This sauce is so simple and also so worth the extra 20 minutes to make. I personally think making homemade sauce from scratch really makes any meal that much better! You can also freeze marinara sauce which is great because some recipes make a lot.

This particular recipe really doesn’t take long at all and is pretty good.

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2-1/3 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 bunch fresh basil leaves
  • 2-3 sprigs of fresh oregano
  • 2-3 springs of fresh thyme
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp dried basil
  • 1 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes and hand-crushed, 2 cans if you want more sauce
  • Pinch sugar
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Coat a saute pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. When the oil gets hazy, add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 minutes until fragrant and soft. Add rough chopped basil, oregano and thyme. Carefully add the tomatoes (nothing splashes like tomatoes), add dried oregano and basil. Cook and stir until the liquid is cooked down and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes; season with sugar, salt and pepper. Lower the heat, cover, and keep warm. If the canned tomatoes you bought have a mild tomatoes flavour and you want it a bit richer then add a tablespoon of tomato paste. This will also thicken your sauce as well. If your sauce is too thick then add a few tablespoons of chicken or veggie stock.

This is the sauce in action. Its still pretty chunky at this point but the flavour was already perfect. I mashed it all more to make smoother, but if you like chunky sauce leave it like this. You will love it!

Any type of tomato will be fine, so use what you like best. Home canned tomatoes are also amazing made into sauce. I ended up buying a can of fire roasted tomatoes and they made this recipe so good. I will more than likely try this again. If you’re using fresh tomatoes you can oven roast them yourself as well for extra flavour.

Take about 4-5 tomatoes or more if you want a lot of sauce. Quarter and core. Place in a large, 14-inch, oven proof frying pan with ¼ cup olive oil. Stir to blend then transfer to a 400 degree oven and cook until the tomatoes begin to caramelize, about 30 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven and stir well. Return to the oven and continue to cook until further caramelized and much of the liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from the oven, cool slightly, and transfer to a blender, in batches if necessary, and process sauce until coarsely pureed.