50 lbs of Tomatoes into Canned Spaghetti Sauce | 3 Tips & Updates 

I know I'm a year late, but the carrots don't soak up acidity. They release sugars and sugar reduces acidity.

Please never take your videos down! This may be an old one but I am using it today to process my frozen and thawed tomato haul from this year's gardening season. It's going really well - first time making pasta sauce and using your recipe here. Thanks again, Rachel for all your wisdom! My house smells amazing right now.

The carrots TOTALLY work! It sweetens your sauce, thickens it from the starches and we used this trick when I was an Assistant Kitchen manager at Carrabbas Italian Grill 😉

I ran into the "I don't care" thing when I was a teenager and met my pen-pal in Puerto Rico. She and her parents asked me if I wanted to do something with them and I said that. The stricken looks on their faces are ever in my mind, even 45 yrs later! One of my first lessons on the power of our words... Love you making the brown sugar!

Rachel, (11-28-22) I just canned 14 quarts of spaghetti sauce from your recipe using frozen tomatoes from our garden. I let them thaw in the giant freezer bags that I froze them in (adding tomatoes all season until the bag is full...I had 3 giant bags full). The skins & water are naturally released from the tomatoes as they thaw, which makes them thicken more quickly when cooked. I used your recipe last winter as well. We love this sauce! We think it is the best sauce we have ever eaten! Love your channel!

Looks delicious and I bet it smells as good.I am Italian an grew up making homemade sauce with every female Italian cook in my family and there are many, thank God. I did not ever hear about the carrot thing and some put sweet peppers in their sauce and some did not. My Mom liked her sauce without sweet peppers so I grew up without mostly, unless we were eating with relatives who cooked them into the sauce. Good tomato sauce is a very personal thing, my family did not make it sweet. We liked the tomatoes to shine. I have two sons who cook very well, one likes the only sweetener to be oregano and the other one has his own recipe which is very delicious. He is only sharing it with his son who is a chef and is my only grandson. I have one grown granddaughter who makes delicious sauce and she likes hers a little on the sweet side. So sorry to run on so much. But I love good pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes and your show brought back so many wonderful memories with loved ones who have passed to a better place. I miss all of them. Thank you for sharing. My oldest son retired 3years ago after 20 years in the Marine Corp. he was a Major at the time. Thank your daughter and your other family member ?? For their service. They are all my heroes.

My boy went to Into the Navy. He’s been in a full year now and is at his duty station where he’ll stay for the next 4 years. Graduation is so emotional. When that bay door opens and they march in... Great idea using the roasting pan. I’ve been oven roasting but I’ll do this next time to avoid heating up the house

I just did my tomatoes yesterday. I actually cored mine before freezing, then I just put them in a bowl of water for a minute or so and they peel so easily. Saves more pots on the stove and makes process go quicker!

Wow!! I had no clue that I could make my own brown sugar like that!!!! I bet my 76 yr old mother doesn’t even know about that!! I’m loving all your tips!! I never know what I’m going to learn when I watch your videos! I absolutely love them I’ve been binge watching as I do my household chores and when one of your tips come along I’ll find myself sitting with my mouth open in awe and I just am so thrilled by all the stuff I’m learning! I’m an avid cook but I haven’t done any canning, my parents used to do it but I would always think why are you doing that when you can go to the store and buy a can of sauce for .79cents?!(1970’s Canadian prices) of course now Learning of all the “stuff” inside our food products due to mass production and not knowing exactly what we are getting in our food I’ve definitely learned the value in growing our own food and preserving it and discovering how much better homemade foods are over the store bought and of course it’s no longer that cheap to purchase a can of sauce more like $4.99 (Canadian prices for the good organic stuff) if I can even find it that cheap! Thanks again for showing all your wonderful tips and tricks and how much you are able to produce from how many pounds of produce. Absolutely loving your channel! I’ve even gone back and watched some of you’re early videos when you were just beginning your RU-vid journey and it’s so fun to see how you navigated to get where you are now and just how comfortable you are in front of the camera! You should be very proud of all you’ve accomplished over the years!!! Hard work, determination and a true heart shines through. Take good care wishing you many more blessings. I hope your daughter continues to enjoy her military experience it’s clear to see how much you miss her but just know you’ve raised an independent and strong young woman who is going out into the world and conquering it in her own way. Even though they don’t write or call as much as we would like them to I know they think of us often, trust in knowing she can hear your very words in her head when she needs you and your wisdom. God bless you & your family. 🇨🇦🥰🙏🏻

