Stephanie's Freezer Spaghetti Sauce

I did this in a lobster pot on the stove because there isn't a crock pot big enough for the bounty of tomatoes I had from the garden this year. The seasonings for this recipe are good and proportionate, and for a meatless sauce, it is outstanding. I did not use any oil. I chop and add veggies to the pot as is. I blanched and peeled the tomatoes, though, and left them chunky. Also, I added a lot of green peppers, onions, and fresh mushrooms to make it stocky, and I added more tomato paste because I like the sauce thick. This is as good a basic recipe as I've tried. Thanks.

Have made this recipe multiple times. The sauce is wonderful and I end up cooking it in the slow cooker overnight. Makes a LOT! Best served on tortallini and used for lasagna. I usually add a full can of tomato paste for EACH quart I freeze otherwise sauce is "waterery".

This recipe was really good. I cut the recipe in half b/c that was all the tomatoes that I had. I needed a way to use my tomatoes and ones that a friend gave me. I did cook on low for about 6 hours. I omitted the bell pepper b/c my family doesn't like them. I added extra garlic (b/c we love garlic, I roasted it first and used the whole head) and some red pepper flakes. I used my Braun hand mixer to puree the sauce. I used the whole can of tomato paste. It is a very good sauce. Tastes like a basic sauce, but better than the jarred stuff. I froze in 3 ziplock freezer bags for later. ********Update: I made this again. Just a week later. This time I used the full 16 cups of tomatoes. Well a little over. I bought over 5 lbs of plum tomatoes. I still left out the bell pepper, and added about 3/4 tsp red pepper flakes, 2 bay leaves, and 2 heads roasted garlic (drizzle with olive oil and cook 35 min. in 400 degree oven, squeeze out garlic). I followed the rest of the ingredients exactly. I left it on low in the crockpot for 8 hours. When I came home it smelled like an italian resturant. I removed the bay leaves and pureed the sauce with my Braun hand mixer to make it smooth adn added 1 can of tomato paste. It made about 3 1/2 quarts. I plan on freezing it. My last batch is gone already. It was excellent! I made spagetti and meatballs and eggplant lasagna with the sauce last time.

I made minimal changes to this recipe when trying it for the first time - I peeled the tomatoes first (personal preference), reduced the sugar to only 1/8 cup, and reduced the salt to 1-1/2 tbls - I did make this on the stove, simmered it for three hours. Served it to my ITALIAN father-in-law and he declared it "Great" - he said his mother used to make a sauce like it many years ago. Some of us topped it with feta cheese, and some of us topped it with shredded parmesean (instead of grated). Thanks very much for the recipe Stephanie- it's a keeper!

Hey Hey! I made my own sauce! This is a great way to use up tomatoes about to go bad. I did not deviate from the recipe at all except to slow cook it on the stovetop instead of the crockpot. As such, I think it was a bit too salty. Next time, I think I will add mushrooms. This recipe definately has a lot room for creativity. FYI - one batch fills 2 28 oz (Barilla sized) pasta sauce jars.

I just made this last night. It was a lot of chopping, but well worth it. I froze 3 batches and we ate a batch for dinner. It will be a real treat this winter. Everybody had seconds. This is a keeper and a great way to use up your gardern or veggies that you picked up at the Farmers Market. I added jalepeno to give it a little kick. Awesome! PS: Don't forget it is 1 can of tomato paste per quart.

I did scald and peel my tomatoes first. I gave this 5 stars due to how great it tastes and how easy it was. I have spent a lot more on ingredients and time on other spaghetti sauces and this one was just as good AND simple.

I have a question. Why add the tomato paste when ready to use? Can't you freeze the entire recipe with the tomato paste? It sounds fabulous and I can't wait to try it. thank you

We loved this recipe and were able to use lots of our fresh garden tomatoes. I made it as outlined except added a full can of tomato paste, a few sliced mushrooms and a little extra seasoning (we like ours spicier). It was great! I even added a few partially cooked meatballs halfway through the cooking time. I made the recipe to eat right away. Now that I have found out how good it is and how easy to make, I will make a few more batches to freeze.

