Let me show you how to make passata at home so you can enjoy the freshness and flavour of summer tomatoes in your soups, stews, pasta dishes and casseroles all year long! You only need one ingredient. Can you guess what it is 🙂 ?
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Easy homemade passata
Enjoy the flavour of vine-ripened summer tomatoes all year long with this easy method for making your own passata! And all you will need to make passata are some fresh tomatoes!
Let me start off by saying that I am well aware that you can buy fresh tomatoes in the shops throughout the year. However, in my opinion, the cold-storage tomatoes that make their appearance in the UK supermarkets in the winter months have about as much tomato flavour as a banana!
They are watery, tasteless and have no flavour at all.
But with this recipe, you can easily make passata at home and stock your freezer with summer tomatoes and enjoy their fresh, vibrant flavour the whole year round. Plus you get all the goodness of the tomatoes with none of the preservatives that go into store-bought passata.
So what is passata?
Passata is simply tomatoes that have been sieved to remove the skin and pips.
But – here’s the trick. You don’t actually have to sieve the tomatoes if you blitz them in a food processor before you cook them. The food processor cuts the skin and pips into such small pieces that you hardly even notice them.
The skin of tomatoes contains lots of minerals and amino acids which have lots of health benefits so leaving the skin on the tomatoes means you get all the goodness that is stored in there.
So, blitz the tomatoes in a food processor and then cook them until the moisture that they release has halved then use a hand-blender to blitz the tomatoes even more, until they are smooth and luscious.
And there you have it – easy homemade passata that you can store in the freezer and use whenever you need it!
And this is how you make it.
What you will need
Equipment
You will need a food processor for blitzing the tomatoes. If you don’t have a food processor you could use a cheese grater and grate the tomatoes instead. You will also need a stick-blender to puree the cooked tomatoes, or failing that, a large sieve to push the cooked tomatoes through to remove any bits of skin.
For cooking the passata you will need a large frying pan or saucepan, and a sharp knife and a chopping board for cutting up the tomatoes.
Ingredients
This recipe will make approximately 1 litre or 5 cups of passata. The actual amount will depend on how much liquid cooks out of the tomatoes.
**You can find the complete recipe for making passata on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**
Tomatoes – you can use whatever tomatoes you prefer, as long as they are nice and ripe. I used a mixture of tomatoes from hubby’s allotment.
Salt – this is optional. I added salt to the tomatoes because I wanted to be able to taste the finished product.
Other possible ingredients
Because I wanted to be able to use the tomatoes in a variety of dishes I didn’t add any extra ingredients. Depending on what you are going to be using the passata for, you may like to add some of these ingredients as well:
- finely minced garlic
- chopped basil
- chopped chilli
I prefer adding any extra ingredients at the time I actually use the passata.
How to make passata
Using a sharp knife, remove the centre core from the top of each tomato, and cut away any blemishes.
Depending on the size, cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters.
Place the tomatoes into a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
Pulse the tomatoes for about 30 seconds until they are finely chopped. You may need to do this in batches.
If you do not have a food processor, you can grate the tomatoes on the largest holes of a cheese grater. Discard the last piece of skin that remains.
Transfer the tomato pulp to a large frying pan or saucepan, add salt (if using) and bring to the boil.
If you are using other flavouring ingredients, add them at the same time.
You may find that the tomatoes develop a layer of scum on the top. This is due to impurities in the skin and it is not harmful. You can remove it with a slotted spoon.
Cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat to a strong simmer and cook for 30 minutes. There should still be quite a lot of liquid left in the tomatoes at this stage.
Remove the lid and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the passata has thickened. Blend with a stick-blender to thicken it further.
The actual cooking time will depend on how long it takes for the liquid to evapourate and allow the passata to thicken. You may need longer than I have stated.
Pack the tomato passata in meal-sized portions into freezer bags, or store it in a covered container in the refrigerator.
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Homemade passata – FAQ
Tomato skins (and the pips) contain lots of fibre and anti-oxidants as well as calcium, magnesium, zinc and potassium, which is why I prefer to leave the skins on.
The skin is very finely chopped in the food processor and also blended with a hand blender after cooking so you hardly notice it.
If you prefer to skin the tomatoes before cooking you can do so. See below for a quick visual on how to peel tomatoes easily.
I like to pack my passata in one-cup portions into freezer bags so that I can just use what I need. You can freeze homemade passata for up to 3 months.
Homemade passata can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Passata can be used to add tomato goodness and flavour to many dishes. Use it as you would use store-bought passata. Here are some recipes that use passata.
Unstuffed cabbage rolls
Slow-cooker bolognese sauce
Meatball stuffed pasta shells in tomato sauce
Beef minestrone soup
If you have frozen the passata, do allow it to defrost before using it in these recipes.
How to peel tomatoes easily
This is an easy way to peel tomatoes:
Place your tomatoes into a large bowl and cover them with boiling water. Leave to stand for 2 minutes then plunge them into cold water.
Using a sharp knife, make a cross at the base of the tomato and peel the skin away.
Save for later
If you would like to make your own passata why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click on the image below.
Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
Other recipes
Here are some other recipes using tomatoes that you might like to try:
- Crustless tomato quiche – tasty tomatoes in a light egg custard filling with a cheesy topping.
- Tomato and onion pasta salad – a delicious pasta salad, packed with cheese, tomatoes and onions – perfect for a barbeque.
- Moroccan lamb meatballs with homemade tomato sauce – succulent lamb meatballs served with a tangy homemade tomato sauce.
- Green tomato chutney – sweet and tangy chutney with just a hint of chilli.
The recipe
How to make passata
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Cheese grater optional
- Sieve optional
Ingredients
- 4½ pounds 2 kilograms fresh tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt (optional)
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil (optional)
- 2 cloves chopped garlic (optional)
- 1 small birds eye chilli (chopped) (optional)
Instructions
- Using a sharp knife, remove the centre core from the top of each tomato, and cut away any blemishes.4½ pounds 2 kilograms fresh tomatoes
- Depending on the size, cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters.
- Place the tomatoes into a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
- Pulse the tomatoes for about 30 seconds until they are finely chopped. You may need to do this in batches.
- If you do not have a food processor, you can grate the tomatoes on the largest holes of a cheese grater. Discard the last piece of skin that remains.
- Transfer the tomato pulp to a large frying pan or saucepan, add salt (if using) and bring to the boil. If you are using other flavouring ingredients, add them at the same time.1 teaspoon salt (optional), 2 tablespoons chopped basil (optional), 2 cloves chopped garlic (optional), 1 small birds eye chilli (chopped) (optional)
- You may find that the tomatoes develop a layer of scum on the top. This is due to impurities in the skin and it is not harmful. You can remove it with a slotted spoon.
- Cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat to a strong simmer and cook for 30 minutes. There should still be quite a lot of liquid left in the tomatoes at this stage.
- Remove the lid and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the passata has thickened.
- The actual cooking time will depend on how long it takes for the liquid to evapourate and allow the passata to thicken. You may need longer than I have stated.
- Remove the passata from the heat and allow it to cool, then blend with a stick blender to puree the tomatoes further.
Notes
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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