fbpx

Simple Tomato Sauce

This post was last updated on August 27, 2014 to include new images and a recipe video.

Simple Tomato Sauce

I find that people are often surprised that I make my own tomato sauce.  I think they imagine me spending hours and hours over the stove with tons of ingredients.

Truth is: it’s pretty darn easy and only requires a few simple ingredients.

Simple Tomato Sauce

Italian food is one of my many, many, many favorite types of food.  Therefore, I make a lot of it.

Simple Tomato Sauce

To make great Italian food, I think it’s pretty important to make your own tomato sauce.

Now, I haven’t always thought this way.  In fact, I used to buy pre-made tomato sauces.  [Gasp!]   It wasn’t until I tried a recipe for Simple Tomato Sauce by Giada De Laurentiis that everything changed…forever.  [Insert dramatic pause]

Simple Tomato Sauce

How To Make Tomato Sauce Video

Oh my goodness, this sauce is good.  It is delicious in spaghetti, on pizza, baked with chicken parmesan, on meatball subs and smothered on garlic bread.

Simple Tomato Sauce

As its name suggests, this is a simple sauce.

So, once you get comfortable making this recipe, you can customize it however you want, like adding roasted tomatoes and garlic, four cheeses, pesto, etc.

The possibilities are endless…and tasty.

Watch me make this awesome sauce the video below!

Simple Tomato Sauce

[su_button url=”https://www.asweetpeachef.com/top-recipes-cookbook” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#426060″ size=”14″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”0″ icon=”icon: envelope” class=”recipe-cookbook-btn”]LACEY’S FREE ECOOKBOOK![/su_button]

ASPC on Instagram

If you give this recipe a try, let me know what you think by leaving a comment and rating it. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #asweetpeachef on Instagram! I LOVE seeing what you come up with. Enjoy!

5 from 4 votes
Simple Tomato Sauce Square Recipe Preview Image
Simple Tomato Sauce
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
1 hr 20 mins
Total Time
1 hr 30 mins
 
This is a great basic, easy-to-make tomato sauce that we use all the time.
Categories: Sauce
Difficulty: Easy
Keyword: simple tomato sauce, simple tomato sauce recipe, smooth tomato sauce recipe
Servings: 8
Calories: 155 kcal
Author: A Sweet Pea Chef
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 stalk celery chopped
  • 1 carrot chopped
  • 1 tsp kosher salt plus more to taste
  • 1/2 tsp 
freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste
  • 2 cans crushed tomatoes 28-ounce
  • 4 to 6 basil leaves
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1-4 tbsp unsalted butter optional
Instructions
  1. In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and cook for 5-8 minutes, until sweating.
  2. Add celery and carrots and season with the salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 8-10 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes.
  4. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves and simmer, covered, on low heat for 1 hour.
  5. Before blending, remove bay leaves. If using a food processor, add half the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.
  6. If using an immersion blender (possibly the best device ever!), just blend the sauce right there in the pot.
  7. Once sauce is completely pureed, return to the pot. Add additional salt or pepper as desired. Add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, to round out the flavors. (I usually wind up adding about 2 tablespoons). The butter will cut some of the acidity of the tomatoes.
  8. If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 6 months.

Recipe Video

Nutrition Facts
Simple Tomato Sauce
Amount Per Serving
Calories 155 Calories from Fat 148
% Daily Value*
Fat 16.4g25%
Saturated Fat 3.7g19%
Cholesterol 7.6mg3%
Sodium 100.8mg4%
Carbohydrates 2.4g1%
Fiber 0.6g2%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 0.4g1%
Vitamin A 500IU10%
Vitamin C 2.5mg3%
Calcium 10mg1%
Iron 0.4mg2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

Lacey Baier

Hey there! I’m Lacey Baier and I’d like to welcome you! I’m a healthy lifestyle influencer and the creator of this clean-eating blog and YouTube channel, as well as cleanish, my clean-eating supplement brand. My recipes have been published on Food Network, Good Morning America, FoxNews, Tastemade, Fitness Magazine, and much more. I live in Austin, Texas with my husband and four kiddos. Let’s get started!

28 thoughts on “Simple Tomato Sauce

  1. Is this sauce sweet. Irecently had an amazing sauce at a new Italian restaurant in Dysney asprings. I m looking to make a sweet tomato sauce. Any suggestions.

  2. 5 stars
    Wow so happy I found this recipe! I made it a couple of weekends ago and used the first batch cold for a tomato dip. I frozen the rest and had some with spaghetti yesterday, it was so good! I’ll definitely keep a supply of this in the freezer for easy and quick meals. I hope you don’t mind but I featured you on my blog too 🙂 thanks for sharing. Deb

  3. 5 stars
    Hiya Lacey, thanks for the article. Where did you get the images from? Would like to use one of them for my website (different context). Please let me know. Thanks!

  4. Ⲩour mode of telling all in this paragraph is actually goօd, every one be
    able to easily be awarᥱ of it, Thanks a lot.

  5. Lacey, I have a question on the wonderful recipe. I see that it freezes well, what about canning it?
    Thanks
    Karen M

    1. Karen, I’ve actually been meaning to try canning this recipe for years now. I wouldn’t add the butter at the end, but otherwise I think it would be a good candidate for canning. If you try it, please share the results 🙂

  6. hey, i was wondering in the ingredients section if it is two 28-ounce cans of tomatoes or two cans of tomatoes that add up to 28-ounces..help please, i would really like to try this recipe!! =)

  7. Hi my friend! I want to say that this post is amazing, great written and come with approximately all vital infos. I’d like to look more posts like this .

  8. i am excited to try this tomato sauce recipe with your chicken parm recipe this evening. however, where did you get the sauce recipe from? i was reading it and *thought* i read a sauce recipe a while back that was similar. then i checked.

    looks word for word spot on with giada’s from the food network:

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/simple-tomato-sauce-recipe/index.html

  9. I absolutely love this recipe! The only thing I change is I add about a cup of red wine and reduce it down before adding the tomatoes. This adds that extra flavor I love in spaghetti sauce. Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe!

  10. This was AMAZING. It complimented the Chicken Parmesan just perfectly. I am so glad I took the time to make it from scratch. Thank you again for your recipes – each one I make is so delicious! I always get compliments from my 6 year old, to my 8 year old, to my 31 year old husband!

  11. I’m a poor college student, lacking a food processor. Is there any way to do that process (ha) without one? Thank you so much for the recipe, by the way. I’m taking on your lasagna recipe in September. 🙂

    1. Hi Laura! Good question. It yields about 6 cups. I like to double the recipe — since I’m buying a bunch of carrots and celery anyway. It freezes very well so you don’t have to worry about not using it.

  12. I love your blog and recipes. I am also a personal chef and blogger. I like to consider myself your eastcoast fellow chef/blogger. Keep on doing what you are doing. Cheers!

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts