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    Home > Meal Type > Spices and Sauces

    Homemade Marinara Sauce

    Updated: Sep 23rd 2019 • Published: Mar 6th 2016 • 5 Comments

    Jump to Recipe SaveSaved!

    Fresh, simple and delicious, this homemade Marinara Sauce, tastes so much better than a store bought sauce. It is the basis for so many meals, use it on pasta, in your lasagne, as a topping for pizza and so much more!

    Fresh, simple and delicious, this homemade Marinara Sauce, tastes so much better than a store bought sauce. It is the basis for so many meals, use it on pasta, in your lasagne, as a topping for pizza and so much more!

    When I was younger, so much younger than today I never needed anybodies help in any waaaaaaay.

    Sorry couldn't resist!!! I can't help it, just writing those first few words reminded me of the Red Nose day song that Bananarama sang with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Kathy Burke for Comic Relief. (I know the Beatles sang it first, but the comic relief version is the one I always think of 😉 )

    Which now has me think of Johnny Deep in Vicar of Dibley and the Kylie Minogue in Men Behaving Badly, both of which were also Comic Relief spoofs.

    Fresh, simple and delicious, this homemade Marinara Sauce, tastes so much better than a store bought sauce. It is the basis for so many meals, use it on pasta, in your lasagne, as a topping for pizza and so much more!
    Fresh, simple and delicious, this homemade Marinara Sauce, tastes so much better than a store bought sauce. It is the basis for so many meals, use it on pasta, in your lasagne, as a topping for pizza and so much more!

    None of which has anything to do with Marinara sauce!!!!!

    Should I start again!!!

    When I was younger, I worked in a hotel. It was a country hotel and really their big speciality was weddings. Some days we would have a wedding in the garden room, a wedding in the dining room and a wedding in the marquee. Those were the days when you knew you would be there until 3am!!!! But I am not complaining, I loved my time there and it paid for university!

    Fresh, simple and delicious, this homemade Marinara Sauce, tastes so much better than a store bought sauce. It is the basis for so many meals, use it on pasta, in your lasagne, as a topping for pizza and so much more!

    One of the casual chefs was Lilianna, an Italian who made her own pasta and would come in for an evening if they needed pasta making. She was amazing!!! If you have never watched someone make orecchiette, it is amazing!! They cut off a small chunk of pasta dough, spread it with a knife and then turn it inside out to create the signature 'ear' shape. She did it so fast and so effortlessly! Amazing! I never mastered that skill. But I did get her fabulous marinara sauce recipe. Although actually she just called it her sauce recipe. No mention of marinara or even tomato, she said growing up they just called it sauce. 'Spaghetti and sauce', meant spaghetti and marinara sauce, but it was sauce. Everyone knew what 'sauce' meant.

    So this is Lilianna's marinara sauce but in my head I still think of it as Lilianna's sauce.  Actually this is Lilianna's Nonna's recipe! She passed it to her with strict instructions that she should share it with everyone as the world makes sauce wrong.

    Fresh, simple and delicious, this homemade Marinara Sauce, tastes so much better than a store bought sauce. It is the basis for so many meals, use it on pasta, in your lasagne, as a topping for pizza and so much more!

    I think Liliana's Nonna would still say I make it wrong as she originally used canned tomatoes that she had made herself from fresh tomatoes at the end of the summer months. I am afraid that I just use store bought ones 😳 Just make sure you don't buy the bargain basement tomatoes. Your sauce will be thin and you will be missing the richness. The key is a good brand, I am sure you have them in the pantry , I mean when a good quality brand of tinned tomatoes is on special you buy 20 so the pantry is always fully stocked. No? that just me? 😉

    Either way, buy a decent brand and you will be rewarded! This sauce is leap years away from the jars of sauce you buy in the pasta aisle. This sauce tastes of tomatoes! It tastes fresh, delicious and so yummy that you want to dip hunks of bread straight into it. Go ahead I won't judge! Just don't hog all the bread!


