Easy Homemade Lasagna Tomato Sauce

Get ready to take your lasagna to the next level with an easy to make homemade lasagna sauce! Say goodbye to store-bought jars and embrace the authentic flavors that can only come from creating your own sauce from scratch.

With the perfect combination of tomatoes and herbs, this will be your favorite go to anytime you make lasagna.

Lasagna is a favorite here in our house. It actually beats out pizza night here surprising, I know. Sometimes we do the best of both worlds and make pizza lasagna – yeah that is a thing and it is delicious!

I make a lot of homemade sauces here like our homemade vodka sauce – they are pretty simple and always delicious. We prefer them over buying the jarred sauce.

You can use your own canned tomato puree, tomatoes and broth or you can use store bought tomatoes and broth. We have made it both ways but wrote the recipe using canned tomatoes from the store because they will be more commonly used.

This is our favorite homemade lasagna sauce and I am sure you will love it too!

Important notes:

As written this homemade lasagna sauce is for our slow cooker lasagna, but you can use it for oven baked as well. In the slow cooker, you are cooking the pasta in the sauce so you need more sauce. If baking the lasagna in the oven, you usually boil the noodles first so you do not need as much sauce.

You may find that you don’t need as much sauce as this makes while making the layers if you are baking your lasagna, we don’t always use this much when baking it here. This is a personal preference tho. This puts about 1 and a half cups of sauce on each layer if you are using 3 layers of noodles. If you add a pound of sausage or beef, it adds about 2 cups on each layer.

You can freeze any remaining lasagna tomato sauce or even serve it at the table in case anybody wants extra sauce with theirs!

Also we use a bay leaf in this recipe but you can leave it out if you prefer. When cooking with a bay leaf, always take it out before serving or in this case before adding to the lasagna. They do not break down in the body and can be dangerous if swallowed whole – they can cause tearing. They are safe to cook with but not safe to swallow.

Ingredients

Tomato puree – I recommend puree but you can use tomato sauce if needed. Puree is just a little thicker.

Diced tomatoes – We use no salt added.

Chicken broth – We use either lower sodium or unsalted. You can use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.

Olive oil – You can use your favorite oil, but we recommend olive oil for the flavor.

Onion – Yellow onion is best for homemade lasagna sauce or you can use a sweet onion in it’s place.

Garlic – Fresh chopped garlic is best, but you can substitute with garlic powder if you need to. You would use 1 teaspoon of garlic powder in it’s place.

Bay leaf – Recommended, but not required. *Be sure to remove the bay leaf from the homemade lasagna sauce before assembling the lasagna.

Italian seasoning – If you do not have Italian seasoning you can substitute with 1 teaspoon of each – basil, parsley and oregano.

Salt – You may want to adjust to taste. Taste the sauce often to see if it needs more. The amount will vary depending on how much sodium is in your other ingredients.

Pepper – Black ground pepper, no substitutions recommended.

Sugar – No substitutions recommended.

Red pepper flakes – You can use cayenne pepper in it’s place, but cayenne is a little hotter so you may need a little less.

Making the homemade lasagna sauce

This lasagna sauce is really easy to make.

Add your olive oil and onion to a saucepot that is at least 3 quarts or liters. I use stainless steel, but it is your preference for cooking pans. Sauté until the onions just start to become translucent and start to turned browned slightly.

Add in your garlic and sauté for about a minute. If you cook it too long here it will start to toast or brown your garlic. It still tastes good, but it will alter the taste of the garlic and the homemade lasagna sauce.

Carefully pour in your chicken broth a little at a time. Adding the liquid to the hot pan will sizzle and the steam will be hot so I try to keep my hands moving while doing this.

Stir in the Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and sugar. Now add in the tomato puree and diced tomatoes. Stir it all together well and add your bay leaf on top.

Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once you reach a simmer, reduce heat to medium low and cook the sauce on a slow simmer for at least 25 minutes. Be sure to remove your bay leaf before using this homemade lasagna sauce.

Adding sausage or beef (optional)

We love to have sausage in our lasagna but it is optional. Some people prefer ground beef which is great too.

If you want to add sausage or ground beef, you want to cook it separately. They both tend to have a bit of fat in them and you don’t want all that fat in your homemade lasagna sauce.

We usually add sausage here. Ground or links work great, but if using links be sure to cut them into small bite sized pieces after cooking.

You can either cook the meat in the pan first or use a separate pan. If using the same pan, cook the meat first and then set aside. Wash the grease out of the pot and prepare the sauce as directed. Add the meat into the sauce with the tomatoes and tomato puree.

Frequently asked questions