Homemade Pasta Sauce Recipe With Crushed Tomatoes (2024)

FAQs

Are crushed tomatoes good for sauce? ›

If you are making chili that will cook for 30 to 40 minutes, diced tomatoes will work best. If you want to make a quick, fresh-flavored tomato sauce with basil, choose the crushed tomatoes. You will only need to cook the sauce for about 20 minutes to get the right thickness and a balanced flavor.

You can use whatever type of canned tomatoes you have. Whole, stewed, diced, or crushed canned tomatoes work wonderfully.

Crushed tomatoes may be slightly concentrated or canned in tomato puree, resulting in a texture that is chunkier than tomato sauce but smoother and less watery than diced tomatoes.

Yep, that's right—just crank open a can of tomatoes, halve an onion and peel some garlic. You're ready to go! This sauce offers lovely, authentic Italian flavor after a 45-minute simmer. I tried to take shortcuts to make it even faster, but no amount of tomato paste, spices, salt or sugar will make up for lost time.

First, pour some olive oil into the pot and heat it over medium heat. Then, add the canned tomatoes to the pot and let them cook for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add some garlic, basil, salt, and pepper to the pot and let everything cook for another 20 minutes. And that's it!

Add Some Umami

Some tomato sauces need a hit of the savory flavor we call umami, which you can get from a little bit of Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, or liquid aminos. You could also use soy sauce, so long as you're sure it won't make your sauce too salty.

For this swap, David Joachim, author of The Food Substitutions Bible, recommends you use ½ cup tomato paste and ½ cup water to replace 1 cup of tomato sauce—just keep in mind that you'll need to season your substitute to taste.

When you think of “spaghetti sauce”, you're likely thinking of marinara. While the two sauces share many ingredients, the main difference is in the consistency and depth of flavor. Marinara is brighter, thinner, and more tomato forward than tomato sauce.

Whole peeled tomatoes are ideal for making homemade tomato sauces, marinara, and tomato-based soups. Their firm texture also makes them great for chunky sauces and stews.

Cornstarch: Make a slurry of half water, half cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Cornstarch is a powerful thickener, so start by whisking in no more than 1 tablespoon of the mixture per 2 cups of simmering sauce; stir and simmer for 2 minutes, check the thickness, and repeat with more slurry as needed.

Can crushed tomatoes be substituted for tomato sauce? ›

The thin tomato juice in canned tomatoes (diced, crushed, or whole) can be used in the same way as tomato sauce or puree.

If you're looking to can tomato sauce in bulk or make your own tomato paste, Roma tomatoes are your best bet! The best Roma tomatoes for canning include: San Marzano – Known for their sweet flavor, dense flesh and small seed cavities, San Marzano tomatoes are a traditional Italian favorite.

Drain whatever else you'd like, but leave your canned tomatoes undrained. While this may seem a little bit strange, you're actually avoiding washing away those savory juices. Canned tomatoes themselves may make up the bulk of your can, but aren't the only part of the vegetable that's worth hanging onto.

Good for: Simple preparations, sauces, all types of cuisines. The Bianco DiNapoli Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes have been some of the best canned tomatoes we've tasted for three years running. They have a nice balance of sweetness and acidity, with a strong tomato flavor.

Though you could use any tomato, Roma and other paste tomatoes — with meaty texture with little to no seeds — are said to develop the best flavor when cooked down into a delicious sauce.

Diced tomatoes are generally tomato chunks packed in tomato juice. They can be an excellent timesaver. Crushed tomatoes are a mixture of diced tomatoes and tomato puree or paste. Stewed tomatoes are cooked and then canned, usually with other seasonings and sugar added.