Bostwick)
• Spicy Arrabbiata Tomato Sauce (Gimme Some Oven)