To make marinara, sizzle sliced garlic in olive oil, add a can of crushed tomatoes, and simmer twenty minutes until thickened, finishing with fresh basil. It is the bright, fast, garlic-forward cousin of a slow-cooked tomato sauce.
What is marinara?
Marinara is a quick tomato sauce that leans on garlic and olive oil rather than onion and time. Where a classic tomato sauce simmers long and tastes round and sweet, marinara is brighter, sharper, and ready in the time it takes to boil pasta. It is the everyday Italian-American sauce for spaghetti, pizza, and dipping.
It is also a close relative of the tomato mother sauce, just pointed in a faster direction. Start here and you can spin off arrabbiata with chili, or puttanesca with olives and capers. Few sauces give back this much for so little effort.
What goes in marinara?
- ·1 can (28 oz) crushed or whole tomatoes
- ·3 tbsp olive oil
- ·3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ·Pinch of chili flakes
- ·1/2 tsp salt
- ·A handful of fresh basil
One large can of tomatoes to three sliced cloves of garlic and a generous pour of olive oil is the heart of it. There is no onion and no long simmer; the brightness is the point. Slicing the garlic rather than mincing it gives a gentler, more even flavor.
How do you make marinara?
- Warm the olive oil over medium heat and add the sliced garlic and chili flakes.
- Sizzle gently until the garlic is fragrant and just turning gold, about a minute.
- Add the tomatoes, crushing whole ones by hand, and the salt.
- Simmer twenty minutes, stirring now and then, until thickened.
- Tear in the basil at the end and adjust the salt.
What should you know before making marinara?
- Slice the garlic, do not mince it. Slices give a mellower, more even garlic flavor.
- Do not brown the garlic. Gold is the goal; brown garlic turns the sauce bitter.
- Twenty minutes is plenty. Marinara is meant to taste fresh, not slow-cooked.
- Basil goes in last. Added early it goes dull; added at the end it stays bright.
Where did marinara come from?
Quick garlic-and-tomato sauces are documented in the American and Italian home cooking that Fannie Farmer's 1896 cookery helped standardize for English-speaking kitchens. Marinara as we know it is the Italian-American refinement of that simple base.
Drawn from the public-domain text of Fannie Farmer, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (1896).
What can you make from marinara?
Common questions.
How do you make marinara from scratch?
Sizzle sliced garlic in olive oil, add a can of crushed tomatoes and salt, and simmer about twenty minutes. Finish with fresh basil. That is the whole sauce.
What is the difference between marinara and tomato sauce?
Marinara is quick and garlic-forward with no onion, tasting bright and fresh. A classic tomato sauce uses onion and a longer simmer for a rounder, sweeter flavor.
Do you need onion for marinara?
No. Traditional marinara skips the onion and relies on garlic and olive oil. That is part of what makes it fast and distinct from a long-cooked tomato sauce.
What can I use marinara for?
Pasta, pizza, dipping for mozzarella sticks and bread, baked dishes like eggplant parmesan, and as a base for spicier sauces like arrabbiata.
How long does marinara keep?
Up to a week in the fridge and three months frozen. It freezes well, so a double batch saves time later.