If you’re looking for an easy homemade sauce recipe, this is about as easy as it gets. The ingredients are few and the steps are simple.
My Italian roots came out in full while making this. You know that Family Guy episode where Peter thinks he can speak Italian and just shouts “Boopa-dee bappa-dee” at people? That was me the entire time we were in the kitchen making this. Aaron was not amused.
Here is what Marguerite had to say:
We’re pretty sure the above recipe meant she was using canned tomatoes most of the time, but we wanted to do this “right” so we went for fresh ingredients. Neither of us knew what to do with the tomatoes, and Marguerite, being an accomplished cook, did not need to leave herself notes on the subject for when she was using fresh tomatoes.
Look at those fresh ingredients!
Google and our mothers proved to be immensely helpful in figuring out how to start on this homemade sauce.
After figuring out how many tomatoes we needed and how to peel them (more on that later), we were able to get on with the sauce.
For our version, we only used one onion instead of the three originally called for. We’re assuming back in the day onions were quite a bit smaller because a lack of pesticides and such.
Next time we make this, we’ll probably cut back on the green pepper as well, because it overpowered the other flavors. We’ve noted in our version below to only use half a green pepper instead of a whole. We’ll also try to cube the tomatoes a bit smaller because the sauce was a little too chunky.
Our whole apartment smelled delicious while we made this (as did our entire floor. You’re welcome, neighbors!) We started a batch of spaghetti just as the sauce was finishing so we could enjoy it right away. When everything was cooked, we poured on the sauce, topped it all with basil and parmesan, and enjoyed a delicious meal.
We had plenty left over, which we promptly jarred up and froze for later use.
If you try this recipe, let us know how you adjusted the ingredients to suit the pasta sauce to your taste!
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4-6 (depending on how much sauce you like on your pasta) | 25 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 1.5 hours |
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A traditional, homemade sauce. Uses all fresh ingredients and no meat.
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- 10 large tomatoes (or 1 quart if using canned)
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 large onion
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 green pepper
- butter
- salt and pepper to taste
- If you're using canned tomatoes, skip these steps. If using fresh tomatoes, you'll need to peel them. We used the boil method.
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Next to the stove, have a bowl of cold water (as cold as you can get it. Maybe even add ice cubes.)
- Cut off the stems and things from the top of the tomatoes. Cut an x in the bottom of each tomato.
- Drop a few tomatoes at a time into the boiling water. Spoon out after 25 seconds (don't leave them in any longer) and drop into cold water.
- Once they're in the cold water for a few seconds, the x on the bottom should already begin the peeling process. Remove them from the cold water and peel the rest of the skin right off.
- Cube the tomatoes. How small you cube them will depend on how chunky you want your sauce.
- Once your tomatoes are prepped, put them in a pot with the paste and sugar. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Simmer while you prep the other ingredients.
- Chop onion, pepper, and garlic. Steam and slightly brown in a pan with butter.
- Add to the tomato mixture. Turn your stove top to a low/medium heat. Cook for an hour and a half.
- If you're planning on using this right away, start the water for your pasta with about 20 minutes left on the sauce. Preserve any leftovers in a jar and refrigerate or freeze.
Be sure to use a larger pot so the sauce is more evenly spread over the heat and doesn't burn on the bottom. Also be sure to use a low enough heat.