How to Make Sauce from Frozen Tomatoes (Very Easy!)
Turn your frozen homegrown tomatoes into an aromatic, garden-fresh sauce any time of the year with this easy recipe explaining How To Make Sauce From Frozen Tomatoes. No food mill, food processor or any other fancy equipment necessary!
Servings: 3 cups
Equipment
- 1 Dutch oven or large pot (see below)
- 1 Large pot or Dutch oven (see above)
- 1 Garlic Press (optional)
Ingredients
- 3 pounds frozen tomatoes, defrosted
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil or butter (or 50/50)
- 2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic (use more or less to your taste)
- ½ cup whole or hand-torn fresh basil, lightly-packed, or 1 Tbsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- ½ tsp black pepper (or to taste)
- ½ tsp dried oregano
Instructions
- Gather and prep all ingredients according to specifications above. Prepare the tomatoes: First, defrost the tomatoes–either on the counter at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Once the tomatoes are fully defrosted, their skins will slide off very easily. Remove and discard all skins and also cut off and discard the cores if the tomatoes still have them. (Going forward, it is best to remove the tomato core before freezing.)(Please see the section above in the blog post for Step-By-Step instructions with photos.)3 pounds frozen tomatoes,
- Simply hand crush the tomatoes, which should be very easy to do. DO NOT DISCARD THE TOMATO WATER–Include It With The Tomatoes!! It has a lot of flavor to contribute to the sauce. You should have about 3-4 cups crushed tomatoes at this point.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, combine the olive oil and/or butter, garlic, basil and crushed red pepper over medium low heat and cook until the garlic has softened (about 5 minutes). Cover the pot for a couple minutes to speed up the softening process, if desired.¼ cup extra virgin olive oil or butter, 2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic, ½ cup whole or hand-torn fresh basil,, ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
- Move the garlic mixture over to one side of the pot and add the tomato paste. Caramelize it for 1 to 2 minutes.¼ cup tomato paste
- Then, add the crushed tomatoes and liquid, salt, black pepper and dried oregano and stir to fully combine everything.1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp dried oregano
- Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a light simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, or until the desired thickness is achieved, stirring occasionally. If you have a lot of liquid from the tomatoes, youmay have to simmer the sauce longer. (Reduce the heat if necessary to keep the mixture at a light simmer. Do not boil the sauce.) You should have a sweet-smelling, aromatic sauce that permeates your kitchen!
- Adjust seasonings, if necessary and enjoy the sauce! This recipe makes enough sauce to lightly dress one pound pasta, but it can be used for so many other things! (See Serving Suggestions above.) Buon Appetito!
Notes
- The tomato water has lots of flavor and it should be included with the tomato pulp and added to the pot together. However, if you have a very large amount of liquid from the tomatoes and you feel it is just too much liquid, you can hold some back and not include it in the pot with the tomatoes. My preference is to include all of the tomato liquid in the sauce pot and then just simmer the sauce as long as necessary to reduce it to the desired consistency.
- In place of fresh basil, use about 1 Tbsp dried basil added to the pot at the same time as the tomatoes to give it time to rehydrate.
- I have also used frozen basil in various forms in this sauce. Just like my garden tomatoes that I freeze, I freeze basil either in whole leaves (flattened out between paper towels and stored in a freezer bag) or pureed with a little bit of oil throughout the summer to use throughout the year. Any and all forms of these basils will work in this recipe.
- If you prefer a smoother sauce, use an immersion blender to puree the sauce in the pot. Just turn the heat to low or off before doing so.
- The best part of this sauce is that you can start with this basic recipe and tweak it to your personal preferences of heat, sweetness and thickness. The longer it cooks, the thicker and more fragrant it gets!
- You can freeze this sauce once made. However, I tend to not freeze finished dishes that contain an ingredient that has already been frozen. One full gallon freezer bag of frozen tomatoes makes enough sauce for one pound of pasta, approximately. So, I will generally take a bag of tomatoes out of the freezer, make sauce, and use the sauce without freezing any.
- Having said this, you can freeze the finished sauce in an airtight container for up to three months or hold it in the refrigerator for up to five days.
