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
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!
Chop all your onions, carrots, celery, and red pepper and keep them in separate mini bowls
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.
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.
Add minced carrots and celery and saute mixture another 4 minutes. Again, do not brown.
Add minced red pepper and cook an additional 2 minutes.
Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in white sugar cooking another 1 minute.
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.
Once spices are stirred and become aromatic add all 5 cans of tomato sauce to the pot and stir the pot well.
Bring sauce to a gentle boil and then stir in brown sugar.
Reduce the sauce to a simmer, stirring frequently for 25 minutes.
Remove from heat. Use a hand blender to create smooth and even sauce.
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.
Mom’s Pasta Sauce
Mom’s Pasta Sauce Recipe
John Rush
This is my mom’s classic Italian vegan pasta sauce recipe. It’s actually a big batch of my Italian mom’s pasta sauce made in under an hour! This is one of my mom’s classic Italian recipes that has been in the family for generations. Tomato sauce is great because it’s so versatile! Put it over pasta, use it as a base for pizza, dip mozzarella sticks in it, the possibilities are endless!
Equipment
Pot
Food Processor
Immersion Hand Blender
Ingredients
metric
Us
1x
2x
3x
5 cans Tomato Sauce Hunt’s
1 cup Carrots chopped
1.5 cups Onion chopped
1 cup Celery chopped
¼ cup Red Pepper chopped
1 teaspoon Garlic minced
2.5 teaspoon Italiano Spice Club House
⅛ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 pinch Celery Salt
1 pinch Dry Basil
2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Ground Black Pepper
¼ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon White Sugar
½ tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Instructions
Chop all your vegetables and keep them seperate.
Add onion to the food processor to mince. Once minced remove and put in a bowl. Repeat for carrots, celery and red pepper. Placing them each in their own bowls.
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.
Add minced carrots and celery and saute mixture another 4 minutes. Again, do not brown.
Add minced red pepper and cook an additional 2 minutes.
Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in white sugar cooking another 1 minute.
Add Italiano spice, cayenne pepper, celery salt, dry basil, garlic powder and salt & pepper to pot and stir in. Being careful not to let it brown.
Once spices are stirred and become aromatic add all 5 cans of tomato sauce to the pot and stir the pot well.
Bring sauce to a gentle boil and then stir in brown sugar.
Reduce the sauce to a simmer, stirring frequently for 25 minutes.
Remove from heat. Use a hand blender to create smooth and even sauce.
Pups Notes
Read full instructions in the blog post, as there are some tricks to perfecting the sauce!
Mom swears by Hunt’s tomato sauce and Club House Italiano Blend. If you can find those use them. I don’t make the rules but mom is never wrong!
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup
Calories: 76kcal
Carbohydrates: 15g
Protein: 2g
Fat: 1g
Sodium: 722mg
Potassium: 520mg
Fiber: 3.5g
Sugar: 5g
Vitamin A: 1634.5IU
Calcium: 12.3mg
Iron: 0.2mg