How to Make Pasta Sauce with Dehydrated Tomato Powder

Last Updated on January 9, 2025 by Michelle

I make pasta sauce with dehydrated tomato powder. Often. Every Friday night, all winter long.

Today I’m breaking down exactly how you can do this too. Well, it doesn’t have to be only on Friday nights of course…

Family pizza night

We’ve always had a family pizza night. The days have changed over the years, but the excitement for pizza night never dwindles. We are pretty much pizza fanatics, so that helps.

Sure, we sometimes stop at the little country store in town and pick up a pizza from Sean, but most of the time we make homemade pizza. We prefer it and it’s almost as convenient honestly. No, actually, on a blustery winter night when no one wants to bundle up and go out, or uncover the car out of 6 inches of snow, pizza that we put together in a half and hour in our kitchen is greatly preferred.

I wasn’t a fan of canned pasta sauce

I buy a lot of pasta sauce, because my one attempt at making it myself was awful. I felt chained to the stove for all day… a very long day… and had very few jars of sauce to show for it.

That’s why dehydrated tomatoes changed our family pizza night forever.

I grew a huge variety of tomatoes in my garden last summer and became a dehydrating fanatic when I realized just how amazing pasta sauce is that’s made with dehydrated tomato powder.

Go here if you’d like to know what varieties of tomatoes are best for dehydrating.

And hop over to this article if you’d like to know all the ways I use dehydrated tomatoes (they’re not just for pasta sauce y’all).

Edited to add: Go here for the recipe I use today to make my dehydrated tomato sauce.

How to make powder from dehydrated tomatoes

You can actually make powders from many different dehydrated veggies. But dehydrated tomato powder is my favorite, with pepper coming in a close second. I broke down how to make powders from dehydrated foods in a previous article. So if that’s step one for you, go check that out first, then meet me back here.

I’ll wait.

Why I love sauce made from tomato powder

It’s versatile

I use my dehydrated tomato powder for pizza sauce and tomato paste and pasta sauce. I just vary the amount of water I add to the dehydrated tomato powder so it’s the thickness I want. I’ve also simmered it down to get the desired thickness for sauce, but if you get the water ratio right to begin with, no simmering is needed.

It’s practical

I love that there is zero waste, I can make exactly what I need on any given night.

No fridge real estate required

I always hate that ½-used jar of sauce that takes up valuable space in my fridge. Even worse, the jar gets shoved to the back corner where it is forgotten and later thrown away. None of that if I’m making what I need, when I need it. Score.

What’s the best dehydrator?

I have tried many different dehydrators over the years, trying to save money with lower priced ones. I’ve also dehydrated many herbs by hanging them to air dry and many veggies by spreading them out on baking trays on the dashboard of my car on a hot sunny day.

While there are many ways to dehydrate without fancy equipment, and many lower priced dehydrating machines on the market that are fine, I can tell you I will never go back to any other way now that I have found the top echelon of dehydrators.

Bonuses? It has such a large capacity (yet a small enough footprint to stay in my kitchen all season long) that I save lots of energy. I have to run 4 loads in a cheap dehydrator to equal just one in the Tribest.

This is my dehydrator and I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who asks.

Pasta Sauce with Dehydrated Tomato Powder

INGREDIENTS

1 part tomato powder
2-3 parts water (use less if you want a thicker sauce, more for thinner)
a little vinegar (1/2 tsp for every 1 TB powder you’ve used)–optional
Spices, herbs, and sugar to taste.

I like oregano, basil, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and coconut sugar. If you’d like to know my personal preferences, I share a more exact recipe for this sauce here: Make homemade pasta sauce without canning

DIRECTIONS

In a bowl, pour water and vinegar over tomato powder and seasoning and stir until dissolved.
Add more tomato powder if you want a thicker consistency.
Add more spices, herbs, vinegar, or sugar slowly if needed, and keep tasting until it’s just the way you like it.

I’m kinda a hero

It’s that simple guys. And no one has to shovel snow to drive to Sean’s store to wait 20 minutes for a pizza that’s half cold when we sit down to eat it.

Yeah, I’m kinda a hero like that.

I talk about my dehydrator, and why I’m in love with it–along with 11 other kitchen tools I’m kinda obsessed with–in this episode of my podcast– 12 Appliances that Make Real Food Convenient

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Joan

July 28, 2025 at 9:40 am

I am definitely going to try this come harvest season. Also don’t really have to wait on a large amount to be ripe to start processing like usual.

Beth

July 28, 2025 at 11:16 am

Thank you for all of the great information. I will definitely save to be able to use at a later date. My tomatoes ate finally starting to ripen, so this makes the dreams even better for how it will all be used.

Lisa Jennings

July 28, 2025 at 1:58 pm

Love all this great information. Definitely want to try this. Just not sure if I’m brave enough to test making tomato powder with my old Nesco. Not unless I’m prepared for it to take A LOT longer to dehydrate than any instructions say it will. I’ve only done mint, oregano, thyme and chamomile this season. They’ve all taken a lot longer to fully dry. I’ve even rotated and turned trays and run at highest temp setting suggested for herbs.

Alyssa

July 28, 2025 at 4:57 pm

My sister in law has a dehydrator (I don’t), but my tomatoes are doing better than hers this year, so maybe we could team up on this one 😅

Marten Antrobus

July 28, 2025 at 6:46 pm

This seems too easy! What a great idea. So happy I found your posts. Love all the fantastic info.