Homemade Marinara Sauce

Homemade marinara sauce is quick and easy to make with only 7 base ingredients.  Once you make up a batch  of this super flavorful pasta sauce it will become a kitchen staple.

Homemade pasta sauce or marinara sauce as we call it, tastes so much better than store bought.  Even though it may seem complicated to make, it’s super easy.  The key to the most the most flavorful sauce is to use quality ingredients.  When tomatoes are in season, you can be sure there will be fresh New Jersey tomatoes added to my homemade marinara sauce.

Here is what you will need to make homemade marinara sauce: strained tomatoes, diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, wine, oregano, and a heavy sauce-pan.

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This sauce can be made and on the table in about a half an hour, and most of the time involved is hands-off.  That’s  a  little bit longer than it takes to open a jar of pre-made sauce, but it’s worth it.

Jarred marinara sauces contain refined sugar and more salt than necessary.  When you make your own sauce, you  can control the flavor and use fresh ingredients as well as the  amount of salt and sugar. I don’t know about you, but I prefer my tomato sauce with the flavor tomatoes shining through.

If you have the time, I highly recommend that you let this pasta sauce simmer for a bit longer to allow all of the flavors to blend beautifully together.  I make a double (or triple) batch and freeze it to use in recipes calling for tomato sauce.  It tastes great served plain over pasta, in this  eggplant casserole, or on top of these eggplant meatballs .  You can even use it as a pizza sauce.

Whats the difference between tomato sauce and marinara sauce? 

Even though most of us use  the words pasta sauce, tomato sauce and marinara sauce interchangeably, there is a difference!  Technically marinara sauce is a an easy red sauce that has a chunky texture.  It’s made with onions, garlic and tomatoes.  It’s a flavorful sauce that can be made quickly and tastes fresh. Tomato sauce, on the other hand is a smoother sauce and takes much longer to make with more ingredients.

Here’s how to make homemade marinara sauce

1. cook the onions and garlic with the red wine
2. add the tomatoes and spices
3. simmer for at least 10 minutes 

Tips to make  the best homemade marinara sauce 

• Use organic strained tomatoes called passata without any salt added.  My preference is bionature brand, there is only one ingredient and that is tomatoes.  If you can’t find passata or a pure tomato product,  look for  low sodium and a short ingredient list.
• Add diced fresh tomatoes to the marinara sauce even if you have to get them from the supermarket.  Fresh tomatoes add a fresh flavor to the sauce.
• Add a small handful of chopped fresh basil the last few minutes of simmering for extra flavor.
• There is no added sweetener in this recipe, if you prefer your marinara sauce sweeter, add a small grated carrot to the onions and garlic.
• Use a good quality cabernet or pinot noir in this marinara sauce, or you can leave the wine out  and thin the sauce with water or vegetable broth.

Variations and suggestions for homemade marinara sauce

• add one to two teaspoons of hot pepper flakes
• add sliced mushrooms just near the end of cooking
• add a tablespoon or two of pesto
• add fresh vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, bell peppers
• add browned ground beef for a meat sauce
• add meatballs

Homemade Marinara Sauce

★★★★★

5 from 10 reviews

Homemade marinara sauce is quick and easy to make with only 7 base ingredients.  Once you make up a batch  of this super flavorful pasta sauce it will become a kitchen staple.

• Author: anne
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 20
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 5 cups - 1 serving 1/2cup 1x
• Category: Sauce
• Method: stove-top
• Cuisine: Italian-American

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion chopped

2 to 3 cloves chopped fresh garlic

1/2 cup red wine

1 tablespoon dried basil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

24 ounces of organic strained, no salt added tomatoes (passata)

1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (or canned organic diced low sodium)

1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt

A small handful of chopped fresh basil – optional

Instructions

heat olive oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic.  Cook over low heat until they begin to soften

gradually add the wine and allow it to cook down and be absorbed by the onions and garlic – about 15 minutes

stir in the basil and oregano

add the tomatoes and stir in the salt

Simmer for at least 10 minutes and adjust seasonings to your taste

Optional – add a small handful of fresh basil

Notes

Variations and suggestions for homemade marinara sauce

• add one to two teaspoons of hot pepper flakes
• add sliced mushrooms just near the end of cooking
• add a tablespoon or two of pesto
• add fresh vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, bell peppers
• add browned ground beef for a meat sauce
• add meatballs

Nutrition information is provided by Nutrifox,  an online calculator and is meant to be used for informational purposes only.  Even though I try to provide accurate information, these figures should still be considered as estimates,

Keywords: marinara sauce, pasta sauce, tomato sauce

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