Canned Marinara Sauce

One of the most popular Italian-American sauces is the Marinara Sauce! You may not even recognize that your favorite pizzeria probably uses Marinara and it’s for a reason! The seasoned tomato sauce runs thicker than a spaghetti sauce which is no wonder some Business owners go with it since it holds up much better. Dip it with breadsticks or spread it over your favorite pasta or pizza dough! Marinara sauce is a slightly thicker tomato sauce seasoned with herbs and spices. It’s thicker consistency makes it easier to manage and makes any dish prettier in a presentation!

Making the sauce is easier than you may think. It’s so similar to Pizza Hut’s sauce and is a sweet and savory sauce that you can eat from the spoon good! I don’t use wine or press any garlic for this recipe. It comes together easily and takes some time due to the mass portions, but when you have a hearty collection of this goodness on your shelf you’ll be glad you canned marinara sauce.

• Tomatoes- This recipe consists of different tomato products, including canned tomato paste and ketchup which work as thickeners to part fresh tomatoes. If you don’t have garden-fresh tomatoes, simply fill them in with canned whole tomatoes or diced tomatoes that you can purchase in bulk cans and puree at home to make the juice called for in the recipe.
• Bell Peppers- they give any tomato sauce flavor and many jarred sauces have this vegetable in them!
• Onions- a flavorful ingredient to making marinara sauce as the flavor cant be substituted unless it was dehydrated onions.
• Celery- like the veggies it gives tomato sauce flavor.
• Herbs and Spices- chili powder, mustard powder, black pepper, salt, sugar, oregano, paprika, parsley flakes, parmesan cheese, and garlic powder.

I purchased my big jug of Ketchup and tomato paste from a local discount store called Sweet Life. Check out your local discount grocery stores or Restuarant supply stores for bulk tomato products.

The main difference between Spaghetti sauce and Marinara is the consistency. Marinara tends to run thicker which makes it easier to manage and gives for a prettier presentation. The spices and herbs will vary from recipe to recipe.

This sauce recipe is designed for canning, however, making a smaller batch for only a few servings is possible too. If you wish to do some canning, purchase some pint or quart canning jars (approximately 35 for this recipe) and wash them in hot soapy water (not the bands.) Make the sauce according to the recipe and fill them into the clean jars. Seal each jar with the lids and bands and place them into a large pot filled with warm water. Bring to a boil and process for 30 minutes.

Processing jars in a water bath will give it shelf life as the heat will later suck in the air of the jar so bacteria won’t grow inside. If sealed properly you can keep the canned jars in a cool dry place until next season! It’s such a handy way to preserve food and stock up on your own sauces.

Yes, our recipe card easily adjusts the serving sizes so you can scale down the sauce recipe to any amount that you’d like!

If you don’t wish to can your marinara sauce, simply purchase quart-sized freezer bags and ladle cooled sauce into the bags. Seal and freeze laying flat for easier storage later as you can stack them standing up later to save freezer space. This recipe makes around 30 pints so prepare your freezer for some space!

Yes! This Marinara sauce calls for 9 quarts of tomato juice which is basically just pureed tomatoes. If you don’t have a garden to use up the fresh tomatoes for making your own tomato juice, then simply puree canned tomatoes to make 9 quarts. In the end, it’s still tomatoes however if you really want to bring garden fresh tomatoes into use during harvest this is a really handy way to do so!

This sauce recipe calls for 9 quarts of tomato juice which is basically just pureed tomatoes. Here’s how to make it from garden tomatoes or simply buy canned tomatoes and puree them at home.

1. Puree fresh tomatoes that have been washed, cored, and trimmed.
2. Strain the seeds and skins if you wish or just use a really good blender to puree the tomatoes well. (Like a Blendtec Blender.)
3. Done, that’s it! You can either can tomato juice with one teaspoon of salt and process it in a water bath or use it for sauces or tomato soup.

If you have a standing heavy-duty blender like Blendtec then you can blend it without cooking.

No, in fact keeping the skins intact for tomatoes is more nutritious. The reason for blanching tomatoes or running them through a food strainer is to not see little skin peels or seeds in your finished product. Which doesn’t bother me unless I’m making something like kecthup.

This recipe uses part fresh garden tomatoes and part canned tomato products like tomato paste and ketchup. If you don’t have garden-fresh tomatoes canned whole or diced tomatoes will work just fine. Simply puree the tomatoes called for as the tomato juice ingredient. Making marinara sauce with all fresh tomatoes will be much runnier as the tomato paste and ketchup work as thickeners.

The ketchup and tomato paste both work as thickeners in making Marinara Sauce. If you were to use all fresh tomatoes the sauce would be much runnier. In addition, ketchup is pretty tart so you can completely omit the vinegar called for in some recipes.

The best thickener for tomato sauce has to be tomato paste! It’s not seasoned heavily which makes it easy to add into tomatoes seamlessly! Ketchup also works as a second-hand thickener, however, it’s seasoned and tart which may lead you to adjust the acidic level.

I am surrounded by many Mennonite women and multiple of them had this heavy-duty gauge 24-quart pot. It’s huge but so handy for sauces since the bottom is thick. Thick Bottoms help prevent scorching so definitely invest in a heavy-duty one like this. I absolutely love this pot, it has to be one of my best investments!

Once you invest in a good heavy-duty stockpot simmering comes easier. You just need to bring this marinara sauce to a boil and you are done!

Freshly made Marinara sauce can keep up to 1 week in the fridge. Anything longer should be frozen. This sauce recipe makes a large batch which is ideal for canning, however, if you wish to scale down the recipe to make enough servings for a few times that is okay for refrigeration otherwise you’ll have too much sauce to store.

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