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Home / Tomatoes / Roasted Marinara Sauce

Roasted Marinara Sauce

Filed Under: Seasonal Summer, Tomatoes Tagged With: Pasta Sauce, Tomatoes

oven-roasted-marinara-sauce-pn1

This marinara sauce for home canning is based on tomatoes that are roasted in the oven first.

Not only does this give the tomatoes a great flavour, it also makes them super easy to peel, because the skins will just fall right off — a welcome bonus.

Marinara means “sailor-style” in Italian. A marinara sauce will always be smooth, and contain garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, and vinegar and/or wine. For home canning, the oil is left out — you can stir in a quick tablespoon or so when you open the jar.

This recipe is from the Ball All New book (2016). The writers suggest, “This is a versatile base sauce that can be used on its own or as the starting point for other sauce variations.” Traditionally, marinara is used with pasta, or on some meats.

Yes, tomatoes must be peeled before canning in this recipe to reduce the bacterial load going into the canner.

See all pasta-sauce recipes for canning.

Contents hide
  • 1 The recipe
  • 2 Roasted Marinara Sauce
    • 2.1 Ingredients
    • 2.2 Instructions
    • 2.3 Nutrition
  • 3 Reference information
  • 4 Recipe notes
  • 5 Roasting notes
  • 6 Recipe source
  • 7 Nutrition information
    • 7.1 With salt
  • 8 Salt-free

The recipe

Jar size choices: Quarter-litre (½ US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz) OR half-litre (US pint / 500 ml / 16 oz)

Processing method: Water bath or steam canning

Yield: 8 x half-litre (US pint / 500 ml / 16 oz) jars

Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)

Processing time: 40 minutes

Print

Roasted Marinara Sauce

8 x half-litre jars (US pint / 500 ml / 16 oz)
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Pasta Sauce, Tomatoes
Prep Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes minutes
Servings 8 half-litre jars (US pint / 500 ml / 16 oz)
Calories 152kcal
Metric - US Customary

Ingredients

  • 9 kg plum tomatoes (20 lbs. Measured before prep.)
  • 250 g onion (chopped. 1.5 cups / 8 oz in weight. Measurement after prep. About 2 medium)
  • cooking spray
  • 250 ml wine (dry, red or white. 1 cup / 8 oz)
  • 1 tablespoon salt (OR non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub)
  • 1 tablespoon oregano (dried)
  • 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
  • 6 cloves garlic (peeled and minced)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 125 ml lemon juice (bottled. ½ cup / 4 oz. OR 2 teaspoons citric acid
Metric - US Customary

Instructions

  • Wash tomatoes. Leave cores in and skin on. Cut in halves.
  • Start oven heating to 200 C (400 F).
  • Arrange tomato halves cut-sides down on ungreased, unsprayed baking sheets with high sides.
  • Bake for about 45 minutes, or until skins are wrinkling and turning brown, and tomatoes are soft.
  • Proceed in batches. If you need to remove cooked tomato halves from the baking sheets to free the sheets up for more, use a flipper to lift the halves off and place on platters to cool -- don't dump them in a bowl or you will make peeling them later triple the work.
  • Meanwhile, spray another baking sheet or dish with cooking spray, arrange the onion on it, lightly spray that onion, and bake until onions are golden brown -- about 20 minutes.
  • Let cooked tomato halves cool till it is safe to touch them.
  • Peel by pinching the skins in towards the centres of the tomatoes. The skins should come right off. (If you have a food mill, you can leave them on.)
  • Press the tomatoes through a food mill or sieve in batches to strain out the seeds (discard the seeds.)
  • Put tomato purée in pot.
  • Add the onion to the pot.
  • Add to the pot everything from the wine down to and including the bay leaves.
  • Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes or desired thickness.
  • Remove and discard bay leaves.
  • Stir in either the citric acid OR the lemon juice.
  • Ladle sauce into heated jars, leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
  • Debubble, adjust headspace.
  • Wipe jar rims.
  • Put lids on.
  • Process in a water bath or steam canner.
  • Process jars for 40 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.

