The best spaghetti sauce made with canned tomatoes. Yes, canned tomatoes from the garden!
The Best Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
I could not find a homemade spaghetti sauce that I liked using our canned tomatoes. So, I made up my own. And I may be biased but this is the BEST spaghetti sauce recipe. Seriously, I can’t wait to make it again. It’s just too bad I made such a big batch that I won’t have to for awhile.
While this recipe uses canned tomatoes from our garden, you could substitute the quarts of canned tomatoes with stewed tomatoes from the store. Tomatoes from the garden tend to have a sweeter taste in my opinion, so you may need a bit more sugar in the recipe if using store bought.
This recipe became a bit of a trial and error until I got it just right. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did!
Add to your Spaghetti recipe by adding some meatballs from this easy Meatball recipe. Or for another similar recipe you may enjoy this Spaghetti Pie recipe.

The Best Spaghetti Sauce Recipe Made with Canned Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 3 quarts canned tomatoes
- 24 oz tomato paste
- 2 Tablespoon dried basil
- 2 Tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 Tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 medium onions diced
- 1 green pepper diced
- 2 Tablespoon garlic minced
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in your sauce pan. Add the diced onion and peppers and saute until the onions are translucent.
- Add the garlic and saute for one minute. Add the canned tomatoes and then all remaining ingredients.
- Let simmer for at least 30 minutes.
- Serve over spaghetti noodles.
Notes
Nutrition
Comments & Reviews
Can you can the sauce if using store bought canned tomatoes?
When you put sauce in jars for canning. do I need to add lemon juice to jars if sauce is cooked and tomatoes in can already contain citric acid
Very disappointed in your recipe. Very bland. I did not do the full recipe but made in one/half. I checked with my chef friends, and they thought it was weak in flavor. I had to tweek it before my guests arrived. I learned something very valuable today, never take a recipe at its true value although the cook is adamant it is the best. Wrong motive from here on forward. It was very bland, no taste of Italian spaghetti sauce. Sorry hon but this is definately a thumbs down. Will not recommend to waste money on this sauce. Wishing you the best in better quality dishes on You tube. Cheers!
Sorry, you had this experience but like all things when cooking, everyone’s taste is different. And in this case, canned tomatoes and how they are canned can also affect the flavor. Glad you were able to adjust it which is what I hope for everyone who tries my recipes. The fun in cooking is that you can make it your own!
Props to you for being so gracious and classy towards this wildly unnecessary and negative commenter. Who in the world runs an internet recipe by their chef friends? I call BS lol. Thank you putting yourself out there and sharing your craft
I usually use a family favorite store-bought spaghetti sauce but I was out of it and needed something right away. I sized this recipe down for one 14.5 oz (by weight) can of stewed tomatoes (minus the green pepper since my husband does not like them) and we enjoyed this very much. Once it was done simmering I cooled it slightly then put it in a food processor to blend it until smooth. I don’t use spaghetti sauce very much, but I will be keeping this one around. My husband does not like to eat junks of onion or garlic so next time I use this I might substitute powdered onion and garlic. Thanks very much for posting this recipe. In case you or other readers are interested in my quantities, here they are:
1 14.5 oz (by weight) can stewed tomatoes (I used plain, but you could used flavored too.)
1-2 TB tomato paste
3/4-1 tsp each dried basil, dried oregano, and sugar
3/4-1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
1/3 medium onion, small dice
1/4 green pepper, small dice (I omitted, but I think this would be about right)
1 small to medium clove garlic, minced
1-2 tsp olive oil
Wow! Thanks so much for sharing!
Can this recipe be used with fresh tomatoes from the garden? About how many or pounds?
Hi! Yes, you can use fresh tomatoes but you’ll want to boil them down a bit. A quick google search mentioned 2.5-3.5 pounds of fresh tomatoes makes 1 quart canned.
Hello. I just made your spaghetti sauce. It’s delicious. Do you have a recipe for homemade chicken or beef vegetable soup? I’d like to use my canned tomato’s that we made from the garden. Thx. Amy
Hi! My vegetable soup and chicken soup recipes don’t use tomato juice. However, I used my canned tomatoes in my chili recipe.
Hi Amy, unfortunately I do not. Most of my other soup recipes use a chicken broth base. If you find one you like, please let me know!
Is this by any chance on the sweeter side?
Hi Shannon, yes this sauce has a great taste and I would say has a bit of sweetness to it. That’s how I prefer my spaghetti sauces. If you like your sauce less sweet you can always cut down on the amount of sugar the recipe calls for. The best thing about making your own spaghetti sauce is that you can completely customize it to your taste!
I’ve used this recipe for years now, only sauce my husband will eat! We also freeze it, and can it using a hot water bath for 55 minutes (high altitude timing for quarts)
I tried the quick and easy recipe recipe it was delicious I used canned tomatoes and sea salt with mushrooms as well thank you.
Glad you liked it! I am going to try it with mushrooms the next time. Great idea!
This is very good. I have a picky husband when it comes to spaghetti sauce. I just made it for the second time because he loves it.
So glad you all liked it as much as we do! 🙂