Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce is a recipe that we should all have on hand. If a sauce is this easy to make, there’s no need to buy it. Make a big batch and you can keep it in the freezer for months.

 Spooning a ladle of sauce into a pan with fresh pasta and tomatoes in the background

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.

 A pan of easy marinara sauce ready for the pasta to be added

The recipe yields 6 cups/1.5 quarts/1.5kg of sauce. The recipe can be doubled very easily.

Fresh pasta rolled up with tomatoes on the vine, fresh basil, Parmesan and a pan of easy marinara sauce

If you’ve tried this Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how it turned out in the comments below. I love to hear from my readers!

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Yield: 6

Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce

Easy homemade marinara sauce in a skillet with a spoon, fresh basil, spaghetti and fresh tomatoes

A delicious and flavorful sauce that is done is under 30 minutes with the deep flavor of a long simmered sauce.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 23 minutes
Total Time 33 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup (128 grams) yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 each 28 ounce (794 gram) cans whole or crushed tomatoes
  • Small pinch dried red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 basil leaves, roughly torn

Instructions

  1. 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.
  2. 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. 

Notes

If you like the sauce smoother, you can puree it a little. Don't over blend.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 44Sodium 291mg