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Pot of smooth homemade blender spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes, onion and garlic beside it

Blender Spaghetti Sauce

A smooth spaghetti sauce made by blending fresh tomatoes with onion, garlic, red wine, tomato paste, molasses and dried herbs, then simmering until thick.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 5 cups
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 3 pounds ripe fresh tomatoes about 12 to 14 plum tomatoes, cored and quartered
  • 1 medium yellow onion peeled and quartered
  • 4 garlic cloves peeled
  • One 6 ounce can tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup dry red wine
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 bay leaf

Method
 

  1. Put about half of the tomatoes in the blender first, so there is juicy fruit next to the blades, then add the onion and garlic. Blend until smooth and pour into a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven (5 quarts or larger).
  2. Blend the remaining tomatoes with the tomato paste, red wine, molasses, basil, oregano, salt, black pepper and the red pepper flakes if using, until smooth. Do not fill the blender jar more than two-thirds full; work in three batches if the blender is small. Add to the pot.
  3. Stir the olive oil into the pot and add the bay leaf.
  4. Set the pot over medium-high heat and bring the sauce to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the sauce bubbles gently.
  5. Simmer, partially covered to contain the splatters, for 50 to 60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so and scraping the bottom of the pot. The sauce is ready when it has reduced by about a third, has turned from pink to deep red, mounds slightly on a spoon and no longer tastes of raw onion.
  6. Remove the bay leaf. Taste and adjust the salt. Use right away, or cool and store.

Notes

A high-speed blender will pulverize tomato skins and seeds completely. With a standard blender, blend each batch for a full minute; if bits of skin remain, pass the puree through a coarse sieve into the pot.
Plum (Roma) tomatoes give the thickest sauce. Juicier slicing tomatoes work too but may need 15 to 20 minutes more simmering to reach the same thickness.
Yield is about 5 cups, enough for 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of spaghetti. For a meat sauce, brown 1 pound ground beef until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F, drain it, and add it to the pot for the last 20 minutes.
Storage: cool the sauce and refrigerate it within 2 hours. It keeps in a covered container for 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. This recipe has not been formulated for water-bath canning, so freeze it for longer keeping.
Without wine: replace the red wine with 1/2 cup broth or water plus 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar. For another blender sauce for pasta, see the classic pesto.