Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce
My Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce proves that making your own sauce doesn’t have to be complicated. When it’s this simple and this good, there’s really no reason to buy it. Cook up a big batch and freeze it – you’ll thank yourself later.
If you have a container of good marinara sauce in your fridge or freezer and pasta in the pantry, you have dinner.
What I love about marinara sauce is that is not limited to just mixing with pasta. I use it as the sauce for my stuffed mini meatballs and grilled eggplant rollatini and also to top my Italian style meatloaf.
Makes the perfect pizza sauce
For those family pizza nights, how about having homemade pizza sauce on hand? You will because you have this sauce in the freezer. This sauce can also used as a dip for these mini ham and cheese calzone and fried ravioli (they are so good, I need to write a recipe for those). So as you can see, the uses are endless.
The recipe yields 6 cups/1.5 quarts/1.5kg of sauce. The recipe can be doubled very easily.
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Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup (128 grams) onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 28 ounces (794 gram) canned whole or crushed tomatoes
- Small pinch dried red pepper flakes
- ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 basil leaves, roughly torn
Instructions
- To a heavy saucepan add the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they start to soften, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic, stirring and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes (if using whole, crush with hands as you add to the pan), red pepper flakes, salt, bay leaf, and basil. Cover partially with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning add more salt if needed.
I served this with store bought ravioli on Sunday and was enjoyed by all. Made it spicy 🙂
I love serving it this way for a quick and easy meal
I was surprised a sauce that is so simple can have so much flavor. I used canned whole tomatoes so I used my hand blender to break up Very good with store bought ravioli.
I’m happy you enjoyed it 🙂
This Marinara sauce is THE BEST marinara I have ever tasted in my life! It was such a hit there wasn’t any left to freeze :/ Will definitely be making this from now on,.
Thank you so much for the lovely comment, you have made my day.
Do yoi use freah basil or dried? Thanks!
I specify fresh basil leaves in the recipe as they have more flavor but if all you have is dried basil a tablespoon will work. Just rub it between your hands to release the flavor. Thanks for stopping by.
I made a double batch of this delicious sauce yesterday. We enjoyed it last night over tortellini and will have leftovers tonight. The rest is in my freezer so I can make your meatloaf on a cold day. I love this sauce!
This is how I like to make it too. I’m so glad you liked it.
I had no idea how east marinara sauce. I’m making a big batch this weekend.
I couldn’t agree more. There’s nothing better than an easy, homemade Marinara sauce. And it’s so much better than the store bought!
Such a good base sauce, and so versatile. Great to have in the freezer so you can quickly make a decent meal, even mid week when things are hectic.
I am for anything that would make dinner a breeze. Will be trying this soon. Thanks.
this is awesome! i’ve been looking for a marinara sauce recipe for ages! love it so much better than store bought!
I love sauces that last in the freezer for months. Super handy to have on hand. Can’t wait to try your version.