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Home » Recipes » Homemade Sauces

Instant Pot Tomato Sauce (with fresh tomatoes)

Published: Sep 9, 2022 · Modified: Apr 23, 2023 by Sarah Baumeister · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

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A versatile Instant Pot Tomato Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes is the perfect way to use up your garden tomatoes in a mouth watering tomato sauce that is simple, delicious, and ready to use over pasta and in your favorite recipes.

sauce in instant pot with ladle and full jars next to it.

My mom, son, and I recently went to a u-pick community farm near us and boy did we have fun! We were able to pick a wide variety of vegetables for a stellar price and it was a blast. While I got a lot of different things, I tried to make sure that I focused on foods that would truly get used up or preserved. That meant a lot of peppers, onions, and tomatoes. I froze poblano peppers, froze jalapeno peppers, and dehydrated jalapenos as well!

Then it was time to make homemade spaghetti sauce using fresh tomatoes. Doing it in the pressure cooker is an easy, all in one way to get this sauce done in a less than an hour, with a nice concentrated flavor.

I used my regular Instant Pot here, but making sauce in the Ninja Foodi using the pressure cook feature would work great too!

overhead of glass jar full of sauce.

Tips and Tricks

  • Use a variety of tomatoes. A lot of people use roma tomatoes and plum tomatoes for sauce because there are generally less seeds. I find using a variety of tomatoes gives a nice rich sauce with a layered flavor. Plus, roma and plum tomatoes are generally drier and other types will produce more juice!
  • Blanch for a smooth sauce. Blanching your tomatoes isn't completely necessary, so feel free to leave the skins on if you would like! I have just found that it makes for an awesome taste, texture, and it only takes about 10 extra minutes.
  • Use canned tomatoes if you want. You can certainly use canned tomatoes to make this sauce if that's what you have on hand! I suggest a higher quality, like san marzano tomatoes, and using whole or diced.
  • Use as little water as necessary. You will need some water to ensure that the Instant Pot is able to pressurize, but anything on top of that is going to water down your sauce and have to be scooped out or simmered off.

Ingredients

ingredients for instant pot tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes.
  • tomatoes
  • water
  • olive oil
  • garlic
  • onions
  • fresh basil
  • salt
  • sugar
  • italian seasoning

How to make tomato sauce in the Instant Pot

Begin by selecting and washing your tomatoes. If blanching, boil water in a large pot.

Make a small "x" on the opposite side from the stem and place tomatoes into boiling water for 2 minutes, until the skin starts to peel back slightly.

Immediately scoop up tomatoes and transfer them to an ice bath.

Peel tomatoes (the skin should peel back very easily!), and quarter.

blanched tomatoes in a white bowl.

Add oil to the bottom of the Instant Pot and place cut tomatoes on top of it. If the tomatoes aren't super juicy, add ¼-1/2 cups of water. I generally like to add at least ¼ a cup to be safe). Adding liquid is necessary for the Instant Pot to pressurize.

layer of oil at the bottom of the instant pot.
tomatoes, onions, and seasonings in instant pot insert.

Add remaining ingredients and secure lid. Make sure the vent is in the sealing position.

Set to High Pressure for 20 minutes. Allow to natural release for 10 minutes and then quick release the rest of the way.

sauce ingredients after being pressure cooked.

There may be a good deal of liquid, you can do one of two things. Ladle some out or turn the Instant Pot to the "saute" function and allow the water to evaporate. This can take some time, but you are only concentrating the flavor of the sauce which is a win in my book!

sauce that has been partially blended.
immersion blender in finished sauce.

One the sauce is less watery, use an immersion blender to blend sauce to desired thickness. Allow to cool and store in the fridge for days or the freezer for months.

finished, blended sauce in instant pot bowl.

Storage-- No canning necessary!

This sauce can be canned if you would like, but it's not necessary. I would love to learn to can, but it is not currently a skill I have, so I chose to preserve my foods by dehydrating or freezing.

This sauce freezes well and will last months in the freezer, which is good enough for me! Make sure what whatever containers you chose to freeze it in, you don't fill them overly full. You want to allow space for the sauce to expand and avoid any cracked jars or containers.

Thaw in the fridge and then reheat in your favorite recipes!

glass jars full of sauce on a wooden cutting board.

Optional Add-ins

I purposefully kept this homemade tomato sauce very minimally flavored so that it would work with a wide variety of dishes. Feel free to add in some extra flavoring agents if you would like. Here are some suggestions.

  • red wine
  • red pepper flakes
  • parmesan rind
  • carrots (can be used in place of sugar to sweeten and cut the acidity)
  • tomato paste (this can help deepen the flavor and color)
two jars of tomato sauce with instant pot in the background.

How to use Instant Pot tomato sauce

This fresh tomato sauce recipe is neutrally flavored so that it would go with just about anything, use it as marinara sauce, as pizza sauce, in lasagnas, over stuffed shells or stuffed cabbage. Wherever you would use red sauce, it will work! Here are some of my favorite recipes to use it in.

  • Cast iron deep dish pizza
  • rectangle pizza
  • stuffed shells with spinach and cheese
  • polish stuffed cabbage rolls
  • venison lasagna
  • pizza baked chicken
  • zucchini rollatini
full jar of homemade tomato sauce.
instant pot with ladle filling jars of sauce.

Instant Pot Tomato Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

Sarah Baumeister
A simple instant pot tomato sauce using fresh tomatoes and classic flavorings is made in the pressure cooker for concentrated flavor.
4.67 from 9 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Additional Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 50 minutes mins
Course Instant Pot
Cuisine Italian
Servings 8 cups
Calories 44 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 6 lbs. tomatoes
  • ¼ water
  • ¼ olive oil
  • 8 garlic cloves peeled
  • 2 onions peeled and chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh basil
  • 1 tbsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. sugar
  • 1 tbsp. italian seasoning

Instructions
 

  • Begin by selecting and washing your tomatoes. If blanching, boil water in a large pot.
  • Make a small "x" on the opposite side from the stem and place tomatoes into boiling water for 2 minutes, until the skin starts to peel back slightly.
  • Immediately scoop up tomatoes and transfer them to an ice bath.
  • Peel tomatoes (the skin should peel back very easily!), and quarter.
  • Add oil to the bottom of the Instant Pot and place cut tomatoes on top of it. If the tomatoes aren't super juicy, add ¼-1/2 cups of water. I generally like to add at least ¼ a cup to be safe). Adding liquid is necessary for the Instant Pot to pressurize.
  • Add remaining ingredients and secure lid. Make sure the vent is in the sealing position.
  • Set to High Pressure for 20 minutes. Allow to natural release for 10 minutes and then quick release the rest of the way.
  • There may be a good deal of liquid, you can do one of two things. Ladle some out or turn the Instant Pot to the "saute" function and allow the water to evaporate. This can take some time, but you are only concentrating the flavor of the sauce which is a win in my book!
  • One the sauce is less watery, use an immersion blender to blend sauce to desired thickness. Allow to cool and store in the fridge for days or the freezer for months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 44kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 2gFat: 1gSodium: 445mgFiber: 2gSugar: 6g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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Hi, I'm Sarah!

I am a wife, mother, and believer. I have been cooking since I can remember and love sharing recipes with all of you. You will find a variety of recipes here from healthy family dinners, to ways to prepare venison, to soups, to baked goods, anything and everything delicious.

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