Fresh tomatoes are one of the simple pleasures in life. Capture their flavor with this amazing tomato sauce recipe. It is bursting with flavor without any special cooking techniques or tons of additional ingredients.
This amazing tomato sauce recipe uses only tomatoes, garlic and olive oil as a base with a hint of salt, pepper and oregano to highlight the tomato flavor. It also has one secret ingredient….
Red wine vinegar!
Red wine vinegar adds a pleasingly tangy flavor to tomato sauces. It is, after all, sour wine! You need to add just a bit of vinegar to liven up the sauce without making the entire batch sour. Think of it as squeezing a slice of lemon into a glass of water to brighten the taste.
If you’ve never had homemade tomato sauce you are in for a treat! This versatile sauce can be served over pasta, made into lasagna, or even used a pizza sauce.
This tomato sauce keeps in the fridge for about a week and can be frozen. I love making a huge batch and then freezing the contents in small containers. I simple defrost while I cook some pasta and dinner is done!
- 16 cups roma tomatoes ( washed, cored, and quartered - or 4 -28 ounce cans)
- 10-14 cloves garlic (roughly diced)
- 4-6 tablespoons olive oil (good quality)
- 1½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 3 tsp dried oregano
- 3 tsp red wine vinegar
- Heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic. Stir garlic until it becomes fragrant and soft but does not brown.
- Add tomatoes and stir.
- Cook uncovered over medium heat until tomatoes are soft (about 20 minutes), stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender or in batches using a traditional blender until smooth. Return to pot.
- Stir salt, pepper, oregano, and red wine vinegar into the sauce.
- Heat the sauce until it begins to bubble. Reduce heat to low. Simmer and stir the sauce for about 20 minutes until it is heated thoroughly and slightly reduced.
- Serve sauce over pasta or use in your favorite dish. Cool to room temperature before freezing.
Tip: No fresh tomatoes, no problem! Simply substitute four 28 ounce cans of tomatoes. I prefer tomatoes with their skin on that are packed in cans that are not lined with BPA.
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Lisa (@retrohousewife5)
I’ve made sauce from tomato paste and puree for years but I want to try doing it from the tomatoes! I’m going to give this a try. Thanks for sharing.
ashleigh
I typically put balsamic vinegar in mine, but I can’t wait to try this recipe! <3 Thanks for sharing!!
Bren
I hope you like the recipe. I’ve never tried balsamic, I’ll have to try it soon!
Stephanie
This looks delicious! I’m planning my garden and will have tons of tomatoes (hopefully!!) Can’t wait to try it!
Bird brain
Holy crap… best sauce I’ve ever had! My pop pop would have been so proud 🙂 my mom wouldnt hush up about how good it was. My store didnt have romas, so I used half tomatoes on the vine and half big jerseys. Next time I’ll find a store that has romas, but jeez laweez, this is soooooo good.
Bren
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for commenting.
Yvonne
I made it last week. I needed to add extra of salt, pepper and oregano, so asked myself if I had to use 16 tomatoes or 16 cups of tomatoes as the recipe suggests (which were equivalent to 24 tomatoes). Nevertheless, after adjusting the flavor with the condiments, the sauce turned out great. Thanks for the recipe. I never had tought about adding vinegar to a tomato sauce, but loved the result
Bren
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe, Yvonne!