Homemade Marinara Sauce

If you’re in need of a quick and easy pasta dish, canned marinara sauce is probably the way to go.  But nothing beats the taste of homemade marinara sauce, and if you have the time, I would highly suggest trying this recipe before heading to your pantry to grab that jar of the pre-made stuff.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 2 (14.5 oz) cans of stewed tomatoes
  • 1 (6 oz) can of tomato paste
  • 4 Tbsp chopped, fresh parsley
  • 1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • Extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of your pan)
  • Half an onion, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup of white cooking wine
  • 6 – 8 leaves of fresh basil

Add stewed tomatoes (including juice) to a food processor or blender.

Then add your tomato paste.

Finely chop or mince your garlic and add it to the tomatoes.  I think the more garlic the better!

If you’ve never cooked with fresh herbs before, this is flat leaf (a.k.a. Italian) parsley.  I think it has more flavor than the curly style parsley, but you can use either variety.

Give the parsley a rough chop and add it to the tomatoes and garlic.

Next, add the dried oregano.

And finally, season with salt and pepper.

Blend until totally combined and smooth.

Add your finely diced onion to a skillet coated in olive oil.  Cook at medium heat for about 2 minutes, or until your onions become nice and translucent.

Once your onions have been cooking for a couple minutes and are nice and soft, pour in your blended sauce.

Next add the white wine and stir to combine.  Once your sauce is bubbling, turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When your sauce has finished simmering, turn off the heat and grab a nice handful of fresh basil leaves.  Fresh basil has the most wonderful smell!

Tear leaves into small pieces and add to the sauce.  You can also chop the basil with a knife, but I like tearing it to give it a more homemade look.  Give the sauce a stir to wilt in the basil.

And there you have it!  You’ve made delicious, homemade marinara sauce!  Make it in bulk to freeze so you’ll never have to resort to the pre-packaged, processed stuff again!  Hope you enjoy!

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