Homemade Healthy Tomato Sauce
Healthy Tomato Sauce is a quick and easy sauce recipe perfect for countless dishes! Made with canned crushed tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil … this simple sauce is flavorful, fragrant, sweet, balanced, and delicious. Plus this homemade sauce is low sodium, low sugar, and made without any additives!
Looking for more pasta sauce recipes? Check out my Greek Yogurt Alfredo, Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce, or Hidden Veggie Pasta Sauce!
Simple & Delicious 30 Minute Tomato Sauce
Something I will always need in my kitchen is a good jar of tomato sauce! It just can be thrown in countless easy dinners and quick recipes.
Now the only trouble is … it is so hard to find a truly good jar of sauce. The flavorful, high quality, and delicious ones are too expensive and the cheap ones are just not that great.
But do not worry! I have the solution for this very big problem. You can make your own homemade sauce! It will be better for you and better for the bank. It is truly a win-win!
Healthy tomato sauce is made from scratch with only a few simple, high quality ingredients!
Crushed tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, and simple seasonings come together to make a fragrant, flavorful, sweet, and balanced sauce.
Plus it is low sodium, low sugar, and can be ready in under 30 minutes! I promise everyone will be impressed with this simple sauce.
Ingredients
This healthy pasta sauce is made with only a handful of simple ingredients!
Fresh herbs, garlic, and pantry staples come together to make the perfect addition to pasta night.
Ingredient Notes
- Crushed Tomatoes: The key ingredient in this simple recipe is of course canned tomatoes! I like to use the Tuttorosso San Marzano Style Hand Crushed Tomatoes with Basil & Sea Salt, but any 2 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes will work.
- Olive Oil: A little olive oil helps adds a great taste to this sauce! Make sure to use 3 tbsp of a high quality extra virgin olive oil for the best results.
- Fresh Garlic: 6-8 garlic cloves make for quite the flavorful sauce here! If you are a garlic super fan, feel free to add in even more.
- Italian Seasoning: Italian seasoning gives this healthy spaghetti sauce extra flavor and the traditional pasta sauce taste! 2 tsp is all you need.
- Fresh Basil: I absolutely love the addition of fresh basil in this sauce! It takes the recipe up a couple notches and helps liven up the pantry staples. Use 2 tbsp … or more!
- White Sugar: 2 tsp white sugar enhances the natural sweetness of the tomatoes in this recipe and helps keep the acidity down.
- Salt & Pepper: Lastly, add salt and pepper to taste.
Kitchen Tools
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
How To Make This Recipe
This healthy sauce is a quick and easy recipe perfect for pasta dishes and so much more!
You can prepare a big batch in about 30 minutes to have on hand for whenever you’d typically reach for a store-bought sauce. It’s better for you and for the bank!
Step By Step Instructions
Step 1: Add the olive oil, minced garlic, and Italian seasoning to a large pot or skillet on the stove over medium heat.
Step 2: Sauté for 3-5 minutes until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
Step 3: Add the crushed tomatoes, fresh basil, and white sugar to the pot. Season with salt and black pepper. Combine.
Step 4: Simmer on low-medium heat for 20 minutes.
Step 5: Add finishing touches of salt and pepper.
Step 6: Serve with pasta or add to you favorite dishes. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
Make sure to use high quality ingredients for the best tasting sauce. As the recipe requires quite minimal ingredients, you need to ensure they are all the best they can be.
If you don’t use the basil & sea salt flavored crushed tomatoes, simply add more fresh or dried basil and salt. It will not be a big deal!
Spice up the sauce! Feel free to add whatever additional seasonings and spices you’d like to this tomato sauce. I think garlic powder, red chili flakes, dried basil, and dried oregano would all be great options.
Use fresh herbs! Since this simple sauce is made with mainly pantry ingredients, they really help to liven and brighten up the dish.
If you want a smooth sauce, use an immersion blender.
Frequently Asked Questions
This tomato sauce recipe is a great option because it is made with all healthy, wholesome, and natural ingredients that you recognize and that come from your own kitchen!
There are no unnecessary additives or ingredients, like in most jarred sauces.
Plus there is only a minimal amount of added sugar to balance the acidity and you can control the added salt. Which is not the case for store-bought sauces!
Not to mention tomatoes themselves are loaded with beneficial nutrients like vitamin c, potassium, and antioxidants.
The white sugar used in this recipe will prevent the sauce from becoming acidic!
If you wouldn’t like to add any sugar to this sauce, you can place a carrot in the sauce while it simmers. This will release a natural sweetness and help to balance the sauce.
This sauce is absolutely delicious served on pasta with fresh basil and parmesan cheese on top!
Add some Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs or Chicken Veggie Meatballs for the ultimate Italian dinner.
The recipe can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It should keep for about 5 days – 1 week!
Yes! Transfer the sauce to a freezer-safe container and place in the freezer. It will keep for a couple of months.
How To Use Homemade Tomato Sauce
This homemade tomato sauce can be used in so many different ways…
It can replace jarred marinara sauce in pasta recipes like Burrata Pasta with Zucchini, Corn, & Tomatoes.
Or as a dipping sauce for Cheesy Crescent Garlic Knots, Air Fryer Chicken Sausages, or Air Fried Ravioli.
You can also throw it into low carb meals like Zucchini Lasagna or Pizza Zucchini Boats.
You can always of course just simply serve the sauce on a big bowl of pasta!
Love this recipe? Check out some more delicious Italian inspired recipes…
- Short Rib Ragu Pappardelle
- Italian Grinder Salad Sandwich
- Easy Italian Pasta Salad
- Easy Baked Pesto Chicken
- Healthy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
- Chicken Meatball Soup
- Tortellini Caprese Salad
- Pesto Flatbread Pizza
Connect With Me!
If you make this tomato sauce recipe or any of my other recipes, I would absolutely love to know! Tag me @wellnessbykay on Instagram so I can see and share your recreations.
Love this recipe? Leave a comment and a rating! I love to see and it helps me continue to develop delicious recipes for this blog.
Print
Healthy Homemade Tomato Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 Minutes
- Cook Time: 25 Minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 Servings 1x
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Healthy Tomato Sauce is a quick and easy sauce recipe perfect for countless dishes! Made with canned crushed tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil … this simple sauce is flavorful, fragrant, sweet, balanced, and delicious. Plus this homemade sauce is low sodium, low sugar, and made without any additives!
Ingredients
- 2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes, basil & sea salt if possible (see Expert Tips)
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 6–8 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 2 tsp white sugar
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Add the olive oil, minced garlic, and Italian seasoning to a large pot or skillet on the stove over medium heat.
- Sauté for 3-5 minutes until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, fresh basil, and white sugar to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Combine.
- Simmer on low-medium heat for 20 minutes.
- Add finishing touches of salt and pepper.
- Serve with pasta or add to you favorite dishes. Enjoy!
Keywords: healthy tomato sauce, healthy tomato pasta sauce, healthy homemade tomato sauce, healthy tomato sauce for pasta, healthy tomato sauce recipe