A great, basic recipe. While dipping the tomatoes in a hot water bath to get the skins off, I let them sit in there for about 5 minutes. This cooks the tomatoes down a bit. I then let them sit in a collander for about 30 minutes to drain out the excess juice which makes the sauce runny.

Awesome recipe! For those who say it's watery, the trick I use is to boil (then put in cold water) and peel the tomatos, then cut them in half and squeeze out as much of the water as possible, as well as getting rid of the seeds. That should help. Also, for people who are hesitant about adding sugar...it counter acts the tomatoes, and is what gives it more of a "spaghetti sauce" flavor, rather than an overly tomato paste flavor. I usually start by just adding a little bit, and continue to add until it tastes right. I don't think I've ever used 1/4 of a cup, though. Don't be afraid of the sugar! Just some thoughts...love making this!

This was a lot of work - but worth it! Couple changes (I know, I know!) - I did peel and seed my tomatoes (boiling water/ice bath method), cut the sugar, added red pepper flakes, pureed the sauce, and simmered on the stove top. The sauce is thin as is, but is perfect when you put in the paste and simmer a bit longer. Note - a 6 oz can of paste is needed for every quart of sauce you have (4 cups = 1 quart). Also, I found when using my big boy tomatoes that each tomato was roughly a cup of chopped tomatoes. I did freeze my three remaining quarts without the paste, I like the idea of simmering the sauce with the can of paste and maybe adding fresh herbs before serving. Tasty, thanks for sharing!

This sauce is the best. I only made half a batch just in case I didn't like it, and now I wish I had made more!

I followed the recipe as written. The sauce was amazing, but watery, until I added the 6 oz of tomato paste. It was terrible after that and I tried adding back more spices, pepper, a little sugar, etc. and it still tasted like tomato paste. I'll try just adding cornstarch whisked with water to the next quart. I am surprised no one else has commented on the bad tomato paste flavor. This leads me to believe I'm doing something wrong. If you have any ideas, please let me know! I still have more in the freezer without the paste.

Someone gave me about 40 beefsteak tomatoes and I blanched them, removed the peel, and squeezed them to break them up. I followed the recipe except I didn't use a green pepper and I used fresh basil. I substituted Splenda for the white sugar and sauteed the onions and garlic on top of the stove. When the onion were translucent, I transferred them into my crock pot. I have a huge crock pot and it was filled to the top. I cooked it on high for 2 hours and on low for about 4 hours. I let it sit overnight until it was completely cooled down and loaded them into quart and gallon bags to freeze. I will add tomato paste when they're defrosted and I hope to have enough sauce for most of the winter. I tasted it all along and it was great. I even made a quart of tomato juice before even putting the tomatoes into the crock pot. Thanks for this great recipe, Stephanie.

I actually had 16 cups of tomatoes on hand from my CSA box, so this was perfect for me. I used everthing except for the bell pepper. It turned out really flavorful and my husband and I look forward to eating this spaghetti sauce all winter.

I scaled the recipe back as I only had about 3.5 cups chopped tomatoes, left out the green pepper, sauteed on the stove, extra garlic and extra basil and oregano, used olive oil - I was too impatient and only simmered for an hour, it's delicious! It is sweet, but I like sweet.

You don't have to add tomato paste to thicken it. just add cornstarch whisked with a little cold water...then drizzle the mixture into the hot mixture...it will thicken nicely. This way you don't have the canned tomato paste taste nor the expense of buying it.

Soooo good! And very easy. Thanks!

This recipe was very easy and very good. I followed the directions using many items from my garden. I also used a mixture of fresh and dried herbs since I had some fresh items from my garden as well. The tomato paste really makes the difference here and it is a very important step not to be missed. It thickens it completely up. I just wish there was some way to make it thick by using fresh ingredients so it could be 100% organic from my garden. One tip - we divided it in half and used Mexican spices in one half and we made a great sauce for enchiladas and other Mexican items.