I loved this video. Was so informative, but the love you had for your loved ones shined through brighter then any tomato could ever have. Your heart is sweet and filled with something special. Thank you for sharing. Also to each and every parent that has our has had a child serving in our military will you tell them thank you. And I thank you mom and dad. As a parent it is a most precious sacrifice given to me and my family. God bless.

I can hardly wait to start canning tomatoes. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.

After watching your videos for a while, I was prepared to try this recipe for canning this year. It was a hit! I tweaked it a bit by substituting Italian seasons since I already had that on hand, and by using my tomato powder in place of paste. My mother said it's the best sauce she's ever had. So looking forward to a great year of spaghetti! Thanks so much!

I agree with you, sometimes I just want to open a jar and boil the spaghetti and make a salad and let that be dinner. I’m glad you’re doing this! But here in south Texas, it gets hot so quick, I really don’t get many tomatoes. I need to figure out what to do to make more tomatoes😋

Another late one to the party! I really don't care for spaghetti sauce much but when you have kids and grandbabies you cook what they love. I always add grated carrots to sauce as it cooks down as a thickener and natural sugar source. What I really love are onions, peppers and carrots chunked up in freezer to add to the sauce as I'm using it. They add additional flavor and I get to pick them out to eat. Win win for me. The kids also like the chunks. I don't think you could improve to much on this recipe. I have a 22 qt. Cooker that should have died long ago after using it for sauces, broths, hams cooked picked apart and diced to use in dry beans. Really canning is a never ending therepy session. I enjoyed watching this even though I'm late

Hi Rachel, just found your channel recently. Loving it so much!! Have been canning for years and honestly when i first started out I knew nothing about it and was self taught but over the years found out certain food safety things such as now you’re supposed to just wash your lids in soap and water not simmering them and that you need 1-2” of water above your jars when water bath canning! Apparently its pretty important. Loving the videos you’re so entertaining and funny at times. I learned how to make brown sugar today! SO COOL! Happy gardening from CA!

This lady is so nice. Real lady, so calming and a good teacher. I’ve been watching a bunch of videos all calm and my mouth open and I forgot to press “like”…😅

I do my sauce the same way except I add a neck bone to it. I grate the carrots in the sauce, it sweetens the sauce and takes care of the acid. Mine cooks down for 2 days and on the 3rd morning its done. I enjoyed the chit chat. So glad you heard from Abigail and excited that Brie/Dan, is enjoying being with you guys despite the differences. God bless!

Hoorah Navy! Lol, currently binge watching your videos on deployment now! Love what you guys share and ready to go work in my garden!

I absolutely love how personable you are. We grew a lot of tomatoes this year and I had no clue about canning. This is the second video I have watched and I am learning so much. Thank you for sharing with us.

Lots of nutrients in skins..when making and canning tomatoes sauce or cream of tomato soup just clean and cut and simmer tomatoes and use emerson blender. ❤

Good morning Rachel, I watched this video AGAIN last night (July 2022) after watching you for over a year. I watched you process your harvest and make sauces so many times. Last night I pulled out all of my red tomatoes 🍅 from the freezer…it actually ended up being approximately 25 lbs…so exactly to your recipe! I chopped up my green peppers 🫑 from garden this year and two large onion 🧅 over night. This morning I added my seasonings 🧂 🌿 and now I’m processing only 4 quarts of spaghetti sauce. As disheartening it is yo only get 4 jars for the pantry, I’m still excited that it’s homegrown and homemade! I actually like the sweetness of the sauce with a little kick from the red peppers. Thanks for sharing. Oh yes, you were right, we smelled the sauce all night….not sure I like that smell all night. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Happy canning this year!

