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Safe pasta sauce canning #946360

Asked October 02, 2026, 12:44 PM EDT

I want to water-bath can a mild, meatless pasta sauce for myself and my four adult children. I need commercially canned tomato sauce to supply most of the tomato base, supplemented with frozen homegrown tomatoes and possibly purchased tomato paste. I would like to add dried basil, dried oregano, garlic, bottled lemon juice, and a little sugar if needed. No onions, peppers, or meat would be canned in the sauce. Do you have a tested recipe that permits these purchased tomato products? If so, could you provide ingredient proportions, limits on thickness, jar sizes, and processing instructions? I have previously used Favorite Family Recipes’ “Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe,” but would like guidance before adapting it.

Multnomah County Oregon

Expert Response

Hi Sheree, 

The tested recipe we have that comes closest to your list of ingredients is the spaghetti sauce without meat recipe from the NCHFP. 

Unfortunately this recipe does require that you start with fresh tomatoes. You could safely use frozen tomatoes if you thaw them, remove the peel, and use all of the tomato liquid that seeps out during thawing. But using commercially canned sauce and paste could result in a product with a very different consistency than what was tested in the lab with fresh tomatoes. 

This recipe depends on adequate heat transfer during pressure canning to kill botulism spores, and if your recipe has a different density then the heat transfer might not be adequate. That could create a serious food safety risk. 

If you have the freezer space, you could always make the sauce exactly to your taste with those canned ingredients and then freeze it. Freezing is generally a safe alternative to canning when you cannot find a tested recipe that meets your needs.

Thanks for using Ask Extension,

Jared

Jared Hibbard-Swanson Replied October 02, 2026, 1:32 PM EDT

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