Marinara Sauce Recipe

Our homemade classic marinara sauce recipe is just so good. It incorporates Italian flavors so well, and a perfect balance of quality tomatoes and oregano with just a pinch of red pepper flakes will be a real treat to your taste buds. This is a recipe designed to be easy; you can set this off to simmer while you unwind after a day at work.

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Why you’ll love this homemade marinara sauce recipe

• Our tomato sauce has a fresh vibrant Italian flavor that you can’t get out of a jar with store-bought sauces.
• It’s SO easy to make marinara sauce, just put the ingredients in the pan and let them simmer until they are done – that’s it!
• Make it ahead, it’ll keep in the fridge for 4 days in an airtight container.
• It’s 100% vegetarian and vegan.

Ingredients you’ll need

You’ll need all the ingredients shown in the photograph below.

How to make marinara sauce with step-by-step instructions

Making our easy marinara recipe is easy if you follow our simple instructions.

A full printable recipe, along with the measurements in both US customary and metric is available in the recipe card below.

Tip the canned tomatoes into a medium saucepan.

Add the chopped onions, garlic cloves (or minced garlic), dried oregano, pepper flakes, and extra virgin olive oil.

Over medium-high heat, bring the sauce to a simmer, and lower the heat to allow the tomato sauce to gently simmer for around 45 minutes.

Stir occasionally, then, after 45 minutes, use the back of a wooden spoon to crush the tomatoes into small pieces.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and then, using a fork, smash the garlic cloves against the pan and then stir into the sauce.

You can use a food processor to blend your marinara sauce to the consistency you like, but we like a chunky sauce.

Add salt and pepper to taste, your sauce is now ready to serve with pasta; garnish with a little fresh basil!

Your sauce is now ready – enjoy!

Recipe notes and expert tips

• Want to add some heat to your sauce?
  If you like a little kick to your homemade marinara sauce, then add extra red pepper flakes, add a little at a time until you get the heat you prefer.
• Don’t want to use whole garlic cloves?
  That’s not a problem; use minced garlic instead.
• Want an extra flavor in your marinara?
  Stir in a little fresh basil when you finish cooking the marinara sauce; this will give an extra depth of flavor.
• Storage
  Keep in the fridge for 4 days in an airtight container.

Should I use canned or fresh tomatoes?

For this pasta sauce recipe, we’re all about simplicity and making everything easy for you.

That’s why we recommend using canned over fresh tomatoes when you make marinara sauce.

When using canned crushed tomatoes, make sure you buy the best you can afford; quality really does count when the whole focus of the sauce is on the tomatoes.

We’ve used canned plum tomatoes, but you can use chopped or crushed tomatoes; using crushed tomatoes will give a slightly smoother consistency.

If you’ve got time, sure, you can use fresh tomatoes; they’ll give a freshness to the sauce, which will be really tasty.

Could I use tomato sauce instead of canned tomatoes?

There are many different marinara sauce recipes that do use passata sauce, along with tomato paste.

We prefer either crushed tomatoes or fresh tomatoes above passata and tomato paste, purely because they give a more fresh and vibrant flavor.

However, there’s nothing wrong with using passata sauce and tomato paste, so if you prefer using them, then by all means, do so!

We apologise, we know that once you taste this delicious homemade marinara sauce, you’ll never want to buy store-bought again, we’ve ruined you. Sorry about that. Not sorry.

What do you serve it with?

Our fresh marinara sauce is so flexible, and you can use it with so many different foods.

• With our awesome pasta bake with veggie meatballs.
• Marinara sauce tastes great when used as a pizza sauce.
• Try it in a hearty baked pasta dish, pasta al forno is perfect for a marinara sauce.
• Simple but delicious, spaghetti marinara is a great quick and easy dish, it makes an incredible spaghetti sauce with a little chopped fresh basil and vegetarian grated parmesan cheese on top.
• It makes a great dipping sauce; you can dip mozzarella sticks, cauliflower buffalo wings, or breadsticks!

How do you store this?

It keeps very well.

If you store it in an airtight container and keep it refrigerated, then it’ll keep for up to 4 days.

Store it in a freezer bag, which will last up to 3 months.

This means that it’s a perfect recipe to batch cook, so while you’re at it, why not double batch, or, even better, why not triple batch cook and have a supply tucked away for when it’s needed?

More easy Italian sauces and recipes for you to try

If you love our marinara sauce, then why not give these tasty recipes a try? Arrabbiata sauce, Gigi Hadid pasta, pasta alla Norma, cacio e pepe, or pesto pasta.

We hope you enjoy making the best marinara sauce recipe you’ll ever taste!

We’d love to hear how you got on with it, so please do leave a comment or feel free to ask a question.

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