Make Marinara Sauce
Marinara sauce is a popular, bold Italian sauce made with tomatoes, onions, and herbs. This red sauce tends to be a bit spicier than other standard tomato sauces, with generous amounts of garlic, oregano, basil, and even chili pepper. Marinara sauce is generally quick and easy to prepare. The simplicity of marinara sauce makes it a common base for many great Italian dishes. There are several kinds of marinara sauce. The basic kind is just tomato sauce with some spices added. The easiest way to make it is to start with canned tomatoes.
Contents
Ingredients
- Can of tomatoes
- Olive oil or regular oil
- Onion powder or a fresh one
- Garlic
- Mushrooms
- Oregano
- Basil
- Salt and pepper
- A pinch of sugar
- Grated parmesan cheese
Steps
- Get a can of "plum" or "pear" tomatoes.
- Add some onion powder or chopped onions and put them into a pot on the stove and let the onions glaze with the olive oil.
- Crush 2 cloves of pealed garlic and add it. Turn the heat on low.
- Add the meat; now is the time to add ground beef or bits of sausage. Let them cook until they're done. Keep stirring every minute or two so things won't scorch.
- Chop a handful of mushrooms and add them to the pot. These will need less time to cook than the meat did.
- Chop some fresh basil and add it to the pot. (You can use dried too, but it doesn't taste nearly as good.) The basil cooks even faster than the mushrooms, so keep an eye on it.
- Open the can of tomatoes and pour it into the pot. Stir the sauce so the ingredients mix in evenly. Turn the heat up a little bit so the sauce will get hot faster.
- Season the sauce. Sprinkle some oregano into the sauce, and keep stirring. Add pepper, a little bit of salt, a small amount of sugar, and any other spices that you think would taste good. #*Keep the heat on until the sauce is heated all the way through.
- Toss the sauce with fresh pasta, grate some Parmesan or Romano cheese on top, and enjoy!
- Finished.
In this video, Chef Billy Parissi shows you another way to make this classic marinara sauce.
Tips
- Leftover marinara sauce can be used to make a pizza, or it's very tasty with a meatball sandwich.
- Everybody does marinara sauce a little differently. Try what seems best to you and you will figure out what works and what doesn't.
- As always, fresh ingredients are best!
- You can chop some hot chillies and add them if you want spicy sauce. Put the chillies in with the onions, before you add the tomatoes.
