Quick and Easy Homemade Pasta Sauce

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If you’re in the habit of buying expensive sauce from a jar, this recipe might just help you break that spendy habit.

There are as many recipes for tomato sauce as there are cooks who make it, and customizing this sauce to your tastes is a snap. This recipe makes a stunning, full-bodied sauce to star in your pasta dish, but if you are looking for a lighter sauce to use as a backdrop in another recipe, you can cut back on the amount of garlic and herbs. The tomato paste thickens up the sauce and adds some richness, but you can leave it out if you prefer a thinner sauce.

All you need is a few ingredients and a bit of time.

Crushed Tomatoes

This recipe uses crushed tomatoes. This is key for this sauce. Diced tomatoes work but the consistency of the sauce won’t be the same. Crushed tomatoes tend to vary in thickness from brand to brand and sometimes from season to season. Start the sauce by adding 1/4 cup of water. If your sauce seems thick, add a little more water.

Onions and Garlic

Onions and garlic bring a lot of flavor to the sauce. Use two medium onion and five to eight cloves of garlic. Yes. You read that right. Five to eight cloves. Why the range? If the cloves are small, use more.

This makes a somewhat chunky pasta sauce. The consistency comes mainly from the diced onions. I roughly chop them. If you want a silky smooth sauce, you’ve got another options just puree the onions.

Olive Oil

You can use any vegetable oil or butter but olive Oil makes a difference. In addition to oi you can also add butter for flavour. A mere pat of butter adds a roundness to the sauce that you’ll love.

Salt, Pepper, Sugar and Other Flavors

Think of these ingredients as a starting point. Sometimes you might want to add a pinch more salt or a sprinkle of additional red pepper flakes. Other times, you might want to stir in some additional herbs, like oregano, or add freshly grated parmesan at the end of cooking. You can do that with this sauce. It’s yours. Have fun with it!

Sugar will enhance the flavour of your sauce as mentioned earlier it’s your sauce you can add honey also. Or to balance the flovour you can add one carrot also with tomatoes if you do not want to use sugar.

Cook Time

This sauce only requires 10 minutes of simmering. Seriously. For a deeper flavor, cook it longer, up to one hour. The longer you cook the sauce, the thicker it gets. Be sure to stir it occasionally and add additional water as needed.

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5 from 2 votes

Quick and Easy Homemade Pasta Sauce

Authentic tomato marinara sauce from fresh tomatoes and garlic.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Total Time40 mins
Course: pasta, sauce
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: homemade pasta sauce, marinara sauce, pasta sauce, red pasta sauce
Author: Bhawna Maharshi

Ingredients

  • 1 Kg Tomatoes
  • 2 Medium Onions chopped
  • 1 tbsp Garlic chopped
  • 1 tsp Sugar
  • 1 tsp Oregano
  • 1 tsp Red Chilli Flakes
  • 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
  • 1 tsp Mixed Herbs
  • 2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  • To peel fresh tomatoes (or peaches) cut a small "x" on the top and drop into boiling water for 30 to 40 seconds and then drop into an ice bath. The skin will easily peel off.
  • Peel the tomatoes and roughly chop them. Now Puree the tomatoes . keep aside.
  • Heat the olive oil over high heat until it shimmers. Add Garlic and onions, stirring frequently, until they soften and shine, about three minutes. The onions should sizzle and hiss as they cook.
  • Add the tomato puree and let them cook for 10-15 minutes before adding all the other ingredients. Stir to combine and let simmer until the sauce has cooked down to your desired thickness.
  • Add Mixed herbs, Red Chilli flakes, Oregano, Red Chilli powder and salt. Mix Well.
  • Add Tomato Ketchup and sugar. Cook till the sauce is of medium consistency. Cool and Store.
  • Easy and Tasty Homemade Pasta Sauce is ready.

Video

Cooking with lots of love and straight from the heart.

Bhawna Maharshi

Pans n ovens

4 thoughts on “Quick and Easy Homemade Pasta Sauce”

  1. Sangeeta sethi says:

    5 stars
    Fabulous home made marinara Sauce..

    1. Bhawna Maharshi says:

      Thank You

  2. Poonam Singh says:

    5 stars
    Super duper

  3. Nidhi says:

    Very Nice ???

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