Pomodoro Sauce

Pasta is incredibly filling, but in order to take advantage of this classic Italian comfort food, you also need a good sauce. Enter, this gorgeous and flavorful homemade pomodoro sauce. Perfect for fast meals without using convenience foods in a jar. Making your own sauce preserves both flavor and nutrients which are lost during the canning process. It also decreases the amount of sodium needed!

If you love this incredibly versatile recipe straight from your freezer, you’ll love our other sauce recipes too! From Creamy Chorizo Pasta Sauce to Chicken and Sundried Tomato Pasta Sauce we’ve got lots of options for you to make and stock up in your freezer for those busy days. In fact, our Freezer Meals 101 Club has a wealth of recipes and we just keep improving it over time! If you want instant access to all the latest, this is one club you’ll want to join.

Pomodoro Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 28 oz. San Marzano tomatoes, pureed in blender or immersion blender
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

Ingredients to Add When Cooking

• 12 oz. pasta
• 2 Tbsp. butter

How to Make Pomodoro Sauce

Assembly instructions

1. Place the cheese in a medium freezer bag.
2. Remove air from both bags, seal, staple together above the seam. Freeze.
3. Place all ingredients except the Parmesan cheese in a large resealable bag. 

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw the contents of the bag.
2. Heat sauce in a skillet over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until it starts to thicken. 
3. In the meantime, cook pasta of your choice, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining.
4. Return pasta to the pot.
5. Add the tomato sauce and pasta water along with the Parmesan cheese and butter and toss until butter and cheese are melted.
6. If desired, top with more fresh basil and Parmesan.

How long does homemade pomodoro sauce need to simmer?

Our sauce melds while it is slowly freezing and as it thaws so that in just twenty minutes you have a rich, flavorful sauce for pasta and it didn’t take all day.

What if I don’t have a blender?

You can use a potato masher or strong whisk to mash up the tomatoes pretty well. It won’t be the same as pureed, but it will work. That being said, I highly recommend an immersion blender for sauces and soups. Ours is one of the most used tools in the kitchen!

What is the purpose of the pasta water?

Pasta contains starch that works its way out and into the water as the pasta cooks. This starchy pasta-flavored water is used as a thickener for the sauce! It’s kinda brilliant.

Pomodoro Sauce Recipe Ideas

In addition to using this sauce on any pasta, you can also use it as a dip for baguettes or as a pizza sauce to make homemade pizzas.

Add veggies to make a garden veggie sauce: mushrooms, diced zucchini, squash, red peppers, asparagus, onions, carrots, etc.

For the classic bolognese sauce (meat sauce), add ground beef or sausage, or a combination of the two to your sauce. Ideally, you should cook the meat separately and then combine the sauce and meat at the end so that the flavor doesn’t cook out of the sausage. I like to cook my sausage first, then put it in a strainer to remove the grease and while it is in the strainer, I make my sauce in the same pan so that it deglazes all the sausage bits and flavor into the sauce. Then I put the sausage back in and let it heat for just a couple minutes.

If you want both (veggies and meat) you’ll have a classic ragu sauce — hearty and perfect for a cold winter night and sneaking extra veggies into your kids.

All of these options can be added at the time of cooking to change up your pomodoro sauce from one meal to the next.

A few other options to note: You can always add more garlic or more basil to your taste. To make it more like pizza sauce, add a bit of oregano. To make it more of a marinara sauce, add a dash or two of hot sauce. For a rose sauce, stir in half a cup each of heavy cream and parmesan to the sauce off the heat (after your pomodoro has cooked), and then gradually heat it back up until it is hot enough to serve.

How do I store Pomodoro Sauce?

Keep leftover sauce in the refrigerator for several days to a week as long as it is sealed in an airtight container. The flavors will keep getting better for a couple of days!

What to Serve with Pomodoro Sauce?

Serve this gorgeous, bright, pure, flavorful sauce over any pasta or in any pasta dish. It can be used as a base for meat sauce, in lasagnas, in baked pasta dishes or however you would use a jarred store-bought sauce — only it will taste better and be healthier!

You can also cook up some garlic bread to serve on the side.

Print

Pomodoro Sauce

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

19 mins

 

Course: Main Course

Servings: 6

Calories: 306 kcal

Ingredients

Ingredients for the Freezer Bag

• 1 onion  diced
• 5 cloves garlic  minced
• 1/3 tsp red pepper flakes
• 29 oz San Marzano tomatoes pureed in blender or immersion blender
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup fresh basil  chopped
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese  shredded

Ingredients for the Day of Cooking

• 12 oz pasta
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup pasta water

Instructions

Assembly instructions

1. Place the cheese in a medium freezer bag.  

2. Remove air from both bags, seal, staple together above the seam.

3. Freeze.Place all ingredients except the Parmesan cheese in a large resealable bag.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw the contents of the bag.

2. Heat sauce in a skillet over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until it starts to thicken. 

3. In the meantime, cook pasta of your choice, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining.

4. Return pasta to the pot.

5. Add the tomato sauce and pasta water along with the Parmesan cheese and butter and toss until butter and cheese are melted.

6. If desired, top with more fresh basil and Parmesan.