Getting overwhelmed with all the fresh ripe tomatoes from your garden? Yeah me too! But it’s a good overwhelm. Today let’s talk about how to water bath can roasted marinara sauce.
Tomato plants is one of my favorite things to grow because of all the things you can make with them. Some are easy and some are a little more time consuming. While this isn’t the fastest or easiest preservation method for tomatoes, it certainly is delicious!
Make sure to check out my top 3 ways to preserve tomatoes, homemade ketchup, and even how to water bath can garden fresh salsa!
There are so many options that you can do with tomatoes from tomato paste to BBQ sauce, but water bath canned roasted marinara sauce is probably one of my favorites. There is just nothing better then grabbing a mason jar off your shelf of homemade tomato sauce to serve for dinner.
Take advantage this tomato season to grow as many as you can, so you can put up the abundance of tomatoes you get! If you can’t grow them, take advantage the next time a neighbor asks if you need tomatoes or of your local farmers market. Both are a great way to get lots of yummy tomato products up on your shelf.

What equipment do you need?
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In order to make this particular tomato sauce there is some equipment you will need.
There are so many ways to make tomato sauce. You can blanch them and peel each individual skin off. Then core them yourself. Or I even have friends who leave the skins, seeds, and cores on and blend it all up right there. That’s how I make my garden fresh tomato sauce straight from the garden or with my frozen garden tomatoes and it’s delicious! Every year I freeze bags of my cherry tomatoes and that makes the best cherry tomato sauce.
I love using fresh ingredients to make simple meals.
Food Mill
In this recipe I am using a food mill to get all my skins and seeds out and to get a smooth sauce. This takes time and it is kind of messy, but it makes the best smoothest sauce so I don’t mind taking a day and doing it once a year.

I have two kinds of mills that I have used. This food mill attaches to your table or counter. It does the best job in my opinion. However, for a quick and easy method I have also used this food mill that hangs on your pot. It is less messy and you don’t have as many bowls and pots involved to catch all the skins and discard. However, I don’t feel like you get as much pulp with your tomato juice. I feel like there is a lot of waste.
Water Bath Canner and Supplies
Along with a food mill, you will also need a water bath canner and the canning tools to go with it.
When you are ready for the canning process, you will need mason jars, lids, and rings as well. Make sure you are buying new lids for every canning project. I get all my canning lids from Denali Canning. Their lids have a preserve lock seal and they have been a game changer since I started using them. Make sure to use code STEPHANIEHAGLUND for 10% off your order.
Food Processor
Lastly, you may want to use a food processor to chop your peppers and onions, although it isn’t necessary.
Finally you will need a large roasting pan for all the tomatoes to go into the oven.
Now that you have all the equipment that you need, let’s get started with this delicious sauce.
Ingredients:
- 20 lbs fresh tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 TBSP dried oregano
- 1 TBSP salt
- 2 tsp ground pepper
- 1 cup dry red or white wine
- 2 tsp citric acid or 1/2 cup bottled lemon juice
How to make roasted marinara sauce:
This sauce makes about 4 quart jars or 6 pint jars.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and wash all your tomatoes.
- Slice tomatoes in half or quarters and arrange them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Your roasted tomatoes should be very soft and starting to turn golden brown. Set aside to cool.
- Using a food processor or by hand, cut all your onions and peppers.
- Place onions in a large pot and cook until onions are caramelized. Remove from heat while you process the tomatoes.
- Working in batches, press all the tomatoes through a food mill into a large bowl. Discard all the skins and seeds.
- Add the tomato puree to the pot with the caramelized onions. Add all other ingredients besides the citric acid or lemon juice and turn your stove onto medium heat.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until it has thickened to your desired texture. This can take several hours depending on the variety of tomatoes you are using and how juicy they are.
- Turn the sauce off, remove the bay leaves, and stir in the citric acid or lemon juice.