Rachael, I just canned 9 quarts of your spaghetti sauce and wanted to thank you for sharing your recipe. I had my picky family taste test it for me and they loved it ! You also had mentioned in one of your videos that you were pondering the idea of canning some milk but were unforsure about it. I just wanted to let you know that I did do that two years ago and the first year it tasted just like fresh milk . This is the second year I have a little left and it tastes more like store bought evaporated milk - just not that thick- so I call it a Winner for when you need some milk on hand. Thank you so much for sharing of yourself . You are so awesome. : ) Granny from Va

I had to go back and find this! We are almost out from last year. My house smells so good right now. I’ll be canning it up in a couple hours. Thank you so much. My family loves it.

You have so much energy I don’t know how you do it I’m impressed 🙏🏻❤️

Enjoyed. Glad to hear Abigail is doing well.

What I remember of boot camp in Great Lakes, I was cold the whole time and lost a lot of sleep, we stayed up cleaning the barracks and during service week lost more sleep. Snow watch.... pffffft

Rachael, you are a joy to watch and I am learning so much from you. I live in Florida so our gardening time is 3/4 of the year. I don't have much land, but I am planning a container garden. I will make your spaghetti sauce recipe. I hope I grow lots of tomatoes and peppers both sweet and hot. We enjoy a little kick with our food. Thanks for sharing your life with me. I watch you, Leisa Sutton and Becky from Acre Homestead most every day.

Just a fantastic recipe. Made this over the weekend and without a doubt it is the BEST we have ever had. Thanks so much for your videos and for all the inspiration.

Love this! We got so many tomatoes this year I’m looking for new things to try lol

I use that same tool to core my tomatoes before I freeze them. I also put an X on the bottom so as they thaw I only have the skins to slip off.

I was in the Navy for 6.5 years. YEAH! GO NAVY! Welcome to the family.

Looks great! I use an electric tomato saucer and strainer to remove the seeds and skins and it saves me so much time and saves my back from pain related to military service connected disability. I know it was stressful for my mom when I went to Basic training and then deployed to Iraq. She's probably so super busy. God Bless! 🌻 ~Shayla

I understand about your daughter. I think when ours left for Air Force basic I must have written every other day. I got a few from her. She was so busy and tired, we forgave her. Shes home now with 3 kids but I remember that loss of our baby girl! I feel your pain. Thanks for the recipe

Our recipes are pretty much the same! I alongside from removing the skins remove the seed too and I've always added the paste. I never cook my tomatoes down... to get the water out. I will cook the sauce, when ready to use at a semi boil tho and that get the extra juices out and thickens it up nicely.

Wow is so very helpful making tomatoes sauce watching in this video ! Good add more recipes !

Yes life is a different world around the world

Oh my gosh. I just found your channel! Michigan is an awesome state. Thanks for the content and knowledge!

I just got done canning tomato jam and rendering g lard.. great video😇

I can the cowboy candy juice and use to marinade chicken for grilling. Love it.

That sauce looks incredible!!!!! I've never heard of carrots to soak up acid but I have heard of using potatoes. I havent tried potatoes but I have tried a dash of baking soda and that worked really well!

Thank you for the recipe. We live in Idaho where the Russets potatoes are from.We love the huge potatos . They also soak up extra salt and flavors.

Keep the faith mom! You’ll hear from her soon and it be glorious. 11 year Navy mom and 24 year Navy year navy wife. Sending you much Navy Love!

I just canned spaghetti sauce last night. The tomatoes came out of my garden. Thus is the first year that I had my vitamix. I scored the big ones and cut them into quarters and put them in peels and all. It grind them all up. I didn't have to boil to skin them. I did boil the sauce after. I put the spices in each pint jar and fill with sauce. It was so easy to do. Will do the rest as the tomatoes ripen in the same way.

I put all my tomatoes in my sink, pour boiling water in it. Let stand while I do other prep. You tongs to let the water out then let the plug suck back into place and put cold water in the sink. They arebready to be skinned. Dry the skins for powder and go a head with cooked tomatoes.

