Are you a jarred marinara or homemade marinara type of person?
Up until the past few years, I was 100% a jarred marinara person. Quite honestly, I was convinced the only people who had the skills to make homemade marinara sauce were gourmet chefs and Italian grandmothers. You know, people who really knew what they were doing, certainly not someone like me!
But for T, making marinara sauce from scratch comes second nature, so it didn’t take long for him to show me how wrong I had been all those years. Easy, fool-proof homemade marinara sauce is 10xs more delicious and almost as easy as opening a jar.
Welcome to Team Homemade, friends. It’s good to have you here.
The easy homemade marinara sauce recipe we’re sharing with you today is so simple to make and bursting with garlic & herb flavor because that’s the way we loooove it. 🙌🏻 It’s also freeze-able and totally meal prep-able because who doesn’t need a giant mid-week bowl of pasta and sauce, right? 😉 🍝
You can use fresh tomatoes or canned to adapt this recipe to the changing seasons. Our small vegetable garden is filled with tomatoes this time of year, so I used a little of each!
How We Use This Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce
- Pour it over pasta, any pasta, ALL. THE. PASTA. I’m a penne fan myself, but you can even get double fancy with your own homemade ravioli.
- Use it as a chunky pizza sauce to top alll your favorite pies, from the classic 12-inch to this mini appetizer pizza version.
- Heat up some vegan meatballs in it to top spaghetti or a meatball sub!
- Use it in our faaavorite restaurant-style vegan chicken parmesan.
- Dip bread sticks in it. Mmmm, bread sticks. 😍
If you do give this easy homemade marinara sauce thing a try, we totally want to celebrate your awesomeness with you! Rate the recipe and leave a comment below, or tag us in your photos on Instagram. We’re @theplantpowercouple with the “the”. 😉
We love hearing what you think about our recipes!
Brittany Roche
This easy homemade marinara sauce recipe is so full of flavor and 10xs better than store-bought! Vegan and gluten-free too.
20 minPrep Time:
40 minCook Time:
1 hrTotal Time:
Save RecipeIngredients
- 3 lbs fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped / cores removed
- 1 6-oz can tomato paste
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium onions, small diced
- 8-10 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup vegan bouillon powder
- 4 cups water
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (omit if you want less spice)
Instructions
- To a high-powered blender or food processor, add the fresh tomatoes and tomato paste. Blend on high until the mixture is smooth and tomato seeds / skins are pulverized. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan on medium high heat. Add your onions, garlic, and salt. Stir to coat and saute for 5-7 minutes, until the onions are translucent.
- Stir in the basil to coat. Then, add your tomato mix from the blender, can of crushed tomatoes, wine, bouillon, and water. Stir, cover, and bring to a boil.
- When boiling, remove the cover and stir in the remainder of the ingredients. Turn heat to medium and allow the sauce to simmer uncovered, stirring occassionally for about 40 minutes or until your desired consistency is reached. Taste and adjust seasonings. If it's too tart, you can add another Tbsp or two of coconut sugar. I know it seems weird, but this totally balances the sauce out!
- If you'd like the sauce to be a lot (or a little) smoother, use an immersion blender before serving! I like to use mine just a little, so it's a mix of creamy and chunky. 🙂
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