Make your own home canned pizza sauce from fresh tomatoes OR tomatoes that were frozen during the gardening season for convenience and reduced cooking time.
Together with my favorite salsa, roasted tomato sauce, and addictive tomato chutney, this easy, wonderfully seasoned home canned pizza sauce forms the MVP’s of my canning recipes. Meaning, during the tomato harvest, I make enough of these four staples to see us through the year and only if I have any tomatoes left do I make other things like bruschetta topping or rotel.
However, for a number of reasons (time issues, weird tomato season, other commitments), I couldn’t find the time to make all our tomato recipes last fall when the tomatoes were coming in fast and furious. We were almost out of the other canned goods, but I had a few cans of pizza sauce left, so I concentrated on the other tomato recipes and just froze enough bags of paste tomatoes (with a few heirlooms thrown in for great flavor) to be able to make the sauce later.
In January when things are typically more quiet, I pulled out the frozen tomatoes and decided to show you how I make the pizza sauce from frozen tomatoes. You can actually make this sauce from fresh tomatoes, too, but frozen is my preferred way now since it makes the cooking down part go so much quicker. Read on for all the details!
How to Make Home Canned Pizza Sauce (using frozen or fresh tomatoes)
A few years ago I learned from my friend online Gina that freezing tomatoes before making sauce is a quicker way to a thick sauce. Since then I’ve frozen our paste tomatoes at least a day or two before making sauce, even during canning season because less time cooking is a good thing! (Of course this is optional and you can make this sauce from fresh tomatoes as well.)
To Make from Frozen (affiliate links included)
- Thaw tomatoes (overnight is good) in a bowl or the sink (in case the bags leak).
- Drain the accumulated clear juices- open one corner of the baggie and pour off the juice.
- Run through a food mill to remove the seeds and skins. Pictured above on the left is a Victorio Food Strainer and Sauce Maker. It’s like the little girl with the curl: when it’s good, it’s very very good and when it’s bad…well, you know. Even though Gina mention (in the post I linked to above) that she didn’t heat her frozen tomatoes, this food mill just didn’t want to work with them until I heated them a bit. I ended up reverting back to my vintage metal tripod food press (which you can still buy new here – guess some designs have staying power!) for some of the cold pulp, but it takes more elbow grease, that’s for sure, and doesn’t result in as much usable pulp as the Victorio (I did use the Victorio for applesauce for the first time this year and it worked wonderfully for that!).
To Make from Fresh Tomatoes
- Wash, core, and halve tomatoes.
- Bring to a boil in a large stock pot.
- Strain skin and seeds through a food mill.
July 2016 Update – this may be the easiest way to get tomato sauce ever:
I used the electric FreshTech Harvest Pro Sauce Maker with both the fresh tomatoes shown in the video as well as 12 bags of frozen tomatoes later and it worked fabulous with them both. I had sauce in no time without needing to bother with heating in any form. I truly do love this machine – it really makes this easy!
For convenience, can the pizza sauce in half-pint or 12-oz jars which is a good size for medium-to-large sized pizzas. The 12-oz. jars are actually the perfect size (whole pints are too much, which causes the dough to not cook fully in the center) but they’re harder to find, so use what you have.
If you’re new to canning this tutorial will take you through each step.You can also watch all the easy steps to water-bath canning in this video:
We make our homemade pizza a couple times each month, though sometimes we make it with pesto instead of tomato sauce, and so I aim to have 20-24 jars on our shelves in varying sizes.
Oh, and this sauce is also good in any Italian recipe, so it finds its way into things other than pizza – a lot.
Click the arrow for the full, printable recipe!
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My sauce did not thicker after two hours of simmering. I used fresh tomatoes. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I would just keep cooking, Melinda, turning the heat up a bit until it’s a consistency you like. Your tomatoes were probably juicier, which happens a lot with fresh tomatoes, especially if you’re not pouring off juice from frozen tomatoes first.
I blend spinach into the store brought. Is it safe to can it in this recipe?
No, Michele, spinach is low-acid so that would mess with the safety ratios. I’d blend it in when you use it like you do with the store-bought (great idea, by the way!).
