Add extra veggies to your next pot of marinara sauce for more nutrition and flavor—but the comfort that your family expects! This easy marinara sauce recipe is super simple, flexible so you can adjust the recipe based on what you like and have on hand, and perfect for making ahead—or last minute!
Easy Marinara Sauce Recipe
We eat a lot of pasta in my house, partly because I’m Italian-American and partly because it’s incredibly easy, inexpensive, and kid-friendly. A bowl of pasta always goes over well with my kids, almost regardless of what it’s served with, so we eat it at least once a week. So I do my best to pack nutrition into the sauce to ensure they are getting a lot of the good stuff they need—even if they decide that they don’t want whatever side veggie I’ve made.
How do you make homemade marinara sauce from scratch?
To make this easy marinara sauce recipe, all you need to do is cook veggies in olive oil until soft, simmer in canned tomatoes, and puree. Yes, it’s more work than just opening a jar of store bought marinara sauce (which I admit that we sometimes do too!) but it’s such an easy method that you can fit it into a busy schedule for sure. You can also control the amount of added salt, and add in those extra veggies, to fill those little bellies with lots of nutrition.
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How to Make Easy Marinara Sauce Step-by-Step
Here’s a look at the easy process involved in making this recipe.
- Gather your ingredients. You’ll need 3 cups of chopped veggies, which you can chop ahead or use precut ones from the produce aisle! We like onions, carrots, celery, cauliflower, yellow squash, butternut squash, or bell pepper (just not green ones since those will impact color). You’ll also need a big can of diced tomatoes, and a little salt and olive oil
- Cook the veggies in olive oil until soft, then add the tomatoes and simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Puree or leave chunky, depending on how your family likes their pasta sauce.
- Serve with a pound of your favorite pasta. (We’re on a big Banza pasta kick right now!)
Healthy Marinara Sauce
The result is fresh, flavorful, and it’s filled with vitamins A and C—and a little extra vitamin C is always nice to help keep those little immune systems strong! And while I don’t regularly advocate hiding vegetables in our kids food (it can feel a little dishonest to me), this is a case where I don’t see the harm because the veggies are serving as both nutrition and flavor boosters.
How long can I store this marinara sauce recipe?
You can make a big batch of this on the weekend and store it in the fridge until you are ready to use it during the week, which is what I like to do when I’m on top of my meal planning. It will last up to 5 days in an airtight container like a quart-size Mason jar. You can also let it cool and store it in a freezer safe container in the freezer for at least 3 months. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge or use the defrost feature on your microwave to thaw more quickly.
Important question: Will my kids taste the extra veggies?
If you have a kid who’s really perceptive and loves regular marinara sauce, I recommend using carrots, onions, and/or celery. Peppers, butternut squash, and cauliflower have more noticeable flavors that many don’t mind—and in fact enjoy!—but you know how kids are!. (I have one kiddo who can sniff out a bell pepper from a mile away. My other one will eat this sauce regardless of what’s in it!)
Can I make this pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes?
Sure thing! During much of the year, I make this easy marinara sauce recipe with canned tomatoes, but we use fresh tomatoes in the summer when we have a ton on hand. The tomatoes will likely have much more liquid, so it may need to simmer a little longer. To reduce the time, you can remove some of the interior seeds and liquids as you chop them up—sort of squeeze them a bit over the sink before you add them to the pot.
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Serve this sauce with 1 pound of your family’s favorite pasta for an easy and healthy dinner.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups any combination of these vegetables, roughly chopped:
onion, carrot, butternut squash, sweet potato, bell pepper (any color but green) celery, and/or cauliflower - 29 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juices
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the vegetables, stir, and cover. Cook for 10 minute or until mostly soft.
- Remove lid and stir in the tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low and place the lid so it’s mostly covering the pot but not a tight seal. This will let some steam escape but will protect your cooktop from splatters. Simmer for 20-25 minutes or until everything is soft.
- Puree with an immersion blender or in a regular blender. Season to taste with additional salt as needed.
- Serve with 1 pound of your family’s favorite pasta.
Notes
To make Meat Sauce:
Brown 1/2 pound ground beef or mild Italian sausage in Step 1 after you warm the oil. Proceed as directed.
To do this in a Slow Cooker:
Double all ingredient amounts and add to the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or until everything is softened. Finish as directed in Step 3.
To make this into Pizza Sauce: Simmer the sauce for about 30-45 minutes longer on low, stirring occasionally, or until very thick. Add 1 teaspoon pizza seasoning.
The 29 ounces dice tomatoes, is it canned or fresh tomatoes?
Canned (so either one large can or two 14.5 ounce ones). You could use fresh though it may take longer to cook down since they could have more liquid.
Thnx for the lovel healthy recipe the tomatoes didn’t let the hidden veggies make their presence..made this tday….was gud in taste like wow but ended up thicker and bit grainy…I gues used fresh tomatoes or something else wnrt wrong I think…any help for next time ??
For the slow cooker version, do I still need to cook the veggies in the skillet first? Thank you.
No, just put everything in there uncooked!
I made this today with carrots, celery and onion. I also added fresh parsley and basil (recipe doesn’t call for it but it added more of a fresh flavor)and it was a success! Both kids and adults loved it. I am making more today to freeze.
I’m so glad to hear this!