Quick Marinara Sauce

Make a quick marinara sauce without sacrificing flavor for speed! Easy and great for a weeknight meal.

If you’re looking for a quick marinara sauce to help make a delish dish then this is it. With crushed tomatoes, Italian herbs, half and half and onions, you can have a creamy and flavorful marinara sauce in minutes!

This easy marinara sauce is going to rock your world and change your life. Even if it’s not an earth-shattering change, you may still find it hard to pick up a jar of storebought marinara sauce ever again. I mean, why would you? This tastes much better anyways.

Use this quick marinara sauce to make spaghetti, chicken parmesan, ratatouille, pizza, or creamy tomato soup.

Marinara sauce can be used as a great base for a lot of tomato-based soups and adds a lot of flavors too. Tip: This is a great way to use up leftovers, or make a double batch and have 2 easy dinners on the menu this week!

How to Make Marinara Sauce

• In a medium-sized pot or in a dutch oven, heat your oil until it is shimmering.
• Sauté the onion until it’s translucent. Add in the herbs and the salt and then cook for a minute or two longer.
• Pour in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and water. I just fill the empty tomato paste can up with water.
• Add in the sugar and the half and half, stir it into the sauce.
• Bring the sauce to a simmer and let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Note that in this recipe I use canned crushed tomatoes, you can use plain tomato sauce or even use homemade crushed tomatoes depending on your preference. 

What is the difference between marinara sauce and spaghetti sauce?

Marinara sauce is a simple tomato sauce made up of minimal ingredients like tomatoes, onions, and seasonings. Spaghetti sauce often contains more ingredients like meat or other vegetables. 

How do you thicken the marinara sauce?

You can thicken up the marinara sauce by simmering it in a pot with the lid off, allowing the liquid in the sauce to evaporate and the sauce to naturally thicken.

You can also choose to add in some tomato paste. For an even faster thickening, you can make a cornstarch and water slurry and add it to the sauce.

How do you fix sweet marinara sauce?

If you find that your sauce is too sweet for your liking you can add in a little bit of acidity to the sauce to help tone it down. By adding in a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice you can tone it down quite a bit.

Just make sure to add it in at 1 teaspoon at a time, stir and then taste test because you don’t want to overdo it! If you don’t want to increase the acidity another option is to add in sauteed mushrooms.

Can you freeze marinara sauce?

Absolutely! This is a great way to preserve your leftovers for a future meal or if you want to make meal planning easy then you can double or triple this recipe and enjoy the fruits of your labor long into the future thanks to freezer meal prep! 

Simply take your cooled-down the marinara sauce and place it in a zipper topped freezer bag or another airtight storage container. This should keep it freezer friendly for up to 4 months.