I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe this year. My family loves homemade pizza and my husband gave me cast iron pizza pans for Christmas. They are amazing! Last year I made salsa and one tip that I thought was wonderful was slicing the tomatoes in half and placing them face-down on a cookie sheet cooking them in the oven and as they cool the skins shrink and come right off. It made the process go so much quicker!
What a great tip, Sharon – I’ll have to remember that!
How many quart jars would I use of canned tomatoes to make this…
Hmmm, that’s a question I haven’t gotten before, Tammy. Since it’s really important for safety reasons that you follow the recipe exactly with tomato products that will be canned to be shelf-stable, I think there’s no other way but to drain your tomatoes and weigh them. The acid ratio only works when using pound measurements for the tomatoes (you can cut the recipe in half safely). I know that won’t be perfect, since the tomatoes weigh differently after being skinned, cored, and canned, but that’s how I would do it.
Hello! I just came across your recipe and this looks delicious. With so many tomatoes from my garden this year this recipe was just what I needed. Would it be safe to prepare the tomatoe puree one night and put in the refrigerator and then make the pizza sauce/can it the next night?
Yes, you can totally to that Heather! I often do things like that to break up preserving tasks.
How long did you water bathe these for? I cannot find it in the recipe. Thank you.
Click the arrow at the bottom for the full, printable recipe Bridgette – the article is just the tutorial walking you through the full recipe.
ABOUT WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT CHERRY TOMATOES NOT BEING ACIDIC ENOUGH TO MAKE SAUCE, ISN’T THAT WHY WE PUT LEMON JUICE IN EACH JAR? THE CANNING GROUP I’M IN SAYS THAT WE CANNOT BE SURE ANY TOMATOES ARE ACIDIC ENOUGH TO NOT ADD LEMON JUICE. I KNOW THEY CAN’T BE CANNED WITH PEELS ON.
Tomatoes are right on the edge of safe acidic levels, Melissa, so the lemon juice is to ensure they are acid enough to be water-bath canned. There are some cherry tomatoes that would be fine, probably, but some (I’m thinking of the pear types and the super sweet cherry types) are known to be low-acid, so I made a blanket statement. I would only use a ph-tested recipe if I were going to can cherry tomatoes since the lemon juice doesn’t automatically make everything safe to can.
I can’t find anything from USDA or Extension offices that say it is unsafe to can with washed peels left on (which I routinely do now with salsa and chutney since it’s so much easier!). Only that they may affect texture. In fact, the USDA says “Where recipes call for peeled or skinned tomatoes” (http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_salsa/salsa_ingredients.html) which seems to me that either are okay.
Can I freeze this sauce instead of canning
Yes, it freezes beautifully, LaRae.
Thank you
I canned tomatoes ladt year and got lots of pulp. Im using 7 quarts to this recipe without altering anytging…eccept a little extra sugar because I decided I don’t like the thyme in it. It seems like its making much more. Do you think it’s safe with still just adding the lemon juice to the jars?
It’s okay, Trish – maybe your sauce isn’t as thick? You will need to up the lemon juice/citric acid, though, for quart sizes: 2 TB lemon juice or 1/2 tsp. citric acid.
Would it be safe to assume that I could cut this recipe in half and the ratios would still be safe for canning? I have lots of ripe tomatoes from my garden but I don’t think I have 22 pounds.
Yes, you can halve the recipe safely Nicole – I do that all the time when I have smaller amounts!
Have you ever used grape tomatoes? I have more then i kmow what to do with!
Not in this, though I do have a roasted cherry tomato sauce that’s delicious. It’s only safe for freezing, though, since cherry tomatoes aren’t as acidic as regular tomatoes. Here’s a link to the recipe.
HI! When you say wash, core, and halve tomatoes, then bring them to a boil are you putting them in a pot with water??
No, as the tomatoes cook, they release all the liquid you’ll need to boil.
I made this recipie with these changes, extra garlic, fresh tarragon instead of basil, garlic powder, couple of large bell peppers, and all other listed ingredients. Tastes great can’t wait to make a pizza out if it!
Yikes, Alison! Sorry, but you can’t add lots of low-acid fresh ingredients like that (garlic, fresh tarragon and peppers) to a canned recipe like this and have it still be safe for water-bath canning. This is per the USDA and my local Extension Office. Did you pressure can this? If not, I would recommend that you keep these jars in the fridge.
