Easy homemade spaghetti sauce (pasta sauce)

5 from 6 votes

Easy homemade spaghetti sauce (pasta sauce)

A very easy and authentic Italian recipe for slow cooked spaghetti sauce. Easy to customize and contains very few ingredients. Makes about 5 quarts (4 to 6 servings each quart). Make now and freeze extra for later!

Prep Time20

Cook Time8

Total Time8 20

Course: Main Meal

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: servings

Calories: 55kcal

Author: Marie

Ingredients

6 kg whole peeled tomatoes (packed in tomato puree) (see notes) I used 2 large cans (6 pounds, 10 ounces each can)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion
12 cloves fresh garlic
2 tbsp salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste
2 teaspoons sugar
1 large bunch fresh basil may use frozen cubes (don't use dried basil)

Instructions

In a large blender, puree the tomatoes in batches and pour into a very large bowl (I needed to do this about 4 times before all my tomatoes were pureed)
In the now empty blender, add olive oil, garlic, and onion and puree
In a large pot (with thick bottom) or in a large crockpot/slow cooker, add the pureed tomatoes
Then, add the pureed olive oil, onion and garlic mixture
Add in the salt, peppers (black and red flakes) and the sugar
Lastly, add the fresh basil
In crockpot, cook on low for about 7 to 8 hours (IMPORTANT, leave the lid to the crockpot ajar to allow steam to escape and sauce to thicken!)
Alternatively, cook on stove top. Bring to a soft boil and then immediately lower flame to lowest setting possible and continue to heat over very very low flame for 7 to 8 hours. Leave lid to pot slightly ajar to allow steam to escape and sauce to thicken.
This recipe makes a LOT of sauce; you may scale it down according to taste by using this recipe as a guideline.
To freeze, cool thoroughly, pour the sauce into freezer safe containers or bags, and freeze.

Notes

please note that Italians typically don't measure anything when they make their pasta sauce! The only thing that can really mess this up is if you putt too much salt, hot pepper, or maybe garlic if you don't like garlic. Use this recipe as a guideline and cook from your heart. In my opinion, the most important parts are including these ingredients, choosing quality tomato products, and slow and long cooking for deep flavor.

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