How To: Make Your Own Marinara Sauce

The "How To" series is back! I kicked off this kitchen basics series with How To: Caramelize Onions, and I hope you did a little caramelizing of your own. It's a great way to use up those onions and to add a little fancy flavor to your pastas and soups!

The series continues today with one of my favorite cooking basics: Homemade Marinara. Making your own marinara sauce is something I wish everyone would do - it's unbelievably fast and easy, and it tastes so much better than the popular canned version. With summer coming to an end, I've also been finding every excuse to use up all my summer basil, which means a lot of this marinara and a lot of this Three Cup Chicken as well!

Here's the How To:




A little secret that I once learned from a true Italian cook: The key to a delicious marinara sauce starts with the tomatoes. Always use San Marzano tomatoes - these are sweet, flavorful, and have none of the acidity that you often find in canned tomatoes. I order these in bulk every few months to make sure I always have a few cans of these babies lying around.

I'll usually make several batches of this marinara at the end of summer and freeze them. I love how the fresh basil keeps so well in the flavor of the marinara, and it's always a nice base for a last minute weeknight dinner. I'll often saute up a little ground turkey or Italian sausage to throw in as well to round out the sauce and serve over hot pasta...Fall comfort food at its best!

 2 28 oz cans of San Marzano tomatoes

1 onion, diced 

Handful of fresh garlic, chopped

Lots of fresh basil, chopped

S&P, red pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil to high heat in dutch oven and add in onion and garlic. Saute until softened and translucent.

2. Add in San Marzano tomatoes and break up tomatoes into small chunks. Turn heat down to medium low and allow sauce to simmer about 30 minutes.

3. Add in fresh basil, S&P and red pepper to taste. Turn heat off and you're done!

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