Easy Fresh Tomato Sauce

This simple stove top sauce is perfect for pasta or pizza and great served with your favorite meatball recipe. Use tomatoes picked from the garden or bought at the farmer’s market.

Flavorful Homemade Tomato Sauce

There’s nothing like fresh tomatoes and basil simmered for an old-world flavor that everyone adores!

This sauce has a great flavor and is made with fresh ingredients (If you don’t have fresh, use this recipe with canned tomatoes).
It’s the perfect recipe for preparing garden tomatoes to freeze all winter long.
Since this recipe freezes well, feel free to double or triple up the recipe.
It’s delicious served simply over a plate of steaming hot pasta, served with gnocchi or even added to lasagna.

Fresh & Simple Ingredients

FRESH TOMATOES Use summer market tomatoes or tomatoes picked fresh from the garden. The riper, the better! Tomatoes that are tart with a bit of sweet acidity and flavor that “pops” in your mouth makes the best sauce.

HERBS Fresh parsley and fresh basil are chopped and added. There’s really nothing to compare with the flavor of fresh herbs, but dried can be substituted if necessary. Follow this guide for How To Substitute Fresh vs Dried Herbs.

RED WINE Go for a bold dry wine like Italian Chianti or a Pinot Noir. These pair well with the flavors of tomato and are in general very good wines to cook with. These wines can also pair well for drinking, so keep those leftovers to serve with dinner!

Tomato Tips for the Best Flavor

As this sauce is made from fresh tomatoes, the quality of the tomatoes is important for great flavor.

If your tomatoes are very tart, you can add a little bit of shredded carrot for sweetness (we do this with marinara sauce too) or a pinch of sugar if you’d like.

Tomatoes can range in flavor from very sweet, to very tart or even bland if they’re not in season. Taste a slice of tomato before cooking and I’ve included some tips in the notes in the recipe below based on the flavor of your tomatoes.

To Prepare Tomatoes

Peeling tomatoes is optional but I personally prefer to peel them as it gives a smoother texture to the sauce.

This is a really easy way to peel tomatoes:

Cut an X on the bottom of each tomato.
Place in a pot of boiling water for 20 seconds.
Remove from the boiling water and quickly add to a bowl of ice water (to stop it from cooking). The peels should slip off easily.

How to Make Tomato Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes

Chop tomatoes in half and remove the seeds (catch any juices from the seeds in a bowl).
Sauté onions in olive oil, add garlic & seasonings.
Simmer remaining ingredients with prepared tomatoes (per recipe below).
Blend or mash to desired consistency. Stir in fresh herbs & serve.

Tips for Perfection

Ensure tomatoes are ripe and juicy, with a vibrant, tart flavor.
Strain the seeds but be sure to collect the juices, it adds lots of flavor to the sauce.
For a chunky sauce, skip the blender and instead break up the cooked tomatoes with a spoon or a masher.
Thicken the sauce further by cooking it longer.
If the sauce is too acidic, add a pinch of sugar, just a little at a time until the flavor seems “just right.”
Fresh herbs are delicate and should be added just before serving.

Too Many Garden Tomatoes?

Homemade Roasted Tomato Sauce– made from scratch
Broiled Tomatoes – a low carb snack
Whipped Feta with Roasted Tomatoes – an easy & elegant dip
Roasted Cherry Tomatoes – simple side dish
Marinated Tomatoes – a fresh and flavorful side dish
Homemade Tomato Soup – a reader favorite

Did your family love this Fresh Tomato Sauce? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!