Is pressure canning the answer to make this recipe safe if adding other fresh ingredients?
Probably, but even with pressure canning the recommendation is to use tested recipes, so that’s what I need to say. 🙂
How many cups of puree comes from 22 lbs of tomatoes?
It depends on what kind of food mill you use (some get more pulp/puree from the tomatoes than others) but I’d estimate around 17-18 cups which should cook down to the 14-15 cups to get the 7-8 pint yield.
Do you know if it’s safe to use fresh herbs instead of dried? Just curious. Thanks!
No, it’s best to stick with dried in canning, Emily. Even though they are a small amount adding more low-acid ingredients (fresh herbs) would mess up the safe acid ratio. Also, dried herbs are better at holding their flavor in applications like this (long cooking/canning). You can always add fresh herbs to the top of your pizza and get the best flavor there. 🙂
I forgot to put lemon juice in my first 7 pints. Will it be OK?
I’ve done that before, Naomi, and I keep them in the fridge to be safe. It probably is okay, but I just feel better erring on the side of safety. 🙂
My question is, I canned all my pizza sauces in pints and in the end it makes 2 pretty large pizzas. So we cant seem to eat 2 pizzas at the same time. How long is the pizza sauce good for after opening and being stored in the refrigerator?
I don’t know exactly, Nicole, but I’m pretty sure we’ve kept it for a number of weeks (maybe a month?), but I try to can in 1/2-pints or 12-oz. jars, as that will use it all up. What about making two pizzas, baking one and freezing the other unbaked for a quick meal later? You can use the larger jars as a way to force some batch-cooking. 😉
I know this is an older post, but I wanted to say “thank you” for it. I stated canning this year, mostly (and hopefully) as Christmas gifts. Pizza sauce was on my list, but I got so tired of reducing it that I gave up and have a few jars of what I hope is at least spaghetti-worthy sauce once I season it. You answered a few of my questions here, mostly in replies to comments. So many bloggers don’t answer, and I hope you feel like you’ve given something of value when you take time to do that. Makes me wish it weren’t mid-October and I could reasonably by enough good tomatoes to try again!
I’m glad you’ve found useful info here, Katie!! My goal in writing my blog has always been to help others where I used to be (I had to learn canning, too!) and share what I’ve learned along the way, so I make time to try and answer all questions as best I can- thank you for appreciating that. 🙂
Hi, there! I just used your recipe earlier this week & I must say kudos and thanks to you! It used up all the tomatoes from my garden perfectly and your freezer method was fabulous as my tomatoes came ripe at different times. I don’t have a food mill so I just used a mesh strainer & pestle — which did the job perfectly — but, sadly, the strainer did not survive. Oh well! Perfect excuse to finally get myself a food mill! Anywho, I only got 3 pints as well from my batch but I suspect that’s because I had to leave my sauce simmering just a titch longer while I dashed off to work for a quick appointment. I left the hubby in charge and he could not stop exclaiming how much he loved the smell! We cannot wait to dig into this! Thanks so much for the great recipe!
Hello, this sauce has been simmering all day, and I just tasted it…all I taste to black pepper! No onions or garlic-just black pepper! I thought perhaps it was supposed to be a tsp, but I checked (3 times) and the recipe reads a Tbsp! Have you experienced this or heard from anyone else that has? If so, do you know how others countered the pepper? Thank you in advance!
Gee, I don’t notice that at all, Laura – I’m so sorry you do! We really like black pepper, though, so maybe that’s the difference? It’s what I do, but it’s certainly up to taste. I’ll go ahead and update the recipe to say ‘or to taste’ for others who may not like as much pepper in their foods. Again, I had no idea anyone wouldn’t like it like we do, so I really am sorry for your sauce right now. I’m hoping it will be okay for you on pizza, though, since there are other flavors going on, after all your work!
im having some difficulty getting the sauce thick. I cooked it or tWo hours last night and no luck I’m wondering if you have any advice?
Thank you for your time.
jody
It will take longer to thicken depending on how much juice your tomatoes had (paste-type is least, heirlooms more) – were you able to drain some from frozen tomatoes? If not, it will take longer – just keep cooking!
