Name: BEST HEALTHY AND EASY HOMEMADE MARINARA SAUCE
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 medium white or sweet onion (1-1 ½ CUPS); 1 TSP olive oil; 1/2 TSP salt; 2-3 cloves of garlic; 1 TSP dried oregano; 1 can (28 oz) San Marzano tomatoes peeled and whole; Sprig of basil

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Today we are sharing the best homemade marinara sauce. My earliest childhood memories of food are definitely with my Italian grandmother. I will always remember her very large pot of homemade marinara sauce that would be cooking on the stovetop for hours. It all started with the trip to the Italian deli to get all of the ingredients for this sauce and for Italian sandwiches. The trip to the Italian deli was an event! Once we arrived, she got the ingredients for her famous sauce. The deli was always crowded and filled with Italians and lots of energy!

I would love to walk around the store and look at all of the different-shaped pasta and listen to my grandmother speak Italian and order strange-sounding deli meats. I had no idea what they were talking about at the time. Let’s not forget the Italian cookies that almost took up the entire aisle. I always looked forward to those trips with her to the deli because I knew when we got back that evening we would be having some amazing pasta with marinara sauce.

I still remember the taste of that sauce as if it was yesterday even though I was probably eight or nine at the time. This sauce was magic to me because it was an event to make and it had a story. My grandmother said she learned how to make this sauce from scratch from her mother in Italy, my great grandmother. Her sauce is what inspired me to make this homemade marinara sauce. I hope that one day Ella will make this for her family and can tell the very long history of the sauce that inspired us to make our own.

How To Make Homemade Marinara Sauce

Ingredients for the homemade marinara sauce

To make this marinara sauce, cut, peel, and dice the onion. I like to use an onion chopper because it makes all of the pieces the same size. Next, add the olive oil to a hot pot and sauté the onions. Then, add some salt and cook the onions until they are translucent. After that, peel and crush two to three cloves of garlic depending on the size. If you don’t have fresh garlic, pre-crushed garlic will work. Make sure to add the garlic after the onions are cooked because garlic burns quickly. Next, crush the dried oregano in your hand as you add it to the pot. Then, combine all of the ingredients in the pot.

After that, it’s time for the San Marzano tomatoes. They come whole so make sure to squish them with your hand before adding them to the pot. Keep in mind that if you squish them by hand, it may get messy, so put a towel over the bowl. Another option is to use an immersion blender or blender for the tomatoes. Blend the tomatoes until the desired consistency.

Then, pour the tomatoes into the pot with the onions. Also, you can always blend the onions if you want the sauce super smooth. At this point, taste the marinara sauce and add any extra salt to taste. After that, add the basil and let the soup simmer for 15-30 minutes to allow all of the flavors to combine. Enjoy!

A Few Notes & Tips

What To Do With Homemade Marinara Sauce

Feel free to use this marinara sauce on anything you’d like! Ella loves making pasta with this marinara sauce and adding freshly grated parmesan cheese and basil on top. Also, low-carb pasta, zucchini noodles, and spaghetti squash work great with this sauce. My favorite way to enjoy this marinara sauce is to pour it on top of lentils.

What are San Marzano Tomatoes?

If you are going to make a homemade marinara sauce I highly encourage you to get San Marzano tomatoes. I think spending the extra money to buy them is worth every penny. You won’t get the same delicious sauce flavors from other tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes come from Italy, the Campania region of southern Italy to be exact. The flavor that these tomatoes have is superior to other canned tomatoes. They have fewer seeds, are sweeter, and have less acid. They are a beautifully balanced tomato in flavor. These are the only tomatoes I use when making homemade tomato sauce from a can. I will say I’m Italian and I am picky when it comes to my tomato sauce.

Are Roma and San Marzano Tomatoes the Same?

No! When comparing the San Marzano tomato to the Roma tomato, the San Marzano tomato is a thinner longer tomato and more pointed at the end. The skin of the San Marzano tomato is also thicker than the Roma tomato. Also, the San Marzano tomato has fewer seeds. It is less acidic than the Roma tomato and naturally sweeter. This makes for a beautifully balanced tomato!

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