Easy Canned (or frozen) Marinara Sauce

This Easy Canned (or frozen) Marinara Sauce gives you fresh marinara sauce that you can use all year long. Roasted garlic, onions and tomatoes combine with lots of fresh herbs to create a delicious sauce that is extremely versatile. You can use this sauce on pasta, pizzas or in soups. You can’t beat the flavor from the fresh tomatoes.

I love fresh marinara sauce, and every year when summer comes to an end, I am sad to see all of the fresh vegetables, herbs and especially tomatoes, go. Canning the tomatoes is the best way to preserve them so that you can have them all year long. However, canning always seems intimidating to me, especially when making a tomato sauce. Tomatoes are filled with water and in order to create a sauce that is characteristic of the store bought marinara sauces, you have to cook all of the water out of the tomatoes, which can take forever. Not only that, but most sauce recipes require you to remove the tomato shell and the seeds, which can take time.

This sauce eliminates all of my worries. The majority of the moisture from the tomatoes cooks off in the oven after 30 minutes. Then the entire tomato is blended – shell, seeds and all, into a smooth, thick sauce. I, personally, don’t feel there is a need to remove the shells or the seeds, as it all gets blended together. Sure you can see a few of the seeds, but they are hardly noticeable, and they don’t affect the taste. If canning still intimidates you, you can certainly freeze this sauce instead.

Here’s what you need to know…

It is important to wrap the garlic heads in aluminum foil. This will prevent them from burning in the oven, and will allow them to roast perfectly, giving you that nice golden, soft roasted garlic clove. Trust me, the roasted garlic makes this sauce so good. When the garlic is roasted, it gets a slight sweet taste and the garlic itself is not as potent as raw garlic, hence why you can use much more in the sauce. To roast the garlic, you’ll want to cut the garlic head in half. It is okay if some of the garlic cloves fall out of the papery shell. Just put them in a square of aluminum foil. Place half of the garlic head in a square of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Loosely wrap the garlic up. Repeat with remaining garlic.

Add the quartered tomatoes, quartered onions, and loosely wrapped garlic to a sheet pan. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. You will need to use more than one baking pan. Make sure your pan has sides, as a lot of water will cook out of the tomatoes.

In this sauce, you do not need to remove the shells or seeds. Everything gets blended together to create a smooth sauce. You may still see a few of the seeds, but they do not affect the taste. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the tomatoes and onions off the baking pan to drain as much liquid as possible.

It is important to taste the sauce after blending to make sure it suits your taste preferences. Add a few more fresh herbs or more salt and pepper if needed, then blend to combine.

You can certainly freeze this sauce if you desire. After blending the sauce, pour into freezer safe containers, then freeze.

If you are canning, you need to add 1 tablespoon lemon juice for a pint jar. This helps with the preservation of the tomato sauce. It lowers the pH of the tomato sauce enough to allow for safe water bath canning. You may add a teaspoon of sugar at this step too, if desired, to offset the acidity of the lemon juice.

Fill the jars with the warm sauce, using a funnel, then place lid on jars.

Place cans on a rack, then place in water bath canner.

Place lid on top, then bring water to a boil. Lower the heat so that it is at a rolling boil. Process in water bath canner for 35 minutes. Adjust burner so that it maintains a rolling boil throughout the entire processing time. This temperature will be lower than when you first had to bring the water to a boil. You just need enough heat to maintain a slow rolling boil. Once processing time is complete, remove lid and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Be careful, as steam will be hot. Remove jars with a jar lifter and set on a wire cooling rack.

Make sure the jars are sealed by pressing on the center of the lid. If the lid center pops back up, reprocess jars within 24 hours, or store in refrigerator and use within 1-2 days. Store jars in a cool, dark place. I like to use my sauce within a year of canning it, but as long as the seal remains intact and the lid is not bulging, you can store these for up to 18 months.

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