Homemade marinara sauce - the easiest way to make dinner on a Sunday. Throw the ingredients in a pot and simmer away. Simple, delicious & versatile!
Homemade marinara sauce aka the best sauce ever that you can put with eeeeeeeverything!! Spaghetti, in lasagne, enchiladas, on pizza,with meatballs to be served with the previously mentioned and smothered spaghetti or even put in a sub? Yes please to all of the above.
This is Sunday cooking at it's best. Let the sauce simmer away on the stove filling your house with delicious smells making it out like you're in a small Italian village and this is what you do everyday because cooking is life. And so is this sauce.
This especially becomes Sunday cooking when you finally had your friends mid winter Christmas party that had been 3 years in the making and didn't get home until 4am on Sunday morning. Guys, us! 4am! 4am is usually getting up time for Josh. Because we are 80 years old and a raging Saturday night for us is usually a some form of grilled cheese, a movie and being in bed before 10pm. Not even joking. So Sunday was a quiet day for easy cooking and no loud noises. You know...that mulled wine! But you should all have a mid-winter Christmas party. It was SO great! We decorated, did a Secret Santa, played Christmas music, wore Christmas outfits, put antlers on Sage, sat by the fire and ate SO much food. It was magical.
Almost as magical as this sauce. It's the simplest matter of cutting up the onions and garlic superfine - I use my mini food processor because cutting onions makes me cry like nobody's business and I'm still not enough of an adult that I like onion being in my food. Cook it down with some olive oil, add the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer away on the stove for about an hour while you sit on the couch and reflect on the fact that you have just made a delicious homemade version of your favourite, most versatile sauce and dinner now just involves your spaghetti cooking abilities as soon as you're ready to eat! Easy!
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 2 x 400g tins crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup 125ml wine or chicken stock (optional)
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh herbs oregano, basil, parsley etc
- 2 teaspoon sugar*
- ¼ teaspoon salt*
- ¼ teaspoon pepper*
- *start with this and add more to taste
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large saucepan and heat over a medium heat. Add the garlic & onion and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the wine and tomato paste if using and cook for a further 2 minutes before adding the remaining ingredients and stirring to combine.
- Bring to the boil and then simmer with the lid off for 30-45 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Taste the sauce and add more salt, pepper or sugar as desired.
- Use immediately or store in a jar in the fridge for 1 week or freeze for several months,
Karla says
Could this recipe be safely bottled and be shelf stable?
Laura says
Hi Karla, not this one but I have just published a recipe for Tomato Bail Pasta Sauce that can be canned safely. Laura
Ali says
Have you made this with fresh tomatoes and could tell me the quantity and any adjustments to cooking? Thanks!
Laura says
Hi Ali, I actually haven't but I would roughly chop your tomatoes and measure out probably 4 cups. Cooking time should be the same 🙂
Alexandra says
Would dried mixed herbs work instead of fresh? How much would you use? Thanks!
jayne says
This looks perfect Laura! Great flavours
Laura says
Thanks Jayne! It's become a favourite here 🙂
Shelby @ Go Eat and Repeat says
I LOVE making my own marinara sauce. It is just so simple and you know exactly what is in it and can make it to your own taste! Love this!
Laura says
That's exactly why I love it too Shelby - I know all the ingredients! 🙂
Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid says
Oh yum! This is a bit like our bol sauce without the meat... So good! We have the Christmas tree up because I love it so, but I draw the line at Christmas entertaining. You guys are hardcore, I can barely stay awake till 4pm let alone 4am! I got some onion glasses for my birthday, they're hilarious but they totally do the job!
Nancy | Plus Ate Six says
So much nicer than the bottled stuff - it looks like the perfect Sunday night meal for you two party people 🙂
Shari from GoodFoodWeek says
We power through this at home, I normally pick it up from the farmers markets, but know that it would be probably so much cheeper if I did it myself.
Claire @ My Pink & Green Life says
Oh gosh, I SO miss being able to eat tomatoes, haha! Homemade tomato sauce is the best--my stepmom is from Italy (she makes a darn good tomato sauce) and I used to ask her to make some all the time because it tastes so much better than the stuff from a jar!
Laura says
Oh wow I bet her sauce is incredible!! It's so much better than the stuff from the jar though right! I'm so sad for you that you can't eat tomatoes! 🙁