Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce

This Healthy Marinara Sauce comes together in just 20 minutes and is much better than the stuff you can buy at the grocery store. It's made with all natural ingredients and has no added sugar. Use it as a pasta sauce, pizza sauce, or anywhere you would use store-bought sauce. 

While I appreciate the convenience of jarred pasta sauces, I prefer to make my own at home, from scratch. Store-bought pasta sauces can be packed with sugar and fillers, which are, in my opinion, unnecessary. Plus, everything tastes better when it's homemade.

Let's talk about today's sauce. This isn't a simmer all day long pasta sauce. Don't get me wrong, I love those sauces, but today's sauce is a quick, homemade marinara that works perfectly for a busy weeknight. Pair it with your favorite pasta, meatballs, zucchini noodles, pizza, breadsticks, and more.

Pro tip: Use the best tomatoes for the best marinara sauce. I prefer the canned San Marzano tomatoes For those unfamiliar, San Marzano tomatoes are a variety of tomatoes grown in Italy. They are known to be sweeter and less acidic than standard tomatoes and are some of the best canned tomatoes. Sometimes, they are tricky to find; check the bottom shelf

Why You'll Love This Quick and Easy Marinara Sauce

• Ready in 20 minutes: While most marinara and pasta sauces take hours to prepare, this quick sauce is ready in just 20 minutes and still packs tons of flavor. It's delicious. 
• Healthy and natural: This marinara sauce has all-natural, healthy ingredients. It has no added sugar, preservatives, or fillers. Just fresh, healthy flavors.
• Versatile: Customizing this sauce to your family's preferences is easy. Add red pepper flakes or Calabrian chilies for an arrabbiata-style sauce. Sneak in extra vegetables with spinach, carrots, celery, zucchini, bell peppers, or mushrooms. Add ground meat to make a simple bolognese sauce. 

Ingredients and Easy Swaps

Here is everything you need to make this tasty sauce. 

• Olive oil: For the best-tasting marinara sauce, use high-quality olive oil. Feel free to add a little extra for a richer sauce. You can also add a touch of butter or heavy cream. 
• Onion and garlic: Fresh garlic cloves and onions are a must for a delicious sauce. Feel free to adjust the quantities, especially garlic, if you like a garlicky tomato sauce. You can use garlic powder or onion powder in a pinch. 
• Dried spices: In this sauce, we used dried oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, and bay leaves to let the tomato flavor come through. You could swap in Italian seasoning. Skip the red pepper flakes if you don't want any spice. You also want to add kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Salt is key to a flavorful sauce. 
• Crushed tomatoes: For the best-tasting sauce, use San Marzano tomatoes, which are naturally sweet and less acidic. Standard tomatoes tend to be more acidic, which is why so many people add sugar to marinara sauce. If you can't find crushed, you can break up whole tomatoes with a wooden spoon or even quickly blend them.
• Fresh basil: Basil is my favorite addition to this sauce. It adds so much flavor and freshness. The fresh herbs are what make this sauce special. 
• Optional: To enhance the flavor of your marinara, add fresh Parmesan cheese, a Parmesan rind, or even a pinch of nutritional yeast.

How to Make Healthy Stovetop Marinara Sauce

Follow these easy steps to make homemade marinara sauce in just twenty minutes.

1. Saute the onions, garlic, and spices

Start by heating your olive oil in a skillet, Dutch oven, or pot over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions, minced garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 4-5 minutes until the onions soften and the mixture is nice and fragrant. You can add garlic in the last 60 seconds if you prefer to make sure it doesn't burn and become bitter. 

2. Simmer the tomatoes 

Add the crushed tomatoes, fresh basil, bay leaf, salt, and pepper to the onion mixture. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Simmer for 15 minutes (or longer) for the flavors to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.

Some people like to finish their sauce with extra fresh basil, a pat of butter, a touch of cream, or a splash of balsamic vinegar. 

