Canning Spaghetti Sauce (USDA-Tested Recipe)

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For canning spaghetti sauce, the USDA has two tested recipes, both for the pressure canner only. Per the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP), spaghetti sauce without meat takes 20 minutes for pints and 25 for quarts. Spaghetti sauce with meat takes 60 minutes for pints and 70 for quarts. At 0 to 1,000 feet, run a weighted-gauge canner at 10 psi. A dial-gauge canner runs at 11 psi up to 2,000 feet.

The catch is that these are fixed recipes. You can't swap in your family's sauce and use these times. The NCHFP warns not to increase the onions, peppers or mushrooms, and the CDC says to skip recipes that don't follow the USDA guide, "even if you got them from a trusted friend or family member."

Both recipes below come from the NCHFP, adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning (2015).

Canning Spaghetti Sauce: Why It Needs a Pressure Canner

Plain tomatoes can go in a water bath once you add lemon juice. Spaghetti sauce is different. Onions, garlic, celery, peppers, mushrooms and meat are all low-acid, and they raise the pH of the mix.

The NCHFP says both recipes are low-acid foods that "must be processed in a pressure canner for safety." They don't need added lemon juice or citric acid when processed as directed. There's no boiling water option for either one. Our guide to pressure canning tomatoes covers the plain tomato products, which do need acid.

Processing Times and Pressure (NCHFP)

Dial-gauge pressure canner

Weighted-gauge pressure canner

Both recipes use a hot pack and 1 inch of headspace. The dial-gauge table ends at 8,000 feet; above that, contact your county extension office. Our pressure canning altitude chart explains the bands.

Recipe 1: Spaghetti Sauce Without Meat

Yield: about 9 pints

Ingredients (NCHFP)

• 30 lb tomatoes
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped celery or green pepper
• 1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 4½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 4 tbsp fresh minced parsley
• 2 tsp black pepper
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup vegetable oil

Steps

1. Peel the tomatoes. Wash them and dip in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, until the skins split. Dip in cold water, slip off the skins, remove the cores and quarter them.
2. Cook down the tomatoes. Boil them uncovered for 20 minutes in a large saucepan.
3. Strain. Put them through a food mill or sieve.
4. Sauté the vegetables. Cook the onions, garlic, celery or pepper, and mushrooms if using, in the vegetable oil until tender.
5. Combine and season. Add the sautéed vegetables to the tomatoes, along with the spices, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce. Simmer uncovered, stirring often so it doesn't burn, until it's thick enough to serve. By then the volume will have dropped by nearly half.
7. Fill hot jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Release air bubbles, wipe the rims and put on the lids.
8. Process pints for 20 minutes or quarts for 25, at the pressure for your elevation.

Recipe 2: Spaghetti Sauce With Meat

Yield: about 9 pints

Ingredients (NCHFP)

• 30 lb tomatoes
• 2½ lb ground meat (the NCHFP lists beef, sausage, venison or turkey)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery or green peppers
• 1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 4½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 4 tbsp fresh minced parsley
• 2 tsp black pepper
• ¼ cup brown sugar

There's no vegetable oil in the meat version. The printed 2015 USDA guide lists "ground beef or sausage," while the NCHFP website adds venison and turkey.

Steps

1. Prepare the tomatoes exactly as in Recipe 1: peel, core, quarter, boil 20 minutes uncovered and put through a food mill or sieve.
2. Brown the meat. Sauté the ground meat until brown.
3. Add the vegetables. Add the garlic, onion, celery or green pepper, and mushrooms if using. Cook until tender.
4. Combine with the tomato pulp in a large saucepan. Add the spices, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce uncovered, stirring often, until thick enough to serve, about half the starting volume.
6. Fill hot jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Release air bubbles, wipe the rims (fat on the rim can stop a seal) and put on the lids.
7. Process pints for 60 minutes or quarts for 70.

If you also can plain ground meat, our canning ground beef guide covers that recipe and its times.

Running the Pressure Canner

1. Put the rack and 2 to 3 inches of hot water in the canner, or the amount in your manual.
2. Load the jars, lock the lid and heat until steam flows freely.
3. Vent for 10 minutes with the weight off or the petcock open.
4. Add the weight or close the petcock and bring the canner to the pressure for your elevation and gauge.
5. Start timing at pressure. If it drops below the target, bring it back up and restart the full time.
6. Turn off the heat and let the pressure fall naturally. Remove the weight, wait 10 minutes and open the lid away from you.
7. Cool the jars 12 to 24 hours, then test the seals and remove the bands.

For a fuller walkthrough, see our beginner's guide to using a pressure canner. The meat version runs an hour or more at pressure, so a canner that holds a full load is worth it. Our best pressure canner guide compares sizes.

What You Can and Can't Change

The NCHFP recipe is short on flexibility, and that's on purpose. The process time was set for this mix and this thickness.

Safe to do

• Leave out the optional mushrooms.
• Choose celery or green pepper; the recipe allows either.
• Adjust the seasoning after you open the jar. Add fresh basil, red pepper flakes, wine, more garlic or a splash of cream when you reheat.

Not covered by the tested process

• More onions, peppers or mushrooms. The recipe says plainly not to increase them.
• More meat than 2½ pounds, or meatballs. Neither is part of the tested recipe.
• Thickeners such as flour, cornstarch or tomato paste. None are in the tested recipe, and the NCHFP notes that a product's thickness affects how heat travels through the jar.
• Cheese, cream or butter in the jar.
• Your own sauce recipe with these times. There's no tested process for it. The CDC says to use only recipes that follow the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.

If your family sauce is non-negotiable, freeze it. Or can plain crushed tomatoes or standard tomato sauce, which both have tested processes, and turn them into your sauce on the day you cook.

Spaghetti Sauce Alternatives With Tested Processes

Common Mistakes With Canned Spaghetti Sauce

• Water bath canning it. The NCHFP gives only pressure canner processes for both recipes.
• Using the meatless time for meat sauce. The meat version needs 60 or 70 minutes, three times longer.
• Not reducing the sauce. The recipe calls for cooking down by nearly half. Jars filled with a much thinner or much thicker sauce than tested aren't the product the time was set for.
• Adding extra vegetables "for more flavor." Add them at serving time instead.
• Leaving fat on the rims. Wipe each rim carefully with a damp paper towel before lidding.
• Electric multi-cookers. The NCHFP does not recommend its canning processes in appliances such as the Instant Pot.

Storing and Serving

Store sealed jars without bands in a cool, dark place. The USDA says below 95°F (35°C), ideally 50 to 70°F (10 to 21°C), and the NCHFP says canned food keeps its best quality for at least a year.

The CDC recommends boiling home-canned low-acid foods and home-canned tomatoes before eating: 10 minutes at elevations below 1,000 feet, plus 1 minute for each additional 1,000 feet. A sauce you simmer before serving fits that easily. Never taste sauce from a jar with a bulging lid, spurting liquid, mold or an off smell. Our botulism safety guide explains how to get rid of suspect jars safely.

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