Nutrition

Serving: 250ml | Calories: 152kcal | Carbohydrates: 31.3g | Protein: 7.1g | Fat: 1.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Sodium: 513mg | Potassium: 1198mg | Fiber: 6.7g | Sugar: 23.3g

Reference information

How to water bath process.

How to steam can.

When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.

What is the shelf life of home canned goods?

oven-roasted-marinara-sauce-101

Recipe notes

  • If you don’t have a food mill and want to do this recipe, be prepared for a lot of work. Using the back of a sturdy mixing spoon or wooden spoon, press a few scoops at a time through a coarse sieve over a bowl, using a stirring motion. Be prepared to give your arm some breaks. Set aside all the residue, and then when you are done, re-press the residue one more time. If you don’t, you won’t get the full yield of jars for the recipe.
  • Salt used  (optional) doesn’t need to be pickling salt.
  • Instead of 6 garlic cloves, you could use 6 teaspoons of minced garlic from a jar of oil-free minced garlic as a time saver.
  • Instead of starting with tomatoes and roasting them, you can start with 4 litres / US quarts / 128 oz of passata, which is bottled tomato purée, though it won’t have that roasted flavour. (One or two drops of liquid smoke might compensate a bit.)

Roasting notes

  • Don’t be tempted to pile the tomatoes two or more layers high on the baking sheets. They will steam, not roast. It’s the roasting that provides the depth of flavour in this recipe.
  • It took 5 tray loads to roast all the tomatoes — anyone with a dual oven will be very glad they do.
  • Be careful about placing a tray on a rack too close to the heating element below.
  • Other than that precaution, you don’t need to spray the baking sheets or anything. but do make sure you use baking sheets with rims at least 2 cm (½ inch) high or higher, as a lot of water will run off the tomatoes..
  • We found it actually took the onions closer to 40 minutes to turn golden. If you have a spare rack during your final batch of tomatoes, you might as well put the pan of onion in the oven along with it to save energy.

Recipe source

  • Butcher, Meredith L., Ed. The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. New York: Oxmoor House. 2016. Page 204.

Modifications:

  • Increased oven temperature for the roasting to speed it up. You may even wish to increase it to 225 C / 450 F.

oven-roasted-marinara-sauce-102

Nutrition information

With salt

Per 250 ml (1 cup / 8 oz)

  • 152 calories, 513 mg sodium

roasted-marinara-sauce-nutrition

Salt-free

Per 250 ml (1 cup / 8 oz)

  • 152 calories, 75 mg sodium

roasted-marinara-sauce-nutrition-salt-free

* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com

* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.

oven-roasted-marinara-sauce-pn2

Tagged With: Pasta Sauce, Tomatoes

Filed Under: Seasonal Summer, Tomatoes Tagged With: Pasta Sauce, Tomatoes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Grace H

    June 20, 2025 at 11:47 pm

    Hi! Wondering what would need to be changed if anything to do this in quart size jars.

    Thanks!

    Reply
  2. Alex

    January 15, 2025 at 4:44 pm

    5 stars
    This is my favorite marinara sauce for canning. It is so good

    Reply
  3. Suzanne

    January 15, 2025 at 4:42 pm

    5 stars
    This is my go to recipe for marinara sauce. Roasting the tomatoes first adds a depth of flavor you don’t get with other sauces

    Reply
  4. Rosie

    September 15, 2024 at 2:29 pm

    Is it safe to use bigger jars? I have a lot of the pint size.

    Reply
  5. Kim Hurren

    September 13, 2024 at 1:09 am

    What about any liquid that accumulates from roasting? Shouldn’t that be included?

    Reply
  6. Maria

    April 28, 2024 at 3:18 am

    Hi,

    I prefer pressure canning to water bath canning (less water to have to deal with). Do you have any recommendations for turning this into a pressure canning recipe?