Hi Jami! Love your stuff…so…so much! We make tons of your recipes. Last year I made this pizza sauce and spent what felt like hours pushing the tomatoes thru my wire mesh strainer to remove seeds. I do not have a food mill/press. The pizza sauce came out amazing and we just finished the last jar 🙂 My family is asking for more. I wanted to ask your advice. Do you think it would work if I blanched the tomatoes, peeled, hand removed the seeds, and pureed the rest of the tomato? Thank you, again we love your ideas and recipes!
julie
Well, I’m a firm believer in doing what you need to do to make something work for you, Julie, so if that seems easier to you, go for it! The one thing with starting from frozen tomatoes (even just frozen for 24 hours) is that you can pour off a lot of the liquid when they thaw so your cooking time is lessened. So just be aware that you may need to cook it longer to get it thick. I’m glad your family likes it!!
Would it work if I put the ingredients in a crockpot instead of cooking it on the stove for 2 hours? I have done this with a different pizza sauce recipe and it reduces down just fine, I just never canned it afterwards. Thanks!
That should be fine, Monica – it wouldn’t affect the canning. I’ve had tomato sauce turn bitter for me in a slow cooker, so I don’t chance it anymore. 🙂
I don’t currently have the concentration or undivided attention necessary for canning (I have a two year old so I feel like I would get easily side tracked), so I would like to freeze this instead. Do I still need the citric acid for freezing? I’m guessing it’s function is to regulate the acidity for canning but I just wanted to clarify. Thanks!
Yes, that’s right, Megan – if you are freezing (which this will do great with!), you don’t need the acid.
Thus is an incredible recipe. We have our jars processing in the water bath now. There was a little bit of sauce left in the pot that we ate up with bread. This recipe will be used for the years to come. Yummy!!!
So glad you like it as much as we do, Roberta. 🙂
This looks great! I found a link to your post on Pinterest, and I’m going to include a link to the post in a Canning Recipe roundup that I’m doing on my blog today… hope you can stop by to see it! 🙂
Thank you, Heather – I will!
Hi. Could I use a pressure canner instead of water bath for this? Also, if I did would I still add the lemon juice to each pint and half pint? Thanks for the help and love the simplicity of this recipe!
Yes, Shaina, you can pressure can the sauce, though the Nat’l center for home food preservation says you still need to add the lemon juice or citric acid – http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_sauce.html
Enjoy your sauce 🙂
I have frozen my tomatoes to make this and other recipes. Should the 22 lbs of tomatoes be weighed after they are thawed, or when they are frozen? Obviously after they lose all the water in the thawing process it will take a lot more frozen tomatoes to make 22lbs…??
Oh, dear – you need to weigh them before freezing, Denise (at least that’s how I know to do it). I weighed them and wrote on the bag how much was in each. I’m not sure if they weigh more than that when frozen – does the freezing increase the weight? You’re right that after thawing wouldn’t be correct. Sorry I don’t know another way!
Does the 1/8 tsp citric acid go into the whole recipe or each jar? If into each jar do you mix it in or leave it at the bottom of the jar?
It goes into each jar, Katie and you don’t have to mix it in, it will be mixed as it cooks in the canner. I just add the citric acid right before I add the sauce and seal the jars with the lids.
Thank you for the great recipe! Mine is simmering down now and smells awesome. I used the food mill method and it got most of the seeds out pretty easily. I might run it through again just because I don’t like the look of them on my pizza. I went a little different route for my tomatoes. I threw my tomatoes in the oven to get the puree and it seemed to work OK. I was working on other things so it was easy to weigh out 11 lbs and chuck them in the oven until they were soft enough to run through the mill.
Because the mill did such a great job straining everything, I didn’t want to put in gobs of onions in there so after I did the saute part, I ran through the blender with a a couple of ladles of sauce and returned it to the big pot.
I realize when I make homemade how much our taste buds get acclimatised to store bought which is way sweeter. I am going to trust that when this is on yummy dough with fresh mozzarella and a ton of basil, the tomato goodness is going to shine right through.
I’m new to this canning thing so I get a little nervous but your post really was great in explaining everything.
So glad to know that the post was helpful, Susan! It is true about the sugar in store bought things – and not just tomato products! If you really do prefer it sweeter, you can add honey (or sugar) to taste – it’s safe to can still since sugar doesn’t affect acidity.