Worst mess I have ever tried

Great recipe. I upped the garlic to 6 cloves, used 2 cups chopped onions, coconut oil in place of vegetable oil, fresh basil and parsley from my garden, sea salt and 2 cans of tomato sauce that I put in before cooling the sauce. I found that I neded about 17 or 18 large tomatoes to get 16 cups as called for. I also pureed the sauce after it was done. I don't like chunky tomatoes in my spaghetti sauce. After pureeing it was perfect. I then vacuumed sealed lots of pint mason jars and froze a lot of it for this winter. Great recipe....yummy spaghetti sauce.

Awesome sauce! I simmered all on the stove for several hours, cut the sugar and salt to 1 T. and used olive oil (a must in my opinion for anything Italian), and used 2 T. Italian seasoning and 1 T. oregano with fresh basil for the herbs. I also added the tomato paste. It made about 4 quart jars. I will definitely be making this recipe again!

I have made this recipe for a couple of seasons now. Very easy but takes some time. I make it in a dutch oven on the stove. It's not quite so messy this way. I blanched and peeled my tomatoes first and removed the seeds. It makes for a thicker sauce. I also used a whole head of garlic and added some carrots from my garden. I think this year I will add some zuccini as well. I add the tomato paste before I freeze and I puree the sauce. My family does not like chuncky sauce. LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!! Very fresh and tasty!!

Love it. Great for summer when we have tons of tomatoes in the garden. Made tons! Haven't bought a jar since. Just wondered why chop the tomatoes? It's a waste of time. They fall apart on their own when you cook them. It looks more like a regular spagetti sauce when the tomatoes are not diced before cooking... And more like a salsa when you do. I also blanched them first to get the skins off.

Is there a certain type of tomato that should be used for this recipe (or would be best)?

I made and froze this sauce at the end of last summer and I am still using it up. Very good! I also peeled the tomatoes by blanching first. I omitted the green pepper and I simmered for a couple hours on the stove top instead of using a slow cooker. As a previous reviewer noted, I add a 6oz can of tomato paste for each quart when I heat it up. I will definitely use this recipe again this summer.

This is pretty good. It was a bit acidic, but I eliminated the sugar--bf hates it in spaghetti sauce. I really don't know how much I made, bc I gave up on measuring. I did attempt to follow the recipe amounts at first, but that didn't last long. . . anyway, I peeled the tomatoes by boiling them for a minute then the skins came right off. I also just broke up the tomatoes with my hands as another reviewer did. I didn't have peppers to add, but I did add mushrooms (for the bf)and 2 bay leaves. I added a 12 oz can of tomato paste to all of it and it was the perfect consistency for me. Very good, thanks!

Delicious! Used produce from my garden: tomatoes (peeled, partly seeded and diced), peppers, onions, and threw in a patty pan squash and some mushrooms. Cooked in a 6 qt. slow cooker on low for about 6 hours. I saved the juice from prepping the tomatoes, and mixed several Tbsp of cornstarch with a cupful near the end of cooking to thicken it up. Won't need to add the tomato paste when preparing to serve. We enjoyed some over angel hair pasta that night, and froze the rest. A definite keeper for freezer pasta sauce!

This is a fantastic sauce! I made 8 quarts with my yellow and pink heirloom tomatoes from the garden this summer. Used the sauce in lasagna, and it was the best lasagna I've made. I won't "waste" the sauce on regular spaghetti now, but save it all for lasagna. I will definitely be making this again next year. The only change I made was to cook it on the stove-top for about 2 hours instead of using the slow cooker.

I make this every few months and it is so worth it! You can't find a jarred sauce at the store that can beat this. Depending on my mood, I will add mushrooms, more garlic, port wine, etc... Sometimes I leave out the meat, whatever our tastes are at the time. It's a very versatile recipe and freezes very well.

