Can You Use a Juicer to Make Tomato Sauce

Tired of buying expensive canned tomato sauce and wondering if you can make this at home in your juicer? Well, if you read the instructions below you will find out that you can use a juicer to make tomato sauce.

It requires that you choose the right type of tomatos, understand how to heat them, and which type of juicer to use.

You are still going to have to heat up the tomato sauce on the stovetop, unless you are looking for a raw tomato sauce. But that’s technically not a tomato sauce in the strict sense. I’d liken it more to a salsa without the peppers.

The outline below is going to go over how exactly you can use a juicer to make tomato sauce. It details which types of tomatos you are going to want to use, what type of jucier you will need, and a step by step guide on how to process the tomatos.

Can You Use  A Juicer To Make Tomato Sauce?

The fast answer is yes, you can use a juicer to make tomato sauce. It is entierly possible to use a juicer to make tomato sauce. However, it’s a bit more complicated than just taking tomatos and running them through the juicer.

You are going to have to still cook your tomato sauce. The juice is just going to speed up the process of crushing the tomatos.

This process is best for people who have a hankering to make fresh tomato sauce from scratch, but who are not sure how to peel and crush tomatos without making a big mess.

In fact, unless you are going super tradational and crushing tomatos by hand in a large pot ala Roman style, this is probally the best method. And that’s even considering those people who use great canned tomatos, even the famous San Marzano tomatoes.

Is Tomato Sauce and Tomato Juice The Same Thing?

So, is tomato sauce and tomato juice the same thing? Technically no. They are two different things.

The main thing to understand is that tomato sauce includeds cooked tomatos and other ingredients. These other ingredients will often be things like Onions, Garlic, and herbs such as parsley or oregeno or basil.

There are a ton of recipes online on how to cook tomato sauce. They can all be basically boiled down into a few ideas (pun intended).

Take ripe tomatos, crush them. Add garlic and onions and baisil. Simmer in a pot until it’s all melded together. Some of the smaller details such as how to simmer and saute the garlic and onions are different (these include using a stainless steel pan with oilve oil or pan roasting in the oven).

Here are few good books online at Amazon to check out. I like them in all honesty over a random blog online since there is a lot more checks and balances when recipes are published. Some of my faves inclide Lidia’s, Raos, and classics from Cooks Kitchen.

 

 

 

Tomato juice, on the other hand, is simply the liquid juice extracted from tomatos.

How To Use A Juicer To Make Tomato Sauce?

In order to use your juicer to make tomato sauce, you need to understand the goal. The goal is to basically turn your tomatos into a puree. So, it’s important to know how to use your juicer correctly.

If you have a Omega juicer, for example, you will have the option of using a non-screening cone. These come with the Omega juicers and allow you to make everything from nut butters to frozen berry sorbets.

When you use these instead of the regular juicing cones, the liquid and the pulp is not seperated. The auger crushes the tomatos and then the resulting puree is what you will want to use.

If you don’t have a juicer that allows you to keep the pulp from seperating, then you will have to recombine the pulp with the liquid. You don’t want to only use the tomato juice when making tomato sauce as it’s not thick enough.

Traditionally, tomato sauce used the whole tomatos uncluding the skin. So there is no reason to discard the tomato pulp.

The added benefit is that when you are making tomato sauce with your juicer, you can also put garlic, onlions and other vegetables that you might add to your sauce into the juicer so that they are pureed. It wil speed up the process and makes for a more even textured tomato sauce.

Which Type of Tomatos To Juice For Tomato Sauce?

I personally like to use fresh organic tomatoes. While plum tomatos are the most commonly suggested tomatos to use for sauce, there are other tomatos that I like just as well.

As you can tell from the above photo, I am a really big fan of cherry tomatos. The one thing that I like about using cherry tomatos as a base for a tomato sauce is that they have a bright and zesty flavor. In fact, if you’re looking for a more intense tomato flavor, try cherry tomatos.

I know that there are lots of recipes and articles and even blog videos online that tell you to use tomato paste, but that’s a terrible idea. It’s not an authentic italian recipe and it will produce a smokey, even overpowering flavor if you over do it.

As anyone who has had fresh tomato sauce in Italy will know that it just doesn’t taste the same as the canned and bottled sauces you get in the supermarkets.

My list of the best tomatoes to use for sauce (when juicing) include:

• Cherry Tomatos
• Roma
• Plum

Should You Cook Tomatos Before Juicing Them?

This is a bit of a personal perference. However, I would suggest that you do not cook the tomatos before processing them in the juicer.

First, let’s be clear as to what exactly we mean when we say cook. You’re not going to be cooking them into sauce and then running them through a juicer. That would be reduncant.

But, some people do like to blance them in boiling water and then run them through the juicer when they have cooled down a bit.

My personal perference is to simply jucie them as though they were regular juicing items.

Then, after you’ve put the tomatos through the cold press juicer, I take that mixture and add it to a stock pot and cook it. If you’re planning on adding other things through the juicer such as garlic and onions, you should also run them through. I would add them either before or after the tomatos and then mix them all together at the end.

Which Type of Juicer Can Make Tomato Sauce?

In most cases I always advocate for you to use a cold press juicer. It’s simply the better juicer on the market for all needs. And that’s basically the same thing here.

The reason that a cold press juicer such as a Kuvings or an Omega is better at making tomato sauce is that they crush instead of cut.

It’s a similar method to how traditional Italians make their tomato sauce.

In fact, here is a video of a gentleman making traditioanl tomato sauce.

He follows the following process:

• Heats the tomatos.
• Drain the Tomaotes off to remove excess water
• Cool them briefly.
• Run them Through a Juicer (he uses a Waring)
• Cook Down

 

 

And here is another video, this one shot in Italy. The woman making the sauce here also uses a Juicer. She is using a more traditional style Auger juicer.

 

 

My recommendation for anyone looking to buy a juicer to make tomato sauce is to also get a juicer that can juice green drinks, fruit juices, and make pasta!

That last point doesn’t always come up, but if you are looking to make your own tomato sauce from scratch in a juicer, then you are probally also someone who is intersted in making fresh pasta from scratch.

 

You need to get a cold press juicer with a pasta attachment if you want to do that. The Omega Line of Juicers and also the Green Star line are both capable of handling tomato sauce, pasta, and all other juicing needs.