Homemade Onion Garlic Tomato Sauce

This homemade tomato sauce with onions and garlic is made with just a few ingredients. This sauce is the base sauce for several recipes like Bamia (okra), Bisilla (peas), and roasted chicken with potatoes.

This homemade onion garlic tomato sauce, also known as magic red sauce, is AMAZING. It's freezer-friendly, so I usually make it in batches.

Ingredients

• Tomatoes: The star ingredient for this sauce is tomatoes! I have noticed a difference in this sauce depending on my tomatoes. I look for the freshest tomatoes I can get my hands on. My favorite tomatoes are Roma tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine.
• Onion: I prefer to use white onion, sweet onion, or brown onion for this sauce. Maybe I am imagining things, but red onion makes the sauce taste a little different.
• Garlic: I use freshly peeled garlic. Garlic in a jar or garlic flakes doesn't taste the same.

How to Make Onion Garlic Tomato Sauce

Blend and strain the tomatoes. Blend the tomatoes using a blender.

The seeds of the tomatoes are bitter, so strain the tomatoes after blending.

Blend the onions and garlic in a food processor. The food processor blends the onions and garlic into the right size for this sauce.

Fry the onions and garlic in oil first. Before adding the blended tomatoes, fry the onions and garlic until they start to change color. This step usually takes about 5 minutes on medium-high heat.

Add the blended tomatoes and simmer. On medium heat, cook the sauce covered for 20 minutes so that the flavors can blend.

Add a tiny bit of sugar. Sugar adds some sweetness to the tomato sauce, balancing out all of the other flavors.

What Is the Best Onion for Tomato Sauce?

The best onions for tomato sauce are sweet onions, brown onions, and white onions in that order. I've used red onions for this tomato sauce, and the red onion has too strong of a flavor making the sauce a little unbalanced.

How to Batch Freeze

Once the sauce has cooked, allow the sauce to cool to room temperature. Using a quart-size freezer-friendly storage bag, add the tomato sauce (will take 2 bags for this recipe serving size of 2). Each quart-size bag is enough for about one meal for 4 people.

What Is This Sauce Used For?

This Egyptian magic red sauce is the BAM in this Bamia Recipe. This sauce is very versatile and can be used in stews or one-sheet pan bakes like this spatchcock chicken recipe.

📋 Recipe

Onion Garlic Tomato Sauce

Author: Lily Guidry

Course: Sauce

Cuisine: Egyptian

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 25 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

5 from 3 votes

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Servings 2

This onion garlic tomato sauce is used in several dishes, so here's how to batch cook it.

Ingredients

 

US Customary - Metric

• 9 tomatoes medium, size of a fist
• 3 onions medium, size of a fist
• 9 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Peel and quarter onions. Peel garlic. Add to a food processor and blend on high. Set aside.
• Quarter tomatoes. Add to a blender. Blend on high. Strain tomatoes. Set aside.
• In a large stovetop pot on medium-high heat, add olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic mixture. Fry the onions and garlic for about 5 minutes or until they start to change color. 
• Add the strained tomato puree, sugar, salt, and pepper. Cover the pot, reduce to medium heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature.
• Use sauce for a recipe directly, store in the fridge, or store in a freezer-friendly quart-sized bag.

Notes

1. This recipe fills 2 quart-sized storage bags.
2. The sauce is good for 5 days if storing in the fridge or 3 months if storing in the freezer.
3. To use previously frozen Egyptian magic red sauce, thaw in a bowl of water. Heat on medium heat on the stovetop.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 quart bag | Calories: 330 kcal | Carbohydrates: 49 g | Protein: 7 g | Fat: 14 g | Saturated Fat: 2 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12 g | Trans Fat: 0 g | Cholesterol: 0 mg | Sodium: 37 mg | Fiber: 12 g | Sugar: 34 g