Instead of chopping all those tomatoes, quarter them and put them in the blender, peel and all. This works great for using up all those cherry tomatoes, too.

Absolutely wonderful! We used our fresh tomatoes, fresh parsley, and fresh basil from our garden. The only thing we changed is we did not use the bell pepper and instead of vegetable oil we used olvie oil and only 1 tbl of it. The 1/2 cup is not needed!

I scaled this recipe to suit the amount of tomatoes I had to use. I also used fresh herbs from my garden and adjusted the amounts accordingly. I added mushrooms, a little balsamic vinegar and a dash of red pepper flakes. After simmering, the sauce was awesome. I froze most, but saved some to reheat for supper. It was great. I hope the the thawed results are just as good.

Turned out great - we used up the fresh tomatoes from the garden, red instead of green peppers (since that's what we grew in the garden too) and added some extra red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit, but other than that we followed the recipe as it was. We also added a big can of tomato paste before freezing and the sauce defrosted perfectly! Thanks so much for this great, easy, and tasty recipe!

I just realized that I have not reviewed this recipe. We made this spaghetti sauce last summer with fresh veggies from the garden. This was alot easier than some sauce recipes. I do think the sauce is a bit on the runny side but the tomato paste does help a little. I like using the roasted garlic tomato paste for extra flavor.

I think that this recipe is PERFECT! I used less salt because someone reveiwed and said too much salt. I used 2 teaspoons salt. I also did not freeze this, I canned it! Worked out wonderfully! Thanks !

This is a great recipe! There's nothing like homemade sauce, and I love to utilize my slow cooker as often as possible.

Excellent recipe!! I followed the recipe with the exception of adding mushrooms and I added the paste in the beginning instead and I also made it on the stove top. I have seven bags in my freezer from the first time I made it and I have a huge batch on my stove as I am writing this review. Will make this over and over!

Yummy! My kids aren't big on veggies so once everything was soft after cooking I blended with my hand blender and they had no idea I had added veggies to their dinner! Added different veggies each time I have made it. Carrots, bell peppers, whatever sounds good to you will work with this fantastic recipe!

You definitely need the tomato paste so it isn't so watery. I have a 6 quart crock pot and it was filled to the brim but it all fit! I actually cooked it on low for 8 hrs... the longer it cooked, the better it tasted. If you have a big crock you can pull this off but it's got to be at least 6 quarts to get it all in! Very yummy!!!!

This recipe is a great way to use up my garden tomatoes. I did blanch the tomatoes to remove the skins, then cut them in wedges to remove most of the seeds. The suace was a bit thin, but when I was heating it for dinner, I threw a few spaghetti noodles in the sauce. They helped absorb some of the extra water/juice. I liked the flavor was not too spicy for the kids.

Wonderful spaghetti sauce. I made numerous batches of this last summer on the stovetop rather than the slow cooker. I just cooked on med-low for 2 hours until it reached the thickness I wanted. I froze it in Ziplock bags. If you want a nice thick sauce, that doesn't water up and run all over your pasta, make sure you add the can of tomato paste when using this in a recipe. This is a wonderful recipe to use those summer tomatoes. Since making this last summer I have not purchased any store bought spaghetti sauce.

Thought this made a great homemade sauce. I did use fresh basil instead of dried for more flavor. I cooked for 2 1/2 hours then had to put in fridge overnight (it was already 11:00pm) Next day I added tomato paste but had to add almost 2 6oz cans to get it to my own personal desired thickness. Believe this recipe is a great one to tweek to suit your own tastes.

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Yum! This was just the recipe I was looking for. I followed the recipe, except I omitted the tomato paste. Instead, I uncovered my crock pot for the last 30-45 minutes to let it thicken on it's own.

