Homemade Bottled Spaghetti

If you love canned spaghetti, you need to know how to make it at home. Here is our family recipe, with step by step photos and instructions!

Up until a few years ago, I had NO idea you could make your own bottled spaghetti. We were at Josh's parents house for breakfast and Carol bought a jug of spaghetti to the table. It looked like bought spaghetti but it certainly didn't taste like it - it was SO much better!

The following year I helped Carol make it and since then we have become obsessed with this homemade spaghetti - Sadie too! And because you guys are loving all the preserving recipes I've been sharing, I knew I had to write this one up too.

Before we get started:

We use the overflow method to bottle this spaghetti. If you follow me on Instagram you'll know I've been talking a lot lately about why I am moving away from this method of preserving. The more I read into it, the more I think that using tested recipes and proper methods of heat processing jars of food is the way to go, purely from a food safety point of view.

That being said, my Granny and Mum have both bottled fruit using this method forever with no problems, and I have too. The only reason I'm moving away is because I love trying new things and the science behind how preserving is done using a water bath method makes a lot of sense to me. If you are interested in learning more, I can highly recommend the Blue Book Guide To Preserving (affiliate link) for lots of really useful information.

Anyway, the point is - we use the overflow method for this spaghetti. As with anything, if a jar doesn't seal you can't store it at room temperature. It must be refrigerated and eaten immediately or frozen. If you open a jar and it looks, smells or tastes a bit weird, get rid of it. If you are not comfortable with using this method we did try the water bath method with a few jars which I will explain below, so feel free to try that way.

So let's get into how we make spaghetti!

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You need:

• Jars with sealable lids (we use 500ml Agee Jars)
• Tomatoes, onions, sugar, plain salt and dry spaghetti
• A few basic kitchen things such as chopping board, food processor, knife, a large pot, ladle, a wide mouth jar funnel is helpful and a couple of tea towels.

Step 1: Sterilise your jars and wash lids/seals

I find the easiest way to sterilise your jars or bottles is to run them through the dishwasher on the hottest wash (ours is called hygiene but it may be called sterilise on your machine) This washes and sterilises them and as long as you keep the door shut until you are ready for the jars, it will keep them warm too! If you don't have a dishwasher, wash them thoroughly in hot soapy water and place them in the oven at 150°C for at least 15 minutes or until you need them.

Tip: Always prepare more jars than you think you will need. It is easier to put them back in the cupboard than to try to wash and sterilise one or two extras.

Wash the lids and seals in warm soapy water. We usually place the seals in a bowl and cover them with boiling water until we are ready to use them.

Step 2: Wash and prepare the tomatoes

Firstly, you need to wash the tomatoes. We put the tomatoes in the clean sink, fill it with water and give them a quick wipe down. This is also a good chance to inspect the tomatoes for any blemishes that need to be cut out.

After washing them, chop them into a halves or quarters and place them in a food processor. Blitz them until they are sauce like and pour into a large (the biggest one you have!) stockpot on the stove. While you are blitzing the tomatoes, add the onions to the mix too and blitz them up as well.

Once all the tomatoes and onions are in the pot, bring it to the boil. This can take a while so we usually have the heat turned on as we are adding tomatoes. This speeds up the process slightly. Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, cook for 15 minutes.

Step 3: Cook the spaghetti

While the tomatoes are cooking, cook one packet of dry spaghetti. Bring a pot of water to the boil (don't add any salt) and cook the spaghetti for 10 minutes.

Step 4: Mix it all together

Once the tomatoes and spaghetti are both cooked, drain the spaghetti and add it to the tomato and onion mixture along with the salt and sugar. Mix it together and bring it back to the boil. Once it is boiling, cook for a further 30 minutes. At this stage, you will need to babysit the spaghetti. It can catch on the bottom of the pan pretty easily, so it's worth taking the time to stir it constantly. Once it has finished cooking, take the pot off the heat as you put it into jars.

Step 5: Put it into jars

This is where it gets messy! Pouring spaghetti into jars is never going to be the cleanest job but if you have a plastic jug, a ladle and a wide mouth funnel it can be a little easier!

Remember that the jars need to be hot when adding the hot spaghetti, so we like to work 2 at a time, pulling them out of the oven or dishwasher and adding the spaghetti.

Fill a plastic jug with some of the spaghetti mixture. Use the ladle to pour the spaghetti into jars (using the funnel to guide it if you have one). You want to fill them until the spaghetti is as close to the top as you can get it, without it spilling over the rim of the jar. Run a clean butter knife around the inside of the jar to remove any air bubbles.

Using a clean damp cloth, wipe around the rim of the jar to remove any juice or seeds and if needed, top up the jar with a splash of boiling water to get the liquid right to the top.

Carefully place a seal on the jar and screw the ring/lid on tightly. Place the jar to the side and move on to the next one. You're done!

How to do this using the water bath method:

If you are more comfortable using the water bath method to process the jars, here is how we did it. Please note, this is not a tested recipe as we are apparently the only people on the internet who make bottled spaghetti!

Fill your biggest stock pot with enough water to submerge the jars and cover them with at least 3cm of water and bring it to the boil. You will need to place a clean tea towel or wire rack on the bottom so that the jars are not in direct contact with the pot.

Before filling the jars we added ¼ teaspoon of citric acid to the jar. This is what I do when bottling diced tomatoes and according to the Blue Book Guide To Preserving (affiliate link) that I have just purchased, that it what you should do when bottling any kind of tomatoes as it raises the pH level of the tomatoes to bring them into the high acid food zone that makes them safe for storing on the shelf. I realise that following this logic is contradictory to how we bottle them, but as I am learning about the water bath method and safe preserving, this is how I will be starting to do things.

Continue to fill the jars with spaghetti, however you will want to leave a gap at the top of about 1.2cm. Run a clean knife around the inside of the jar to remove any air bubbles. Then place the seal and the lid on.

Place the jars into the boiling water (a set of jar tongs is a super useful tool here) and once all jars are in the pot, bring it back to the boil and process the jars for 35 minutes. Once that time is up, turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water for a further 5 minutes before removing them from the water.

Step 6: Checking the seals

Once the jars have been processed, leave them sitting on the bench overnight. In the morning, check the seals. Remove the rings from the jars and if they have sealed, the seal will be concave and you won't be able to prise it off using your finger. If the jar has sealed, give the jar a clean with a damp cloth and store in a cool dark place. Properly sealed jars will keep for at least a year.

If the jars haven't sealed they cannot be stored at room temperature but they are still safe to eat. Just place the jar in the fridge and eat within a week. Alternatively, you could transfer the contents of the jar to a freezer proof container and store it in there.

Now you can enjoy homemade spaghetti that is so much tastier than the bought stuff! If there is anything I haven't covered in this post, feel free to comment below and I will do my best to help.

Other preserving recipes you might like:

• How to preserve plums and other stonefruit (oven method)
• How to bottle feijoas (overflow method)
• Homemade Bottled Gherkins (Dill Pickles) (overflow method)
• How to freeze green beans
• How to bottle beetroot (overflow method)

Made this recipe? Tag me on Instagram @thekiwicountrygirl and hashtag it #thekiwicountrygirl.