Gluten free tomato sauce does not require a long list of ingredients, however, it can turn into a time-consuming project. If you planned on quickly cooking up a homemade tomato paste, I recommend saving it for when you have an hour or two to spare.
Interestingly enough, I decided to make homemade tomato sauce/paste because of celiac disease. As a child, prior to discovering my celiac disease diagnosis, my mother and I assumed spaghetti sauce and tomato paste were too acidic for me to handle, causing extreme stomach pain. I avoided anything with tomato sauce, but little did we know it wasn’t the tomato sauce that was the issue, but the food that tomato sauce was often made with, such as wheat-filled spaghetti and pizza.
When I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I began eating tomato sauce again with gluten free pasta and pizza. However, I still felt bloated after eating tomato sauce and assumed it was because my body just wasn’t used to consuming this type of food.
One day I attempted to eat gluten free spaghetti with store-bought spaghetti sauce. I didn’t get a stomachache, but I still felt an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I decided to check the spaghetti sauce ingredients to make sure the sauce was gluten-free and was shocked to discover the long list of artificial ingredients. I decided to make my own tomato paste/spaghetti sauce and was impressed with the freshness of the flavor.
Additionally, making homemade tomato paste can get quite messy, however, I noticed it has not stained my clothing, unlike store-bought tomato paste and spaghetti sauce, which is quite telling.
Here is what you will need for the gluten-free tomato paste:
- 12 tomatoes (Yields ∼ 16 ounces of tomato paste)
- Fresh parsley
- Fresh or dried basil
- Garlic clove
- Garlic salt
Homemade Gluten Free Recipe
- Boil tomatoes until skin begins to peel
- Remove tomatoes from boiling water, and run tomatoes under cold water, or let cool
- Peel the skin off of the tomatoes
- Cut tomatoes in half and deseed
- Dice your tomatoes and set ¼ of them aside – The tomatoes you set aside will be added to the paste while cooking. This adds a slightly chunky consistency and avoids drying out the paste while cooking.
- Cut onion, parsley, basil, and one garlic clove and blend with tomatoes- you will get a watery liquid form of the ingredients in return.
- Pour the tomato paste into a pan on the stovetop and cook on medium heat. Stir occasionally for about 3-5 minutes.
- Sprinkle dried basil and garlic salt and stir.
- Reduce to low heat.
- Add diced tomatoes that were set aside and stir.
- Cook on low heat for 45 minutes to one 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- Top with parsley and enjoy.
