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Homemade marinara is a thick, rich and savory sauce that is a blend of stewed tomatoes with herbs and spices. Make a delicious batch of sauce all from pantry ingredients in less than 15 minutes!
This simple red sauce is famous in the Italian family. The best homemade alfredo sauce also is a favorite and can be made right along side this marinara.
Easiest Homemade Marinara
Get ready to NEVER buy store bought marinara sauce ever again! This marinara will not only WOW you with flavor but it is SO easy to make! Fall in love with this simple recipe that is fresh and can be made year round. Simple ingredients right from the pantry and an easy recipe is what this marinara is made of!
My kids go through so much red sauce. It is a quick lunch or snack idea for them to make or even add it to a homemade pizza recipe. This marinara sauce is so versatile and can go on so many recipes. The taste is amazing and the smell of your house, well everyone will be thanking you for that! It is so good and can make two full mason jars to store it in. Such a fun way to save time and money plus the benefits of having a fresh homemade sauce right at your fingertips!
Marinara Sauce Ingredients:
Pantry staples and all ingredients you have on hand! It is that simple and easy to make. This marinara sauce is a tried and true favorite that will keep you from purchasing any more marinara from the store. All homemade, rich flavorful ingredients blended together making this a one of a kind sweet and savory sauce!
- Olive Oil: This gives it a flavorful sauté with the yellow onion. If you prefer butter that will work too!
- Yellow Onion: Finely dice onion and sauté it. A yellow onion has a very strong flavoring compared to a white onion.
- Stewed Tomatoes: Make this simple with a can of stewed tomatoes. It is best to purchase a good quality that has less acidity and a little sweeter.
- Tomato Paste: A thick paste that is meant for cooking with tomatoes.
- Italian Seasoning: Blended seasonings that are Italian favorites in one bottle.
- Garlic Cloves: Add in whole garlic cloves and watch them blend perfectly in the food processor or blender.
- Salt and Pepper: Just a pinch of each!
- Sugar: Sweeten the sauce with a little white sugar.
- Chicken Broth: Add in liquid flavoring or if you don’t have chicken broth water will also work.
How to Make Red Marinara Sauce:
Forget the store and make this sauce in less than 15 minutes. It is simple to make and won’t last long. One of our family favorites and and easy way to make red sauce for any Italian meal.
- Sauté onions: In a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat add the olive oil and onions. Saute until tender.
- Blend together: In a food processor or blender add the stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper and sugar. Pulse until smooth.
- Cook on the stove: Add to onions in the saucepan and add chicken broth. Sauté for 10 minutes to let the flavors blend.
Variations for Sauce:
Mix and add in ingredients to make this sauce more of your own or just fun each time you make it! Have fun and enjoy the sweet and savory sauce this marinara has to offer!
- Tomatoes: When blending the tomatoes together, keep the tomatoes chunky or blended smooth depending on your preference.
- Onions: Chop or mince them how ever you prefer. Make this sauce just the way you like it!
- Spicy: Add in red pepper flakes or sriracha sauce while blending together.
- Herbs: More flavoring with various herbs and seasonings are perfect for various flavors. Fresh rosemary, sage, thyme and even oregano add in intense flavors you will love.
- Cheese: Stir in 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese into the sauce right before serving. This will add cheese. Just make sure it is freshly grated or the powdered parmesan cheese will not melt as evenly and good.
- Creamy: For a more creamier rose color sauce, add in 1 cup of heavy cream or half and half.
Ways to Serve Marinara Sauce:
Dunk it, spread it or sauce it over, under and in it! This sauce is meant for so many recipes and will be a new hit in your family. We love to add this homemade marinara sauce to anything we create.
- Pasta: The classic and simple dishes like spaghetti noodles, ziti or lasagna are always family favorite.
- Meat: Add this sauce to Italian meatballs, chicken parmigiana, sausage tomato gnocchi or any meal that asks for marinara sauce.
- Soups: Pasta e Fagioli is also another classic and favorite! This sauce is perfect for adding it right into the pot.
- Pizza: Spread it over homemade dough and add all your favorite toppings.
