# How to make spaghetti sauce out of canned tomato sauce?



## ch1719

So what's your shortcut to a quick spaghetti sauce when the only "tomatoes" you have come in the form of a 15 oz. can of plain tomato sauce? I usually add some sugar, salt & pepper, and some Italian seasoning and let it simmer for a few minutes, but it still never tastes like a legit spaghetti sauce. Any secret ingredients or techniques I'm missing?


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## GotGarlic

Chop half an onion, mince two cloves of garlic and sauté them in olive oil, sprinkling with salt and pepper as they cook. Add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning and the tomato sauce and simmer for at least 15 minutes. Some fresh basil at the end would be a great addition.


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## Andy M.

Start by sautéing some diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil until it's softened.  Then add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste and continue to sauté while stirring until the paste darkens in color.  Add the canned tomato, some basil, salt and pepper and a splash or two of wine.  simmer for 30 minutes.  Check seasoning levels.  If the sauce is too acidic, add a half teaspoon of baking soda and stir it in.  No sugar.


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## msmofet

I do this often when I need a quick meal for two. 

Like GG and Andy sauté onion and garlic in olive oil til soft. Add plain tomato sauce, salt, ground pepper, fresh or dried oregano and basil, red pepper flakes and I use the sauce can to measure about a 1/4 or less can of burgundy wine. Simmer while pasta is cooking. For added flavor I sometimes add a bit of beef bouillon.


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## Dawgluver

Same technique here.  I often add browned Italian sausage, or add a can of minced clams with their juice.  My sauce must have fennel seed.


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## msmofet

Sometimes I'll brown some ground beef.


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## GotGarlic

We almost always add ground beef and diced bell peppers, but I wanted to keep it simple for the OP


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## ch1719

I should've clarified; this is a sauce I would add to either ground beef, venison, or Italian sausage (I don't like spaghetti without meat)


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## PrincessFiona60

Each suggestion above would make any meat soar over spaghetti.


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## buckytom

No meat for my skettis, thanks. I don't like ground meat sauces, for the most part.

But the sauce itself is just onions and sliced (not minced) garlic toasted in butter and a little evoo, then a little minced anchovy, tomato paste, then the canned tomatoes, and just a tiny pinch of dried oregano.

After it simmers for a while, add a good amount of torn fresh basil. Serve shortly afterwards, before the scent of the basil is lost.


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## CraigC

What, no red wine?


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## buckytom

I rarely have any around. But if there's an open bottle, yes.


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## CraigC

buckytom said:


> I rarely have any around. But if there's an open bottle, yes.



We usually buy those little bottles that come in a four pack. I swap out two bottles to have red and white wine for cooking. Got to have the red in Marinara and Sunday gravy.


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## buckytom

I've been tempted to buy those 4 packs. But something tells me that 3 1/2 won't be left to go in the sauce.


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## CraigC

I don't drink much wine, so they are safe until needed for cooking. If we have chianti with a meal, we don't get the straw wrapped bottle.


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## Rocklobster

If I have time, I like to cut the sausages in half or three, sear them first, then throw them back in the sauce and let them simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Then, I remove them and serve them on the side with the spaghetti...the sauce takes on the sausage flavor, and the sausages are super tender...


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## buckytom

CraigC said:


> I don't drink much wine, so they are safe until needed for cooking. If we have chianti with a meal, we don't get the straw wrapped bottle.



I still have a few of those chianti bottles from back in the 70s and 80s. I found them in an old box when we were moving. I think my plan was to make candle holders out of them. Or was it molotov cocktails. I forget.


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## Rocklobster

buckytom said:


> I still have a few of those chianti bottles from back in the 70s and 80s. I found them in an old box when we were moving. I think my plan was to make candle holders out of them. Or was it molotov cocktails. I forget.


I wanted to start a business making chianti bottle candle holders..So I went and bought a bunch. First job was to empty them, so as it turns out, I was usually too hammered by lunch to get anything done..