This recipe worked AWESOME, even though I reduced it by a factor of 8! I divided the recipe by 8 because I was only cooking for 2 and those were the ingredients that we had, but I did add a whole 6 oz can of tomato paste. I blanched 3 large tomatoes first and then peeled and chopped them. I added everything to the crock pot (except I didn't use oil and I used fresh herbs instead of dried) without sauteeing anything first and cooked on high about 3.5 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so. Then I turned it to low and let it just stay hot while I cooked some hot italian brats, sliced them and put them in the sauce for another 30 minutes or so. This was delicious over spaghetti and a great way to use all our produce. The leftovers were even better the next day.

I was overrun with tomatoes and had this recipe suggested to me on the morning buzz. What a great recipe! I cooked the sauce on top of the stove in my dutch oven versus the crockpot. Had plenty of fresh oregano & basill so added those. I simmered the sauce all afternoon, about four hours, on low. It smelled so good! I did freeze the sauce, but I could not wait and pulled the first batch out of the freezer within the week. I browned ground beef, added 2 quart bags of the sauce, and two small cans of tomato paste. Simmered all for about forty minutes or so. Delish! Thanks for a great recipe and an excellent way to use up plentiful garden tomatoes :)

Really was very good. Been looking for a good fresh tomato recipe and this was it. Even my very picky husband agreed. Will keep this one.

Awesome recipe. I love that I don't have to peel the tomatoes. So much less work than most of the recipes. I've added a couple of chopped eggplants as well. Adds some extra nutrition and you can barely tell it's there!

I have made this 3 years in a row and it's great! My only tweaks is to use fresh basil, fresh oregano, and replace the green bell pepper with a red bell pepper (we're not green pepper fans). It froze beautifully and tasted SO fresh even out of the freezer.

I'm sure this recipe would be wonderful -just be sure to use FRESH tomatoes, NOT CANNED. Using canned tomatoes turned out just okay. 4 Stars because of the potential. Don't change the recipe.

This is the best homemade spaghetti sauce recipe I've ever found! I used up a ton of garden tomatoes with this recipe!

I bought an outrageous amount of tomatoes at the local farmers market to make sauce, salsa, etc. This recipe was one of the few that called for the highest amount of fresh ingredients. I made this sauce a few months back for a fellow co-worker who was promoted; we had a "snack day". I made it with Turkey meatballs, enough for about 12-14 people. My husband took a small taste before I left home with it and was so impressed he was VERY disappointed to find out it wasn't for the family's supper that night. I went to work with a full crock-pot and it didn't last 2 hours....I had tried before to make my own sauce and never succeeded...the only person who made the best homemade sauce was my mother (in my opinion). This was pretty close, if not better. Sorry for not rating this before, but it certainly deserves some praise. I CANNOT wait to make it again!

This was my first try at making sauce from tomatoes, and it came out great! I made very minimal changes (I used dried parsey instead of fresh, I only used 1 onion and I added a few bay leaves) and I loved the end results. I also browned some spicy italian sausage and meatballs and threw them in to simmer with the sauce. Will definitely make again.

GREAT SAUCE!! We have been making this nearly a year now and my family LOVES it! My family does not like chunky veggie style sauce, but I follow this recipe in addition to adding a couple of peeled/diced carrots, mushrooms, sometimes a red bell pepper, zucchini, and yellow squash. I cook it on low for 6-10 hours then let cool completely before putting in quart freezer bag. I puree with a hand blender so it's nearly chunk free. It is watery when defrosted, but heated on the stove with one can of paste and it's perfect! Natural, filling, and packed full of veggies!

I make this recipe every summer with my abundance of tomatoes and freeze quarts of it to hold me over through the winter. Great recipe. Excellent taste!

Wonderful staple sauce. I blended mine in the food processor and added a touch more garlic. Also, I simmered it on the stove because my slow-cooker couldn't hold this large of a batch. I cheated and stirred in the tomato paste before transferring it to freezer bags. I'm not sure if it made any difference because it still freezes great and has a great texture. I'll keep this one on hand regularly.