- Dipping Sauce: Use this for dipping breadsticks, mozzarella cheese sticks, baked ravioli or stuffed pizza bites. Game night just got better with this dipping sauce.
- Sandwiches: A meatball sandwich or sliders is the perfect kid friendly lunch, main dish or snack.
Storing Marinara Sauce:
Storing is just as easy as making it! Let it cool completely and store for multiple days. You can even freeze this sauce and have it on hand whenever needed! One of the best sauces!
- Refrigerate: Keep the marinara sauce stored in the refrigerator sealed in a jar or airtight container for 5 to 7 days.
- Can you freeze marinara sauce? Yes! This sauce is great for freezing. The original homemade marinara sauce can be stored in tightly sealed jars and placed in freezers for up to 3 months.
More Italian Classics:
- Classic Italian Wedding Soup
- Italian Orzo and Sausage Skillet
- Creamy Tomato Italian Parmesan Chicken
- The BEST Lasagna Recipe Ever!
- Three Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells Recipe
Easiest Homemade Marinara
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 small Yellow Onion finely diced
- 2 15 ounce cans Stewed Tomatoes
- 1 6 ounce can Tomato Paste
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
- 3 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 1/2 cup Chicken Broth or Water
Instructions
- In a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat add the olive oil and onions. Sauté until tender.
- In a food processor or blender add the stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper and sugar. Pulse until smooth.
- Add to onions in the saucepan and add chicken broth. Sauté for 10 minutes to let the flavors blend.
Nutrition
Serves: 16
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
I love this blog! It is always inspiring!
I’ve never used stewed tomatoes in making a marinara sauce. Interesting. Stewed tomatoes already contain other ingredients such as cane sugar, onions, celery, peppers, other unknown spices, and citric acid. I prefer to control the ingredients, sugar content, and type of sugar I consume. (I use Lakanto monk fruit sweetener most of the time, for instance.)
In my marinara, I either use home canned or fresh tomatoes that I’ve processed—but since it does not take very long after a growing season for them to disappear from storage, store bought canned tomatoes are the next best thing. I try to use a really good brand of crushed tomatoes when making marinara—they tend to be naturally sweeter (less acidic) requiring less “sugar” to be added.
San Marzano tomatoes (not San Marzano “style”) are the best of the best, but they are extremely pricy. A good quality can of crushed tomato will do. Most brands under the store’s own label are higher acidity tomatoes, but if money’s tight, of course they will work.
Better ingredients do produce a profoundly better sauce. The quality of the sauce desired depends on how one will use the sauce. If it’s the main attraction to the dish, higher quality ingredients are preferred. If it’s going into a recipe like “Million Dollar Spaghetti,” it probably will make less of a difference. 😍
1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning is WAAAAY to MUCH! Did someone make a typo or is it just me?
Haven’t tried this yet but will. Do you like a certain brand of stewed tomatoes?
I think any brand works great!
The sweetness to this marinara was perfect! Thank you for the recipe! I’ve been looking for a good, simple, quick pasta sauce for my kids and this was exactly what I needed. Others I’ve made have been too bitter or sour. I made your recipe exactly as is and we love it. Thanks!
I’d leave out the chicken broth, salt and sugar. Instead ADD a pat of butter (very important), a tablespoon of lemon juice, and either beer or a nice red wine (either work well). If you think the tomatoes are acidic just add a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, but usually not necessary. For variety, I love sliced mushrooms added at the end.
Tried the red wine etc from your recipe & added celery near end was amazing. Thank you for a great recipe .A winner here in New Zealand
Tried this recipe and it was very good. I actually used 1 & 1/2
TBSP itialian seasoning & really loved it. Thanks
Can this be canned for later use like in the winter that would be great. Make a large pot and then can it so u can use it whenever u want. I would appreciate any help u can give to me
Thanks
Merry
Can this recipe be canned?
I have not tried canning it just yet. Let me know how it turns out!
Anything can be canned..put in hot sterilized jars. The do a boil bath to seal the jars
To safely can this you would need to leave out the olive oil and you would need to add some kind of acid to it to safely get the ph above 4.5. Either a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar.