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smearing homemade tomato sauce onto pizza dough with a wooden spoon

How to Make Tomato Sauce with Frozen Whole Tomatoes

Learn how turn frozen whole garden tomatoes into tomato sauce free of seeds and peels. No food mill needed! When you're done, you will have tomato sauce that is ready to can, freeze, or cook with right away.
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Cook Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Hands-On Cooking Time 15 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Servings 10 half cup servings
Calories 42 kcal

Equipment

  • large stock pot
  • immersion blender
  • large mesh strainer
  • large mixing bowl
  • wooden spoon
  • silicone spatula
  • freezer bags or containers (optional)
  • canning equipment (optional)

Ingredients
  

  • 4 lbs whole frozen tomatoes (about one gallon bag full)

Instructions
 

  • Place your frozen tomatoes in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. If you have yellow or green tomatoes, keep in mind that your fresh tomato sauce may not be as red, but it will still be a flavorful sauce. Heat the pot over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon every five minutes to prevent sticking. As the tomatoes thaw, remove any stems.
  • Once the tomatoes have fully thawed and turned into a soupy mixture, use an immersion blender to puree them into a smooth sauce. If you prefer, you can use a food processor or blender, but be cautious when blending hot liquid to avoid burns.
  • For a smoother sauce, pour the pureed tomatoes into a large mesh strainer set over a large bowl. Tap the strainer against the bowl to encourage the sauce to pass through. Use a spatula to press the mixture, pushing the liquid through while leaving the peels and seeds behind. Compost the peels or feed them to your chickens!
  • Pour the strained sauce back into the stock pot. Heat on medium low, uncovered, until gently simmering. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is your preferred thickness. After about two hours, it will be the consistency of marinara sauce. If you want a thicker sauce, keep simmering. You will need to stir it more frequently as it thickens, to prevent burning.
  • Pour the strained sauce back into your stockpot or Dutch oven. At this point, the sauce may contain a lot of water. Simmer the sauce uncovered over medium-low heat, stirring every 20 minutes to thicken the sauce and allow the water to evaporate. As the sauce thickens, stir more frequently to prevent burning. Simmering sauce for about two hours will yield a thicker sauce, but you can adjust cooking time based on your preferred consistency.
    If you want a paste-like texture similar to store-bought tomato paste, you can simmer for even longer. The longer you cook, the more the excess water evaporates, concentrating the flavors into a rich, robust homemade sauce or paste.

Notes

How to Freeze Tomato Sauce:

  • Ladle tomato sauce into freezer bags or containers. Whatever container you use, fill it only 2/3 full to leave room for expansion. I like to use quart freezer bags or BPA-free takeout containers.
  • Be sure to label with the contents and date. I love these water soluble labels. They make it easy to reuse containers without having to scrape and scrub a label off of them every time.
  • If you use freezer bags, lay them flat on a tray and place in the freezer. The flat shape is nice because it's easy to stack in your freezer, and it thaws quickly. Sometimes the zippers pop open, so be mindful of that, and move bags of thawed sauce carefully to avoid it.