Everyone needs a good basic seasoned tomato sauce recipe. You can use it as the base for so many things; soups, spaghetti sauce, chili, or most any Italian dish. It’s easy to buy tomato sauce at the store, but this version gives it extra “oomph”. My aunt, who shared a bunch of family recipes with me, is a retired Home Economics teacher. She amassed a huge collection of recipes over the years from friends and colleagues, many of which are authentic recipes from their native countries. That’s the case with this recipe, given to her by a friend from Italy. Its original name is “Salsa Parmigiana,” but we just call it Basic Seasoned Tomato Sauce.
Basic Seasoned Tomato Sauce Recipe
Unless I’ve produced enough tomatoes in my garden to make tomato sauce (and that is unlikely since I have a beautiful garden of herbs and flowers and a few languishing tomatoes vines), I begin with a can of tomato sauce from the grocery store. This recipe is one of those perfect recipes to have because it uses fresh veggies and herbs to spice up the taste. In other words, all those bits of leftover veggies in the fridge make a great addition to the sauce. Since this is naturally vegan and gluten-free, it’s good to have on hand when you have friends with food allergies over. We often use this over pasta or as an ingredient in a baked spaghetti pie.
Printable Recipe:
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup minced celery
- 1/4 cup minced carrot
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 to 2 teaspoons salt (depending on taste)
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon pepper (depending on taste)
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the vegetables are golden brown. (Usually 3-5 minutes)
- Stir in the celery, carrot, basil, salt, and pepper into the onion mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until vegetables are wilted. (Another 3 to five minutes.)
- Add the tomato sauce and stir until blended.
- Turn heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally
Cooking Tips:
*The recipe for this sauce can easily be doubled. Make one batch to use for meals and another batch to freeze.
*To freeze the sauce, place it in an airtight freezer-safe container and keep for up to three months.
*If you don’t have fresh basil, substitute 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried basil instead.
*The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.
*You can add other veggies into the mixture if you like. Sometimes I add about 1 cup of either red, yellow, or green bell peppers.
Do you have a favorite tomato sauce recipe? What’s your favorite recipe that uses tomato sauce?
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Looks amazing! I use tomato sauce often, I can’t wait to make this, homemade is always better than store-bought.
I love a simple tomato sauce recipe. There’s nothing like tasting all the ingredients, naturally
I love tomato sauce, so many delicious meals you can make! I like that you made yours vegan and gluten free. I love veggies, so the more, the better.
This looks like such an amazing sauce. I always try to add extra veggies to sauce too, it’s a great way to sneak them in and add more bulk to the sauce.
So easy. I’ve never thought about putting minced celery and carrots in tomato sauce.
Tomato sauce is one of my favorites! I need to try your recipe. It’s so great for appetizer!
I absolutely love making my own tomato sauce, but this time, I’m going to follow your recipe. Thanks!!
This looks so good! The price of tomato is cheap here, I can make a lot of this sauce!
I make my own tomato sauce too. It just taste 100x better than anything store-bought!
This is a recipe that every family needs in their repertoire. It looks absolutely delicious and can be used for so many different things!
I have never tried to make an own tomato sauce recipe and this one looks really delicious and easy to make.
I have a pretty good tomato sauce recipe of my own! But yours sounds pretty yummy as well!!
I’ve always wanted to make my own sauce! This is a great recipe to try.
I want a big bowl of this sauce, some bread sticks with melty cheese and a glass of red. Doesn’t that sound perfect?
So easy! I really need to try this. I usually just use whatever jar I happen to pick up at the grocery store.
This sounds awesome! You’ve made me hungry. lol
You know, I’ve never tried to make tomato sauce on my own before. I really should try it out. This looks fabulous.
I love how easy it is to make tomato sauce. You can use it in so many different ways. This looks like a tasty recipe that I can throw into my spaghetti.
Tomato sauce is so easy to make and you can use it for so many great dishes. We can a bunch every year when our tomatoes comes on in the garden.