Have an overabundance of garden tomatoes? It only takes a few easy steps to make fresh homemade crushed tomatoes with your garden haul!
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One of our large tomato plants is starting to slow down for the season. There are bunches of green tomatoes on each branch, but they’re taking longer to mature. Our other tomato plant is still producing mature fruit on a daily basis. It’s been hard to keep up!
I recently read an article in the September issue of Martha Stewart Living about making your garden tomatoes last after the summer. The article shared a few ways to do so. One of which was making your own crushed tomato sauce to either can or freeze.
We use crushed tomatoes in so many of our meals! Crushed tomatoes make an excellent pasta sauce base. We also use them to make our own pizza sauce, add to homemade chili, and stir into tomato soup. Honestly, we usually keep a stash of cans on hand because they end up in so many different recipes!
How to Make Crushed Tomatoes
If you have an overabundance of tomatoes still growing in your garden, making your own crushed tomato sauce is super easy! It just takes a few simple steps. After, you can prepare jars for canning or store it in freezer bags or container for future use.
Score an “x” on the bottom of each tomato. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Then, boil the tomatoes until the skin starts to separate from the fruit. This will only take a few minutes. You’ll notice the tomato skin start to wrinkle.
Once boiled, place the tomatoes into a large bowl of ice water. Allow them to cool completely or until cool enough to handle.
Now, you should be able to peel the skin away from the tomatoes easily. Discard the skin and place tomatoes into your blender or food processor. Pulse until smooth.
Alternately, you could use an immersion blender. I actually prefer this method. Add the tomatoes to a large bowl and use the blender to blend the tomatoes until smooth.
Pour sauce into freezer-safe bags and/or containers. The sauce will keep in the freezer for up to three months.
Ingredients
- Fresh tomatoes
- Water
- Ice water
Instructions
- Score an "x" onto the bottom of each tomato.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully place the tomatoes into the pot and boil until the skin starts to peel away from the fruit.
- When ready, place the tomatoes into a large bowl of ice water. Allow to cool completely, or until cool enough to handle.
- Peel the tomatoes and discard the skin. Then, place the tomatoes into a blender. Pulse until smooth.
- Alternately, place the tomatoes into a large bowl and use an immersion blender to blend the tomatoes until smooth.
- Pour sauce into freezer-safe jars or freezer bags. Keep in freezer up to three months.
I’ll never knock canned tomatoes, but it’s always nice to know exactly what’s going into your meal and where it came from. Now that you have homemade garden crushed tomatoes, check out these 11 Recipes You Can Make with Tomato Sauce!
Did you make this recipe? Share it on social media using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!
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