This is similar to the recipe I use. I grate the carrots up in the sauce and I don’t peel the tomatoes. The strawberry huller is a good idea, wish I had one. I also pressure can mine instead of using the lemon juice. Ok, I thought I heard you call your foreign exchange student Dan and then Bri, I’m confused. So glad she’s having a good time in the US and in your home. You guys are awesome!

Forget tomato paste. Add freeze dried zucchini! Instant thickener! Just used your recipe and only had two cans of tomato paste. Husband does not like zucchini so o add it shredded in things like brownies, bread and soups but I always have a surplus. So I freeze dried shreds. Instantly soaked up liquid! Now I’m filling jars.

My husband and I have had 10 exchange students over the years. I have now passed 20 years later means life long relationships many times they have come to visit and many face time visits. And the internet has helped without the long distance phone calls costing$$

i use my great roaster to make tomato soup works wonderful

Great brown sugar tip! Thank you.

I keep a canning journal. If I love it I put a star on it if I don’t I make detailed notes what I don’t like I only try once more if I don’t like I scrap lol

Just finished a batch of spaghetti sauce, your recipe, and my wife gave it a 5 star rating on the taste test. Thank you!!!

This video makes me so excited for summer canning!!

I feel for you. I have a teenager that has forgotten me and we live in the same city. Guess they have to grow up.. Always Call you mom.

This was great video. God-bless you'll and Keepsafe.

We miss y’all ❤

I froze mine last year too until I had time to process. I was not happy about using them because I went from freezer to roasting so unless I actually have to I wont do that again unless I use them for recipes. So far Ive done about 60 lbs of tomatoes and processed them as sauce, tomatoes and salsa. I make sauce without seasonings. Just salt and citric acid. Its no big deal to add garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. I like the flexibility of using my sauce different ways. Thanks for sharing and reminding me I can make my own brown sugar. LOL! Back to canning. I have about 100 lbs to go!

Hmm ... I'm just preparing spaghetti sauce for tonight's dinner. I have a bunch of super-ripe (non- plum) tomatoes, garlic, shallots, oregano - all collected from my garden. I could use frozen spaghetti sauce in my freezer, but I just wanted to try "winging it". Normally, I prepare a large batch with frozen plum tomatoes, add the usual dried herbs with fresh sweet peppers and mushrooms. I don't think I have sweet peppers or mushrooms but I don't think that will be a big deal. I just want to see what it would be like to use "normal" tomatoes and fresh-from-the-garden herbs. As I write this comment, I'm planning how to do this and you mentioned a couple of things I might try - maybe adding a little brown sugar as well as some tomato paste. Thanks for the ideas. And, BTW, I'm making a small portion of sauce - maybe four servings. Nothing like your gargantuan batch! I just felt like experimenting. Cheers.

Thanks for the recipe, I am making this today. Love your Garden and Cooking Vids.

Beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing ❤️

Made this tonight… amazing!

I don't can but I freeze my sauce. I add carrots too but cook them well and blend in. Going to try brown sugar instead of regular sugar, I make my own too. If I have some on hand I will also throw in some beets. Punches up the color a bit. Appreciate your videos.

I never peel I clean the tomato cutting off what was necessary - cut the Tm in quarters and blend in blender till fine and then cook as U like adding what u like even to blender as U wish- If I want hunks on I cut some of tomato meat out and drop in pot to cook - then do the canning

Love your channel and learning a lot too! Blessings!! :)

Hi, First time listener. I saw a gal that homesteads and she drained off the juice and used it for jus that. It really cut down on the time to make her speggetti sauce. You should give this a try, I would.

It’s the sugars in the carrots that balances out the acidity.

I made your spaghetti sauce add canned it I put soy sauce and it instead of the coconut aminos because I could not find that and it still turned out awesome and my family loves it I will make it from now on it is the best thank you so much.

I just made this today. Perfection. Your daughter must be serving at this point. Likely 3 years atleast. How is she doing? Have you posted pictures in her dress uniform? 😊

Everyone is saying to remove the seeds- well No because the seeds contain pectin & that helps thicken the sauce slightly. Cheers Denise - Australia

I have been using carrots foras long as I can remember. My husband would not eat anything with tomato sauce until he married me and loves that he can eat it.

