My Mom's Pasta Sauce

Today we're making a big batch of my Italian mom's pasta sauce recipe in one pot made in under an hour!

This is one of my mom's classic Italian recipes that has been in the family for generations. I don't want to hype this recipe up too much, but every time my mom makes it I literally take a spoon and just eat straight out of the pot it's that good!

My mom's pasta sauce recipe makes about 18 cups so it's perfect for batch cooking, freezing and taking out whenever you need delicious pasta sauce. I usually portion the sauce into freezer bags or Tupperware and freeze it. This pasta sauce keeps extremely well in the freezer and to heat it back up, I simply add the frozen pasta sauce to a pot!

How To Make Mom's Pasta Sauce

Mom has been teaching me her pasta sauce since I was young, so a lot of this is second nature to me, but there are definitely some special tips and tricks you're going to want to watch out for when you're making this sauce!

1. Chop all your onions, carrots, celery, and red pepper and keep them in separate mini bowls
2. Add onion to the food processor to mince. Once minced remove and put back in a bowl. Repeat for carrots, celery, and red pepper. Placing them each in their own mini bowls.
3. In a large pot heat olive oil on medium heat and add minced onions. Saute until translucent, about 4 minutes, being careful not to brown. This recipe requires a lot of stirring. frequently stirring the sauce shields it from potentially burning so try not to be doing to many things at this point in the process because the rest of the steps are basically stirring things.
4. Add minced carrots and celery and saute mixture another 4 minutes. Again, do not brown.
5. Add minced red pepper and cook an additional 2 minutes.
6. Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
7. Stir in white sugar cooking another 1 minute.
8. Add Italiano spice, cayenne pepper, celery salt, dry basil, garlic powder, and salt & pepper to the pot and stir in. Being careful not to let it brown.
9. Once spices are stirred and become aromatic add all 5 cans of tomato sauce to the pot and stir the pot well.
10. Bring sauce to a gentle boil and then stir in brown sugar.
11. Reduce the sauce to a simmer, stirring frequently for 25 minutes.
12. Remove from heat. Use a hand blender to create smooth and even sauce.
13. Serve over pasta, or drink straight from the pot like me!

Be sure to check out our Beyond Meat Meatball recipe to pair together for the perfect Italian vegan meal!

Kitchen Equipment I used for recipe:

Hand Blender / Food Processor - This tool is key for getting your sauce smooth and not crunchy! If you don't have once, you can get a cheap one. You don't need an expensive one to mince veggies!

Quick & Easy Ingredients

Okay so realistically you can use whichever ingredients and brands you like and can easily access. BUT mom swears by certain brands and I refuse to argue with someone that makes something so delicious. So if you want to make it exactly how Momma Rush makes it than you're going to need her p "special" ingredients:

• Hunt's Tomato Sauce Can 680 ml - Mom swears by Hunt's, she says different brands have different sweetness levels and it must be because different tomatoes have a different sweetness to them. Now I don't know if any of that has any actual science to it but I have tried it with different brands and it is different so she may be on to something! Maybe Hunt's uses Tomaco lol
• Club House Italiano Blend - so I actually made this recipe last year and did everything the same and used a no-name Italiano blend and my ex-girlfriend refused to eat it... so ya.

If you try this recipe, please leave it a 5-star review in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you! You can rate it, comment about it, sending me pictures about it by tagging us on Instagram @RescueDogKitchen.

Nutrition Facts

The nutrition information presented here is for all of the ingredients. I take all of the nutritional information from Cronometer a nutritional tracker website that provides you with a lot of great information, especially regarding micronutrients!

The beauty of tomatoes and tomato sauce recipes is the nutrition lays outside of the nutrition facts page. Simply looking at this recipe, it would seem that tomato sauce doesn't provide much nutritional value. In reality this couldn't be further from the truth.

Most sauces don't typically offer much in the form of nutritional facts. Most are high in fat and/or sugar and high calories. This is a low-calorie sauce which is always nice to have as a substitute for other sauces. It also offers over half of your Vitamin A intake and small but a modest dose of fibre for a society that is chronically lacking in fibre.

Now on to what you can't see!

Tomatoes are high in a carotenoid called Lycopene. This little powerhouse of a plant nutrient is found to improve your heart, fight cancer, and improve skin health. Studies have found that commercial products (tomato sauce/paste) and/or cooking tomatoes have significantly more Lycopene present.

Tomatoes and tomato products are also chock-full of antioxidants, necessary for keeping us healthy and disease at bay! It's like mom always said, sometimes it's what's on the inside that counts!

Commonly Asked Questions

Can vegans eat tomato sauce?

Yes! Generally speaking most tomato sauces are vegan approved. Somethings to watch out for and ask if you're unsure of is whether they added cheese/meat to the sauce (a common technique in restaurants) and which sugar (if any) was used in the process. Some sugars are still refined using bone char yet this number is becoming smaller every year and you don't have to worry about that problem in Canada. A straight tomato sauce should be vegan friendly!

Can vegans eat pasta?

Yes and No. Vegans can eat almost all store bought pastas, unless they stock a small local company or it's some sort of egg noodle. But for the most part store bought are fine for vegans. It's the fresh pasta that you have to worry about. A lot of small local companies offer fresher packaged pasta and if you go to authentic Italian restaurants that make their own pasta often times fresh pasta is made with egg. So if you're at a restaurant and you're unsure it's best to ask!

Is Hunt's Tomato Sauce vegan?

Yes! The ingredients in Hunt's Tomato Sauce are:

Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Water, less than 2% of: Salt, Citric Acid, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Red Pepper.

It doesn't mention that it "may" contain milk or eggs either which is common if the product is made in the same facilities where milk or eggs are handled so it's safe to say that Hunt's tomato sauce is completely vegan.

---

Other recipes you might like:

• Easy Vegan Chili
• Vegan Loaded Sweet Potatoes
• Vegan Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls

Remember that 50% of ad proceeds we get from the website go back to helping animals in need so we really appreciate it when you click on our links and share the website and social media posts with your friends!