Due to mixed reviews, I cooked my sauce on the stovetop until it was the desired consistency (about two and a half hours). As other reviewers have mentioned, peeling the tomatoes first is a good idea. I thought the recipe was pretty fantastic. Only changes I made were to use fresh herbs instead of dried (because I had them) and I added a couple of bay leaves. Also, I'd recommend cutting the salt in half. You can always add more later. I used the sauce last night for baked ravioli (beef ravioli layered with the sauce and shredded mozzarella) and it got rave reviews.

Awesome. We canned this instead of freezing it, just because we like to can.

Stephanie's Freezer Spaghetti Sauce Haiku: "Fresh tomatoes, yay! Why not use all fresh herbs too? Not quite thick enough." Tomatoes abound in my garden right now, so while plucking those, I grabbed handfuls of oregano, basil and parsley too, and I took the extra time to quickly boil and peel the tomatoes. Stayed faithful to the rest of the ingredients, and my only complaint was that even w/ the tomato paste, it was still a thin sauce that didn't cling to pasta at all. The taste was great, but I like a little more thickness to my sauce.

5 star recipe! I had lots of tomatoes and I am not a canner so I was thrilled to find this recipe, as my family and I love Italian food. I made and froze several batches of this in the past two weeks. Some things I did differently: I cooked it on the stove and in 1/2 batches so I could use my Dutch oven. I kept all of the ingredients the same except I increased the amount of garlic. I blanched the tomatoes so I could remove the skin. While cooking I simmered for 2 hours with the lid on and then for another 2-3 hours uncovered until the consistency looked just right. I added the tomato paste during the last bit of cooking. My family loved this and all agreed that it was much, much better than jarred sauce. One big problem: we have already started to eat the sauce and I am sure it won't last long!

Great flavor! We canned this recipe to use throughout the year. Good flavor, we doubled the recipe, omitted the oil, and saved the paste for when we serve the sauce. Also, thought to add meat and mushrooms, etc. then as well. We let this cook all afternoon and it was great.

We love this. I don't use vegetable oil but brown ground beef, usually around 3-4 lbs. I drain off as much of the fat as possible. I use a total of 24 oz of tomato paste and don't add the sugar until the end of the simmer time. I add about 1/8 cup. If I use canned tomatoes (no salt added), not fresh from the garden, I use even less sugar. I have never used a crock pot but have always done this stovetop. Thanks for a great post here.

Delicious. I peeled my tomatoes (boil/ice bath method) and chopped them - about 9 cups worth. My edits: I used olive oil, and not quite as much as called for, I used fresh basil, and I put 12oz of tomato paste in while the sauce was cooking. I also did it in a dutch oven on the stove, as opposed to a slow cooker. I simmered for a couple of hours and we ate some with pasta for dinner - amazing! I can't tell you what it'll taste like after freezing, but it was the best pasta sauce I've had (meatless). Thanks for the recipe!

I did like this recipe. It's a great way to use up tomatoes. I used varying types tomatoes... and made half the recommended batch. I did use fresh basil and eliminated the green pepper. I let the sauce cook as recommended, cooled it, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The next day, I pureed part of it and mixed it all together. It's a little thinner than I would like, but delicious... my husband and son ate it right up too! Will make again (assuming I am lucky enough to have that many tomatoes!).

Delicious use of garden tomatoes, and so nice to have my freezer full of spaghetti sauce ready to go! This is my 2nd year making this, I make several (large) batches a year. I make this in a 12 qt stockpot, and since my kids don't like "chunks" in their sauce, I pureed the veggies in the food processor first. (And I add 8 oz. mushrooms and a zucchini). I don't add any sugar. Add Italian Seasoning, fresh basil, and a few shakes of crushed red pepper. I store it in quart sized freezer bags and have really enjoyed having it.

Used fresh basil, oregano and rosemary, since that's what I had. Taste was a little sweet, will decrease sugar the next time. Also was a bit to liquidy, even after adding paste to serve, but will just use a little more tomato paste. All in all, quite a success!