Love your shirt, from Clare MI here.❤

I freeze all my tomatoes too, then I just dump them into a sink of hot water for a minute and the skins come right off. Would have never thought of saving the skins for tomato powder!

SAVE SOME TIME. I LEARNED THIS AWESOME TRICK FROM LIVING TRADITIONS HOMESTEAD. IF YOU HAVE A HIGH-SPEED BLENDER LIKE A VITAMIX. I spent all this time peeling the skins and I was going to dehydrate them as some have suggested but I still had them. PER HOW SHE DOES HERS WITH THE SKINS, I put them in my vitamix blender with some of the sauce which I cooked in an oven roaster over night on 150 degree and had done really well to cook down. I blended the sauce with the peels and it thickened the sauce even more. It turned out great. IT WILL MAKE MY NEXT BATCH A BREEZE.

You gave us a brown sugar tip . Wow! Who knew. Brilliant. Is there a recipiie for this speggitti sause ? My daughter is home with us canning .You have changed our lives. thank you.

Thank you for this!!

Thank you soooo much😊

I use tomato skins and all I throw nothing away it’s delicious

Hi there! This year is my first year having a garden and preserving my harvest with canning and I love watching your videos! My tomatoes are coming in but not a bunch at one time yet to start my spaghetti sauce. I want to make sure my tomatoes do not go bad so can you please let me know how you freeze tomatoes? Do you put the whole tomatoes in freezer bags and that’s it or is there a few other steps? Thanks a bunch!!

You can also use baking soda to reduce the acidity.

I add shredded carrots to my sauce at times which adds sugar and other times I do add brown sugar

New subscriber. Love your content. Found you through Acre Homestead.

I love that handle metal strainer you dipped the tomatoes out with. Where did you get it? I need one of those babies! I love the chat type video and wonderful ideas!

Thank you for these delicious recipes and ideas. How do you keep your sauce from burning along the top edges? I made pizza sauce yesterday in my roaster and it stuck and burnt on along the top where it had simmered down :(

If you remove the core and throw all the tomatoes including skin into a vitamix blender it makes making sauce so much easier and you save all the nutrients.

I made this past fall. NUM

They called the coring tool the tomato shark when I worked at a coffee shop.

Dang it all, I only got 20 lbs of tomatos, I need to go buy 30lbs more to make 50 lbs thanks for recipe

Am going to try your sauce recipe this fall. Two of us have acid reflux and preservatives in store bought sauce set it off terrible. Sugar helps the acidity. Concerned about adding the lemon juice though.

I can’t find the recipe and i wanted to know how much i use of seasoning. Thank you so much.

Look on Pinterest; I found a barbecue sauce made with leftover cowboy candy sauce!

That little tools is also good to get that the root end of your onions off

I grew up in the US but my parents are from Mexico. In my house holds growing up my mom hated when people would say I don't care to her. Till this day it rubs me wrong if someone tells me the same.

Question about freezing tomatoes until you have enough to make sauce. Do you just freeze them whole and thaw when you’re ready to make sauce? If so, does it make a runnier sauce?

you can make cowboy candy bbq sauce with the cowboy candy syrup

Rachel i love your recipe and want to make 1liter jar instead or 500ml. How much lemon and would the process time be the same? Thank you

Can you use fresh herbs (I'm growing them in my garden)?

Could I double the onion and leave the peppers out? Would the acidity still be ok for canning? I am new to canning.

Hi Rachael. I just got a roaster like yours for my birthday today. I read the instructions but it doesn’t say the temp for tomatoes. May I ask, What temp do you use for your toms? I just got 50 lbs and want to make them asap. Thanks so much! ❤️🙏🏻

Thanks for the video. I'm wondering...did you leave the seeds in? Or did I miss you mentioning seeds? I don't have a food mill so I'm wondering if it is ok to leave the seeds in? Thanks for the video and recipe. You are so pleasant to listen to and learn from. Your voice us soothing. 🙂

Your tomatoes are beautiful! What varieties are growing?

Can you make this sauce without using the Amino Acid ? What is the purpose of the Amino Acid ? Thanks .love the video .