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## buckytom

Lol. 

In my childhood hometown, there was a restaurant that had hundreds of those wrapped chianti bottles hanging from the ceiling, and every table had a chianti candle holder that each saw the remnants of many candles' drippings on them. Honestly, it was pretty cool.
Although, when my wife recently found my chianti bottle collection, she looked at me like I was a neanderthal.

Thank heavens for our ladies, or the world would be one big man cave.


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## Bigjim68

buckytom said:


> I've been tempted to buy those 4 packs. But something tells me that 3 1/2 won't be left to go in the sauce.



I keep a box of Black Box Cab around.  It will keep for a month or more.  It's also a drinkable red.  

It doesn't go bad around my house.


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## Andy M.

Bigjim68 said:


> I keep a box of Black Box Cab around.  It will keep for a month or more.  It's also a drinkable red.
> 
> It doesn't go bad around my house.



...and when it's empty, you can stick a candle in it and use it as a table decoration.


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## buckytom

Lol, Andy.

 

But I think those are for flowers.


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## msmofet

I used to like putting candles in the Mateus wine bottles. The flat bottle was cute.


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## di reston

This is my chef friend Lorenzo's tomato sauce recipe:

Get 450g cans of best plum tomatoes.
Per can, put in 50g of soffritto of onions and carrots, 1/2 each, then fry off in enough good olive oil to spread the soffritto over the base of the pan, and soften until the onions are transparent and the carrots are cooked. Next add chopped garlic to your taste and soften that, then add the tomatoes, and  squish them up as they cook. No wine. A small pinch of oregano, but not too much as it will give an edge of bitterness. Let the sauce simmer on a gentle 'gloop' for about an hour. This is a tomato sauce, so no meat of any kind. It's a base sauce for Bolognese or other ragùs, which are very different. It should turn out versatile enough to use with most types of pasta, on  fish dishes, as a base sauce for chicken dishes and other poultry.

By the way - Happy New Year! The best of everything to you all

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast     Oscar Wilde


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## di reston

Oops - I forgot to say that Lorenzo's sauce also goes with risotto alla pescatora, and certain other risotto dishes as well, such as mushroom risotto.

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast     Oscar Wilde


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## msmofet

Sounds great  but OP wants to use already prepared canned Tomato sauce.


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## Addie

The one thing I do when short on groceries, is to add one cup of Better Than Bullion Beef broth to the can along with some of the suggestions already made. I also will cook the pasta with some of the BTB in the cooking water. I find that the meat flavor enriches the sauce.


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## di reston

I seem to have completely misunderstood - here in Italy tomato sauce is such a staple in that it's used for hundreds of dishes, from pizza to polenta and we usually make our own, even if we live in town. It's one of those things everyone has in the storecupboard, matter of routine. However, if it has meat in it, it's not tomato sauce any more, and we never put wine in our tomato sauce here: because it's the base sauce for so many dishes, the preference is to have your basic tomato sauce. In winter I like tomato sauce with polenta (and an Italian sausage or so). Over there you don't seem to use tomato sauce in so many ways. Anyway, at the end of the day it's what grabs you that matters. There are many recipes that are, let's say, 'standard'. After that you do whatever you want and enjoy it!

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast    Oscar Wilde


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## GotGarlic

di reston said:


> I seem to have completely misunderstood - here in Italy tomato sauce is such a staple in that it's used for hundreds of dishes, from pizza to polenta and we usually make our own, even if we live in town. It's one of those things everyone has in the storecupboard, matter of routine. However, if it has meat in it, it's not tomato sauce any more, and we never put wine in our tomato sauce here: because it's the base sauce for so many dishes, the preference is to have your basic tomato sauce. In winter I like tomato sauce with polenta (and an Italian sausage or so). Over there you don't seem to use tomato sauce in so many ways. Anyway, at the end of the day it's what grabs you that matters. There are many recipes that are, let's say, 'standard'. After that you do whatever you want and enjoy it!