Tips for the Best Homemade Marinara Sauce

• Choose the best tomatoes: Although it may seem like marinara sauce would taste better with fresh tomatoes, canned San Marzano tomatoes are almost always better if you can find them. They are typically much less acidic than a standard tomato and are naturally sweet, which is perfect since we aren't adding sugar to this sauce.
• More herbs and spices: If you like lots of herbs in your sauce, don't be afraid to add your favorites. Oregano, marjoram, rosemary, and thyme work well in the sauce.
• Make it spicy: If you like spicy things, you can kick up the red pepper flakes or add some Calabrian chili peppers, like in this Fra Diavolo sauce.
• Add protein: You can definitely add meat to this sauce. Consider browning some ground turkey, beef, chicken, or pork. Turkey or chicken sausage is also a great, lean option.
• Cook it down: If your sauce seems watery or lacks flavor, simmer it a little longer to concentrate the flavor more. This will create a thicker consistency since any extra water will cook off. 

Serving Ideas

This sauce pairs well with spaghetti or any pasta dish, but there are many ways to use it.

• As a dipping sauce with two ingredient breadsticks
• With these baked turkey meatballs
• As a pizza sauce with cauliflower crust pizza or portobello mushroom pizzas
• To make this slow cooker lasagna soup or minestrone soup
• To make this easy sheet pan chicken parmesan or cauliflower parmesan

Flavor Enhancers

This marinara sauce is delicious all on its own and something that is a staple in my kitchen, BUT there is always room to amp up the flavor depending on what you are making. Here are some of my favorite ways to enhance the flavor of this sauce, or any tomato sauce for that matter. 

• Tomato paste: If you want a richer tomato flavor, add a dollop or two to your pan while you are sauteing the onions and garlic. So easy and so good. 
• Aromatics: Add some diced carrots and celery to your onions for another layer of flavor. Bell peppers are delicious as well.
• Anchovy paste: For some salty, umami flavor, add some anchovy paste (or Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, or mushroom powder) to your sauteed onions. Just watch the salt content of your other ingredients.
• Red wine: After cooking down the onions and garlic, add a little red wine to deglaze the pan. Let the alcohol cook off, and you are left with all that delicious flavor. 
• Butter or cream: For a richer flavor, add some fat with butter, heavy cream, or even a dollop of creme fraiche or cream cheese.
• Capers or olives: This is another way to add some salty, umami flavor. Sauté them for about 1 minute before adding the tomatoes. 
• Roasted garlic: If you are lucky enough to have some roasted garlic on hand, use that instead of fresh for a richer, deeper flavor.
• Parmesan rind: This is another great trick to add a deep, rich flavor to the sauce. Just add the rind of Parmesan, Romano, or Pecorino cheese to the sauce while it simmers.

How to Freeze Homemade Marinara Sauce

Before freezing any sauce, let it cool to room temperature. Next, portion it into containers in a size that suits your needs. For example, we generally need about 3 cups of sauce when having pasta, so I freeze our sauce in 3-cup containers. Make sure your sauce is sealed in an airtight container before freezing. It will keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Another option for freezing if you tend to need smaller portions is to use ice cube trays. This is great for kids. Pour the sauce into an ice cube tray, and then pop the frozen marinara sauce cubes into a Ziplock bag. Then you can pull out a couple of sauce cubes anytime you need them for pasta, pizza, chicken, or other dishes.

Lower Sodium Marinara Sauce

If you are looking for a healthier marinara sauce with lower sodium, start with the tomatoes. Most canned tomatoes are high in sodium. So either choose low-sodium canned tomatoes or start with fresh tomatoes.

To use fresh tomatoes, the lowest sodium option, start by blanching whole, ripe tomatoes in boiling water. Then immediately place them in ice water to help loosen the skins. Peel off the skins and dice or puree the tomatoes depending on the recipe. In this case, you can gently blend them. 

Any time you use fresh tomatoes, you will need to cook them down longer to concentrate the tomato flavor.  Plan to simmer the sauce for 45-60 minutes or longer to get a richer flavor.