Do you already have a tomato sauce in your cooking 'back pocket'? If you don't - you’ll wonder why you took so long after making this Tomato & Basil Sauce. You’ll be turning to it time and time again. To be clear; we’re talking pizza/pasta tomato sauce, not the sort for dolloping on your chips or fries.
This rich, hearty and fragrant sauce is a star performer in some of my Mediterranean recipes. Perfect for:
- smearing on Traditional Pizzas
- pouring into Chicago Pizzas
- spooning into Ratatouille Tian
- layering in Vegetable Lasagna and Aubergine (Eggplant) Parmigiana
I cook this sauce at least weekly in my house, all year round. It's easy to pull together and only requires a little simmering and splattering time on the stove top. The sauce is simple to scale up and freeze, so you can easily multiply the quantities here. I’ve taken to batching up because I know that I’ll regret it later otherwise! I honestly don’t think I would ever have reason to buy ready-made tomato sauce.
Tomato and Basil Sauce is one of those reliable recipes that you can use in so many different recipes. My vegetable stock paste is similar. Think of all the times you reach for a stock cube or buy ready-made liquid stock. You can make your own. You'll know exactly what's in it, its quick to make, is good for 8 litres of stock and lasts *forever in the fridge. It's so satisfying to make these kitchen essentials yourself.
🥘 Ingredients
There aren’t many! The emphasis is on quality rather than quantity of ingredients. Use the best canned tomatoes you can find (my go-to brand is Mutti) and good quality extra-virgin olive oil. We also use small amounts of dried chilli flakes and dried oregano. The only non-pantry item is fresh basil (and if you’ve got any in the freezer, it’ll work just as well)
- whole canned tomatoes
- fresh basil leaves
- olive oil
- dried oregano
- chilli flakes
- sugar
- salt
🔪 Instructions
- wilt a bunch of torn basil leaves in hot olive oil with some oregano and chilli flakes
- add crushed whole canned tomatoes and bring to the boil
- strain the sauce
- return to a simmer until thickened and rich
Wilt the basil leaves in hot oil with dried chilli flakes and oregano
Straining the sauce. Switch to the back of a large strong spoon to push the the last juicy bits though.
Push the sauce through a sieve to end up with smooth sauce, leaving the tomato pulp and basil leaves behind. Simmer, uncovered on the stove-top, until rich and thick
❓FAQs
The use of canned tomatoes keep this sauce consistently delicious all-year round. The tomatoes are always deep red and ripe - full of flavour, even in the depths of winter. Plus, they already come peeled. And you always have canned tomatoes in the pantry.
If that’s all you have in the pantry, I’m not suggesting you make a special trip to the supermarket. Use what you have. But, given the choice, I prefer my food to be processed as little as possible. I only buy whole tomatoes and crush them by hand. I heard Jamie Oliver talk about this on one of his cooking shows and I've been converted since!
Basil leaves are strongly scented and flavoured. A little goes a long way. In this recipe, we allow a big bunch of basil leaves to wilt in hot oil. This releases their natural oils which are distributed through the sauce. We keep the fresh flavour without overcooking the basil.
It’s all very scientific and precise. You'll know you've cooked it enough when the sauce becomes really thick. Simmering lava-esque bubbles pop and splatter everywhere. Maybe make this just before you plan on cleaning the stove-top 😉
Yes! I would encourage it! It would keep for a few days in the fridge, plus it freezes really well. I use recipes that use this sauce all the time – having some ready to go makes me feel #winning. For larger volumes of sauce, go with a wider (rather than deeper) pot; so that your reducing time doesn’t blow out. You’re aiming to roughly halve the volume. You can usually see the tide mark on the inside of the pot where the sauce started as a guide.
I wouldn’t recommend using dried basil here. But frozen basil works great. Basil is a very soft and fragile herb. It doesn’t have a long shelf-life once cut and turns black in the fridge. I don’t like throwing any food away. Don’t wait for it to wilt and get sorry for itself before you transfer to the freezer. If you know you’re not going to get around to using fresh basil in time, pinch the leaves off the stems and freeze them in a ziplock bag. Although you wouldn’t use frozen basil for salads, it’s perfect for making this Tomato & Basil sauce. We’re interested in extracting the basil flavour; the texture is not important.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 800 g whole canned tomatoes
- small handful fresh basil leaves about 15g
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes (note)
- teaspoon granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Crush Tomatoes - tip tomatoes (and their juice) into a large deep bowl. Slowly, under the surface of the liquid, crush by hand, one by one. Try to encase the whole tomato in your hand before squeezing (unless wearing tomato is your thing!). Don't worry about smaller pieces; we're going to push them through a sieve later anyway.800 g whole canned tomatoes
- Flavour Oil - preheat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil, oregano, basil (careful; it will hiss and spit!) and chilli flakes. Stir through briefly until the basil leaves have darkened and wilted.small handful fresh basil leaves2 Tablespoons olive oilteaspoon dried oregano¼ teaspoon chilli flakes
- Tomatoes - tip in the crushed tomatoes (put the bowl aside for later – no need to wash). Bring the sauce to the boil, then remove the pan from the heat.
- Strain Sauce - pass the sauce through a sieve back into the bowl. Use the back of a large spoon to work larger bits of tomato through. This will take a bit of elbow grease. Discard the basil/tomato fibrous residue left behind. Make sure you scrape any tomato-y goodness from the back of the sieve into the bowl.
- Simmer Sauce - pour the sauce back into the pan and stir through the sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer. The sauce will seem very thin at first (especially if you used some water to ‘rinse’ out the tomato cans). It will thicken up as the water evaporates. Maintain a gentle simmer (uncovered), until sauce is hearty, fragrant, and thick. This will take 45 minutes to an hour. Stir it occasionally (more often the longer it cooks) to stop the sauce sticking at the bottom. Once it starts to do ‘lava-esque’ pops and threaten to make a mess of your stove-top, it’s ready 😊. You should end up with around 400ml sauce.teaspoon granulated sugar¼ teaspoon salt
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