    Thanks,
    Maria

    Reply
    • Cindy Clark

      August 22, 2024 at 12:29 am

      per presto canner instruction book.
      Dial Gauge Canner:
      Process at 11 pounds pressure pints and quarts 15 minutes. adjust for altitude if necessary

      Weighted Gauge Canner:
      Process at 10 pounds pressure pints and quarts for 15 minutes. Adjust for altitude if necessary.

      Reply
  7. Lindy

    September 07, 2022 at 1:20 am

    5 stars
    Made this with San Marzano tomatoes grown in the garden. Roasted 2.5–5lbs at a time as they came ripe, then plucked the skins off and froze them. Thawed completely before running it all through a food mill, then proceeded as normal. Used Merlot for the wine and the jars are so beautiful with the lovely dark red sauce. Made meatball subs tonight with this, absolutely delicious. Hopefully we get enough tomatoes this year to make another batch of this. Highly recommend. Thanks for this great website it’s so good to have another online resource that is safe.

    Reply
    • Deb

      October 22, 2023 at 11:43 pm

      Love this idea! Thanks for sharing! ☺️

      Reply
  8. Joline

    September 03, 2022 at 11:13 pm

    5 stars
    May I add some fresh garlic? Also there was so much liquid left over in the pans. Do I add that to the sauce when cooking it down?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 04, 2022 at 12:36 pm

      The recipe does call for fresh garlic. Stick to the amount called for. (Granted, they don’t specific a size or weight: so much for wanting us to be precise!) You had a lot of liquid in the pan after roasting? Did you use slicing tomatoes instead of plum (aka paste) tomatoes? If so, then yes, add that to the pot to be simmered down.

      Reply
  9. Laura

    March 23, 2021 at 3:13 pm

    Can something nonalcoholic be substituted for the wine? Perhaps water or tomato juice with a bit of red wine vinegar?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      June 20, 2021 at 6:32 pm

      Ask Ball directly for guidance on that.

      Reply
  10. Em

    September 08, 2020 at 11:53 pm

    4 stars
    This worked great. The flavor was just like spaghetti sauce. My yield was 5.5 pints, but I had mostly slicing tomatoes and no food mill. I used an immersion blender and strainer. That worked well.
    Flavor was good, mild, simple. I didnt adjust the seasonings at all. I used a cabernet sauvignon, and it was not noticeable. Will do again.

    Reply
  11. Anastasia

    September 03, 2020 at 4:19 am

    Can I safely add sugar to this recipe? like 1/2 cup- 1cup total sugar.

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 22, 2020 at 12:24 pm

      Sugar would count as a seasoning, and yes, you could safely do so. It would certainly make it closer to tomato sauces you buy. See: safe tweaking. https://www.healthycanning.com/safe-tweaking-of-home-canning-recipes/

      Reply
  12. Michael

    September 08, 2019 at 4:11 pm

    Can this recipe’s ingredients safely be cut in half?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 08, 2019 at 4:55 pm

      Yes, do the math first on paper. Jar size and processing time recommendations stay the same, of course.

      Reply
  13. Maggie Klemm

    August 02, 2017 at 5:41 pm

    I’m going to try this oven roasted marinara sauce today or tomorrow. I read somewhere to leave out the olive oil when canning. Is this necessary? I’d think that a little olive oil to coat the baking sheet before baking in oven would be o.k. and prevent sticking. Can I proceed using a tiny bit of olive oil? Thanks for your help.

    Reply
If you need FAST or relatively immediate canning help or answers, please try one of these Master Food Preserver groups; they are more qualified than we are and have many hands to help you. Many of them even operate telephone hotlines in season.
3.82 from 77 votes (72 ratings without comment)

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Various studies through the years show consumers are not following science-based recommendations. They are not willing to change from old methods when science updates indicate new ones are needed. A large percentage are adapting recommendations in their own ways… Over half of home canners underprocess.”

— Dr Elizabeth Andress, Research and Education in Food Preservation. 2014.
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