Have you ever thought about making your own tomato sauce? If so, you're in the right place! Homemade tomato sauce is delicious, fresh, and a great addition to so many meals, whether you're preparing pasta, soups, or even adding it to stews.

Let's dive into how we can make this at home using just a few simple ingredients and a little bit of patience.

Ingredients for Homemade Tomato Sauce

To make about 375 milliliters of tomato sauce, you will need:

• 2.25 kilograms of tomatoes

• 90 milliliters of olive oil

• Salt (to taste)

Preparing the Tomatoes

The first step is preparing the tomatoes. We will begin by cutting them into small pieces. Using a sharp blade, roughly chop the tomatoes into pieces about 1.25 centimeters thick. Plum tomatoes work really well for this recipe, but you can use any kind of tomatoes that are in season. Smaller tomatoes tend to be sweeter, but larger ones have a richer flavor, making them perfect for sauce. To get the best flavor, feel free to mix different types of tomatoes.

Heating the Olive Oil

Once the tomatoes are chopped, heat 60 milliliters of olive oil in a large, deep skillet. Set the heat to medium-high and let the oil warm up. The quality of the olive oil you use really makes a difference here, so try to go for olive oil if possible. If you don't have olive oil, any neutral vegetable oil like canola oil works fine too.

Cooking the Tomatoes

Now, let's add our chopped tomatoes to the skillet. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over them and let the tomatoes cook until they soften and begin to release their juices. Stir occasionally to avoid any sticking or burning. You'll want to cook the tomatoes for about 8 minutes, or until they're really soft. If you like a richer taste, you can add a few cloves of garlic or a couple of bay leaves while they cook. For a unique twist, you might even replace the salt with a tablespoon of soy sauce for an extra depth of flavor.

Removing the Skin and Seeds

Once the tomatoes have softened, it's time to remove the skins and seeds. Let the tomatoes cool down a little, then use a food processor or blender to puree the tomatoes, separating the skins and seeds from the juice and pulp. If you don't have a food processor, you can manually peel the tomatoes before cooking and then press them through a fine sieve to remove the seeds.

A quick method for peeling tomatoes is blanching them in boiling water for about 15-20 seconds and then plunging them into ice water. The skin will come off much easier this way!

Cooking on the Stovetop

Once your tomatoes are pureed and free from skins and seeds, it's time to return them to the skillet. Pour the pureed tomatoes back into the pan, ensuring that the bottom of the pan is covered with about 2.5 centimeters of sauce. If you have too little sauce in the pan, it could burn; too much will take longer to reduce.

Simmer Until Thickened

Now, we'll cook the sauce for a couple of hours on low heat, stirring every now and then. Keeping the lid off will allow the steam to escape, helping the sauce thicken. You'll want to keep an eye on it to ensure the tomatoes don't start boiling—if you see bubbles, lower the heat. It should take about 2 to 3 hours for the sauce to reach a thick, rich consistency.

Optional: Use a Food Processor

If your sauce isn't thickening to your liking, you can run it through a food processor or blender to get a smoother, thicker texture. Just make sure to stop blending once you have the consistency you want—don't go too far, or you might end up with a soup instead of a sauce!

Baking Method for Tomato Sauce

If you prefer a different method, baking the tomatoes is another great option. Preheat your oven to 150°C (300°F), and grease a baking tray with about 30 milliliters of olive oil. Spread your tomato puree on the tray and make sure it's even.

Bake the tomatoes for about 3 hours. Stir every 30 minutes to ensure that the moisture evaporates evenly. Towards the end, the sauce should become thick and slightly darker in color.

Once the sauce has thickened to your liking, reduce the temperature to 130°C (270°F) and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes. The sauce should turn into a rich, dark red, almost brick-colored paste.

Final Touches

That's it! Your homemade tomato sauce is now ready to use. You can store it in jars for later use or serve it immediately over pasta, in soups, or in any dish that could use a little tomato flavor.

Enjoy Your Homemade Tomato Sauce!

Making tomato sauce at home may take some time, but the results are so worth it. There's nothing like the fresh, homemade flavor of sauce made from scratch. And the best part? You can adjust the seasoning to your liking, creating the perfect sauce for all your recipes.

Let us know, Lykkers—do you usually go for store-bought or do you prefer making your own sauces? Give this recipe a try and share your results!