You’ll never need to buy a jar at the grocery store again when you’ve got this trusty 5 ingredient pasta sauce recipe! Tomato, basil, and plenty of garlic make it delicious.
Most good Italian restaurants don’t buy Ragu or Bertolli’s pasta sauce off the shelf to serve you. They make their own homemade pasta sauce! That’s what makes it so tasty—it’s fresh. Like my Homemade Basil Pesto Sauce, this pasta sauce recipe relies on a few simple ingredients to build big, bold, authentic Italian flavor. Once you give it a try, you are going to make it again and again!
Why I Love Making Pasta Sauce From Scratch
Making pasta sauce from scratch makes every weeknight pasta dinner taste like it came from a restaurant! Here’s why it’s so worth it to DIY it:
- You know exactly what’s in it. Making pasta sauce from scratch is healthier since you control the ingredients, which means you can avoid unnecessary additives (like sugar or corn syrup!) or preservatives.
- It’s ridiculously easy. In just a little bit more time than it takes to simmer a jar of store-bought pasta sauce, you can have your own homemade pasta sauce. Seriously! This cooks in just about 15 minutes.
- Great for meal prep. Make a big batch and then use it for pasta, Baked Chicken Parmesan, and more throughout the week. You can also freeze this sauce so you have it on hand for future meals too!
What You’ll Need
With such a short list of ingredients, quality matters a LOT. Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- Olive oil – A good olive oil will add another dimension of flavor to the sauce.
- Garlic cloves – Always essential for pasta sauce if you ask me!
- San Marzano tomatoes – Or Roma (plum) tomatoes.
- Salt
- Red pepper – You can add as much or as little as you like.
- Basil – Fresh basil adds so much flavor to this pasta sauce recipe. Dried basil just doesn’t cut it!
How to Make Homemade Pasta Sauce
You’ll find the full recipe at the bottom of the page, but here’s a quick visual overview so you can see what each step looks like.
- Cook the garlic. Add the oil to a skillet set over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. You don’t want the garlic to brown or burn; you just want to infuse its flavor into the oil.
- Add the tomatoes and season. Stir in the tomatoes until they’re coated with the oil, then add the salt and red pepper flakes.
- Simmer. Continue to cook until the tomatoes break down and the sauce thickens.
- Finish. Stir in the fresh basil and serve.
Tips and Variations
With these tips and ideas for making this pasta sauce recipe your own, you can be sure it will turn out perfect!
- Make a smoother sauce. After cooking, use an immersion blender directly in the skillet or transfer the sauce to a blender to achieve a smoother texture.
- Balance the acidity. If your tomatoes are particularly acidic, a pinch of sugar can help balance the flavor.
- Add some mix-ins. Depending on how you’re using this sauce, you can add sautéed mushrooms, olives, green peppers and onions, etc.
Serving Suggestions
It’s not just for pasta, friends! Here are some more ways to use this tomato sauce recipe:
- Lasagna. This Skillet Lasagna Recipe is a family favorite!
- Pizza Sauce. Simmer the sauce longer, until it’s very thick (to keep it from making the crust soggy) and you can use it to make pizza.
- Eggplant or Chicken Parmesan. Try my Baked Eggplant Parmesan with this sauce.
- Shakshuka. Use it as a base to poach eggs directly in the sauce for a healthy brunch dish.
How to Store and Reheat
- Refrigerator: Store leftover pasta sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
- Freezer: Freeze in a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag for up to 6 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating.
- To reheat: Warm the sauce in a pan on the stovetop over medium heat or in a microwave-safe bowl.
More Sauce Recipes
Pasta Sauce Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: Condiments & Sauces
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
You’ll never buy a jar at the store again when you’ve got this trusty pasta sauce recipe! Tomato, basil and lots of garlic make it delicious.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 5 cups of San Marzano tomatoes, roughly chopped (or plum tomatoes)
- 1 teaspoon of salt, add more if needed
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
- 1/2 cup of basil, torn
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet to medium heat.
- Add olive oil to the pan along with garlic. Saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring the entire time so the garlic doesn’t burn.
- Add tomatoes to the pan, and toss to coat everything—season with salt and red pepper flakes.
