Homemade Spaghetti Sauce is so full of flavor and it’s easy to make it in large batches for freezing or canning for easy homemade meals that are prepared ahead.
My family loves it when we make homemade spaghetti sauce. Whenever we make it, it’s always a huge double or triple batch to easily freeze the leftovers. Spaghetti and meatballs is such a family favorite, we almost always have frozen spaghetti sauce and meatballs in the freezer. It makes for a quick and easy weeknight meal, and it’s pretty amazing.
What are the best tomatoes to use?
The best spaghetti sauce is made using San Marzano tomatoes. San Marzano is a variety of plum tomatoes. These tomatoes have a stronger flavor and are sweeter and less acidic. You can find canned San Marzano tomatoes at your grocery store. The label should make it very obvious that the tomatoes are this variety.
Can I make spaghetti sauce from whole tomatoes?
If you want to make spaghetti sauce completely from scratch using whole tomatoes rather than canned, you’ll need to peel your tomatoes and remove the stems. The easiest way to peel tomatoes is to blanch them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes and then immediately place them into an ice bath. The skins can then be easily removed. We also have a different recipe for Fire Roasted Spaghetti Sauce.
What is the difference between marinara and spaghetti sauce?
Marinara and spaghetti sauce are slightly different things. Both are tomato-based sauces. Marinara has very simple additional flavorings added to it like garlic, salt, and basil. Spaghetti sauce usually has additional ingredients and spices like onion, fennel, parsley, and oregano.
Ground Beef:
We do not add ground beef to spaghetti sauce because we typically serve it with meatballs. However, you can always add ground beef to yours. You will want to add it in with your onions and cook thoroughly, then drain off any excess grease, or cook it separately and add to the sauce before serving.
Serving Suggestion:
We serve this spaghetti sauce up with Homemade Baked Meatballs. These meatballs are full of flavor and make the perfect companion to this sauce. They also freeze quite well so you can have a complete, from scratch homemade freezer meal waiting for those hectic nights.
Time Saving Tip:
Simmering a spaghetti sauce for a long time allows it to develop a lot of flavor. This recipe calls for 1-4 hours of simmering. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving it on the stove, simply transfer it all to a slow cooker and let it do all the simmering. Place it on high for 4-5 hours and you’ll have a well developed spaghetti sauce.
Freezer Instructions:
It’s really easy to freeze leftovers of this sauce for future use. Simply let the sauce cool and then ladle it into gallon sized ziploc bags. Our family of four requires four scoops so we only ladle four scoops into each of the bags. If you pay attention to how much your family eats, you can estimate what you’ll need pretty closely. Then you lay all of the bags on a baking sheet and pop it in the freezer. Once they are frozen solid, you can rearrange them in my freezer however they fit best. When you are ready to eat, simply thaw and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
Canning Instructions:
Sterilize 6 pint sized mason jars. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into each jar. Fill the jars with prepared spaghetti sauce, leaving 1/2 inch at the top. Place the lids and bands on the jars and secure tightly. Process in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes.
Storage and Reheating Instructions:
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, or see instructions above to store in the freezer. Reheat on the stovetop over medium-low heat until warmed through.
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other delicious pasta recipes:
The Best Baked Meatballs
40 mins
Fire Roasted Spaghetti Sauce From Scratch
4 hrs 45 mins
Easy Baked Chicken Meatballs
40 mins
Pasta Pomodoro
25 mins
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Amazing sauce.
Absolutely delicious sauce! I simmered some pre-baked meatballs in it and what a hit!
Best sauce ever I used variety of chopped tomatoes
Great recipe. Thx Rachel. Family loves this sauce. . I keep parm rinds in my freezer and pop one into sauce as it cooks. Adds some nice flavor. (Take out b4 serving).
Great recipe. I left out the fennel seeds and still had a great taste.
Great recipe, simple yet satisfying. I left out the fennel seeds.
So many options with this sauce. I grow lovage in my herb garden and did add that to the sauce. I love that added flavor in spaghetti sauce. A great recipe.
This has become my go to sauce recipe and I haven’t used store bought since I found it. The recipe is simple enough for anyone to make and is much healthier.
I chose the exact spaghetti sauce because I actually had the same three cans you had. I immediately got my large pan and I actually had white wine and chicken stock, I used both. I like how you saids that when the onions were added I could add ground beef. I had already had meatballs cooked and I added them to the sauce. I also had all the other ingredients. It was a perfect match when I googled for a spaghetti sauce. I skipped the first one and chose yours. Perfect! Thank you so so much foe that recipe, my spaghetti was the best I ever made. I will archive your recipe.
Had a bunch of tomatoes given to me and a great idea to try this recipe. This is definitely a winner winner awesome spaghetti dinner. Freezing the left over sauce for the next time. If you haven’t tried this recipe, treat your family and do it. They will be glad you did.
I am using tomatoes from my daughter’s garden tomorrow. I can tell this will be a good one. This is kind of what I do anyway but now I have a tried and true recipe that will always be the same! Thank you.