Homemade marinara sauce is perfect for pasta, pizza, or dipping.
This easy sauce is made with canned tomatoes and a handful of seasonings simmered until thick and flavorful.
Marinara sauce is a simple tomato sauce, perfect for pasta or preparing lasagna. Don’t let the simplicity fool you; it’s delicious.
This Is The Best Marinara Sauce Because…
- This sauce is easy to make, and the taste is deliciously fresh.
- It uses simple everyday ingredients, most of which you likely have on hand.
- It’s fresh, wholesome, and nutritious—perfect for replacing a jar or adding to recipes or pasta sauce.
- Homemade marinara sauce can be used to replace tomato sauce in most recipes.
- You can double or triple the batch and freeze it for last-minute recipes!
Ingredients for Homemade Marinara Sauce
- Tomatoes: Use a combination of crushed and canned tomatoes along with tomato paste. While it costs just slightly more, I love the fresh flavor that San Marzano tomatoes add to sauces. Fresh tomatoes can be peeled and added.
- Vegetables: Onion and garlic add flavor, while shredded carrots add sweetness and balance the tart flavor of the tomatoes.
- Sugar: Depending on the brand of tomatoes, you may not need sugar in this recipe. If the sauce is tart, add a pinch or two. You can omit the sugar entirely if you’d like.
- Seasonings: Add dried seasonings (like DIY Italian seasoning) before simmering in Step 5. Fresh herbs should be added just before serving. A few red pepper flakes or a splash of sriracha gives homemade marinara a little pep!
Marinara Sauce vs. Spaghetti Sauce
Marinara sauce is a thinner sauce than spaghetti sauce and has very few additions. Spaghetti sauce tends to be thicker, zestier, and bolder.
Variations
- Sneak in shredded zucchini or a little pureed pumpkin or squash as a natural sweetener and nutrient booster.
- Or add ground beef and turn this into a hearty homemade spaghetti sauce.
How to Make Marinara Sauce
- Saute onion, carrot, and garlic in oil until softened (.
- Add whole tomatoes and break them up with a spoon.
- Add remaining ingredients with ½ cup of water and simmer until thickened.
- Stir in basil before serving.
Besides spaghetti, use marinara sauce in chicken parmesan, for a great meat sauce, or as a dipping sauce for breadsticks.
Marinara sauce will last about 5 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. For longer storage, it can be stored in the freezer for up to 4 months.
More Easy Tomatoe Sauces
Step up your sauce and try one of these favorites to spoon over your favorite pasta or pizza.
Did your family love this easy Marinara Sauce? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Easy Marinara Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- ⅓ cup shredded carrot
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 28 ounces canned whole tomatoes 1 can
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1-2 teaspoons granulated sugar optional
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- To the pot, add the finely diced onion, shredded carrot, and minced garlic. 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.
I’m using this sauce to make your lasagna. In the lasagna recipe you call for 36 ounces of this sauce (or 48 ounces if you want more sauce in the lasagna). How many ounces of sauce does this recipe make? I’m guessing somewhere around 56 ounces since it calls for 2 28 ounce cans of tomatoes… Thanks!
Hi Emily! This recipe yields 8 cups of sauce which is equivalent to 64 ounces. I hope that helps!
Would this still taste similar only using the canned whole tomatoes and no crushed? Or would it be too runny?
If you only have canned whole tomatoes, I would add two 28 oz cans. You can use an immersion blender to break up some of the whole tomatoes so they are more of a ‘crushed’ consistency, or just gently break them apart in the pot as per the recipe instructions. Let us know how it turns out for you, Michaela!
How could I got about using fresh tomatoes for this recipe rather than canned?
I haven’t tried this recipe with just fresh tomatoes so I can’t say for sure how the consistency or flavor would be. That being said I do sometimes peel fresh tomatoes and add them in with the whole canned tomatoes.
This sounds wonderful. Will it be just as good if I use two cans of crushed tomatoes and no whole tomatoes?
That should turn out well, Jenny.
This is absolutely the best recipe for marinara. I have tried many in the past and they don’t compare. I did not use sugar , other than that I followed recipe. I will always use this recipe!
I have made this recipe a number of times. It is A1!
Excellent marinara with minimal effort. The hardest part was cutting the onion and garlic! Used dried basil and still tasted great. Increased tomato paste to 3 T. because we like it thick.
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!
I’d like to know this answer, too, as I’m looking for a good marinara recipe that I can can!
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.
I used Contadina crushed tomatoes and had no whole tomatoes so used tomato sauce. I tried it with whole tomatoes along with crushed next time but family preferred it with the crushed and sauce so now I use that. will try fresh next summer. I make it in triple batches, divide it and freeze. So handy when too tired to cook. I have found 1/4 tsp. of salt per batch is fine. Thanks Holly for my go to sauce for spaghetti and meatballs, lasagne, pasta bakes and my daughters fave dipping sauce for toasted ravioli.
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!