Quick Marinara Sauce recipe is a classic tomato-based sauce that is simmered with onions, garlic, herbs, and spices. It has a rich and robust flavor that emanates from the sugars that remain after the reduction or slow cooking of the crushed tomatoes. This sauce is incredibly versatile and can be used as a base for pasta, pizza, or countless other culinary creations!
Over the summer, I said farewell to my Bay Area home of over 20 years and moved North to the great Pacific Northwest. With my kids off at college, my husband and I wanted a change and to give ourselves a new adventure. And what an adventure it has been. As I settle into my new home in Redmond, Washington, and explore the bounties of the Pacific Northwest, I wanted to take a moment to apologize to my followers about this summer lapse.
Now that I’m settled in, I wanted to kick off this season with a simple classic sauce that is an anytime favorite, the Marinara. For all its simplicity, the Marinara is a sauce of infinite variety. You can start with the classic Marinara and then wend your way through an almost inexhaustible range of variants, by altering one or more of the base ingredients.
Origin:
One thing to keep in mind is that the base of the Marinara Sauce recipe is the humble tomato. Introduced into Italian cuisine from the Americas in the mid-16th century by the Spanish Conquistadores, this devil fruit (so named because of its similarity with the mandrake fruit) became a mainstay of Italian cuisine. A couple of popular origin stories:
- Marinara is Italian for ‘seafaring’. It inherited this name because it was a mainstay of Italian merchants at sea. Its longevity and ease of preparation with whatever seafood bounties they could catch made it a shipboard favorite.
- Neapolitan wives prepared this dish for their seafaring husbands because it complemented the seafood that was their mainstay.
Regardless, the first official mention of pairing the tomato with pasta was in the 1790 publication of the six-volumed L’Apicio Moderno by chef Francesco Leonardi.
As I mentioned earlier, this simple Marinara Sauce recipe can be interpreted in as many ways as your imagination allows. As we move from summer to fall, late-season tomatoes serve as a wonderful base for the Marinara Sauce. While you can use pretty much any tomato to serve as the base, the classics are the San Marzano (the Italian heirloom tomato) or as an alternative, the Roma. The flavor profiles are different: the San Marzano has lower acidity, as compared to the Roma, but both possess a richness in texture with little to no seeds.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Why is my Marinara Sauce watery?
I find that the marinara sauce that is cooked quickly on high heat is usually watery. It is important to evaporate the water content in the tomatoes by simmering the sauce pot for at least 30 minutes. Simmering helps thicken the sauce and concentrate the sugars resulting in a robust flavor.
2. What is this Quick Marinara Sauce recipe used for?
Italians use marinara sauce as a pizza sauce or with any pasta or lasagna. Homemade sauce allows for more creativity with the addition of veggies and/or meat to take it to the next level. I have added carrots for a rich flavor.
3. Why is my marinara sauce bland?
To make this sauce tasty, I like to add herbs such as basil, oregano, and optionally, bay leaves. Spices such as red pepper flakes, paprika, and a dash of mustard powder will uplift the taste of an otherwise bland sauce.
If you’ve tried this recipe or have questions, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to share (below) your thoughts, comments, or any questions that you might have. And if you like my recipes, you could subscribe to my mailing list for the latest recipes that will be delivered straight to your inbox. From my pen to your table, Bon Appetit!
Ingredients:
- Oil – extra virgin olive oil
- Aromatics – Italian red or white garlic, oregano, fresh basil leaves and/or bay leaves
- Soffritto – onion red or white, carrots coarsely pureed (optional: celery)
- Tomato – fresh heirloom or on-the-vine red tomatoes, or Roma
- Spices – ground pepper, chili powder, paprika (optional), paprika, mustard powder
How to make this Quick Marinara Sauce using my recipe:
- Prepare the ingredients. Blanch the tomatoes in hot just boiled water (that has been turned off) for 5 minutes or put the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute and turn off the heat. Strip or remove the skin once the skin splits and crush the tomatoes with your fingers or pulse to a coarse texture in a food processor or blender.
2. Heat a Dutch oven or any heavy-bottomed sauce pot, add olive oil and then the chopped onion, and sauté until translucent. Then, add the chopped or crushed garlic and stir for a minute.
3. Now, add the grated carrots and sauté for about 2 minutes.
4. Add the crushed or coarsely puréed tomatoes and season with salt, herbs, and spices. Simmer for 25-30 minutes until thickened to a sauce consistency.
Tips:
- Tomato is the main ingredient of the Marinara Sauce recipe. I like cooking with fresh ingredients, so I have used late-season heirloom tomatoes. You could crush the tomatoes after blanching by using your fingers which gives the sauce a more authentic feel to it. If you are using a food processor, please ensure that you do not over-pulse the tomatoes but instead pulse to a coarse texture.
- Fresh basil and oregano rather than dried herbs add depth to the sauce.
- Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute to remove skin easily instead of using hot water.
Serving suggestion:
- If you are using the marinara sauce sauce for pizza, then thicken it for a few extra minutes or the pizza base will get soggy.
- For use with pasta, add some of the pasta water to the sauce.
- This recipe for the Quick Marinara Sauce can also be used as a dipping sauce with crostini or bruschetta.
- This sauce can also be used in stuffed bell pepper recipes.
Storage:
I store my Quick Marinara Sauce in warm glass bottles or mason jars for 3-4 days in the refrigerator. It can also be frozen in air-tight containers.
Quick Marinara Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pan
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 onion red or white
- 1½ tbsp garlic minced
- 1 sprig oregano
- 4 sprig basil
- ½ cup carrot coarsely shredded
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground peppercorn
- ¼ tsp ground chili
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp dry mustard powder
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients. Blanch the tomatoes in hot just boiled water (that has been turned off) for 5 minutes or blanch them in boiling water for a minute. Strip or remove the skin of the tomatoes that hvae split and crush them with your fingers or pulse to a coarse texture in a food processor or blender.
- Heat a Dutch oven or any heavy-bottomed sauce pot, add olive oil and then the chopped onions and sauté until translucent. Then, add the chopped or crushed garlic and stir for a minute.
- Now, add the grated carrots and sauté for about 2 minutes.
- Add the crushed or coarsely puréed tomatoes and season with salt, herbs and spices. Simmer for 25-30 minutes until thickened to a sauce consistency.
- Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped basil leaves.
Notes
- If you are using the marinara sauce sauce for pizza, then thicken it for a few extra minutes or the pizza base will get soggy.
- For use with pasta, add some pasta water to the sauce.
Nutrition
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