The best Italian tomato sauce using what is in your fridge!

When life is busy with work, kids and all the other responsibilities that come along with being an adult, you need to have those few staple recipes that can be used in several different meals. This allows you to make a large batch, saving you precious time while also giving you enough to both use and freeze! Or the perfect dinner to deliver to someone!

You can bet I always have gallon bags of sauce waiting in my freezer to be pulled out at a moments notice. Because yes, I may be good at organizing my house. But when it comes to dinner, I’m the one staring at my open fridge every night at 5 pm wondering what we are going to have for dinner that night. 🙂

Italian tomato sauce, aka Daddy’s best spaghetti sauce ever, is one of those go-to’s for me! I usually triple the batch which leaves me enough for multiple meals for a family of six! Being a busy mama and wife, I need as many of these types of recipes as I can get! Hopefully you can use one more to add to your recipe book to have on hand when you need it next 🙂

Homemade Italian tomato sauce recipe

Growing up, I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have homemade spaghetti sauce. In fact, I don’t know that I ever remember eating spaghetti sauce from a jar. My dad always made the best recipe and it was EASY!

My favorite part of this recipe is that I can still remember him digging through the fridge for all those veggies about to go bad to throw in. This is the perfect recipe to clean out your fridge, add a healthy serving of vegtables and it actually makes the sauce taste so much better!

Plus if you have picky kiddos that you struggle to get them to eat their veggies, this is a mama trick to get their veggies in without them even knowing 🙂

So empty your fridge of those vegetables you need to use up and don’t want to see go to waste, and let’s make a quick batch of my Daddy’s Italian tomato sauce!

What you need:

• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1.5 large carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 1 Tbs minced garlic
• 3 Tbs. olive oil
• Chopped onion. garlic and veggies
• 2 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp. sal
• 1 – 1 lb 12 oz. can tomato purée
• 1 – 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 1 – 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes (can substitute fresh if you have on hand)
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 Tbs sugar
• Mini blender
• Ninja blender or Cuisinart

Directions:

This recipe is for one batch of sauce that is enough for one meal or a full pan of lasagne. I usually triple this recipe.

If you need to spread the sauce further and don’t have enough ingredients to double or triple the batch, add a jar of store bought sauce. Just make sure to add extra ingredients (besides the tomato-based ingredients), especially garlic and onion so that it still tastes home-made.

Step 1 – Mince your garlic

There are a variety of ways to mince your garlic. My favorite is using this mini blender. I love using fresh cloves of garlic instead of the jars of pre-minced garlic. It really does change the taste.

I would recommend finding a store such as Costco that sells bags of pre-peeled whole cloves that are ready for mincing! You get the fresh taste, without the hassle and time of peeling the cloves!

Depending on how much garlic you use, you can pre-mince cloves, and put 1 Tbs. of minced garlic and a little olive oil in ice cube trays to freeze for later!

Step 2 – Chop your veggies

Using a Cuisinart or attachment to your Ninja blender, add all your veggies to make chopping quick!

• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1.5 large carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 1 Tbs minced garlic

This is the time to see what is in your fridge and throw it in! Think zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli etc.

Step 3 – Saute in a large pot

To know if your oil is ready to saute the veggies, drop a full clove of peeled garlic in the pan. If it starts to fizz and bubble, the oil is hot enough to saute. If not, wait until it does so your veggies don’t absorb the oil taste.

• 3 Tbs. olive oil
• Chopped onion. garlic and veggies
• 2 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp. salt

Step 4 – When onions are clear and very soft, add these ingredients

• 1 – 1 lb 12 oz. can tomato purée
• 1 – 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 1 – 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes (can substitute fresh if you have on hand)
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Step 5 – Simmer & Cook

Turn the heat way down. cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add:

• 1 Tbs. sugar

While you have it simmering is the best time to get your prep work cleaned up 🙂 Then by the time you are ready to eat, you have a clean kitchen!

Thats it! You should be set with enough sauce for either a meal & leftovers, or if you have doubled/tripled the batch like I always do, enough to freeze and pull out to make other meals on those busy nights!

What are your favorite recipes to make with Italian tomato sauce?

XO,
Morgan