marinara sauce jar
Food,  Life,  Projects

How to Make a Great Marinara Sauce

Do you love marinara sauce? I LOVE to can; so, I began researching recipes and creating my own this year that met with our favorite herbs and taste.

We often try new types of marinara sauce and often come away with…”it’s okay…or don’t buy that again!”

I truly wanted to share how to make a great marinara sauce recipe that tasted fresh and like the home made one that my mother made.

Canning is my thing and I have shared that here before…but, how to make a great marinara sauce was a new thing for me!

Are you picky when it comes to marinara sauce?

Now… my mother NEVER preserved anything with canning. Let me REPEAT…NEVER!

As I began creating this recipe, I am certain that my mother NEVER used any of those ingredients in her sauce.

She never began with fresh tomatoes or fresh herbs.

Now, dried Italian herbs, along with salt and pepper, were sprinkled among the sauce. I am certain that fresh garlic was never found in my home growing up. Garlic salt was kept in the spice cabinet, along with tomato paste and tomato sauce in the pantry. Fresh green pepper and onion were always ingredients…but, the rest of this story is original.

Somehow, I just kept caramelizing onions, minced garlic in olive oil.

Fresh herbs abound in my herb garden and great Roma tomatoes, green peppers and onion were found from Hayco Farms and an Amish farmer down the road.

This marinara sauce begins with fresh Roma tomatoes–washed, quartered and added to a stockpot to cook before running through the Kitchen Aid vegetable strainer.

Koru Garden deliveries provided me with an introduction to fennel; so, I knew that THAT ingredient needed to be added to my sauce.

Fresh fennel, garlic and sweet onions are my favorites for this marinara sauce recipe.
While the tomatoes cook, mince the garlic, chop fennel, green pepper, onion and herbs and gather seasonings.

The recipe creation meant that I cooked, layered, tasted and added until I was pleased with the sauce.

Now, let me tell you the NEXT part of the sauce story…

ENTER—KITCHEN AID!

If you know me well, you will know that I have had a love affair with making tomato juice. That juice processing began with Aunt Helen’s presto food strainer and sauce maker that I still use to make it.

Let’s just say that it was decades ago when that strainer was purchased by her. It looks similar to this one here.

My husband’s mother had passed along her Kitchen Aid Food Grinder attachment. My husband bought the Kitchen Aid Fruit/Vegetable attachment and the food tray attachment for me to replace Aunt Helen’s. Now HERE is the new and improved version!

Perhaps, sentimentality prevented me from entering the Kitchen Aid world for my canning purposes.

UNTIL THIS SAUCE!

Now, I watched another you tuber use these Kitchen Aid attachments, so out came mine.

I LOVE my Kitchen Aid mixer for so many reasons.

But, I never would have dreamed how much more I could love it than today.

Who knew there were more reasons to love my Kitchen Aid mixer?

You see, every kitchen in my Culinary lab had Kitchen Aid mixers. Various colors and models in each of the 5 kitchens. I lived by them at home and taught with them at school. A heavenly combination were those mixers for foods labs.

For years, those Kitchen Aid mixers were used by hundreds of students in those labs.

They labored long and hard and held up beautifully when I left that lab for retirement.

Even in retirement, I found myself in long term lab teaching settings and taught more students and adults the joys of using the Kitchen Aid mixers in those labs! It was unending.

So, back to the marinara sauce recipe story.

As I perused the You Tube channel, there were some “you tubers” who preferred to use that fruit/vegetable attachment to make spaghetti sauce with raw tomatoes rather than cooked ones.

That wasn’t working for me.

That best canner, (Aunt Helen), taught me that you always just wash and quarter those tomatoes and add them to a pot and let them cook down before running through the grinder. No water added–pure tomatoes in their own juice is the result. Beautiful tomatoes that produce the BEST pulp!

Do you need a great marinara sauce to can with those fresh Roma tomatoes in season? I have the perfect recipe I have created for you!
The BEST way to get all of the pulp from these great tomatoes is to cook before processing them through the strainer!

