Homemade Tomato Passata with Fresh Basil

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Homemade Tomato Passata with Fresh Basil

What can be better than cooking with a fresh homemade tomato sauce?

Made with only 2 ingredients this classic Italian tomato passata simply uses strained tomatoes infused with fragrant basil leaves to create perfect tomato sauce.

Prep Time40

Cook Time40

Total Time1 20

Course: Sauces

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 8 oz jars

Calories: 82kcal

Author: Svi

Ingredients

4 lb fresh tomatoes
Handful fresh basil leaves

Tools

Instructions

Wash tomatoes under cold running water.
Cut each tomato in quarters and remove seeds and juice.
Place tomato quarters into a large sauce pan and bring them boil on low heat. Stir from time to time, especially during fist few minutes when tomatoes didn’t release enough juice yet.
Let simmer for about 20 minutes or until tomatoes soft and mushy.
Pass cooked tomatoes in batches through a food mill. Make sure to scrape the bottom to get all the juices.
You can do this using a food strainer, electric or manual.
Pour tomato flesh and juice free of skin and seeds into a separate sauce pan and reduce it on medium heat until desired thickness.
At the end, add a handful or more of torn fresh basil leaves.
If you are preparing this tomato passata for winter:
Sterilize the jars and the lids first.
Pour in tomato passata leaving ¼ headspace and seal the jars.
Sterilize sealed jars in a large pot with boiling water for 40 minutes. Make sure you place a dish towel at the pot bottom so that the glass jars don’t touch the pot bottom. Also pay attention to place each jar without touching another or the sides of the pot.
Let cool completely turning the jars upside down.

Notes

If you noticed, there is no sugar added in the recipe. Natural acidity of the tomatoes helps preserve the sauce better. You can always add a tablespoon of sugar if needed when you start cooking with the sauce in the recipe.

Nutrition