Tomato-Basil Simmer Sauce with Roasted Garlic {For Canning!}

Kate and I are definitely lovers of sauces and spreads.  We make a mean BBQ Sauce, delectably sweet caramel, and chocolate sauces, fantastically flavorful green chili sauce and flavored butters and sandwich spreads galore.  And we get email after email after email saying, “Hey, I love this!  I want 48 bottles on my shelf all at once!  Can I can it?”  And our answer is always the same:  sorry, no dice.  Canning is a science, and it’s really important that you only can recipes that are formulated and tested for safe home canning.  I’ve had loads of people emailing in that they’re loving our Fresh Tomato Basil Sauce from our latest cook book.  It’s one of my summer favorites, too! But alas, it wasn’t meant for canning (freezing however is A-Okay.)  So for those of you who like me, have ripening red tomatoes in the garden, and want to preserve every last drop, I bring you this simple sauce, made for home canning!

Now, I feel like I need to warn you if you’ve never canned tomato sauces before.  The first time I ever tried, it literally took me ALL day.  I labored, I toiled, I peeled, I chopped, and I simmered.  And when I was done I had like, 2 jars of sauce and I wanted to cry.  How those 427 pounds (slight exaggeration) of tomatoes boiled down to 2 measly jars was mind boggling to me.   That being said, I’ve really learned how to streamline the process (see my note later in this post about prepping and freezing tomatoes) so it’s not a huge process for me.  This recipe still only produces 6 pints (pints are fairly small jars) so I usually do it once or twice during the summer.  But for me it’s totally worth it when I crack open one of those lids and taste fresh summer tomatoes.  I save these sauces for special things like homemade pasta, fresh breadsticks, or a  yummy simmered chicken dish.  As opposed to like, dumping it over spaghetti noodles for my kids on a hurried weeknight.  I want them to appreciate that darn sauce!  They always think it’s cool when I remind them that they helped pick those very tomatoes.

Ingredients and Equipment Needed

• Water Bath Canner
• Ripe tomatoes
• Brown sugar
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• Balsamic vinegar
• Fresh basil leaves
• Fresh assorted herbs – such as oregano, thyme, parsley
• Lemon juice
• Roasted garlic

How to Make and Can Tomato Basil Simmer Sauce

Step 1: Peel Your Tomatoes

1. We’ll need to start by peeling the tomatoes.  When I can salsa, I never peel my tomatoes, but for something like a delicate sauce, I think it’s always better to peel.  This is super easy, and just like we do peaches.  Start by making a small “X” incision on the bottom of each tomato, just barely piercing through the skin.
2. Place tomatoes in a large pot of boiling water.  It just takes about 30-60 seconds; I watch for the skin to just start splitting like in this picture below.  If you wait too long, the delicate tomatoes turn to mush under that skin, so remove them when the just start to crack, as seen in the pictures below.
3. Place tomatoes in a large pot of boiling water.  It just takes about 30-60 seconds; I watch for the skin to just start splitting like in this picture below.  If you wait too long, the delicate tomatoes turn to mush under that skin, so remove them when the just start to crack and then plunge them immediately in a bow of ice water. The skin should peel right off rather easily. Leaving you soft, juicy skinless tomatoes. Now, you might be noticing how beautifully perfect these tomatoes are.  I’m using a few gorgeous, round ones for this tutorial because I knew they’d be the best for demonstrating the technique, but be aware most smaller or home-grown tomatoes will look pretty sad at this stage!
4. Since I don’t always have 12 pounds of tomatoes sitting around at once, and the peeling process can be tedious, what I often do is peel small batches at a time, just whenever I have a good picking, and pop them in the freezer.  I always weigh them first and label the bag so as soon as I have enough, I can use them in a recipe like this.  I do the same thing for my salsa, just with diced tomatoes.  It makes the whole canning process so much more manageable.

Step 2: Make Your Sauce

1. Once your tomatoes are peeled, take a knife and gently remove the core if needed (sometimes you don’t even need to on small tomatoes.)  I use a set-up with a large cutting board set over my sink.  I very roughly chop the tomatoes and slide them into the bowl below, and any garbage just goes into the sink and down the drain.  Don’t stress about chopping too well, the tomatoes simmer for so long that they’ll get totally broken up on their own.
2. Once they’re all in the pot, add some sugar, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar.  All of those ingredients really enhance the natural flavors in the tomatoes.
3. Bring that mixture to a boil on the stove and then reduce it to a steady simmer.  You’ll notice it’s very watery, and that’s okay.  This sauce will simmer for about an hour and a half, uncovered, so the extra moisture evaporates and the flavors are concentrated.  The original recipe suggests simmering for 70-80 minutes, and I’d say I do closer to 90.  My mixture started about 2 inches from the top of that pot when I started, so you can see how far down it’s moved.
4. When it’s done simmering, we’ll add in some roasted garlic.  You can have this roasting while your sauce simmers and it will have plenty of time to cook and cool off a bit.  Also your house will smell like heaven.  (For a tutorial on how to roast garlic, click here.)
5. Next in goes a bunch of fresh basil, and then a cup of any assorted herbs you like.  You could just add more basil if you want; I added stuff I have in my garden right now, lots of oregano, a little thyme and sage and some rosemary.

Step 3: Can Your Sauce

1. Ladle the sauce into hot canning jars that have a little lemon juice in them (necessary for acidity purposes for safe canning- don’t skip it.)  See how dark and gorgeous that is?
2. After placing lids and rings on the jars, you just process them in a water bath canner.  Don’t let a canning term scare you- all you’re doing is placing your jars in a large pot of simmering water!  So easy!  You don’t even have to have a big special canning pot, it just needs to be able to have the jars covered by an inch or two of water, and fit some sort of rack on the bottom of it for good circulation (a round cake cooking rack works well).  Then you’re all set to enjoy your garden-in-a-jar during some cold winter months. 

Doesn’t this jar look so cute all dressed up for gifting?  Well it’s just a clever ruse.  I give away jams and jellies without a second thought, but I hoard every last jar of this sauce for myself!

Frequently Asked Questions