Simple Marinara Sauce Recipe (Fresh and Lively Flavors)

• Food: Marinara Sauce
• Writer: Lizzie Green
• Content-Type: Food Blog

Meet the marinara sauce recipe I’ve always wanted to try! Marinara has always intimidated me, perhaps because I adore it so much that I was afraid of messing it up.

I finally embraced my concerns and experimented with various marinara recipes. Without a doubt, this is my favorite rendition.

This marinara sauce is produced from scratch and has a vibrant tomato taste.

To make this excellent marinara sauce, you’ll only need five cupboard staples: nice canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, dried oregano, and olive oil. That concludes our discussion.

This marinara is also quite simple to prepare, making it ideal for busy weeknights. The onion and garlic don’t even need to be chopped. That’s right—all you have to do is open a can of tomatoes, half an onion, and peel garlic. You’re all set to go!

After a 45-minute simmer, this sauce has a beautiful, true Italian flavor. I tried to cut corners to speed things up, but no amount of tomato paste, spices, salt, or sugar can compensate for lost time.

Bottom line: Achieving wonderful, long-simmered marinara flavor in under 45 minutes is impossible. So, toss those items in a pot, pour yourself a glass of wine, and start boiling pasta water. Dinner will be ready soon.

After experimenting with many different marinara sauce recipes, I settled on Deb’s tomato sauce with onion and butter from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, published in 1992.

That tomato sauce is delicious, but it doesn’t pass for marinara because it lacks herbs, garlic, and olive oil. As a result, I added dried oregano and two entire garlic cloves (which you’ll smash against the pan’s edge at the end).

I substituted a small amount of olive oil for the butter (you don’t need a lot of olive oil to get a rich flavor). I also added a pinch of red pepper flakes for flavor, but that is optional.

What makes this marinara sauce the best?

This recipe has six reasons to adore it:

• This marinara sauce recipe only calls for five basic ingredients and creates a flavorful, authentic marinara sauce.
• It’s incredibly simple to make and doesn’t require any cutting.
• This marinara is sugar-free, unlike most store-bought sauces.
• You can use as much of this nutritious sauce as you want on your pasta. Tomatoes are beneficial to your health!
• You might as well double the recipe because it makes two cups of sauce and stores well. Simply make it in a larger saucepan.
• This marinara also works well as a pizza sauce. I used it to make pizza, and a buddy observed that it tastes just like authentic Italian pizza.

SIMPLE MARINARA SAUCE

This recipe for the marinara sauce is fantastic! It’s simple to create and only requires 5 basic ingredients. There’s no need to chop! 2 cups of sauce (enough for 8 ounces of pasta); increase the recipe if required.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large can (28 ounces) of whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional, omit if sensitive to spice)
• Salt, to taste (if necessary)
• Optional, for serving: Cooked pasta, grated Parmesan cheese or vegan Parmesan, chopped fresh basil, additional olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine the tomatoes (with juices), halved onion, garlic cloves, olive oil, oregano, and red pepper flakes in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan (if using).
2. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce to low heat and continue to cook for 45 minutes, or until oil droplets float free of the tomatoes. After around 15 minutes, stir occasionally and crush the tomatoes against the pot’s side with a heavy wooden spoon.
3. Remove the onion from the pot and set it aside. With a fork, break the garlic cloves against the pot’s side, then whisk the broken garlic into the sauce. Do the same thing with any small onion bits you come across. Crush the tomatoes to your preference with the wooden spoon (you can blend this sauce smooth with an immersion blender or stand blender if desired).
4. Season with salt to taste (the tomatoes are already pretty salty, so you might just need a pinch). Warm the dish before serving. This sauce will keep for up to 4 days if kept covered and refrigerated. It can be frozen for up to 6 months.

NOTES

• TOMATO NOTE: It’s critical to use high-quality tomatoes in this recipe. Muir Glen tomatoes are highly recommended. They’re organic, and the cans aren’t made with BPA.