The Best (and Easiest) Homemade Marinara Sauce

Does anybody else have those weeks where you’ve been as busy as the dickens, busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger, certainly too busy to cram in one more thing (especially laundry), but you still don’t quite know what you’ve managed to accomplish? If anything? Surely I can’t be the only one.

So this week, not only am I late posting, but I’m not going to tell you anything other than why you need to make this marinara sauce the minute you get a chance.

This sauce is silly easy, quick to make, WAY better-tasting than the stuff in the jar, and a whole lot cheaper, too. The recipe makes enough that you can have the whole family in for spaghetti, or save some to freeze in one- or two-cup portions to use at a moment’s notice. The recipe is so short you can scrawl it on a post-it note and stick it on the inside of the cabinet by your stove.

Note that I do call for three (3!) forms of canned tomato products. That’s on purpose. Tomato paste, tomato sauce, and crushed tomatoes all have slightly different textures and tastes, and when used together they give you a voluptuous and sexy marinara sauce with fantastic depth of flavor. If you need a chunkier tomato sauce, feel free to substitute canned diced tomatoes for the crushed ones.

Do I really need to tell you what all marinara sauce is good for? I can’t tell you everything, of course–that list is infinite–but I can certainly get you started:

Spaghetti (or any other pasta) marinara
Meatballs in marinara
Eggplant parmesan
Beefy mac and cheese
Pizza Sauce
Stuffed shells
Manicotti
Lasagna
Ravioli
Baked ziti
Dip for fried cheese, pizza crust, calzones, Italian monkey bread, etc
Eggs in purgatory
A base for tomato soup
Or cream of tomato soup
In or on meatloaf
Italian burgers
Chicken parmesan
Chicken parmesan po’boys with the leftovers
Italian omelets
Spanish rice
Tomato vinaigrette
Pizza casserole
Stuffed peppers

Whew! I’m stopping there! Tell us your favorite use for marinara!

Print Recipe

The Best (and Easiest) Homemade Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

• 6 oz can tomato paste
• ⅔ cup red wine
• 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 T. Italian seasoning
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 t. pepper
• 1 T, sugar or honey, but only if needed

Instructions

• Warm a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. While the pot is heating, open all the tomato products.
• Add the tomato paste to the hot pot, and stir around for a minute until it’s beginning to sizzle on the edges. Quickly pour in the wine and stir for another minute while the alcohol cooks off.
• Add the crushed tomatoes, the sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
• Taste and correct seasoning. If the sauce tastes unpleasantly acidic or sharp, add the sugar or honey. If not, you’re done!
• This sauce will keep a week in the fridge, and 6 months in the freezer.