We do use tomato sauce in many different ways. The OP was asking how to make spaghetti sauce using a can of tomato sauce. Of course, there are many different tomato-based pasta sauces, so people mentioned their variations, including meat and wine. Many of us start with canned tomato sauce, though, while you apparently start with canned tomatoes.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that all 330 million of us do everything the same way


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## di reston

No, no, no, - absolutely not. One thing that fascinates me about food is how dishes originating from one country can transmogrify quite substantially. Italy now recognises that Italo-American dishes are highly acceptable and represent the contribution that Italian immigrants have made to American tradition. I would love to be able to do a study on it. The Brits love the Anglo- Italian community in the UK, and I know it's the same in the USA. I'm simply noticing the differences with great interest. By the way, as a matter of culinary history, the Brits, at the end of the British Empire, brought back the 'traditional' dishes of India and China - but they were nothing like the traditional dishes of those countries. Now, the opposite is true. I was merely making comparisons.

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast     Oscar Wilde


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## GotGarlic

di reston said:


> No, no, no, - absolutely not... I was merely making comparisons.



Well, you said you thought we don't use tomato sauce in as many ways as Italians do. I think that's mistaken.


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## di reston

Thank you for putting me right. Of course it's mistaken. I'm probably too obsessed with Italian food - of course I know there are hundreds of ways you use toms, as we call them, in the US. Every time you talk about other now traditional dishes in the US, i.e. Mexican style dishes, It hits me how much you do use them probably more than we do here in Italy - after all, tomatoes came back to Europe from the Mexican/American area with the Spaniards. The way you eat, the way you shop for food, the things you cook, all fascinate me. We all get it wrong now and again.

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast     Oscar Wilde


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## GotGarlic

di reston said:


> Thank you for putting me right. Of course it's mistaken. I'm probably too obsessed with Italian food - of course I know there are hundreds of ways you use toms, as we call them, in the US. Every time you talk about other now traditional dishes in the US, i.e. Mexican style dishes, It hits me how much you do use them probably more than we do here in Italy - after all, tomatoes came back to Europe from the Mexican/American area with the Spaniards. The way you eat, the way you shop for food, the things you cook, all fascinate me. We all get it wrong now and again.



I'm fascinated by food history and migration, too. And by the variety of dishes that can be made with the same set of simple ingredients, just by combining and seasoning them differently. There's always something new to learn


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## Steve Kroll

Andy M. said:


> Start by sautéing some diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil until it's softened.  Then add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste and continue to sauté while stirring until the paste darkens in color.  Add the canned tomato, some basil, salt and pepper *and a splash or two of wine*...


That splash or two of wine is the most important part!

Andy, my recipe is much like yours. In addition to what you mentioned, I also like to add a teaspoon of oregano and just a half teaspoon of ground fennel seed in the sauce. Although it sounds just a little strange, there's something about that fennel seed I really like.


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## Dawgluver

Steve Kroll said:


> That splash or two of wine is the most important part!
> 
> 
> 
> Andy, my recipe is much like yours. In addition to what you mentioned, I also like to add a teaspoon of oregano and just a half teaspoon of ground fennel seed in the sauce. Although it sounds just a little strange, there's something about that fennel seed I really like.




Nothing strange at all.  Must have fennel seed in my sauce too.  Sometimes I grind it, other times I just throw the whole seeds into the sauce early on.


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## larry_stewart

i also, on occasion, will throw fennel seed in as well .  Kinda gives that hint of sausage, without the sausage taste.  Problem is, my wife hates fennel, so I have to sneak it in there.

For me personally, I prefer to start with the canned tomatoes, as opposed to the canned tomato sauce.  I feel that when starting with the sauce, it kinda always steers you in a certain direction, where as the plain tomatoes offer a blank canvas to start with, allowing any direction you want.

