Quick and easy homemade Sicilian tomato sauce with fresh vegetables and olives, ready in 30 minutes. It’s rich aromatic texture makes it a perfect addition to all sorts of pasta meal (vegan, vegetarian and with meat). This lovely tomato sauce recipe that can also be canned for winter months.
This easy homemade Italian-style tomato sauce, bursting with aromatic herbs and olives, is my go-to for pasta nights. Its rich, silky texture makes it a dream for a quick weekday dinner, and it’s ready in under 30 minutes.
Beyond pasta, it’s perfect for dishes like our favorite Oven Roasted Eggplant Wedges (with olives and tomatoes), adding a fresh, flavorful touch every time.
Ingredients & Substitutions:
- Tomatoes – I recommend using large fresh pink tomatoes as they have sweet meaty flesh, which makes them perfect for this tomato sauce recipe.
- Carrot – one carrot gives extra flavor to tomatoes.
- Celery sticks – celery has a rich and unique flavor that goes well with tomatoes in my opinion.
- Green olives, pitted – green olives are a wonderful and flavorful addition to any meal, especially this sauce.
- Kalamata olives, pitted – these lovely dark-colored olives enrich the tomato sauce even further.
- Olive oil, extra virgin – as usual the oil for the sauce should be extra virgin olive oil. If preferred use another vegetable oil of choice.
- Cilantro – fresh, minced cilantro leaves for the sauce.
- Garlic – finely minced garlic for the sauce.
- Salt and brown sugar – a pinch of both, my granny always added it to a sauce with tomatoes.
How to thicken tomato sauce?
Thickening tomato sauce is really straightforward, and you only need a couple of pantry staples: 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil (extra virgin if you’ve got it) and the same of all-purpose flour. Start by heating the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, then stir in the flour and keep it moving for 2–3 minutes until it turns a lovely golden color – just don’t let it burn.
Once it’s ready, pour in your tomato sauce along with any other ingredients, giving it a good stir to combine everything. Let it sauté for another 5-10 minutes, stirring often, and then carry on cooking the sauce as you normally would.
If your sauce is already cooked and you want to thicken it, the trick is the same: start by making a golden roux with the olive oil and flour, then add a few spoonfuls of the cooked sauce to loosen it and stir until smooth.
Gradually mix in the rest of the sauce, making sure everything is nicely combined, and bring it to a gentle boil for a couple of minutes so the flour fully blends in. You’ll end up with a beautifully thick, rich sauce that clings perfectly to pasta – or anything else you fancy smothering it on.
MORE TOMATO Recipes:
DIFFERENCE between tomato sauce and tomato paste:
Tomato paste is a thickened concentrate, made from recooked, finely blended tomatoes. It’s used as thickener for meals, soups, stews or placed onto pizza before all other ingredients. Tomato paste is thicker than tomato sauce, less acidy and more sweet. It’s usually sold in small glass jars or tubes in European stores.
Homemade Silician Tomato Sauce with Olives
Ingredients
- 500 g fresh chopped tomatoes
- 1 large carrot peeled
- 2 celery sticks medium
- 20 green olives pitted
- 20 kalamata olives pitted
- 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
- 4 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- pinch of salt
- pinch of brown sugar
Instructions
- Wash carrot, celery sticks. Pee as needed and mince finely. In a large saucepan add chopped carrot, celery sticks and olive oil. Sauté on low heat until tender.
- Then wash and chop tomatoes into small cubes. Add to saucepan and sauté for additional 3-5 minutes on low heat.
- In the meantime, slice olives into circles. Then chop cilantro and garlic. Add all to the saucepan as well. Then add pinch of salt and sugar. Leave to simmer until fully cooked. Cover saucepan with lid to prevent tomato sprinkles.
- Use warm as sauce to pasta, meats or can the sauce for winter.
Nutrition
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