Marinara Sauce Recipe

This homemade Marinara sauce is my absolute favorite. It’s healthy, easy to make using pantry ingredients, and it tastes a million times better than store-bought. You’ll love this classic Italian Marinara.

Marinara sauce is a tomato sauce that’s typically made with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs. Variations might include wine, capers, or olives.

I like to use Italian ‘soffritto’ in my marinara sauce, which is a combination of onions, carrots, and celery. This adds an excellent flavor base to the pasta sauce, which many recipes skip.

Pasta sauce was one of the first recipes I learned how to make. While it’s easy to buy a jar of marinara sauce from the store, it never tastes as good as homemade.

I’ve been fine tuning this recipe over the past decade and now it’s the only marinara sauce my family uses.

It’s simple enough to make on a weeknight or if you want to meal prep. When stored in an airtight container, it will keep up to 5 days in the fridge or 3-6 months in the freezer.

Homemade marinara sauce is affordable to make because it uses pantry staples. It’s also healthier than store-bought sauces, which are often high in sodium and added sugar. You can control the ingredients when you make it from scratch.

I love keeping a stash of this marinara sauce in my freezer for when I’m craving spaghetti, lasagna, or stuffed pasta shells.   

Homemade marinara sauce ingredients

Olive oil: I like to use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil for this recipe.

Tomatoes: You can use fresh or canned tomatoes for this recipe. I use canned tomatoes because it’s something I always keep in my pantry.

I recommend using San Marzano tomatoes. These are Italian plum tomatoes which have more tomato flesh, less seeds, and lower water content, which makes an incredible sauce.

If you can’t find San Marzano tomatoes, then use whole unpeeled tomatoes or the highest-quality canned tomatoes you can find.

Garlic: Always use fresh garlic in this recipe. It tastes better than pre-minced jarred garlic.

Onion, carrots, and celery: I recommend using yellow onions as they are more traditional in marinara sauce. Carrots can help absorb some of the acidity of the tomatoes and balance the flavor. Celery helps to deepen the flavor of the sauce and thicken it up.

Seasoning: I use dried oregano, a bay leaf, and a pinch of red pepper flakes for heat. You can leave out the red pepper flakes if you prefer.

Balsamic vinegar: This helps reduce the acidity of the tomatoes by adding some sweetness to the sauce.

Fresh basil: I love the aroma that fresh basil adds to homemade marinara sauce. It offers a sweet and savory flavor.

If you don’t have fresh basil, you can substitute with 1 teaspoon dried basil or use fresh flat-leaf parsley instead.

Butter: Adding a tablespoon of butter near the end of cooking makes this sauce rich and velvety. Leave it it out to keep it vegan.

How to make homemade marinara sauce

This recipe involves around 10 minutes of prep work, then the sauce will simmer on the stovetop for 20 minutes. This lets you relax with an aperitivo or use that time to prepare the rest of your meal.

Prep the onions, carrots and celery. You want to make sure that the onions, carrots, and celery are finely diced so they become very tender and basically disappear into the sauce.

You have a couple of options to achieve this:

• Finely chop the veggies: You can finely dice the veggies with a knife or food processor. Do this option if you prefer a chunkier marinara sauce.
• Roughly chop the veggies: Then use an immersion blender to blend the sauce after you add the tomatoes into the pot. Do this option if you prefer a smooth marinara sauce.

Sauté the vegetables. Add the olive oil to a large saucepan over medium heat and gently sauté the vegetables for 7-10 minutes. You want to make sure the onion is translucent, and the carrots and celery are soft. Stir occasionally so they don’t burn.

Add the garlic and spices. Cook the garlic, dried oregano, salt, red pepper flakes, and dried basil (if you’re not using fresh basil) for 30-60 seconds until fragrant.

Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, and balsamic vinegar. Stir in the tomatoes and their juices, the bay leaf, and balsamic vinegar.

Let the sauce simmer uncovered over low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce should thicken and reduce in volume slightly.

Remove the pot from the heat and discard the bay leaf. Use an immersion blender to puree the sauce. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can transfer the sauce to a blender in batches and puree until smooth.

If you prefer a chunkier texture, then don’t puree the sauce.

Add the fresh basil and butter. Discard the bay leaf and stir in the chopped fresh basil and butter. Remove from the heat and serve with your favorite pasta or recipe. Enjoy!

How to use marinara sauce

• Serve it with your favorite pasta
• Spaghetti and meatballs
• Chicken parmesan
• Cocktail meals
• Use it as a dip for breadsticks, garlic bread, or focaccia bread
• Stuffed pasta shells
• Lasagna
• Calzone
• Baked ziti
• Manicotti
• Use it as pizza sauce
• Use it on a burger
• Use it on a meatball sandwich

How to store and reheat marinara sauce

To store: When your marinara sauce has cooled down to room temperature, store it in the fridge in an airtight container. It will keep up to 5 days.

To freeze: When your sauce has cooled, portion it into freezer-safe containers or bags. Try to remove as much air as possible and lay it flat to freeze. It will keep up to 3-6 months.

To reheat: Thaw frozen sauce in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. Reheat in a saucepan over low heat on the stovetop until warmed through.

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