Who doesn’t like a nice, big bowl of delicious spaghetti from time to time? What makes it even better is fresh tomato sauce. 

Making fresh tomato sauce can take a little time – the bigger the batch, the bigger part of your day you need to set aside – but the good news is that making tomato sauce from scratch is pretty easy, so let’s get saucy!

First, you want to choose the right tomatoes, so pop on in to Perrine’s Produce for the best selection of fresh produce around. Tomatoes with more flesh and less seeds, like plum tomatoes, are usually recommended, but summer slicing tomatoes can offer more flavor and less prep work because they are larger.

Once you have chosen your tomatoes, boil them and briefly set them in an ice bath for easy peeling. Give your peeled tomatoes a rough chop and toss them in your food processor or blender. If you like a chunky sauce, you can just pulse a few times or simply let them cook down as they simmer.

The longer you simmer your sauce, the more flavor it will hold, but if you are short on time, you can simmer your sauce in as little time as 30 minutes to an hour. Taste is subjective, but adding a little sugar and basil is a nice touch, and cooking meatballs in your sauce can also heighten its flavor. If certain foods give your heartburn, you can even add an egg white if you want to reduce its acidity.

Then serve over your favorite pasta or cool and place in freezer bags or containers. You can freeze and enjoy your yumminess for up to three months.