Description
If you’re an Italian food connoisseur, you’re going to be amazed by this easy homemade Italian marinara sauce recipe. It’s simple to make and can compete with your favorite Italian restaurant any day! It’s a copycat recipe of New York’s famous Rao’s Italian restaurant sauce… home of the delicious marinara that has taken the world by storm now that it is sold in stores.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil (additional to taste)
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 10–15 small cloves garlic, minced (or less to taste)
- 2 – 28 oz cans of San Marzano whole tomatoes
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
Instructions
- Heat olive oil to medium-low in a dutch oven or heavy pot.
- Dice onion and add to oil, cooking until soft and translucent 3-5 minutes.
- Mince and add garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant, another 2-3 minutes.
- Add whole tomatoes to the pan and chop with a potato or meat masher.
- Add salt and oregano. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes.
- Chop and add basil and allow to cook for an additional 5 minutes or longer until desired texture is reached.
Notes
I use a LOT of garlic in this recipe. Many other marinara recipes call for significantly less, 3-5 cloves compared to my 10-15. We’re garlic lovers in my house so feel free to use less if preferred.
Be careful not to cook the onions and garlic too hot. Even medium temperature can cook them too fast/hard. Medium-low temperature is best to not brown/burn the onion and garlic.
You’ll see in the pictures that I used one can of San Marzano style tomatoes and one can of crushed tomatoes. My preference is using two cans of San Marzano style tomatoes but unfortunately my grocery store only had one can in stock on the day I shot photos for this recipe.
High quality tomatoes are preferred for this recipe. The Cento brand is my favorite but the Hunts brand is a more affordable option. I don’t believe the Hunts tomatoes are a product of Italy like the Cento brand but they do taste great in this sauce. Delallo is another great brand that is a product of Italy.
This sauce can be cooked in under 30 minutes; however, many traditional Italian sauces are slow cooked on the stove for long periods of time. This dish can be cooked on low for as long as you’d like until desired texture is reached. Stir occasionally.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: Main
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
