Marinara Sauce is an easy-to-make tomato sauce that is perfect to top your favorite pasta or to use in recipes calling for jarred pasta sauce.
A simple base of canned tomatoes with onions and garlic is all you need, Add in a sprinkle of fresh herbs and simmer for 30 minutes.
Make it in large batches and freeze it for a great homemade sauce anytime!
Homemade Marinara Sauce is incredibly easy to make, and once you try it, you’ll say goodbye to jarred sauces! It’s perfect with meatballs or used to make chicken parmesan.
Ingredients in Marinara Sauce
Tomatoes: For the best Marinara Sauce, I recommend using canned crushed and whole tomatoes. Whole tomatoes give the sauce a slightly thicker consistency compared to canned diced tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes have the best flavor, but whole plum tomatoes (or any canned whole tomatoes) will work well.
Got fresh tomatoes? Great! Include them in your sauce (in addition to the canned tomatoes) for an added fresh flavor. Just ensure they’re peeled first.
Sweetness: Tomatoes can be tart due to their acidity. Shredded carrot helps add sweetness or, feel free to skip the carrot and add a bit of sugar to balance the marinara sauce.
Herbs: Dried herbs should be added before simmering, while fresh basil and/or parsley can be stirred in right before serving.
Additions: Try adding other vegetables like shredded zucchini or even diced celery, or use this Marinara Sauce to make a homemade meat sauce for ziti! Add a pinch of red pepper flakes if desired.
How to Make Marinara Sauce
Marinara sauce is a flavorful and surprisingly easy dish to make in just 30 minutes!
- Finely dice onions and shred carrots and soften in a pan.
- Add the tomatoes and dried herbs and simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes.
- Stir in fresh herbs.
Simmer this marinara sauce recipe a bit longer to adjust the consistency. Make it a little thinner if it is being used as a pasta sauce, or a little thicker if it’s being used on a pizza or as a dip.
Serve it over pasta, zucchini noodles, or use it for eggplant parmesan. The possibilities are endless.
Marinara sauce is a simple tomato-based sauce perfect for pasta or making things like lasagna or even soups. This marinara recipe has a base of canned tomatoes with aromatics like onion and garlic and a sprinkle of herbs. Don’t let the simplicity fool you, it’s a fantastic addition to pasta, a delightful dip for snacks, or a superior substitute for store-bought sauces in all your favorite recipes.
Marinara sauce is a thinner sauce with very few additions, while our spaghetti sauce recipe contains meat and is simmered longer for a thicker, more robust sauce.
Marinara sauce is different than pizza sauce. Pizza sauce tends to be thicker, and our recipe has a bolder and slightly sweeter flavor than marinara sauce.
Yes, you can use marinara sauce in place of tomato sauce.
Marinara sauce will last about 5 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. For longer storage, store marinara sauce in the freezer for up to 4 months.
More Easy Pasta Sauces
Did you love this easy Marinara Sauce? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Easy Marinara Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup onion finely diced
- ⅓ cup carrot shredded
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 28 ounces whole tomatoes canned
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes canned
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1-2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup fresh basil chopped
- ¼ teaspoon each salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add the finely diced onion, shredded carrot, and minced garlic to the pot. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add whole canned tomatoes (juice included), breaking them apart gently with a spoon.
- Mix in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar if using, dried oregano, and season with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Stir in ½ cup of water.
- Simmer uncovered on low heat for about 20 minutes, or until thickened to the desired consistency. Stir in fresh basil.
- Serve over spaghetti or enjoy in your favorite recipes.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course, Pasta, Sauce
Cuisine Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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I look forward to making this sauce. However, in your notes you say to use 2 teaspoons of dry basil if not using fresh, but in an answer to Susan 11/2/22 you say to use 1.5 tablespoons of dry basil. Which amount is it?
Hi Rose, as the recipe is updated we don’t always catch the old responses to comments. So the recipe card will be your most accurate source of information! So I would use 2 teaspoons of dried basil.
Thanks for getting back to me. This sauce is definitely better than any jarred sauce I’ve ever used!!! I adjusted the seasonings listed to my taste and used dried basil instead of fresh. I used part of the sauce in Dump and Go Manicotti and froze the rest. My husband wants to thank you for posting this recipe.
So happy you both enjoyed it!
Can this marinara sauce be canned?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Julie. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
everyone loves this marinara! even me, and I’m not even a big a marinara fan usually. this could easily be tweaked by each user to personalize it and make it a recipe handed down for generations. and it’s so easy! thanks! another win!
Hi
Looking to try this …
But was wondering could I freeze this ?
Thanks ..
Yes, this freezes well Leslie. Enjoy!
For people wondering about the tomato measurements in metric, a 28 ounce can of tomatoes is 796 ml in metric. It is the standard size of canned tomatoes that are available in most grocery stores today.
Instead of dicing the onions and garlic, you can cut one or two onions in half or in quarters, smack the garlic cloves with the side of your knife, and toss them in like that. In the end, you can easily fish the garlic and onion out and have a much smoother sauce. If you find the sauce to be on the acidic side, simply add a pinch or two of baking soda to the sauce at the end of cooking and it will take care of that without adding any overly sweet taste to the sauce.
How much paste is used?
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Not made it yet. Planning to. Please consider including a radio button or whatever it’s called that will allow conversions of quantities from US to metric n vice versa. Also another to scale the recipes on your site up or down to you can halve it or increase the quantity. Important for an international audience. Thanks.
I don’t have these available in those measurements and I would suggest using an online converter for accurate conversion amounts.
To scale the recipe, click the print button and then you can scale up or down to as many servings as you would like. Please note the instructions do not scale, just the ingredients.
For those of us using canned diced tomatoes, it would be helpful to include the quantity in milliliters along with the ounces. Please let me know if this recipe is updated.
I’ve tried canned diced tomatoes and they don’t seem to produce the same results Cynthia, so I can’t say for sure.
How much salt and pepper should I use? There is no measurement for them.
Depending on your taste preferences I would personally add anywhere from ¼ to ½ teaspoon of each.
We used a food processor to blend up the tomatoes and it cooked down really nicely. Also added some red pepper flakes for a little more zip, and it turned out great! Big hit with the kids!
Can you basil leaves if you can not get fresh and how much.
I would use 1.5 tablespoons of dried basil. Enjoy!
This sauce is perfect exactly the way it’s written. I used more garlic than was called for and it was good but not necessary. Thanks for the great recipe.
I made this tonight. It is simmering with the chicken slices I made last night that were terrible. I needed a marinara sauce, and I am out of it. In 40-some odd years of cooking, I have only made one spaghetti sauce-based recipe. It wasn’t good. THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!! It is simmering and I still can’t believe that finally, I can make a decent marinara. Thank you!