This is the BEST marinara sauce, and it’s truly so simple! Made with canned San Marzano tomatoes, this is a quick, 5-ingredient sauce deep with flavor that’s ready to serve after a 30-minute simmer.
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Tonya says: “Easy to follow, and tastes so fresh! My husband doesn’t like “chunky” sauce so I used my immersion blender to make it smooth. No reason to ever buy store bought sauce!”
Marinara Is the Little Black Dress of Italian Sauces
Of all the popular Italian sauces to dress pasta and pizzas, the classic marinara is likely the most well known. But with its notoriety comes the mistaken notion that this is a sauce with a laundry list of ingredients that require hours of slow cooking to achieve greatness. I mean, isn’t that how all Italian sauces are made? Definitely not this one!
Traditional marinara sauce is the little black dress of Italian sauces. It’s meant to be cooked quickly and simply adorned. It can be loved on its own or built upon to create more complex recipes. Marinara shines in its simplicity.
Homemade marinara sauce is easy to turn to when cooking inspiration has all but been abandoned, and returned to when comfort and ease is what’s needed most. Of course you can pick up a jar from the store and be perfectly satisfied, but just like most things, marinara sauce made from scratch is simply the best.
Enjoy!
The Main Ingredients
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Whole San Marzano tomatoes in their purée. Be sure to choose legit San Marzano tomatoes that are canned whole in a sauced tomato purée. I use DeLallo San Marzano style tomatoes that are grown in Italy and imported to the U.S. Interestingly, 95% of the San Marzano tomatoes sold in the U.S. aren’t actually from Italy as they claim, and are actually grown in the U.S. instead.
- Extra virgin olive oil. The olive oil imparts a LOT of flavor in this recipe so choose the best extra virgin olive oil you can afford. I prefer olive oils with a clean taste that are clean, fruity, and bright.
- Garlic. Choose firm cloves of garlic.
- Tomato paste. Tomato paste is simply concentrated tomato and adds depth to this sauce. I prefer using it from the tube rather than the can for less waste and a fresher flavor.
- Basil or oregano. Regardless of which herb you choose, make it fresh.
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Salt is what balances the tomatoes acidity in this recipe with black pepper bringing the heat.
Heidi’s Tip: In my sauce, I skip the onion and don’t bother with wine. I like it light and bright, stripped down to the essential, best-quality ingredients I can find.
How to Make Marinara Sauce
- Use canned, whole tomatoes you crush yourself. This step will take you back to kindergarten where everything was tactile. It’s time to get in there! Pour the tomatoes into a bowl then crush with your fingers or the back of a spoon. Whole tomatoes give the sauce body but keeps it thin, light, and just the right bits of chunk.
Heidi’s Tip: Don’t substitute puréed or crushed tomatoes. They will make the sauce too thick.
- Make the garlic-infused olive oil. As the garlic steeps in the oil and later cooks in the sauce, it becomes sweet and soft. The smaller bits will likely melt right into the tomato mixture. As for the bigger garlic chunks, fish them out of the sauce after cooking, or leave them in for sweet, jammy surprise bites.
- Brown the tomato paste for more flavor. Once the garlic has become golden brown, carefully, and I repeat, CAREFULLY, add the tomato paste to the oil. Take care so it doesn’t splatter, spit, and burn you. The concentrated tomato flavor of tomato paste adds richness and depth to this sauce. In many sauces, tomato paste is added late in the game to simmer away as it deepens in flavor. In quick sauces like this one, there’s no time for long simmers, so add it earlier in the process.
- Slowly spoon the crushed tomatoes into the skillet, add the whole, fresh basil stems, season, and simmer for 30 minutes. (A rapid simmer with a few bobbling bubbles is what you’re looking for.)
- Fish out the garlic cloves and basil stems — or leave them in. Once the sauce is finished cooking, the garlic cloves will have become soft and jammy and done their job. Consider smashing them more to incorporate into the sauce (use an immersion blender if you’d like) or fishing them out and discarding.
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
Make marinara in a skillet, not a sauce pan. When thinking of making sauces, most likely the first thought is it cook it in a sauce pan. Sure you can, but cooking this sauce in a skillet adds more surface area for the oil and tomatoes to meld together and cook down in a quicker amount of time. The skillet doesn’t have to be too large, so I use my favorite 10-inch stainless steel skillet.
Flavor the oil with crushed garlic instead of minced. Flavoring the oil with smashed cloves of garlic infuses flavor with less chance of the garlic burning and becoming bitter, or overtaking the sauce with striking garlic-bit-bites.
As the sauce cooks, the olive oil will separate from the tomato mixture. Don’t be too concerned about the separation. The flavor is infusing and melting into the tomatoes as they cook down. Stir or whisk to emulsify.
Balance the flavor with more salt or a pinch of sugar. Take the taste test. If needed, add more salt to bring out more tomato flavor, or add a pinch or two of sugar to balance the acidic flavor.
Ways to Use It
This quick and easy marinara sauce can be used in so many different recipes! Some of our favorites include:
- Penne with Marinara
- The Cheesiest Spinach And Cheese Lasagna
- Baked Turkey Meatballs With Creamy Polenta And Marinara
- Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups
- Baked Sausage And Cheese Rigatoni
- Homemade Chicken Parmesan
- Manicotti
- Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
I also love dunking crispy mozzarella sticks, pizza bread, and cheesy arancini into marinara sauce.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
The BEST Marinara Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 (28 oz) can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes , with puree
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves , peeled and smashed
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 sprigs fresh basil or oregano , plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Crush the tomatoes. Pour the tomatoes and purée into a bowl and crush with your hands or the the back of a spoon, then set aside.
- Infuse the olive oil. In a large cold skillet, add the extra-virgin olive oil and garlic cloves, and bring to medium heat. As the garlic begins to sizzle, stir occasionally, and cook until fragrant and golden, about 5 minutes. Monitor the heat so the garlic doesn't cook too quickly or burn.
- Brown the tomato paste. Very carefully stir the tomato paste into the garlic and oil — take care so the oil doesn't splatter and burn you as the paste is added — and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and seasonings, then simmer. Carefully spoon the tomatoes into the pan with the oil and paste and season with salt and pepper. Add the basil sprigs and bring to a boil. Reduce to a bubbling simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Stir to mix the oil that rises to the top, then discard the basil sprigs and garlic.
Notes
Nutrition
More Easy Tomato Sauce Recipes
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Audrey
Hello! I made this marinara sauce and it was delicious! I didn’t have any tomato paste, so I used a splash of some good Cabernet instead. I also removed the garlic and basil stems before serving with the penne. Excellent!
Hayley
Thanks for sharing, Audrey—we’re so glad you loved it! Also, love that you added a splash of wine (great thinking)! :)
Tonya
Easy to follow,and tastes so fresh! My husband doesn’t like “chunky” sauce so I used my immersion blender to make it smooth. No reason to ever buy store bought sauce !
I’m glad you enjoyed Tonya!
Peg Armstrong
Absolutely the best (and easy) marinara!!! I did add onion with the garlic and red wine and opted for an Italian Blend of seasonings from Savory Spice – Cantanzaro blend. this is my go-to recipe, I already shared it with my Son.
thank you!!
Tom C
I’m not Italian, but your recipe is easy to make, and wow! Delicious!
Thanks for sharing.
T
Tom C
I’m not Italian, but you recipe is easy to make, and wow! Delicious!
Thanks for sharing.
T
Dean
Easy to make and great flavor-so much better than store bought. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Susan
So good…
Thank you!