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Roasted Tomato Pizza Sauce

Use this homemade pizza sauce canning recipe to keep your pizza nights delicious and sugar-free all year round.

This simple pizza sauce recipe highlights the natural sweetness of tomatoes and skips the additional sugar found in most commercial varieties.

While getting a thick sauce can take some time, it is hands off time meaning you can still enjoy summer and not slave away in the kitchen.

A collage of three stacked images. The top image is of a canning jar full of pizza sauce sitting next to fresh tomatoes. In the middle is a text overlay reading: how to can roasted tomato pizza sauce. The bottom image is of a cooked pizza sitting on a round wooden board.

Why Roast?

Roasting the tomatoes first helps bring out the natural sweetness of the tomatoes meaning additional sugar is simply not necessary.

The roasting process also convinces the tomatoes to give up some water making the cooking down process go faster. It also makes everything more flavorful.

Paste or roma tomatoes are always nice for sauce because they tend to be less watery but this recipe will work with any type coming in from the garden. Cooking time will vary to make the sauce thick but doing that in the slow cooker means time to do other things beyond standing at the stove and stirring.

Pressure Can or Freeze

I recommend pressure canning this because of the pureed onions, peppers, and garlic. Those things bring down the acidity level of the tomatoes making it iffy for water bath canning without adding some lemon juice to bring up the acidity, which I believe would change the flavor too much.

A half pint jar is usually enough sauce for a 12 to 16 inch pizza and means no waste. Pint jars would also work.

If you don’t want can, it will freeze beautifully in jars or other containers.

A cooked pizza sitting on top of a round wooden cutting board with fresh tomatoes and a jar of pizza sauce sitting behind it.

Slow Cooker

Use the slow cooker after the tomatoes and other veggies have been roasted to cook it done. Keep the lid off and stir occasionally. This process lets the water evaporate slowly and means that the cook doesn’t have to stir constantly or watch for scorching.

Get more tips for the great homemade pizza here.

Yield: 6 Pints

Roasted Tomato Pizza Sauce

A jar of pizza sauce sitting next to fresh tomatoes.

Preserve summer tomatoes for delicious homegrown pizza all year long with this easy to make and can roasted tomato pizza sauce.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Canning Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 10 Pounds Ripe Tomatoes, cut large tomatoes into quarters, small ones in half
  • 1 Bulb of Garlic, separated into individual cloves and peeled
  • 4 Large Bell Peppers, cut into quarters, seeded and cored
  • 2 Large Onions, peeled and cut into quarters
  • 4 teaspoons Salt
  • 1 Cup Fresh Basil Leaves, chopped
  • ½ Cup Fresh Oregano, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Place tomatoes, garlic, onion, and bell peppers onto rimmed baking sheets. Use two sheets or shallow roasting pans. Place in preheated oven and roast 30-40 minutes or until vegetables are soft and tomato skins blister.
  3. Remove from oven and drain off extra water. Place vegetables in a blender or food process and purée until smooth.
  4. Pour the sauce, herbs, salt, and pepper, into a slow cooker. Leave the lid off and turn the cooker onto low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick almost paste like.
  5. Pour the hot sauce into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Put on lids and rings.
  6. Process at 10 pounds of pressure (adjusting for elevation) for 35 minutes.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

192

Serving Size:

4 Tablespoons

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 6Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 45mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 0g

We try our best but cannot guarantee that nutrition information is 100% accurate.

Did you make this recipe?

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Dana

Saturday 12th of August 2023

Do you cut the tomatoes in half and cut out the seeds & cores before you put them in the oven?

Kathie Lapcevic

Sunday 13th of August 2023

The recipe clearly states to cut large tomatoes. I would remove large cores, I don't worry about seeds.

Liz Lindsey

Sunday 11th of August 2019

My tomatoes have been ripening a few(4 or 5) at a time and I have been putting into freezer until I have enough to can a full load - will I be able to still roast the tomatoes?

Kathie Lapcevic

Tuesday 13th of August 2019

Once they've been frozen, they don't roast so well. Just skip the roasting and puree and cook in the slow cooker. It'll take longer to cook down but will still be quite tasty.

julie

Thursday 28th of March 2019

Hi, Can i put them in quarter pints? Can i stack in a pressure canner ?

Thanks

Kathie Lapcevic

Friday 29th of March 2019

You sure could do the 4 ounce jars (I do all the time but use the same time as the 1/2 pints). Yes, to stacking in the pressure canner as directed by your canner's instructions - usually with a rack in between the jars and off set a little. Enjoy!

Racheal

Friday 4th of January 2019

This is delicious! I made it primarily on cherry tomatoes. We are organic market gardeners, so have a lot of beautiful surplus vegetables that I like to preserve. Thanks for the recipe.

Kathie Lapcevic

Monday 7th of January 2019

I'm so glad to know it worked well with cherry tomatoes too!

Christine Chapdelaine

Tuesday 28th of August 2018

I just made this recipe,followed the recipe but I added more basil,I love basil,pressure canned and keep some for tasting on Friday pizza night The smell was divine,thank you

Kathie Lapcevic

Wednesday 29th of August 2018

Enjoy!

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