A wonderfully flavored canned roasted tomato sauce that is safe to preserve in a boiling-water canner to be shelf stable. Having jars of this sauce in your pantry makes amazingly easy weeknight dinners that also makes any day remind you of summer!
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I’m super happy to be able to finally share this canned roasted tomato sauce that’s safe for boiling water bath canning with you! I have been searching for awhile for a recipe to safely water-bath can roasted tomato sauce, similar to our family’s favorite Roasted Tomato & Vegetable Sauce for Freezing, mainly for the convenience of having jars in the pantry ready to go for weeknight dinners. And this is a keeper for sure, taking a tested recipe and then adding the roasting step for the vegetables. It’s SO good!
Be Safe With Canning Tomato Sauce
However I do have to caution that you’ve got to be careful when searching the internet. I found quite a few “recipes” that didn’t list any specific amounts (“fill a pan with tomatoes, throw in a good handful of ______,” etc.) and then gave instructions for water-bath canning with the addition of citric acid.
Recipes like this are NOT considered safe by the USDA – adding citric acid to a concoction that is full of low-acid ingredients (olive oil, onions, garlic, fresh herbs and sometimes peppers), does not make it shelf-stable with boiling-water canning, especially when they’re not even measured amounts (see this article for more information).
I know that many people have canned this way for years, but in my opinion, it’s just food and never worth even a possibility of sickness. (Note: there’s a little more flexibility with sauces canned using a pressure canner, but it’s still recommended that you use a tested recipe.)
What About This Canned Roasted Tomato Sauce?
Okay, off my soapbox! After all that searching, are you wondering how I came up with this boiling water safe canned roasted sauce? Good for you for questioning – we should definitely educate ourselves when it comes to feeding our families.
Here’s the deal: I searched and searched and couldn’t find any roasted tomato sauce recipe that was safe for canning tomato sauce in a water bath canner. But then I wondered why I couldn’t just take the tomato sauce recipe from the Ball Blue Book that I’ve canned many times and instead of boiling the tomatoes, roast them instead. All the measured ingredients would be the same, only the cooking method would change.
This sounded like the solution to me, but to make sure I called the preservation hotline from our extension agency (Oregon State where I live) and asked them if they thought it would be okay. I told them I’d be sharing it with my blog readers – and they okayed the new cooking method! They just cautioned me to keep all the other low-acid ingredients the same and to be sure to include the addition of citric acid or lemon juice. Which I did, of course.
And guess what? It worked great and gave this sauce that nice roasted flavor that our favorite freezer sauce has. This is the sauce I’d been looking for!
How to Make Canned Roasted Tomato Sauce
Besides enhancing the flavor, one of the other reasons I like to roast tomatoes for sauces is because I can skip the boiling-water-peeling step since it’s easy to just pluck the darkened skins off after roasting. So even though it took 2 batches of roasting for this amount of sauce (I can only fit the three pans shown above in my oven at one time), it still took less time and work.
Note: Removing the skins is specified in the original recipe, so that’s what I do, but I leave skins on my favorite salsa and addictive tomato chutney, so you might choose to leave them on here. I haven’t found research to say it will affect the acid ratio. Just be sure your tomatoes are really clean.
So basically we’re skipping the peeling and initial cooking part and replacing that with pans of roasted ingredients. After your ingredients are roasted, though, you do need to bring it to a boil so it’s nice and hot for canning.
After roasting, you transfer everything into a large stockpot (this actually makes it easy to roast more pans to finish the full recipe – the first batch can wait in the pot for the second batch to roast).
When everything is roasted, I like to use my workhorse immersion blender to make a smooth sauce, but you can do it in batches with a blender or food processor, too – it’s just messier. After all the ingredients are in a large stock pot and blended, it’s just a matter of bringing to a boil again and then transferring to jars to can.
