All-purpose tomato and basil sauce

Name: All-purpose tomato and basil sauce
Yield: 2 jars
Cuisine: Slovak
Ingredients: 1 kg Tomatoes (peeled); 1 Onion; to taste Garlic cloves; to taste Salt and pepper; to taste Basil; as needed Olive oil

Simmer peeled tomatoes with onion, garlic, and basil, then top with olive oil. Makes 2 jars for pasta, meat dishes, or soups.

Slovak cuisine · Translated from Slovak · October 24, 2026

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Recipe at a glance

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Servings: 2 jars
Difficulty: Easy

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All-purpose tomato and basil sauce is a handy supply for pasta, soups, and braising meat. Briefly sauté chopped onion and garlic in oil, then add basil, salt, pepper, and a kilogram of peeled tomatoes. Add a little water and simmer until the sauce starts to thicken; the whole process takes about 15 minutes.

Pour the finished sauce into jars, top with about a half-centimeter layer of olive oil, and refrigerate, using it within two days, or freeze it for winter.

Instructions

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

Finely chop the onion and garlic and sauté in oil in a pot until softened. Add the basil, salt, and pepper, cook briefly, then add the tomatoes.
Tip: If using fresh tomatoes, blanch, peel, and chop them first.
Add a little water if needed and simmer for several minutes, until the sauce starts to thicken. Then choose one of the two storage methods below.
Pour the sauce into jars and top with about a half-centimeter layer of olive oil. Let cool, then refrigerate the jars within two hours at the latest. Use the sauce within 2 days, as recommended for cooked foods by the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Alternatively, freeze the sauce; this is the better option for storing it for winter. Divide the cooled sauce among smaller containers or jars and place in the freezer.
Do not store it in the pantry: the US National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) does not recommend filling jars with hot sauce without further canning processing. It classifies a similar sauce made with tomatoes, onion, garlic, and oil as low-acid, meaning it can only be canned in a pressure canner.
Tip: Add your favorite seasonings to the sauce, such as oregano or basil.

Tip: If freezing the sauce in jars, leave at least two centimeters of space below the lid—the sauce expands as it freezes and could crack the glass.

Nutrition facts

Approximate values per 100 g, calculated from the ingredients

Energy: 24 kcal
Protein: 0.9 g
Carbohydrates: 4.5 g
of which sugars: 2.7 g
Fat: 0.6 g
of which saturates: 0.1 g
Fiber: 1.2 g
Salt: 0.2 g

Calculated from the raw ingredients, without frying oil. Where an amount is “to taste”, typical amounts are used. Food composition: USDA FoodData Central and product labels.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Univerzálna paradajková omáčka s bazalkou do zásoby