Food & Cooking Recipes Healthy Recipes Gluten-Free Recipes Homemade Marinara Sauce 4.1 (8) Full of flavor but quick on cooking time, this easy homemade sauce is a mealtime home run. Close Credit: decorvow Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 35 mins Total Time: 45 mins Servings: 12 Yield: 6 cups Jump to recipe Our marinara sauce recipe is full of flavor and ready in just 45 minutes. It calls for just a handful of simple ingredients including canned whole-peeled tomatoes, onion, garlic, and fresh herbs like basil and oregano, which keep it feeling bright and fresh. The key to this sauce is using good quality canned tomatoes, so buy the best ones you’re able to get your hands on. This easy sauce has so many uses; simply tossed with boiled noodles, in pasta bakes, or incorporate it into your next batch of chicken or eggplant Parmesan. This recipe makes about six cups of sauce, which can feed up to 12 people, but if you're serving a smaller crowd, freeze a portion of it for future meals. It stores beautifully and will be a great alternative to store-bought sauce when you need something quick and easy for dinner. Bolognese vs. Pasta Sauce: What's the Difference? Marinara Sauce vs. Tomato Sauce While they're often used interchangeably, there are a few differences between marinara sauce and classic tomato sauce. Marinara is typically brighter in flavor, since it's cooked for less time than a slow-simmered tomato sauce. It almost always features onion and garlic—or, at the very least, one or the other. In Italian and French cooking, on the other hand, a classic tomato sauce is typically cooked for much longer and often incorporates other ingredients like pancetta, chicken or beef stock, and sometimes vegetables like carrots and celery in addition to onions and garlic. Due to the longer cooking time, the slow-simmered sauce takes on a deeper, richer, and more savory flavor than the brighter, slightly acidic marinara. It's often incorporated into spaghetti and meatballs, layered into lasagna, or simmered with sausage and ground beef (when it's known as Sunday gravy). Pureeing the tomatoes before adding them to sauce makes for a just-smooth-enough finished product that can be worked seamlessly into pasta bakes or used as a dipping sauce. Instead of using a food processor, you can use a blender or immersion blender to puree the canned tomatoes. For a chunkier sauce, skip the machine and crush them by hand before adding them to the pot. Directions Cook onions and garlic: Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes and red pepper flakes; Add tomatoes, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and some pepper. Simmer, then stir in herbs: Simmer, covered, until thick, 25 minutes. Stir in herbs. How to Store Homemade Marinara Sauce This sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to three days or frozen for up to three months. 6 Ways to Use Marinara Sauce There are so many ways to put this flavorful sauce to use. Pair it with baked feta and crusty bread to make this easy appetizer. Work it into this cheesy and dreamy baked manicotti recipe Serve it alongside homemade mozzarella sticks for a party-ready starter. You can also serve it with these giant meatballs Use it to make this creative and fragrant recipe for Indian-inspired spiced shrimp. Or, simply stir it into a pot of your favorite long or short noodles, Parmesan option (but always recommended). Other Tomato-Based Sauce Recipes to Try: Three-Ingredient Marinara Perfect Bolognese Sauce Rao's Marinara Sauce Basic Red Sauce Sausage Meat Sauce Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.