Tools I use For this Recipe:
- Food Scale
- Immersion Blender
- Stainless Steel Boiling Water Canner
- Stainless Steel Canning Funnel
- Stainless Steel Ladle
- Pint Mason Jars and Lids
A note on seeds: we don’t mind seeds in the sauce and I do squeeze out quite a few when I’m prepping the tomatoes for roasting, but if you’d prefer a seedless sauce, you can strain the sauce after you’ve whirred it up – it’s up to you.
Here’s a video on the simple steps for boiling water canning if you need:
Or you can go to this article and read the steps with photos.
Oh, and I should mention that I took the in-process photos above before I realized that I should add all the other ingredients to the roasting pans first and then place the tomatoes on top of them. This makes it easier to pluck the skins off without losing any of the spices or other ingredients. Just in case you are, like, “hey that’s not what’s in the picture.” Gotta keep you all on your toes!
I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!
Water-Bath Safe Canned Roasted Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 23 pounds tomatoes a variety of paste, heirloom and cutting provides the best flavor & consistency
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar optional, but adds amazing flavor
- 3 cups chopped onions
- 6 medium cloves garlic chopped**
- 2 tablespoons canning salt
- 1 tablespoons dried oregano***
- 1 tablespoons dried basil***
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes optional, but we love it
- Citric acid or bottled lemon juice amounts needed for different size jars below
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees. Halving all ingredients to work in two batches, divide olive oil, balsamic vinegar (if using), onions, garlic, and dry seasonings between 2 or 3 roasting pans (what you have that will fit in your oven).
- Wash tomatoes, remove cores and blossom ends, cut in half and squeeze gently to remove some of the seeds. Place tomatoes, cut side down, on top of ingredients in prepared pans.
- Roast for about 40 minutes, turning once, until most of the tomato skins are puffed and browned. Remove from oven and pluck skins off with tongs (it's okay not to get every bit).
- Scrape roasted vegetables into a large stockpot, set aside and repeat the prep and roasting with remaining half of ingredients (unless you are making just a half batch - then just proceed to next step).
- Using an immersion blender, whir roasted ingredients until smooth (alternately, you can scrape from the roasting pans into a blender in batches and then add to the stockpot). If you'd like to strain to remove seeds, now is the time for that, too, using a wire mesh sieve.
- Bring smooth sauce to a boil over med-high heat, lower heat and then simmer sauce until it reaches desired consistency, stirring often, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. You can adjust salt or dry seasonings to taste at this point if you wish.
- Prepare a water-bath canner, jars, and lids.
- Adding 1/4 teaspoon citric acid to pints (1/2 teaspoon to quarts) OR 1 tablespoon lemon bottled juice to pints (2 tablespoons for quarts), ladle the hot tomato sauce into hot jars, one at a time with 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rims, attach lids and place in canner rack.
- Process 35 minutes for pints and 40 minutes for quarts (if processing both pints and quarts together, use the longer processing time). Note: start the processing time after canner comes to a full boil and then adjust heat to keep a low boil for the timed amount.
- Turn off burner, remove lid and set timer for 5 minutes to let jars rest in canner. Transfer jars from canner to a towel-lined surface and let cool 24 hours. Check seals, label & store for up to a year.
Notes
Nutrition
Note for those just learning to can: click here for a step-by-step tutorial on water-bath canning.
Other Canned Recipes With Tomatoes You May Like:
The Best Thick and Flavorful Salsa for Canning
Canned Green Chilies & Tomatoes (aka, Rotel)
Canned Pizza Sauce (from frozen tomatoes)
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Bernie says
Hi this recipe sounds delicious and i want to try it, can i add a couple of chilli peppers during the roasting stage? Just to add a bit of heat? What is the shelflife of your recipe.
Jami says
You can add dried chili flakes, Bernie, but no fresh chilis (or other fresh ingredients). Canned foods like this last about 18 months on the shelf.
Bernie says
Thanks for your quick response Jami. I actually tried this yesterday with a quarter of the ingredients not for canning but to just appreciate the flavours. I loved it! Very delicious and full of flavour. The roasting really makes a difference. I will try a batch for canning soon.
