A light, simple marinara sauce for pasta or pizza.
If you are interested in the meatballs, they are the Earth Grown Meatless Meatballs from Aldi. (Not gluten free I’m afraid.)
I don’t mean to brag but marinara is my masterpiece. It is easily the tastiest thing I cook in my kitchen and because of this, anything I make using this sauce turns to gold. (I make a mean pizza, and you can confirm that with my pizza-connoisseur of a boyfriend.) As an Italian who grew up surviving almost solely on Italian food, pasta was consumed quite often. I mean, we even have pasta for Thanksgiving. There isn’t a family holiday I’ve been to that didn’t have some form of pasta whether it’d be gnocchi or baked ziti or ravioli. So now that you know this, trust me when I tell you this sauce is great. Simple, but great.
Now I say “simple” because this sauce it’s just that. It’s extremely easy to throw together, it doesn’t take a whole lot of ingredients and it’s so quick. For a sauce like this, you want whole peeled tomatoes. Don’t bother with crushed tomatoes, I find it to be too thick. Marinara is meant to be light and thin so the pasta can take in the flavor. If you want the best-tasting tomatoes, look for San Marzano tomatoes. If you can’t find those any can of whole peeled tomatoes will work just fine. Ready for the recipe?
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed but intact.
- 1 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano tomatoes
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 4- 5 fresh basil leaves, or 1 tbsp of fresh oregano leaves* - sliced into ribbons
- salt and cracked black pepper to taste
- Heat up the olive oil over medium-low heat in a saute pan. Saute the garlic until fragrant and slightly golden.
- Pulse the tomatoes in a blender until desired consistency. I love both smooth and chunky. Add this to the pan.
- Add the onion powder and herbs of choice.
- Add the salt and pepper to taste and then simmer about 15 minutes until the sauce is hot and ready to serve. Add more salt and pepper if necessary.
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