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This is my go-to when I want to whip up a quick marinara sauce for everything from pasta, chicken parmesan, meatballs, lasagna roll ups, and more!

Marinara Sauce
Also great with baked pasta recipes, eggplant parmesan, french bread pizzas or when I need a quick dipping sauce for zucchini sticks, mozzarella sticks or anything you like to serve with sauce.
I’m really picky with the brand of tomatoes I use, I always get the best results with Tuttorosso (green label), but if you have a favorite brand you are loyal to, feel free to use it.
Quick Marinara Sauce
This quick marinara is my favorite go-to recipe when I need to whip up a quick sauce.
Yield: 6 servings
Serving Size: 1 /2 cup
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, I like Tuttorosso
- 1 small bay leaf
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
- salt and fresh pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.
- Add garlic and saute until golden, being careful not to burn.
- Add crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, and bay leaf. Stir and reduce heat to low.
- Cover and let simmer about 15 - 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add fresh basil.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Nutrition
Serving: 1 /2 cup, Calories: 53 kcal, Carbohydrates: 9.5 g, Protein: 0.1 g, Fat: 1 g, Saturated Fat: 0.1 g, Sodium: 282 mg, Fiber: 0.2 g, Sugar: 4.5 g
Thanks for a wonderful, easy budget friendly recipe. I increase the garlic and basil. Great for last minute meal. It is excellent over chick pea pasta, zoodles or heart of palm
Would you consider creating a salsa recipe with canned tomatoes? The bottles in the store have gotten so expensive. Thanks again. Your sauce is also great for dipping in your garlic knots.
This is my go to sauce! Most every recipe from Skinnytaste is one of my favorites.
Thanks for being in my family’s life💐
Hi Gina: Can this recipe be doubled? Thanks!
I don’t see why not. 🙂
Love this sauce! I recently restarted WW and this was my go-to for lavash bread pizzas, etc. However, when I plug the information per serving into the calculator, it comes up as 2pts, where the original recipe uploaded over a year ago still shows 0pts. Any idea which one is the accurate one? Thank you for any information and for making WW friendly meals for someone like me who isn’t much in the kitchen 🙂
Hello:
Can I use diced or stewed tomatoes?
lisa
Crushed
I made this sauce and loved it. I used the tomato branded Red Gold which makes the tomato’s that are listed in the recipe and it was perfect. The only thing I did different was extra garlic because I love it and a tsp of sugar to cut the acidic taste. It was way better than store bought and going forward will be sauce of choice.
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Could you can this sauce?
When you say smashed garlic, does that mean you leave the cloves whole?
Then smash them with a knife blade?
Thanks
We love this recipe
I smash with a mallet or the backside of a wooden spoon
What a great idea!! Thanks!
Back for another go round. Used this as my pizza sauce, and it was superb. I have meatballs cooking now, and I want this to be ready.
Excuse me, this recipe just changed my life!! I’m not sure if I can go back to store bought marinara anymore. This was beyond easy to make and turned out STELLAR. The sauce has a tart bite (which I hope for in every tomato sauce) without all the added sugars. I subbed garlic powder for fresh garlic. Even my husband commented how fresh this tasted vs. the store stuff. Thank you!
How long will this last in the freezer??
3 months