So, off I went. Attachment onto the mixer and those gorgeous cooked tomatoes were added to the top. I can’t tell you how fast and incredibly well this process worked.

Do you see that great tomato juice and pulp in the bowl? and on the strainer? I scrape off the pulp from the strainer to make sure that none of it gets left behind! The bowl in front catches the seeds, peelings and cores.

The tomatoes are placed into the top where the pulp and juice go into my favorite glass Kitchen Aid bowl to add back to the my lodge stockpot to add to the stove; and the cores, seeds and peels are discarded into another bowl. Genius!

Incredible marinara sauce at my fingertips!

Now, the next part of the process was so easy.

With a little bit of olive oil into a skillet, those minced onions and garlic were caramelized to perfection before adding back into the sauce.

Using a food processor is the way to go to chop the onions and green pepper.

Chopped fennel bulb and some of the fennel greens were added to the sauce, along with the spices and herbs. Feel free to “bloom” those herbs in a bit of olive oil on the stove or microwave to increase the flavor. If you need to add dried herbs, feel free to add those. Fresh herbs, for me, make everything fresher and come alive.

Patience is needed to let all of those layered flavors meld and that sauce to condense and thicken to your desired consistency. About 2 hours or more created a great consistency that I wanted to can for my sauce.

About half way through, I tasted to see if I need to add more seasonings or remove the stalk of rosemary from the pot.

The next step was canning that great marinara sauce.

Washing and preparing the jars for canning is imperative.

When I first began canning years ago, it was recommended that you place your rings and lids in boiling water BEFORE adding them to your jars.

Now, placing lids and rings in boiling water is not recommended.

Simply clean lids and rings are all that are necessary with them.

The Ball Blue book of preserving has been in my cookbook bookshelves for years. Periodically, I add the latest copy to my collection to make sure that my information is current and kept up to date. Always referring to it before I begin is a recommended refresher course.

Always great ideas and recommendations of what to do and not to do can be found there.

I’m including affiliate links for you to use if you are new to canning or need a refresh on your canning supplies. It is the same cost for you to buy through the link, just makes it easier for you to shop and help this little blog.

A Great Marinara Sauce for Canning

A great marinara sauce to can and use for spaghetti, pasta dishes, lasagna and pizza
5 from 8 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Total Time 4 hours
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian

Equipment

  • Kitchen Aid Food Grinder
  • Kitchen Aid Fruit/Vegetable Grinder
  • Kitchen Aid Food Tray
  • Kitchen Aid Mixer
  • Stockpot
  • Skillet
  • food processor
  • Canning Jars, rings and lids
  • Canning Jar Lifter
  • water bath canner

Ingredients
  

  • 20 lb Roma tomatoes
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 3 C sweet onion, minced vidalia or candy onions work well
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 green pepper, minced
  • 1/2 C fresh basil, minced
  • 3 T fresh thyme, off of the stems
  • 3 T fresh marjoram, off of the stems
  • 3 T fresh oregano, off of the stems
  • 3 T parsley, off of the stems
  • 1 fresh rosemary bunch, left on the stem
  • 1 fennel bulb, chopped
  • 3 T fennel tops, chopped
  • 1 t fennel seeds
  • 2 bay leaf
  • 2 T garlic salt
  • 2 T salt and pepper
  • 1 t sugar
  • bottled lemon juice or citric acid 1 t bottle lemon or 1/4 t citric acid to each quart according to safe food guidelines

