Recipes and Cooking Tomato-Basil Simmer Sauce 4.4 (37) 1 Review Canning tomato sauce is easier than ever with this step-by-step method! Customize this easy tomato sauce recipe with roasted garlic or crushed red pepper flakes, depending on your flavor preference. When you're ready to enjoy this simmer sauce, serve it over pasta or as a pizza sauce. By BHG Test Kitchen BHG Test Kitchen The Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen has been in continuous operation for nearly 100 years, developing and testing practical, reliable recipes that readers can enjoy at home. The Test Kitchen team includes culinary specialists, food stylists, registered and licensed nutritionists, and other experts with Bachelor of Science degrees in food science, food and nutrition, or culinary arts. Together, the team tests more than 2,500 recipes, produces more than 2,500 food images, and creates more than 1,000 food videos each year in the state-of-the-art test kitchen. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Published on June 14, 2011 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Prep Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hrs 10 mins Total Time: 3 hrs 40 mins Servings: 22 Yield: about 11 cups sauce (6 pints) Jump to Nutrition Facts Ingredients 12 pound ripe tomatoes (about 25 tomatoes), peeled* 3 tablespoon packed brown sugar 2 tablespoon kosher salt or 4 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, chopped 1 cup lightly packed assorted fresh herbs (such as oregano, thyme, parsley, or Italian (flat-leaf) parsley), chopped 6 tablespoon lemon juice Directions Cut peeled tomatoes into chunks and add some of the chunks to the food processor. Cover and process until chopped. Transfer chopped tomatoes to a 7- to 8-quart nonreactive heavy pot. Repeat chopping remaining tomatoes, in batches, in the food processor. Add all tomatoes to the pot. Add brown sugar, salt, vinegar, and black pepper to the tomato mixture. Bring to boiling. Boil steadily, uncovered, for 70 to 80 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture is reduced to about 11 cups and is desired sauce consistency. Remove from heat; stir in herbs. Spoon 1 tablespoon lemon juice into each of six hot, clean pint canning jars. Ladle sauce into jars with lemon juice, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims; adjust lids. Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner for 35 minutes (start time when water returns to a full boil). Remove jars; cool on wire racks. Spicy Simmer Sauce: Stir in 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper with the herbs. Roasted Garlic Simmer Sauce: Stir in 3 tablespoons chopped roasted garlic with the herbs. Double Tomato Simmer Sauce: Stir in 1 cup snipped dried tomatoes (not oil-packed) with the herbs. Roasted Garlic: Preheat oven to 400°F. Peel away the dry outer layers of skin from garlic bulbs, leaving skins and cloves intact. Cut off about 1/2 inch from the pointed top portions, leaving bulbs intact but exposing the individual cloves. Place the garlic bulbs, cut sides up, in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart casserole. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Cover casserole. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until garlic is soft. Remove from oven. When garlic is cool enough to handle, remove garlic cloves from papers by squeezing the bottoms of the bulbs. Chop roasted garlic. Rate it Print Nutrition Facts (per serving) 57 Calories 1g Fat 13g Carbs 2g Protein Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label Nutrition Facts Servings Per Recipe 22 Calories 57 % Daily Value * Total Fat 1g 1% Sodium 539mg 23% Total Carbohydrate 13g 5% Total Sugars 9g Protein 2g Vitamin C 34.8mg 174% Calcium 50.5mg 4% Iron 0.9mg 5% Potassium 619mg 13% Folate, total 40.3mcg Vitamin B-6 0.2mg *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.