Classic Marinara Sauce

spaghetti with marinara sauce on white plate.

5 from 29 votes

Classic Marinara Sauce

My Marinara Sauce recipe is made with basic pantry ingredients and only takes 30 minutes to make, making it perfect for a weeknight meal.

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Total Time30

Course: pasta course, Sauce

Cuisine: Italian, Italian - American

Servings:

Calories: 70kcal

Ingredients

28 oz whole tomatoes in juice Crushed by hand or with an immersion blender (San Marzano are preffered).
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic finely minced
¼ cup white onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon basil finely chopped
1 tablespoon Italian parsley finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt to taste
¼ teaspoon black pepper to taste
⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Add the olive oil and chopped onions to a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
Cook the onions for 3-4 minutes, then add the chopped garlic cloves. Cook for another minute to sear the garlic.
Add the tomatoes, sea salt, and black pepper to the pan. Bring to a light boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Continue cooking for 15 minutes.
Add the chopped basil and Italian parsley to the pan and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes.
Serve with your favorite pasta and garnish with grated romano cheese and chopped fresh basil.

Notes

I used an immersion blender to puree the whole tomatoes. They can be crushed by hand if you prefer a chunkier marinara sauce. When buying tomatoes, I suggest using San Marzano tomatoes for all your pasta sauce recipes. They are the Gold Standard of canned tomatoes.

Real San Marzano tomatoes will only be available whole in juice or puree. By law, they cannot be crushed. If they are sold crushed, they will be classified as “San Marzano Style."

I’ve seen many versions of this sauce that contain oregano. When I was taught to make this sauce by my adopted Italian Nonna, I was told to only use fresh basil and parsley. Nonna told me oregano was used only in pizza sauce.

Nutrition