Marinara Sauce Recipe

Ultimate Marinara Sauce Recipe

This recipe is one of the most requested recipes that I receive.   That is for good reason.   It is fantastic and one of the most often made recipes in my home.   Marinara Sauce is my wife's specialty, so I can't take any credit for this.    I often say that my Grandmother would be proud of her and her Marinara Sauce Recipe.

This Marinara Sauce Recipe is the very best I ever tasted!  It has evolved over time, only to get better just when I thought that it couldn't get any better. One of the things about Marinara Sauce is the quality of the tomatoes and their ripeness makes a difference.   We use Organic Tomatoes exclusively in our Marinara Sauce.

As many of you watch my videos, you have seen my gardens and tomatoes. We use the plum tomatoes, however there are times a few Cherokee Purple tomatoes find their way into the Marina Sauce.    If we have to use tomatoes form a can, we pretty much always use Muir Glen Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes.

One of the changes we have made over the years is that we cook this Marinara Sauce Recipe in a crock pot.  We used to cook it in a very large pot on the stove, but the Crock Pot does a better job.  After it is complete, we usually end up with 6-8 quarts of some of the best Marinara Sauce ever.   Sometimes we can it in quart mason jars, but most of the time we just keep a quart or two in the Refrigerator and freeze the rest.

Another important note in making this marinara sauce recipe is that we uses peeled whole tomatoes.   We cook the tomatoes whole and it is only at the end of the cooking process that we smash them with a potato masher.    This change greatly improved the quality of the marinara sauce, which went from super amazing to out of this world stellar amazing...   The reasoning for this is smashing the tomatoes early make the sauce too bitter, due to the seeds.

Marinara Sauce Recipe Ingredients

• 7 - 8 cans of Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes (with the fluid drained off)
• 1 1/2 cup of a hearty Red Wine, like a burgundy.
• 1/2 Cup of Fresh Chopped Garlic
• 1 chopped medium sweet onion
• 3 Tablespoons Dried Basil
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
• 1 Tsp Thyme
• 1 Pinch of Rosemary
• Salt to taste ( Most of the time we only use this in the fresh homegrown tomatoes )
• Optional Sugar ( only a little to taste, but we hardly ever use it as the organic tomatoes are sweet enough )

Marinara Sauce Directions

Saute the onions until they are translucent and then add the garlic in the best olive oil you can find.   Take care not to burn the garlic as if you do...  Throw the whole thing out and start over.   After the garlic and onions are sauteed, add them to the crock pot ( or pot on your stove ). 

Next, add all of your peeled tomatoes to the crock pot.   It is starting to look like Marinara Sauce already!    Pour in the wine.

The next step in making the Marinara Sauce is to put the dried spices on top. Then, simply put the top on your crock pot and turn it on.   After some time, it will start to liquefy and boil.   When that happens, you can gently stir in the spices, taking care not so smash the tomatoes.

After it simmers for a few hours, place the lid ajar, so that steam can escape.   This will produce a thicker marinara sauce.   Now, let the Marinara Sauce simmer for another few hours.

When the Marinara Sauce has simmered for several hours, then it is time to smash the tomatoes.   We like a chunky and rustic marinara sauce.   So, that is when I mash the tomatoes with potato masher.    If you want a smoother sauce, you can probably use an immersion blender, but that would be a crime..   The texture of the marinara sauce with chunks of tomatoes in it by using the potato masher is part of what makes this marinara sauce recipe so wonderful.

Stir the Marinara Sauce and return the top to the crock pot.    You are ready to serve, however, we often add another optional step.   We very often get some fresh Sweet Basil Leaves and rip them apart by hand into pieces.   Then, we stir them into the sauce and let it simmer for another 20 minutes or so...  

Finally, it is time to serve.   My family enjoys this marinara sauce recipe on virtually any Italian dish.    Meatballs, Chicken Cutlets, Manicotti , eggplant and lasagna.

I hope you have enjoyed learning how to make this Marinara Sauce Recipe.   It is my wife's specialty and she deserves all the credit here.   I would highly recommend giving it a try.