I have made this several times over and decided I needed to put a review up. I live in china so getting 'canned' staples to make spaghetti sauce is hard. I was able to find tomato paste but never the stewed tomatoes that other recipes required. I am so happy to have found this one! My husband just loves it. It is easy to do and taste great. I do blanche the tomatoes slightly to peel them (just because I like it that way) and sometimes i have thrown in some ground pork/sometimes not. Either way works well. It freezes great and I love that I do it one time and it yields several meals worth for down the road. Thank you for this excellent recipe! You have done me a big favor over here :)

I suggest using shredded carrots, (2 or three of them), to replace the sugar. I have also added mushrooms (a pound of sliced white mushrooms is nice for most people, but I would put in 3-4 if I could being a BIG mushroom lover) and 2-3 diced zucchini. This adds more veggies to the sauce and makes moms happier when their kids eat veggies. Who's gonna tell the kids right? I also cook this in a big pot on the stove, putting the tomato paste in at the beginning. My sister bakes hers in the oven. This is an all day thing, cutting veggies at 6 to get the sauce on the stove at 8am in time for dinner at 6 pm. The house smells great, and the sauce freezes well in single portions, (1 cup), or multiple portions 4 or more depending on who is at the table and portion size. Can throw meat in or veggie ground round, and adjust for spiciness.

I have never made homemade spaghetti sauce and thought I would try this as it seemed fairly easy! I love that I can make it in a slow cooker and save my burners for other things while I make it. I did halve the sugar but after tasting I think I would add a little more than I did. I think the next time I will also add another clove or two of garlic (only because we love garlic in my house lol). Other than that I thought this was a great recipe with lots of room to customize how you like your sauce! Will definitely make this to freeze as I should have plenty of tomatoes from the garden at the end of the season!

Our family didn't enjoy this too well. I have a ton of tomatoes and the first time I made this I improvised quite a bit and it wasn't very good. The second time I followed the recipe much more closely and it still didn't have very good flavor. Sorry.

Quick and easy (once you peel and chop the tomatoes). Loved being able to throw it in the slow cooker and forget about it! I chopped my tomatoes a bit big so I ended up using my blender to make some of it smooth and then mixed it with the chunky. I left out the bell pepper (didn't have it on hand). I used it later with the meatballs from "Italian Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs" on this site and it was delicious! :) Will do again with my next load of tomatoes!

Used my garden veggies for this and followed the recipe exactly. Then I canned in (I'm running out of freezer space). Opened a jar last night to make spaghetti and my husband couldn't believe it was my homemade sauce. We all LOVED it!! Thank you for this great recipe.

I follow the recipe exactly. Great as is..but even better if served with good sweet Italian sausage and with some heavy cream added just before serving...YUMMO!

very good. good way to use up lots of tomatoes. i thought I had alot of tomatoes, but had to use some canned as it called for more than I had still. froze, and tastes good. and very easy besides all the chopping of tomatoes. didn't peel tomatoes or seed them. may peel next time, but might not be worth the effort as it wasn't that big of deal

I would rate this as EXCEPTIONAL! I made this recipe this summer to use up all the tomatoes we had in our garden as well as the onion, green pepper, basil and parsley. I used my pyrex measuring cup and froze (28oz? same as jar of Prego) into gallon freezer bags. Laid them flat on cookie sheets to freeze and stacked them in the freezer. I am just getting around to reviewing this the following January and I love it more every time I use it. Thank you Stephanie!!

Nice flavors. Kind of chunky, and after tasting it, decided to leave it and use as pizza sauce. Did not add the tomato paste. Thanks a lot, Stephanie

very good sauce! I sauted the veggies on the stove and then added all ingredients together in the crockpot. I only had 12 cups of tomatoes after cutting them all up, but decided to make the recipe with the same amount of ingredients listed. I think it turned out wonderful (we like full-flavored food though). I will make again with only 12 cups of tomatoes. I also let it cook over night in the crockpot in hopes that it would make it less watery, and it did. It came out just right to add an 8 oz can of tomato paste and serve when ready. I got 5 quart size freezer containers full from this recipe.