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    📖 Recipe

    Fresh, simple and delicious, this homemade Marinara Sauce, tastes so much better than a store bought sauce. It is the basis for so many meals, use it on pasta, in your lasagne, as a topping for pizza and so much more!
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    Homemade Marinara Sauce

    Fresh, simple and delicious, this homemade Marinara Sauce, tastes so much better than a store bought sauce. It is the basics for so many meals, use it on pasta, in your lasagne, as a topping for pizza and so much more!
    Prep Time5 mins
    Cook Time1 hr 30 mins
    Total Time1 hr 35 mins
    Servings: 6
    Calories: 109kcal
    Author: Claire | Sprinkle and Sprouts
    For more great recipes follow me on PinterestFollow @sprinklessprout
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    Ingredients

    • 1 onion - see note 1
    • 5 garlic cloves
    • ¼ cup olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
    • ¼ cup red wine
    • 4 cans chopped tomatoes (400g/14oz cans) - see note 2
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon black pepper
    • 2 teaspoon sugar
    • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
    • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
    • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil

    Instructions

    • Finely chop the onion and garlic, then place them in a large saucepan.
    • Add the olive oil and cook over a medium/low heat until they are starting to soften and go translucent.
    • Pour in the balsamic vinegar and red wine, allow to bubble then add the remaining ingredients, except the fresh basil.
    • Bring to a simmer and then cook on the lowest setting for 1 ½ hours, staring occasionally.
    • Once the sauce is cooked stir through the fresh basil and remove from the heat.
    • Eat straight away or freeze in ziplock bags. You can also can this using steralized jars and the boiling method.

    Notes

    1. I like to use a red onion but white or yellow are just as good.
    2. To make with Fresh Tomatoes:
      • Wash your tomatoes and cut a small 'x' in the bottom of each one.
      • Bring a pan of water to the boil and then add the tomatoes. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the skin is starting to peel.
      • Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and place in an ice bath to cool.
      • Once the tomatoes are cool you can easily peel the skins off.
      • Cut tomatoes into quarters and use in the recipe in place of canned tomatoes.
      • You may need to add ¼ cup of boiling water to your marinara sauce mixture.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 109kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 198mg | Potassium: 64mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 14IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @sprinklesandsprouts or tag #sprinklesandsprouts

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Richard says

      September 23, 2019 at 1:26 am

      Hi Claire. How would you do this with fresh tomatoes? We have a glut and I want to either freeze or put this in a jar (s). Any other tips for using glut?
      Thank you
      X

      Reply
      • Claire McEwen says

        September 23, 2019 at 9:12 am

        I will add instructions to the recipe notes for how to make this with fresh tomatoes.
        Alternately you could just can your fresh tomatoes to use throughout the winter. I follow Noshing with the Nolands Tomato Canning recipe

        Or make you own sun-dried tomatoes (although maybe I shouldn't call them that as I use the oven rather than the sun to dry mine)

        1kg tomatoes
        2 tsp salt
        1 tsp sugar
        1 tsp dried thyme
        1 tsp dried basil
        1/4 cup olive oil

        Pre-heat the oven to 220°C.
        Cut the tomatoes in half (for cherry tomatoes) or quarters (for Roma tomatoes)
        Place the tomatoes cut side up in a large baking dish.
        Sprinkle over the salt, sugar, thyme and basil. Then drizzle with the olive oil.
        Place the dish in the oven.
        After 10 minutes turn the oven off and leave them in there overnight without opening the door.
        Store in oil in the fridge.

        Hope that helps xx

        Reply
    2. Yum Girl says

      March 07, 2016 at 11:38 pm

      Welcome to Yum Goggle! we are now following you on all your social media platforms - we hope you will follow us back. We will try our best to tag you each time we promote your posts. Kelli at YG!

      Reply
    3. Dorothy Dunton says

      March 07, 2016 at 12:22 am

      Hi Claire! This is wonderful! I have all the ingredients to make it on hand. We have a large garden, so we do home can lots of things. We do tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice and stewed tomatoes! A few years back we had a bumper crop and I ended up with 92 quarts of various tomato products...I was canning for weeks! But it was so worth it! Having home canned goods in the basement is like having your own personal market, without the added stuff found in a lot of store bought!

      Reply
      • Claire McEwen says

        March 07, 2016 at 2:47 pm

        OH WOW!!!

        Yet again Dorothy I am a little envious! That is some bumper crop!!!! How wonderful!!

        Homemade is so much better isn't it?

        Reply

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