That’s a great tip about heating the tomatoes in the oven, btw, and you can call yours ‘oven roasted’ pizza sauce now. 🙂
I only had about 8.5 lbs of tomatoes, so I used one large onion and maybe a couple Tbsp oil to sautee the onion and garlic. I also left out the the thyme (didn’t have any). Since I didn’t make the recipe using the EXACT ratios … do you suppose my jars at great risk for botulism? I keep reading that recipes must be followed EXACTLY, but I’m never going to have 45 lbs (or even 22 lbs) of tomatoes. I’m so freaked out now and wondering if I should discard my jars (it only made 4 pints).
No worries, Kate! It’s safe to cut canning recipes in half (well, sometimes not jams, as they might not set, but that’s the exception) and you can always leave out or adjust dry spices, so you’re good to go with your sauce. 🙂
Cool, thanks so much for the speedy reply!
I am just put my first batch into the canner. I only ended up with 3 pints and 1 half pint. I used about 20 lbs of tomatoes so I was expecting a smaller batch, but not that small. I weighed the tomatoes before I washed, cored, and froze them. And I don’t have a food mill, so I used the old fashioned tri-pod you mentioned. Do you think I went wrong in my weighing method, or maybe because I didn’t have the food mill I just didn’t get enough sauce when de-seeding and de-skinning them?
It’s hard to say, Jeanette, without knowing your steps. Maybe you cooked the sauce down more than I do? But then you’d have a thicker sauce, which I always like, but am not patient enough for. 🙂
That’s possible. 🙂 Just want to check though, that the recipe you post is for 22 lbs of tomatoes before they are put in the freezer, right? As in, I pick ’em and then weight them and then begin to prep them?
Yes, that’s right, Jeanette. It’s adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Canning (all purpose tomato sauce), if you want to check that source.
I’m sorry to keep bothering you with comments. 🙂 I’m just wondering if you can elaborate on your likes and dislikes about the victorio food strainer and sauce maker. I don’t have any type of food mill but am ready to buy one. I mostly do applesauce, pear sauce, and tomato sauce. Do you think this is a good model to buy?
I’ve only used it a couple of times, Jeanette, and to be honest, I have a love-hate relationship with it. 🙂 I love the sauce and that it really seems to get all the goodness from the tomatoes (the skins and seeds left are pretty thin/dry) and it saves time that way, for sure. But the mess, and the difficulty in turning the handle sometimes! Ugh, it can be really hard on the shoulders. Probably the best would be an electric model, but I certainly don’t have the money for that. 🙂 It’s good for what it does, I think – I’ll sure keep using it!
What you’re calling a food mill is known as it’s French name. It’s a chinois. I like my strainer better. Heating the tomatoes loosens the pulp. I love the sound of your recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for this, I love italian sauces and will surely try this at home. But can anybody tell me – for how long can I preserve this, and do I need to refrigerate it ?
After canning in a water-bath canner most foods should be used within a year and are okay to store in a pantry. Does that answer your question?
Thank you for sharing your pizza sauce recipe. I hope I memorize where I saw it next year when I started my canning to give it a try. I can my own tomatoes and we eat them all of the winter, sometimes just as entire stewed tomatoes in a dish. It’s a great way to get the nutrition of tomatoes without the high price of market tomatoes in winter.
Mmmm…Just thinking about how your kitchen must have smelled during this project! Perfect for a winter day!
Gina
I was so hoping to do this last season, but are tomatoes did not produce, pinned to my canning board for the next season, I hope. Would love for you to share this on Real Food Fridays.
http://yourlife7.blogspot.com/2014/01/real-food-fridays-22-link-up.html
Oh Thankyou for this recipe! I will for sure be making it next year along with my other favorite recipes of yours…..addictive chutney, salsa, brushetta toping, roasted toamato sauce and dried tomatoes in olive oil. I guess all my tomato recipes I preserve are from you….thanks! I need to try the dill pickle recipe again. They didn’t turn out well for me a few years ago, not very dilly, not sure what I did wrong. I did notice your preserving list didn’t seem to be as big this year but didn’t realize you weren’t done yet! I thought maybe you were making less because maybe your kids aren’t around as much anymore.