Instructions
 

  • Wash and quarter tomatoes and add to a stockpot to cook on the stove. Do NOT add liquid. As the tomatoes cook, they will cook in their own juices. Cook until the tomatoes are cooked down really well. May take up to an hour to get to the cooked down stage.
  • While the tomatoes are cooking, use a food processor to mince onions and add to 2 T. olive oil and the minced garlic into a skillet and carmelize. Set aside.
  • Mince all of the herbs except the rosemary. Leave that on the stalk to add later. Feel free to "bloom" the herbs in a small bit of olive oil in the microwave for 20 seconds before adding to the pot to bring out the herbs flavor. Set aside.
  • Attach your Kitchen Aid fruit/vegetable strainer to your Kitchen Aid mixer, as directions are given.
  • Place a large mixing bowl beneath the strainer. I use my large Kitchen Aid mixing bowl to catch the sauce beneath.
  • Where the cores, seeds and peelings come out, I use another large mixing bowl to catch those.
  • When tomatoes are cooked into "pieces", remove from the stove. I have cooled these down before adding to the Kitchen Aid strainer to make it less likely to get burned. But, they can be added while still pretty warm, too.
  • Be careful that the pot for the sauce doesn't extend to the outlet for the discard tube, so that the peelings, cores and seeds don't fall back into your finished sauce.
  • Turn on your Kitchen Aid mixer and add all of the tomatoes through the vegetable grinder. You will notice that there is pulp that comes through the screen attachment between the attachment and discard tube. As it fills, I always scrape that off to make sure that all of that great pulp "meat" of the tomatoes falls back into the sauce bowl.
  • When the mixing bowl is full, add it to a stockpot and place it back onto the stove. Add in the cooked onions, garlic, green pepper, fennel, chopped herbs, and seasonings, I add in the stalk of rosemary so that as it cooks and I taste, I can remove it when I think there's been enough rosemary added and before it becomes overpowering.
  • Let the sauce simmer until it thickens and becomes the right consistency that you prefer. Make sure that you stir often to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. I love my lodge ceramic glazed stock pot because it just cooks so evenly. Taste and add more seasonings or remove the rosemary and/or bay leaf during the cooking process. I usually cook mine 2 hours or more to get my desired thickness. Make sure that you remove the bay leaves and rosemary before canning.
  • Get your canning supplies ready. Canning jars, rings and lids prepared and the water bath canner filled and heated and ready to process.
  • Fill your jars, wipe off tops, add rings and lids and water bath according to water bath directions for the size of jars that you are using.
  • ***USDA canning guidelines recommend adding citric acid or bottled lemon juice to each quart before canning. Just that in to the top of each jar.
  • When finished canning, place jars out of a draft and leave jars to cool completely for 12-24 hours before moving. Check to make certain that all lids have sealed.
  • Make sure that you always label and date jars before storing.

Notes

This recipe makes the perfect marinara sauce that’s great in pasta dishes or on pizzas. 
TIP:  Make sure that you have the BEST Roma tomatoes and fresh produce before you begin. It truly makes a difference!
TIP: I always cover my work surface under the Kitchen Aid with a vinyl tablecloth with towels underneath to protect my butcher block countertop from heat while working. If you tend to make a mess, add a tarp covering to your floor. Just an extra precaution, too, since I have wooden floors.
TIP: If you use more than one stockpot to cook the sauce, separate out your spices and seasonings in each. Then add 1 rosemary bunch to each pot, one bay leaf to each, etc.
TIP: You can add a can of tomato paste to thicken before processing, if you prefer. For me, when I am ready to use the sauce, if it is not as thick as I’d like, I can add tomato paste then.
For pasta dishes, I often add either vegetables, such as, zucchini or yellow squash, for a vegetable dish; or, add 1 lb. cooked turkey or ground beef to the sauce for a meat sauce version.
It makes a great chicken parmesan dish or lasagna sauce, too. 
Such a healthy time saver for a fast easy meal!
Enjoy!
Keyword Marinara Sauce
A perfect marinara sauce for a great pasta dish!

So very thankful that I pursued creating my favorite marinara sauce recipe AND finally began using that Kitchen Aid attachment. What a game changer!

My husband’s favorite is always spaghetti or a pasta dish. This recipe is now approved by him. I’m now trying to decide how many more batches I will need to make to keep him happy during the winter months! We will see!

Can’t wait for you to give this recipe a try and get back with me! Until then…happy canning, friends!

Until then…don’t mind me…I’m over on the Kitchen Aid website making a wish list…Christmas is coming, right???!

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