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Need a quick and easy tomato sauce usingcanned tomatoes? You’ve come to the right place. This is my go to tomato sauce when I can’t get fresh garden tomatoes.
Also Read: How to Roast Tomatoes for Sauce, , Make Ahead Pasta Bake
This tasty tomato sauce or marinara sauce comes together quickly with affordable, readily available ingredients. It’s perfect for any pasta dish when garden fresh tomatoes are out of season.
It takes about 5 minutes to prep and 30 minutes to cook down into a delicious sauce for a quick pasta dinner.
Chunky or Smooth?
How do you like your tomato sauce?
Personally, I like texture in my sauce, but my kids do not. So, we compromise. I use an immersion blender to puree away any big chunks of tomatoes. Here are some tips to get your tomato sauce just the way you like it:
- Pick diced, stewed or whole tomatoes, the smaller the tomatoes, the smaller your tomato pieces will be. My go to is diced tomatoes.
- After simmering for 10-15 minutes use an immersion or stick blender to puree your sauce to your desired consistency. Go easy – you don’t want to turn your sauce into pure liquid, so just a few pulses will do. Keep simmering your sauce to thicken it.
- For more chunks, add carrots, celery and more onions at the beginning of the cooking process.
- You can use a stand up blender – but only fill half way when pureeing hot food and just do a few quick pulses to avoid liquifying your sauce.
How ToFreeze this Tomato Sauce
This sauce freezes beautifully. In fact, make a double batch and plan to put somein the freezer so you have a convenient freezer meal ready to go.
To freeze:
- Cool sauce completely. This prevents condensation and ice crystal build up. It also prevents warming up the freezer.
- Label a freezer bag or container. You don’t want to have guess what it is later on.
- If using a rigid container leave 5-10 cm (1-2 inches) of headspace to allow for expansion.
- If using a bag, squeeze out most of the air from the bag and lay flat on a cookie sheet or serving tray. Place in freezer to freeze flat.
- Use within 6 – 12 months.
How To Use This Tomato Sauce
Just in case you’re not sure how, when or where you might use this sauce, here are some ideas.
- use as is on top of spaghetti or your favourite pasta
- sprinkle with fresh basil just before serving over pasta, zucchini noodles or gnocchi
- add meatballs for spaghetti with meatballs
- use as a base for meat sauce (bolognese) or chili
- use in any recipe calling for a jar of canned pasta or marinara sauce eg. lasagna, stuffed manicotti, Spinach Pasta Bake, Chicken Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
- use instead of canned tomatoes in braises or stews eg. shakshuka, chicken parmigiana, oven braised beef, etc.
- use in soups, either in small amounts for added flavor to a broth based soup or as the base for a thick tomato rich soup
Tomato Sauce from Canned Tomatoes
Print Recipe
3.99 from 64 votes
Tomato Sauce with Canned Tomatoes
A quick and tasty tomato sauce made from canned tomatoes and seasoned with Italian herbs and spices. Perfect for any pasta dish.
Prep : 5 minutes mins
Cook : 28 minutes mins
Total Time: 33 minutes mins
Servings: 4 cups
Author: Getty Stewart
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes 796 ml/28 oz*
- 1 can tomato paste 156 ml/5.5oz
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1/8 tsp hot pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
Instructions
In large saucepan, heat oil over medium high heat.
Add onions and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes.
Add garlic and cook for another minute.
Add Italian seasoning and tomato paste and cook for a minute before adding tomatoes and hot pepper flakes. Bring to boil then reduce heat to low and let simmer, without lid, for 15 minutes. Keeping it uncovered lets liquid evaporate more quickly. Stir occasionally.
Taste and add salt and pepper accordingly. Taste and adjust further as needed – more hot pepper flakes, Italian seasoning or other seasoning as desired.
If desired, use immersion blender to puree chunks a little – be careful not to overprocess. If time permits, simmer on low for another 5-10 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning and serve.
Video
Notes
Use whatever type of canned tomatoes you have. If tomato pieces are too large, chop to desired size with knife or an immersion blender.
In place of Italian Seasoning use 1tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp parsley.
If too acidic
- add 1/2 tsp sugar
- add 1/2 tsp baking soda
If too runny
- add 1/2 cup of pasta water and simmer for 5 minutes to allow starch to mix with sauce
- simmer longer to evaporate more liquid, the longer it cooks, the thicker and more flavourful it will become
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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
Calories: 128kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Sodium: 632mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Iron: 3mg
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: tomato sauce
How will you use your sauce? Keep me posted. When you make this recipe, write me a note or post aphoto onInstagram with #getgettys so I cansee it and like it!
Sign up toget articles by Getty delivered to your inbox. You’ll get recipes, practical tips and great food information like this.Getty is a Professional Home Economist, speaker and writer putting good food on tables and agendas. She is theauthor of Manitoba’s best-sellingPrairie Fruit Cookbook, Founder ofFruit Share, a mom and veggie gardener.
