I’ll fess up at the top of the article: I adapted this recipe from Marcella Hazan. It’s a famous recipe and some of you will recognize it, so I want to be totally clear that I used her base recipe and created my own version. While I love the original, for my day-to-day home cooking, I prefer something with a little more depth of flavor. Still, I wanted to preserve the essential set-it-and-forget-it-ness of Hazan’s recipe; the way you can make it on a whim by pulling simple ingredients out of your pantry. What I came up with is my own delicious spin on easy, homemade tomato sauce.
Tips for Making Homemade Red Sauce
When I say this sauce is perfect for a weeknight dinner, it’s PERFECT. It takes longer than 30 minutes (those recipes never include chopping or clean-up, anyway!), but the amount of mental energy required is mercifully low. Very little chopping, preparation, shopping, or tools are needed. I used canned minced garlic. I use whatever pasta we happen to have in the pantry. Real parmesan and butter can last a very long time in the fridge. I have also successfully made this recipe with 14 oz cans of petite diced tomatoes when I didn’t have whole tomatoes in my pantry. It turned out just as well.
Chunky v. Smooth
In the recipe below, you’ll notice two potential options: chunky or smooth. As a Sensitive to Texture Person™️, I always prefer a smooth, even sauce. But if you like big hunks of tomato and onion, you can simply break up the tomato and onion with your wooden spoon, and toss with the pasta. It’s totally up to you.
Vegan-friendly, Gluten-free Sauce
With a vegan pasta option, it’s really easy to adapt this recipe to make it plant-based. Simply substitute the butter with olive oil to give it a classic Italian taste while keeping it plant-based! This recipe is also totally gluten-free and made of whole ingredients. The sauce thickens with 45 minutes of simmering—no thickening agents required.
Fresh vs. Shelf-Stable
For my own home kitchen, I prefer making this sauce with a 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes in their juices and fresh herbs. I’ve got an herb garden, so I can easily keep both of those things on hand. However, you can easily make this recipe totally fresh, or totally shelf-stable.
For a sauce that’s 100% fresh, use a pound and a half of whole tomatoes, peeled but not chopped, plus the other fresh ingredients listed below. For an on-hand sauce, use refrigerated minced garlic, 2 tsp onion powder instead of 1/2 an onion, and 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning instead of the fresh herbs.
How to Make Easy Homemade Tomato Sauce
Easy, Homemade Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- Large flat-bottomed frying pan
- Wooden spoon
- Blender (optional)
Ingredients
- 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
- 4 tbsp 1/2 stick butter
- ½ white or yellow onion peeled, but ONLY chopped in half
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Fresh basil optional
- Fresh oregano optional
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium low heat in a large, frying pan
- Combine the entire can of tomatoes (including juices), the onion, and garlic to the pan. Season with salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat up to medium and bring the sauce to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes.
- Stop by to occasionally stir the sauce, breaking up the whole tomatoes with your wooden spoon as they soften.
For a chunkier sauce:
- Discard the onion. Add 1 lb cooked pasta of your choice to the sauce and toss. Top with parmesan and fresh herbs.
For a smoother sauce:
- Discard the onion if desired. Once cooked, add the contents of the pan to a blender. Add fresh basil and oregano (make sure to take the leaves off of the stem). Blend until nice and smooth.
- Pour in 4 even servings over 1 lb cooked pasta. Garnish with parmesan and fresh herbs.
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