First time I have ever made spaghetti sauce from scratch with my garden tomatoes. The sauce had more spice/kick to it than I expected, so that was nice! I decided to freeze all of it since I feel like it's more of a "winter" spaghetti sauce than a more cool, refreshing, blander "summer" spaghetti sauce. Yum! Will make it again.

My husband and I made this sauce and love it.

Very good sauce we both enjoyed it.

Made it with double bell pepper and a pound of mushrooms. Also used fresh basil and it was TO DIE FOR. I could eat it plain with no spaghetti and be perfectly happy. I think next time I will reduce the sugar by half. It is sweet but yummy!

I used this as a base recipe & customized it after reading several of the reviews. I also pureed it after it was done cooking as I snuck in several fresh zucchini's. I also used some of my jalapeno's to up the flavor kick! A great starting point for a recipe... use your imagination & your family's tastes & you too will have a winning recipe!

I made this to try and use up some of the tomatoes we had around. It's a great base recipe that I modified a little to our tastes.

My husband and I made this together and liked the results. We'd consider removing the tomato skins when we make it again.

Great basic recipe! Next time I will double the garlic; the sauce was wonderful but it needed more garlic for our tastes. Thanks for the perfect way to empty my garden & fill my freezer with a healthy sauce that I can use for pizzas, lasagna, spaghetti or just dipping bread in, YUM!

Excellent!

good base recipe. had to add a lot more seasoning.kinda bland. also had to strain tomato peel from sauce.

This sauce is amazing! I was out of parsley and I didn't realize until I was already in the process and it still has great flavor. We added 2 jalapenos and 1/2 red hot cherry bomb pepper. Yum! The recipe says it yields 3 quarts, but my 6.5 quart dutch oven is nearly full.

As I was making this I didn't think I was going to like it, but it actually turned out to be really good. When I served it, I added some meatballs to beef it up a bit.

Probably the best recipe ever for spaghetti sauce!. Had a bumper crop of tomatoes last summer so my freezer is loaded with this fabulous meal. YUM!!!!

I have made this sauce twice and my entire family loves it! After all other ingredients are cooked I puree it right in the pot with my immersion blender and then I add 1 pound of browned ground turkey and 1 pound of browned ground mild Italian sausage to make a meaty sauce that is excellent on pasta or in lasagna. Thanks for this delicious recipe, it's a keeper!

Very Good! Next Year more tomatoes in the garden for this recipe!

This is very good and so easy to make.

Love this! I have made this for several years in a row. I just throw everything in at once (except for the oil I omit that) and let it sit in the crockpot all day. I also take kale and blend it to a liquid and add it in. My Son hates to eat "green" things so I have to hide it. Doesn't change the flavor at all, but adds extra vitamins. I also put in the cans of tomato paste at the end and put the sauce into canning jars to seal. Ready to serve!

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't like this at all (as written). It just seemed like a bunch of seasoned tomatoes. I used about 1/2 fresh tomatoes and 1/2 canned diced tomatoes. After cooking on high for 4 hours in the crockpot (any less wouldn't have seemed done at all), I ended up running everything through a blender. I then put it in a stockpot and added about 28oz of tomato sauce. I let it simmer for about 1 1/2 hours on the stove. I haven't added tomato paste yet, though it doesn't seem like it really needs it. I do like the sauce I ended up with, but I won't make it again. I'm going to keep looking for a different recipe using fresh tomatoes. Sorry!

I have been making lots of this spaghetti sauce and freezing it. I did use the sauce once on a boli pizzi and it was out of this world. So I made more of the sauce and froze it. I can't wait to thaw in the winter and have tasty homemade sauce. Thanks for the recipe.

Simple, Easy & the perfect way to use up the abundance of tomatoes we have! Thanks.