Classic Marinara Sauce
The options are endless for this classic marinara sauce. It is a great go-to marinara sauce that is light, simple and, well, dippable.
Although I have a favorite spaghetti sauce recipe in my arsenal already, sometimes I need a red sauce that is lighter, meatless and perfect for, say, dipping fried cheese sticks, wontons, crispy parmesan chicken fingers, breadsticks, and so on and so forth.
Simple to prepare, the secret of this marinara sauce is the simmering action that develops the flavors of the sauce, thanks to the aromatics and veggies that start the whole shindig rolling.
Blended to a wonderfully smooth consistency, this sauce is slightly sweet and tart and silky and downright delicious.
I have used this sauce for everything from smothering lasagna rolls and manicotti to dipping any of the aforementioned items.
The options are endless and this is definitely my go-to marinara sauce when I want to keep things light, simple and, well, dippable.
One Year Ago: Blue Cheese and Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes
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Classic Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cans (28-ounces each) crushed tomatoes
- ½ tablespoon dried basil
- ½ tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, optional but delicious
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat until hot and rippling. Add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring very frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until all the vegetables are slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano and bay leaves and simmer, covered, on low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to make sure the sauce isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pot, until slightly thickened and the vegetables are completely tender. Stir in the brown sugar.
- Taste the sauce. Add salt and pepper as needed. Add the butter and stir to combine if you want to round out the flavors and add a dimension of silkiness.
- Remove the bay leaves. In a blender or food processor, blend the sauce (in several batches, if necessary) until it is smooth. The sauce can be frozen once it is cooled completely in freezer-safe ziploc bags for up to 6 months.
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Recipe Source: inspired by Giada De Laurentiis’ recipe
Hi Mel! Do you know if this recipe can be canned?
I don’t think it has been tested for canning, so it wouldn’t be safe to can.
Would it work to add some cream (adjusting the seasonings, of course) to this recipe to make it like a rosé sauce? Adding meat ok, too?
Yes, both of those things would work great, I think!
Question…
Have you ever roasted fresh tomatoes for this recipe, then canned it?
Love your recipes! Thanks!
I haven’t – should work great though!
Sorry, just to clarify, I think roasting the tomatoes would work great. As for canning, I don’t know how the pH of this recipe holds up to being canning safe.
Hi Mel! Your recipes are my go-to and anytime I show up to a family function with a new recipe they know where I’ve gotten it from 🙂 I’m really wanting to make this with some fresh roma tomatoes from my garden, but I’m not sure exactly how to do that. Any tips?
Hi Holli, I haven’t subbed fresh tomatoes for this, but I’m guessing it’ll work just fine! You’ll want to peel the skins off the tomatoes (I cut the tomatoes in half, place cut side down on a baking sheet and broil in the oven for a few minutes until the skins pucker; let cool and remove the skins). Chop the tomatoes, using the tomatoes AND any juice that accumulates in the recipe (for best results, you’d probably want to weigh the tomatoes to make sure it’s the same as called for in the recipe). Good luck if you try it!
I just made this for the first time to go with some Italian nachos. Oh man, it was so good. I wanted to ditch the nachos and eat the sauce by the spoonful. First I googled “marinara sauce recipe” but then I thought, “I bet Mel has a good one.” I knew I could count on you! Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Sounds yummy!
This sauce has become a tradition at our house. Each December, we make and bottle a bunch of “Merry-nara Christmas” sauce and give it to our friends and neighbors. They always love it — and they love that it is not another sweet. And we have heard that picky eaters like this sauce, but won’t eat store bought spaghetti sauce.
We did it one year, and the next year we took around a sweet gift. Everyone told us they had been hoping for another bottle of the marinara. So we returned to it as a gift.
Thank you so much!
This is such a great idea!!
Hi Mel! I just wanted to let you know that I have been making this marinara sauce for a couple of years of now, and I absolutely love it!!!! My family loves it, and I like the fact that I can control all of the ingredients and sneak in the extra veggies to make it even healthier. 😉 It freezes beautifully and I use it for the base in many Italian dishes from chicken parmesan to spaghetti and meatballs. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipes. God bless you!
Thanks for letting me know that, Lana!
Do you think this could be made in the instant pot?
Yes!
why do you have to do 45min water bath?? when i make salsa for my husband i water bath for 15min.. and it seals just fine.. can you keep the water boiling above the cans that long?? thank you. made one of your salsa recipes and it turned out great.. thanks.
I’m not entirely sure, but all the tested recipes for spaghetti sauce/marinara sauce have a 35 minute processing time for pints and 45 minute time for quarts – it’s best to follow those guidelines for canning safety.
Hi Mel! Any idea how long this will last in the fridge? I forgot to freeze it ugh!
Thanks!
Probably about a week?
This sauce is amazing!!! Definitely going to be making it again.
I made this today and it was super yummy. It was a lot more orange than red though… I only put one carrot in but maybe it was a larger carrot than you used? Or any other ideas for why this might have been?
Mine has an orange tinge to it, too. Some of that will also depend on the brand of canned tomatoes you use.