Canned Pizza Sauce (Amish Canning Recipe)

Ingredients

• Tomatoes - The star of this homemade pizza sauce! Fresh garden tomatoes create the rich tomato flavor and smooth base for this sauce.
• Onions, Green Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, and Garlic - This combination of vegetables adds sweetness, depth, and savory flavor. The jalapenos give the sauce a little kick, but you can adjust the amount depending on how spicy you like it.
• Tomato Paste - Thickens the sauce and adds extra richness and tomato flavor.
• Vegetable or Canola Oil - Adds richness and helps create a smooth, flavorful sauce.
• Sugar - Balances the acidity of the tomatoes and brings out their natural sweetness.
• Salt - Enhances the flavors and helps bring all the ingredients together.
• Oregano - Adds that classic Italian herb flavor that pairs so well with tomatoes.
• Garlic Salt - Gives the sauce an extra layer of savory garlic flavor.
• Fresh Basil Leaves (or Dried Basil) - Adds a fresh, sweet herbal flavor.
• Bay Leaves - Add a subtle depth of flavor as the sauce simmers.
• Bottled Lemon Juice or Citric Acid - Helps increase the acidity of the sauce for safe water bath canning.

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Preparing the Tomatoes and Veggies

Once I have several buckets of tomatoes ready to turn into pizza sauce, I remove them from the freezer. (Obviously, you don't have to freeze them, if you have enough tomatoes in one day to can a batch of sauce).

If I think about it the night before, I remove the tomatoes from the freezer and let them thaw overnight. But it's no big deal to cook them from frozen either.

Place the cut tomatoes into a large cooking pot or two. Add the onions, peppers, and garlic and let them cook over medium heat for about an hour. Stir occasionally.

While they are cooking, you can prepare the remaining ingredients.

After cooking the tomatoes for about an hour, remove them from the heat and carefully scoop some of them into the blender and pulse them until completely liquified. If you don't do it long enough you may end up with pieces of tomato peel that are not fully pureed.

(I use my blender with a glass pitcher. I've never used an immersion blender, but if I had one I'd probably give it a try.)

Warning - Use Caution with Hot Tomatoes

If using a blender, you will have to do this in many batches. And you will need to use caution. You're working with extremely hot liquid, so be careful.

Do not fill the blender to the top. And make sure to start the blender on low speed.

If you start the blender off at high speed, the hot tomato juice will create pressure. And it can cause the lid to fly off, spraying hot tomato juice everywhere.

So please, believe me, you don't want the blender too full, and you want to start at low speed and then slowly increase to high. Because you do not want hot liquid in your face or anywhere else, for that matter.

I place a rag on top of the lid and place my hand on top of it before starting the blender, just as an extra precaution.

How to Make Pizza Sauce for Canning

While my tomatoes are cooking, I mix the tomato paste, oil, sugar, salt, garlic salt, and oregano in a large stainless steel bowl. (Sometimes you can find large stainless steel bowls at Amish/Mennonite bulk food stores). I blend the fresh basil and bay leaves along with the tomatoes and veggies.

After the tomatoes are blended, pour them into the large bowl with the remaining ingredients. Mix it all together then place the sauce back into your large cooking pot.

Cook the sauce over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for another hour.

Pour the hot spaghetti sauce into clean hot jars. (You can use any size canning jars, just make sure they are strong enough to stand boiling water. I reuse the jars from spaghetti sauce that I bought at the store.)

You can wash your jars in the dishwasher and keep them hot until ready to fill. Or just place the jars into a large bowl of very hot water and turn them upside down for a bit before filling.

I use my 2-cup glass pitcher to pour the sauce into a funnel that's placed over the mouth of the jar (using a funnel helps to prevent a mess). Fill the jar, leaving almost a ½" headspace. (Only fill to the mouth of the jar.)

With a clean cloth, wipe the rim of the jar and screw the hot lid (or band) to fingertip tightness. (I place my lids into a pot of boiling water, then carefully remove them with tongs when ready to place on the jar.)

Canning Spaghetti Sauce Without a Pressure Cooker

Growing up Amish, my family relied heavily on traditional canning methods. While you can use a pressure cooker to can pizza/pasta sauce. My Amish mom never even owned a pressure cooker canner.

So I have always used the water bath canning method as well. However, food safety recommendations have changed over the years, and today I try to follow current guidelines by adding acidity when using a water bath canning method.

Tomatoes are in the "gray area" of having enough acidity, so they might be just fine on their own. But adding a bit of lemon juice or citric acid ensures their acidity to make water bath canning safe.

I am going to recommend that you follow the safety guidelines and add about 2 Tbsp. of bottled lemon juice or ½ tsp. citric acid to the bottom of each quart jar of pasta sauce to raise the acidity level. It doesn't affect the taste too much.

Store the sealed jars of freshly canned pizza sauce in a dry and cool place for up to a year (or two 🙂 ).

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the Difference Between Pasta Sauce and Pizza Sauce?

Some people claim that there is a noticeable difference between pizza sauce and pasta sauce, and they recommend that you don't use them interchangeably.

Supposedly, pizza sauce is made with uncooked tomatoes. And there probably is a slight difference between the two. But, in my opinion, there's not enough difference to bother buying or making two different sauces.

I love to use this homemade tomato sauce for any Italian dishes that I make. And I will be referring to it as spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce because I use it for both. And every summer, I use this Amish homemade spaghetti sauce recipe for canning. I like to can several batches of tomato spaghetti sauce so that I have enough to last until the next summer.

We go through a lot of jars of spaghetti sauce since we use it for spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, stuffed shells, meatball sandwiches, etc. So it's always nice to have a big supply of this delicious pizza sauce from fresh tomatoes.

Why I Still Can Homemade Pizza Sauce Every Year

Growing up Amish, I was used to doing lots of canning. My mom had a huge garden, and every summer we preserved lots of fruits and vegetables. We canned hundreds of jars of all different kinds of food. And needless to say, I was always very thankful when canning season was over for another year.

Now that I have my own garden, I still like to do some canning. Although, I've cut back and have not done very much canning in the past few years. (With the increase in grocery prices I may have to start canning more again.)

But even though I don't can a lot anymore, spaghetti/pizza sauce is one thing that I still do every year. The number one reason I keep canning pizza sauce every year is because this is the best pasta sauce. The good brands at the store are too expensive to buy.

The second reason is that we use a lot of pasta/pizza sauce. Homemade pizza on Saturday nights is a tradition at our house. And if you've ever made a big pan of lasagna, you know that it takes a lot of sauce.

Plus, pasta sauce is something that I always like to have on hand. Keep pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles in your pantry, and you can throw together a quick and delicious meal on any given night.

If you try this Amish recipe for canned pizza sauce/spaghetti sauce, I'd love it if you left a comment and star rating below. Thank you! And Happy Canning! I hope you feel rewarded when you see a shelf lined with the fruit of your labor.