| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Yield: | 6 cups |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
- 4 to 6 basil leaves
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional
Instructions
- In a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves and simmer covered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.
- Add half the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.
- If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 6 months.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 169 calorie |
| Total Fat | 13 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 4 grams |
| Cholesterol | 10 milligrams |
| Sodium | 243 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 11 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 grams |
| Protein | 3 grams |
| Sugar | 6 grams |
Reviews
I am speechless. This sauce is A+++
I make this sauce every 3 weeks. It is simple and delicious.
It’s great – and simple, as stated. I always make it as written – no need for the butter. If I do it outside of summer months and don’t have fresh basil, I use crushed tomatoes with basil included (Tuttorosso works well). I freeze it in small containers to use for pasta or pizza sauce.
Great simple, quick, tasty sauce. I used tomatoes from my garden came out delicious. My new go to recipe for sauce
The butter makes it taste like tomato soup. I like soup in a bowl with crackers but not on my pasta. Thank goodness I had a jar of Prego in the cupboard.
This is my go-to tomato sauce. It is so easy and yummy!!! My family loves it too. I will use it to make lasagna. Yum!!!
Didn’t use a food processor, but cut the vegetables very small, sauce turned out great and flavorful.
I just made this sauce and it turned out great! It does turn a bit orange, but not that much really. Aside from the basil, I also added a bit of freshly chopped parsley. There was no need to add extra seasonings as my sauce was very tasty and had just the perfect tang. I did not have a problem with acidity. It did simmer for over an hour though. Maybe one hour, ten minutes. A great base I will definitely be making in the future. Great recipe!
My husbands nanny from Napoli taught me just canned whole peeled toms, garlic, sometimes paste and lots of salt- that’s it. Been making it for 20 yrs. I tried this for fun, I liked it a lot, trying it tonight to put with meatballs, sausage and tripolini pasta-oh and side of rapini
Awesome recipe but don’t use canned tomatoes.They are super unhealthy. http://blog.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/2010/08/17/canned-tomatoes-good-or-bad/