That being said, in a pinch, if thats what I had on hand, I'd use it and have used it in the past.

Usually, in both cases, Ill start with some onion, garlic in Olive oil,  occasionally some butter too. I feel the butter kinda fills it out a bit more, and enhances the sauces ability to bind to the pasta.  Usually a Tbs or two of Tomato paste, but not always.  Some oregano, S&P.  At this point I may add sliced mushrooms ( or not),  A dab of wine ( or not), a pinch of Fennel ( or not)  a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes ( or not) then whatever tomato product I'm going to use goes in ( canned whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, or whatever).  I always have fresh basil growing in the aquaponic garden, so I like to add some last minute, to give it that fresh, summery feel, even in the dead of winter.   Usually its a 10 minute process to get it to this point.  If in a rush, Ill eat it as is.  if not, ill let it do its thing on the stove for an hour or more.  Sometimes I like it thicker, with chunks of tomato,  other times i prefer a smoother, saucier variety.  Some times Ill grate carrots and celery finely, and kinda caramelize them with the onions in the beginning.  Or, toss in some peppers ( not much, cause a little goes a long way).  I like the flavor or peppers, but not biting into a big piece.

During the summer, I grow a decent amount of tomatoes and then skin, seed and mill them.  Making almost a fresh puree.  Then freeze them for future use.  That is usually the tomato product I use most in my sauces.  But my puree taste a lot fresher than the purees you get in the can.


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## Andy M.

Steve Kroll said:


> That splash or two of wine is the most important part!
> 
> Andy, my recipe is much like yours. In addition to what you mentioned, I also like to add a teaspoon of oregano and just a half teaspoon of ground fennel seed in the sauce. Although it sounds just a little strange, there's something about that fennel seed I really like.



I keep a bottle of vermouth for those occasions when I don't have a bottle of wine open.  Wine is important in tomato dishes.  

I also sometimes add oregano along with the basil.  Not a fan of fennel.


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## msmofet

The plain tomato sauce I buy has no herbs or spices. Just tomato and salt and pepper. I will look at the ingredient list next time. But it tastes like plain tomato. Basically a blank palette.


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## Andy M.

The term "tomato sauce" is misleading as it can refer to pasta sauce or plain canned tomato.  I try to stick with "canned tomato" and "pasta sauce" to be less ambiguous.


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## Cooking Goddess

larry_stewart said:


> ...For me personally, I prefer to start with the canned tomatoes, as opposed to the canned tomato sauce...


Same here, *larry*. When the grocery store has canned tomato products I like to stock up. I used to keep a nice selection running the gamut from tomato sauce to whole plums. Now, I buy mostly whole, with a few cans of diced. All plain tomato, no salt/pepper/sugar at all. My thinking is that I can always turn the whole 'maters into puree, crushed, diced...but I can't make any of those things whole. 

Sometimes I don't need the entire 29 oz worth of tomatoes. I don't buy 15 ounce ones (on sale, big can costs less than a small one), but instead use just 1/2 the can and freeze the other half. Again, I'm cheap.


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## msmofet

Now that the girls are grown and are not always around for dinner I enjoy making a small amount of quick sauce using canned plain tomato sauce. Just enough for hub and I. 

A couple times a year I make a large batch of from scratch sauce with canned crushed tomatoes (I put them through the food mill to be sure any skins etc are removed, plus my tummy likes smooth sauce lately), paste, wine, onions, garlic and fresh herbs. Then summer meatballs and beef braciole in it. This gets portioned and frozen for quick meals.


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## Rocklobster

Canned tomatoes for me. Usually  buy the whole, or diced. If I want a smooth sauce, I use my hand blender to finish it off.


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## buckytom

Canned here also.  Although, a lot of the canned toms I buy have a basil leaf or two in them.

Once or twice I've bought Hunt's canned tomato sauce, and it needed almost as much doctoring a a can of just tomatoes.


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