How to Water Bath Can Roasted Marinara Sauce:
- While your sauce is cooking down, fill your canner with several inches of water and turn on medium to begin to heat up
- Wash all your glass jars with warm soapy water and place them in the canner to stay warm.
- Once your sauce has become the desired texture, remove each of your jars and ladle the hot sauce into the jars to a 1/2″ head space.
- Release all the air bubbles by sticking the back of a wooden spoon in each of the jars. Add more sauce if needed to maintain the 1/2″ headspace.
- Wipe the rims of each jar with a clean dish towel, place lids and rings on. Screw down fingertip tight.
- Place all the filled jars back into the canner, making sure the jars are completely covered by at least 1″ of water.
- Place lid on and turn stove on high. Bring water to a full rolling boil.
- Process both pint and quart jars at a full rolling boil for 40 minutes, adjust for your elevation.
- After they have processed, turn heat off and remove lid for 5 minutes.
- Remove each jar and place on a clean dish towel. Leave undisturbed for 12-24 hours.
- Check seals, remove rings, wipe down jars, and label with contents and year. Store jars out of direct sunlight.
What do we use our roasted marinara sauce in?
When it comes to sauce, this is the only one I can. I will use this roasted marinara sauce on our favorite pasta with some ground beef, as a pizza sauce, or even in lasagna. It is such a flavorful sauce that you won’t need anything else for all your red sauce needs.

If you just want to make the sauce and not can it, you can keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week or you can freeze the sauce in freezer bags for 6 months to a year.
If you are choosing to freeze it, try freezing some of the sauce into ice cube trays. Then you can pop a little cube into any dish for the best flavor!
This roasted marinara sauce has delicious flavors and is our favorite homemade sauce. Make sure to give it a try with all those juicy ripe tomatoes in your garden this year!
Roasted Marinara Sauce
Equipment
- Food Mill
- Water Bath Canner
Materials
- 20 lbs 20 lbs fresh tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
- 6 cloves minced garlic
- 1 TBSP dried oregano
- 1 TBSP salt
- 2 tsp ground pepper
- 1 cup dry red or white wine
- 2 tsp citric acid or 1/2 cup lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and wash all your tomatoes.
- Slice tomatoes in half or quarters and arrange them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Your roasted tomatoes should be very soft and starting to turn golden brown. Set aside to cool.
- Using a food processor or by hand, cut all your onions and peppers. Place onions in a large pot and cook until onions are caramelized. Remove from heat while you process the tomatoes.
- Working in batches, press all the tomatoes through a food mill into a large bowl. Discard all the skins and seeds.
- Add the tomato puree to the pot with the caramelized onions.
- Add all other ingredients besides the citric acid or lemon juice and turn your stove onto medium heat.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until it has thickened to your desired texture. This can take several hours depending on the variety of tomatoes you are using and how juicy they are.
- Turn the sauce off, remove the bay leaves, and stir in the citric acid or lemon juice.
Water Bath Canning Sauce
- While your sauce is cooking down, fill your canner with several inches of water and turn on medium to begin to heat up.
- Wash all your glass jars with warm soapy water and place them in the canner to stay warm.
- Once your sauce has become the desired texture, remove each of your jars and ladle the hot sauce into the jars to a 1/2" head space.
- Release all the air bubbles by sticking the back of a wooden spoon in each of the jars. Add more sauce if needed to maintain the 1/2" headspace.
- Wipe the rims of each jar with a clean dish towel, place lids and rings on. Screw down fingertip tight.
- Place all the filled jars back into the canner, making sure the jars are completely covered by at least 1" of water.
- Place lid on and turn stove on high. Bring water to a full rolling boil.Process both pint and quart jars at a full rolling boil for 40 minutes, adjust for your elevation.
- After they have processed, turn heat off and remove lid for 5 minutes. Remove each jar and place on a clean dish towel. Leave undisturbed for 12-24 hours.
- Check seals, remove rings, wipe down jars, and label with contents and year. Store jars out of direct sunlight.
Your ingredients and instructions don’t match??? Can I add fresh basil?
I apologize, which part doesn’t match so I can clarify for you and make any necessary changes to the recipe on the post? And yes if you want to add in fresh basil you are welcome to!