Diane S says
I scored an large can (6 lbs) of organic whole peeled tomatoes on clearance sale. Can I use canned tomatoes in this recipe and still water bath the sauce? TIA
Jami says
Yes, you can use the tomatoes! There might be a slight reduction of quality (every time produce is canned, the quality goes down some), but it’s perfectly safe.
Haann says
Hi
I am wondering if it is possible to use fresh lemon juice (and if not, how about if i boiled it first)? Thank you
Jami says
No, it’s not safe to use fresh lemon juice and boiling wouldn’t help. It’s because fresh lemons vary in acidity and bottled is uniform. That’s why I choose to use citric acid – I don’t like the preservatives in bottled lemon juice (though you can use the frozen variety if you can find it to avoid that).
Haann says
Thank you so much for your quick reply. The tomatoes are in the oven roasting, and i brought some citric acid. Thanks for all your recipies. This is my first attempt at water bathing.
Jami says
Good! Have fun with it, Haan!
Kelley says
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I have frozen tomatoes from my garden. Can I use them for this recipe?
Kelley
Jami says
Yes, as long as you have the weight of the tomatoes before freezing (I weigh and write it on the bag before freezing).
Megan says
Hi! Your recipe sounds great I just wanted to ask about the 2 TBS of canning salt. Does this make the sauce salty? I don’t cook with a lot of salt. Can that amount be reduced? Thanks
Jami says
Yes, you can reduce the salt. But the amount is for 23 pounds of tomatoes – so a lot of sauce. It’s not salty at all. But put in what you like and then taste to see if you like it or want more!
Valerie Cline says
Questions, why can’t you use fresh Herbs and if it’s not safe for water bath for fresh herbs would use of pressure canner then be ok
Jami says
Fresh herbs are low acid and affect the tested ratio. If a recipe isn’t tested for pressure canning then I can’t recommend it. I’d probably find a pressure canned recipe to make with correct pressure needed for the jar size and sauce.
CathleenC says
this is SO delicious! We use the resulting sauce to make a sort of instant tomato soup – add broth, maybe some cream, simmer a few minutes and have a bowl of summer to enjoy. Thank you!
Jami says
Yes, I do that often, too – it’s SO good. I’m so glad you liked this – thanks for the review!
Kylee says
Do you think I can use yellow heirloom tomatoes with this recipe?
Jami says
Yes!
Rick says
I halved the recipe (12# tomatoes) and it made just shy of 7 pints (I water bathed 6 pints). The thickness of the sauce seemed good to my liking but I’m wondering your thoughts and what others have experienced? Other than that thank you for sharing this recipe. The flavor is really good and I am looking forward to using the sauce in a recipe.
Jami says
Glad you liked it, Rick. With sauce, it’s totally up to the cook and the tomatoes you used – if you’d like it thicker, cook longer (though your volume will be reduced). If you start with mostly roma/paste tomatoes you may not need to cook as long, and visa versa. Not really sure if this answered your question, but hope it helps!
Jim says
Can I add roasted red peppers to the sauce before using immersion blender?
I’ve done this in the past and didn’t experience any issues.
Thank you will be trying this recipe later this week
Jami says
That would make it not safe for canning, Jim, altering the acid ratio more than the tested recipe. You can always add them when you’re going to use it.
Madeleine says
Thank you so much for this recipe. Mine is processing right now as I write this. I just celebrated my 21st birthday and to celebrate it with my found family, I spent the day cutting tomatoes and making this sauce. I have so wanted to have food traditions, and I believe making this sauce will be one of them for me. As someone who is often not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes, this sauce is the exception. It really is delicious, and thank you so much for giving a recipe that I am happy to turn into a tradition!
Jami says
Oh, that’s lovely, Madeleine – I’m so happy to be a part of your tradition through this recipe. 🙂
Enjoy!!
Cheryl says
I would love to make this, but in 1/2 pint jars. How long would the processing time be for 1/2 pints?
Jami says
Same amount of time!