Tomato Sauce Summer Edition
Excerpted from Anna Cooks: 125+ Delicious & Achievable Recipes for Every Meal of the Day, by Anna Olson. Copyright © 2025 Olson Food Concepts Inc. Photography by Janis Nicolay. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited.
This freezer-friendly version of tomato sauce is made using in-season fresh tomatoes to really capture their peak flavour. San Marzano or Roma tomatoes are perfect to use because they are fleshy and have few seeds and not a lot of excess water, making for richly flavoured, smooth tomato sauce.
Ingredients
- 6 lb (2.7 kg) fresh San Marzano or Roma tomatoes
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 large onions, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 large cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 Tbsp (12 g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp (8 g) chopped fresh oregano
- 1 Tbsp (4 g) chopped fresh thyme
- 2 tsp kosher or coarse pickling salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- Chili flakes or cayenne pepper (optional)
The sauce will keep in its container in the freezer for up to 1 year. Thaw in the fridge before heating to use.
Are you connecting with your inner Nonna? If buying bushels of tomatoes, you can batch up this recipe and then can the sauce to store in your pantry for up to a year instead of freezing it. Follow safe canning processes, including sterilizing the jars and boiling the filled jars in water for at least 35 minutes to ensure a vacuum-sealed lid.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
Bring a large pasta pot of water up to a rolling boil. While waiting, score the skin at the bottom of each tomato with an X to make it easier to peel after blanching. Have a large bowl of ice water and a slotted spoon ready.
Step 2
Drop about twelve tomatoes into the boiling water and let these boil for 30 to 60 seconds—you will see the skins of the tomatoes start to split. Using the slotted spoon, quickly remove the tomatoes from the hot water and drop them into the ice water. Repeat with the remaining tomatoes in batches until all have been blanched and cooled. Drain the tomatoes well.
Step 3
Use a paring knife to peel away the skin from each tomato, saving the skins in a bowl. Cut the tomatoes in half and use a spoon or your fingers to pull out any seeds and watery pulp into the same bowl as the skins, removing the stem ends as well. Put the leftover skins and seeds into a sieve over a bowl for about an hour to drain. Save the liquid to add to the sauce and discard the skins and seeds.
Step 4
Place the now-empty pasta pot back on the stove and drizzle in some olive oil. Add the onions and celery and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onions become translucent. Add the tomatoes, the reserved tomato liquid from straining, garlic and sugar and give the tomatoes a good stir. Add the oregano, thyme, salt, pepper and chili (or cayenne, if using). Bring this up to a full simmer, covered, stirring occasionally. Once a simmer is reached, remove the lid and continue to cook until the tomatoes start to break down, about an hour. Remove the pot from the heat. Purée directly in the pot using an immersion blender or in a blender in batches.
Step 5
Cool the tomato sauce to room temperature, then pack into freezer-safe containers, label and freeze. .
