Homemade Pasta Sauce

This is a really easy and super simple guide to making your very own amazing pasta sauce. The first time I did this I was so nervous about how it would turn out, but when I finally tried it, my sauce was incredible. I couldn’t believe it turned out so well. The best part about it is, there’s really no recipe to follow. You just kind of put in whatever you like. If meat sauce is your thing, add some cooked sausage. You like your sauce to be more of a cheese flavor, well hello Parmesan. There are a multitude of different ingredients you could add. To begin, I’m going to share the basics of what I put in and the steps on how I start my sauce, and then I’ll let you customize it from there.

Step 1: Fresh tomatoes

The fresher the better. I grow my own and I really like to use the Roma variety that I grow, but that’s not to say I haven’t used Big Boy tomatoes and Beefsteak tomatoes too. Sometimes I even use more than one variety in the same sauce. I also find them easier to work with when they are perfectly ripe. You’ll want about ten decent sized tomatoes to make a good amount of sauce.

Step 2: Clean, cut, and boil

Whichever tomatoes you’ve chosen to use, make sure you rinse them well. You don’t want any dirt getting into your sauce. Yuck! Once cleaned, cut the tops out where the stem was and slice an X into the bottom of the tomato. Place them into a large saucepan and cover them with water. Get them onto the stove over medium high heat until they start to boil. I usually boil them longer for larger tomatoes, and less for smaller ones. Probably around ten minutes should do. Once the timer goes off, drain your tomatoes into a colander. You’ll want to wait for them to cool a bit before you start to handle them for the next step. However, if you’re short on time or semi-inpatient like I can sometimes be, you can drop the tomatoes into an ice bath to cool them almost immediately.

Step 3: Peeling

Once your tomatoes are cooled, from whichever route you’ve taken, it’s time to peel off the skins. They should come off relatively easily, though sometimes they can be stubborn. I use a spoon to scrape the skins of the stubborn tomatoes that like giving me a hard time and don’t want to peel. As you peel them, place the peeled tomatoes back into the same pot you boiled them in. Next is the fun part.

Step 4: Making your sauce

Now that you’ve got a pot of peeled tomatoes, this is the fun part. I don’t like chunky tomato sauce, so I use an immersion blender to get my tomatoes to a nice smooth consistency. But again, that’s just my preference. If you like chunky sauce maybe just use a potato smasher and give them a good squishing. Also, I like a thicker sauce, so I cook mine down for a bit after I add all my other ingredients. I like to add a variety of things to my sauce. I usually mince some fresh garlic, and finely chop about a half of a yellow onion to add. Then I go to my herb garden and I pick out some fresh Basil leaves. I rinse and chop those up and add them in too. Finally, seasonings and such. To give my sauce a little kick, I add the tiniest amount, I’m talking less than a pinch, of Red Pepper Flakes, because for these, a little goes a long way. Salt is also very important, and a little Oregano, either ground or dried. Though keep in mind that the ground Oregano is going to be stronger than the dried, so don’t get too overzealous with your amounts. I also add a small glug of Red Wine Vinegar, again not too much. I like to play around with how much of each ingredient I add until I get a sauce flavor that I really like. Just make sure you’re tasting as you go. You especially don’t want to add too much salt. Finally, I let my sauce cook down for a good hour or so, simmering over low heat. Once the consistency is where I like it, it’s done. I jar my sauce and refrigerate it to use within the week, though it usually doesn’t last a week because we’ve eaten it by then. Oh, and just a warning, once you taste your fresh pasta sauce, you’ll never want to go back to the store bought stuff again.