This Homemade Tomato Sauce is made with fresh San Marzano Tomatoes and tastes much better than any jarred marinara sauce!
Today, I am going to teach you how to take fresh San Marzano Tomatoes and a handful of other ingredients and make the most amazing homemade Tomato Sauce! This recipe is very simple, an amazing way to use fresh garden vegetables, and happens to be sugar-free! You do not need any hard to find ingredients or special skills to make this sauce. Simply roast and blend for a delightfully simple tomato sauce that is great on just about anything!
Why you’ll love it:
- Sugar-Free: No sweeteners are needed here! This tomato sauce is made with only the best ingredients: fresh tomatoes, garlic, onion, and red wine!
- Versatile: this works as a pasta sauce, pizza sauce, or dipping sauce.
- Freezer-friendly: Freeze small portions in an ice cube tray to easily add to soups or thaw for dipping. Freeze larger portions to use for pizza, zoodles, and other dinners!
Recipe Ingredients
- San Marzano Tomatoes: this is the perfect use for fresh garden tomatoes in the summer. San Marzanos are preferable because they are meaty and do not have as many seeds. Roma tomatoes will also work in this recipe.
- White onion and Garlic: For a slightly sweeter sauce, you can use a sweet yellow onion. A red onion will also provide a slightly different flavor profile. Opt for whole cloves garlic instead of minced garlic.
- Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, Salt, and Italian seasoning: flavorful ingredients that provide a deep, rich, and complex sauce.
- Dry red wine and Beef broth: this is the liquid used in this sauce. While I strongly urge you to use the red wine, if you need to omit it use extra beef broth in its place.
How to Make Homemade Tomato Sauce
This recipe is extremely simple, but it does require two steps. The first step is to roast the tomatoes and vegetables, then blend until smooth. I have documented the entire process below so you can see exactly how to make the best fresh tomato sauce.
Roast the Vegetables
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then sprinkle with salt and Italian seasoning. Roast for 30 minutes, then remove from the oven and stir. Return to the oven and roast for an additional 20-30 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated and the tomato skins are charred. Once your tomatoes look similar to the photos above, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
Blend
Transfer the roasted ingredients to a heat-safe blender. Add beef broth and dry red wine and process until smooth. Taste test and add additional wine or broth to achieve the desired consistency. If you prefer, simmer this mixture on the stove to cook out the alcohol in the wine.
Serve
Of course, you can serve this with pasta, but since this is a low-carb website, I’m going to keep my serving options low-carb. Zoodles are my go-to, but I also enjoy Palmini as a spaghetti substitute!
Storage and Reheating
- Store: store in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days.
- Reheat: heat over low in a pot, stirring occasionally until warm.
- Freeze: allow the sauce to cool completely, place it in freezer bags, and remove as much air as possible. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Thaw: to thaw simply place in the fridge overnight.
Tips for the Best Homemade Tomato Sauce
- Quality Ingredients: fresh vegetables are your best bet here!
- Meaty Tomatoes: Use tomatoes with fewer seeds and less moisture. I recommend San Marzano and Roma tomatoes for sauce.
- Dry Red Wine: if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t add it to the sauce. A good red wine adds an amazing flavor and depth to this recipe.
- Spices: you can play with the spices a little bit and use fresh basil leaves, red pepper flakes, and fresh parsley if you desire in place of the dried Italian seasoning.
Recipe FAQ
You will need something to help you blend the sauce, it can be an immersion blender or food processor.
Most blenders have venting lids and specifiy if they work with hot foods. If yours doesn’t, simply allow the ingredients to cool to room temperature before blending.
It is not required, but if you prefer to cook off the alcohol from the wine, you can simmer the sauce over medium-low heat.
Absolutely. Add the sauce to one pound of cooked ground beef and heat over medium heat until warmed through.
No, this recipe is specifically for fresh tomatoes.
No, this recipe is gluten-free, low-carb, and keto-friendly as written. To make it both vegetarian and vegan, replace the beef broth with vegetable broth.
Other Garden Fresh Recipes
- Grilled Zucchini Wraps: this pairs so well with this tomato sauce for dipping!
- Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boats: a staple in our home!
- Smashed Broccoli is a delicious, crispy side dish!
- Pizza Stuffed Peppers are loaded with green bell peppers, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and lots of mozzarella!
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 pounds fresh San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 white onion peeled and quartered
- 2 heads garlic peeled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- **Optional: to cut the acidity and create a creamier sauce add 1/4 cup heavy cream. This is not essential and is a strictly optional step.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Add the fresh San Marzano tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and Italian seasoning. Roast for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and stir. Roast an additional 20-30 minutes until it resembles the photos in the pictures and most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Remove from the oven and allow the mixture to cool 10 minutes.
- Transfer the ingredients to a blender add the red wine and beef broth. Blend until smooth.
- Taste test the mixture and if needed add additional wine or broth to achieve the consistency you desire.
