Recipe and pressure canning instructions for canning spaghetti sauce with no meat.
You will need to know how to use a pressure canner.
Go here for a recipe for canning spaghetti sauce with meat.
Yield for this recipe is about 9 pints. For my family, I will double this and do quarts.
This spaghetti sauce must always be processed in a pressure canner.

Prepare
Gather Your Canning Supplies:
- pressure canner
- canning jars
- canning seals and rings
- jar lifter and canning funnel
- blancher
- bowls
- large spoons
- sharp knife
- towels, dish cloths and pot holders
- Food Mill or strainer (optional)
Ingredients:
- 30 pounds tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped onions*
- 6 cloves garlic (mince garlic or use a garlic press)
- 1 cup chopped celery or green peppers*
- 1 lb sliced mushroons (optional, I rarely use them)*
- 4 tsp canning salt
- 2 T oregano
- 2 T minced parsley
- 2 T basil
- 2 bay leaves (remove before filling jars)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
*For safety reasons, do not increase proportions of onions, peppers, or mushrooms.
Note:
Remember, safety in canning is all in the acidity levels of your food. High acid is fine for a water bath, but low acid needs the pressure canner.
This spaghetti sauce has vegetables in it and is only tested for the pressure canner. I like it because it has lots of veggies. It MUST be pressure canned.
There are other spaghetti sauce recipes available that are are created with enough acidity that a water bath is enough to safely store it on the shelf.
However… this one is not. 🙂
Preparing Your Tomato Sauce
The first thing you need to do when home canning spaghetti sauce is to prepare your tomato sauce.
Click here to go to a page that explains how to make and can tomato sauce.
Make your sauce, but do not process. Come back here to complete your spaghetti sauce.

Preparing & Canning Spaghetti Sauce
If needed, simmer tomato sauce, uncovered, in large saucepan until thick enough for serving. This might a take 20 minutes to a couple of hours. Stir frequently to avoid burning. The amount of sauce may be reduced by nearly one-half.
- An easy way to do this is to place sauce in a slow cooker and leave the lid off. Let it cook until thickened.
- Or bake uncovered in the oven at 350. You will still need to stir often.
Here is my favorite time saving tip |
OPTIONAL: Canning this sauce as is, without the cook down time, will simply give you a thinner sauce. Add a can of tomato paste to thicken when you prepare your meal. I have done this when I did not want to spend the time to cook down.
Chop vegetables while you simmer the tomatoes.
Saute chopped onion and chopped bell pepper (or celery) and minced garlic. Cook until veggies are tender.
Add vegetables to sauce. Stir in salt, spices and sugar.
Fill your hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Take out the bay leaves at this point.
Follow pressure canning instructions.



Process
Process pints for 20 minutes.
Process quarts for 25 minutes.
Altitude in Feet | Dial Gauge Canner | Weighted Gauge Canner |
0-1000 | 11 | 10 |
1001-2000 | 11 | 15 |
2001-4000 | 12 | 15 |
4001-6000 | 13 | 15 |
6001-8000 | 14 | 15 |
8000-10,000 | 15 | 15 |
Source for tested recipe here.
Tomatoes & Tomato Products
Tomatoes Whole or Halved
Spaghetti Sauce
Spaghetti Sauce (Meatless)
Stewed Tomatoes
Unseasoned Tomato Sauce
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Sharon Peterson is a wife, mom of 4 sons, home gardener and home food preservation fanatic! Click here to find out more.