- Cook tomatoes until they are cooked down, about 10-12 minutes. Stirring throughout.
- Finish with fresh basil.
- Serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup
- Calories: 242
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 907 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 11 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
20 comments on “Pasta Sauce Recipe”
Made this for dinner tonight. So much better with the roasted garlic and tomatoes. Two thumbs up!
Awesome Karen! Love the roasted garlic… yum yum in the tum! 🙂
Tomatoes are in the oven now. Update later.
haha… sounds good! Love the smell of roasted tomatoes, yum! 🙂
Krista, thanks for the great recipe! I was just wondering if you had a problem with seeds in your sauce? I used a sieve to get the seeds and skins out. I don’t mind the skins, but couldn’t get the seeds out unless I used the sieve. I had a lot of fresh Romas and basil from my garden, so this was a great way to go. I have the sauce jars in the canner as I write this!
Awesome Nick! I did have seeds in mine, but I don’t mind it. I like the texture, I know I’m a weirdo. One quick way to solve that problem next time would be to just scoop the seeds out before hand. I will make that note in my recipe now so others know too. Thanks so much for the feed back Nick. So excited that you have them in the canner and jealous that you have abundance in your garden. Mine, not so much. 🙁
This looks so delicious. I love the richness roasting the tomatoes adds. Thank you so much for coming by and linking up to the Pinworthy Projects Party!
Totally agree. I love anything roasted because of the flavor it adds. Thanks for stopping by and hosting such an awesome party!
Krista, this is absolutely making my mouth water! I don’t even remember the last time I even purchased a jar/can spaghetti sauce. Justin and I LOVE making spaghetti sauce together…with a glass of wine, of course. (We’ve done it every since we’ve met.) One bottle for us…and another bottle for the sauce!
I love how you roasted the tomatoes…that’s such a great idea! Doing it next time. (=
Ohh… that sounds so fun! I think I have Mike and I’s next date night idea. Oh.. and a Cab would be perfect with the sauce. Man!!! I wish you lived over here, we would have so much fun. Plus.. your big boys could play with my little boy. 🙂 hehe Thanks for stopping by and for the wine idea!
Krista, dropping in from The Best Blog Recipes Linky Party; thanks for sharing I will bookmark to try when my tomatoes are ready in 4 months time.
Awesome!! So jealous that you have fresh tomatoes “brewing” in your back yard. Let me know how it turns out. Thanks so much for stopping by Cindy. 🙂
I am a delinquent Italian-American who rarely makes her own sauce. Love the roasted tomatoes… I know exactly what this does to a sauce… delicious. Thanks for sharing your recipe on foodie friday.
Awe… thanks for stopping by Diane. Love seeing your comments. 🙂 I’m sure that your rarely made sauce is amazing.. it has to be.. your part Italian! 🙂 Would love to hear what you do to yours!
This is awesome Krista. I blanched mine & made my first paste a couple months ago. It worked well for giving our store bought sauce more body & fullness. But I am eager to make my own sauce 100%. This recipe looks so much quicker than what I did. Once our co-op really gets going we will have an abundance of tomatoes- so I will definitely be using this recipe & canning it to use all year long. Thank you!
Awesome!! I’m jealous you have a co-op. We only have a small farmers market near us but the quality is not the best unfortunately. I hope you and those cute kiddos of yours love it! 🙂 FYI- I have never tried canning before. You should do a post on it so I can learn. hehe
I’ve never made tomato sauce all the way from scratch…but this doesn’t look to hard! Can you use any kind of tomato? I’ll have to try it with some fresh tomatoes and basil from my garden this summer!
To be honest… I hadn’t either. But I will from now on, you can definitely taste the difference. As far as which tomatoes, I think you could use tomatoes from the vine as well. I just wouldn’t use the beef steak ones. Yeah, for fresh ingredients from the garden. 🙂 You will have to take pictures of your garden so far. I would love to see it! 🙂
Hi Krista, I’m all about the tomato sauce! Love trying other recipes, so definitely printing this one! Thanks for sharing, pinning and have an awesome weekend!
Thanks Cindy… I’m all about the tomato sauce too! Although a good cream sauce is good every once in a while too. 🙂 Hope you have an awesome weekend chica!