Homemade spicy marinara sauce is super simple sauce that is bursting with rich hearty tomato flavors. Making pasta sauce at home can’t get easier than this. Ditch the jarred stuff homemade is the way to go. It can’t get simpler than this.
Stir in red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste and dried oregano with onions and garlic.
Add canned crushed tomatoes to the pan, stir well.
Simmer heat, cover pot partially with lid and slow cook tomatoes for 15 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally.
Turn off heat, stir fresh chopped basil leaves to the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
Optional step – stir in 1 teaspoon of granulated white sugar to the sauce to cut acidity of tomatoes.
Viola, simple and best homemade marinara sauce is ready to serve.
Use it anywhere where you need a red sauce – for pastas, pizzas, as dipping sauce.
Load up your spaghetti with this rich sauce for quick weekday dinner.
Video
Notes
Use good quality crushed tinned tomatoes. It’s the hero of the dish and can’t compromise it. Homemade marinara sauce taste will depend on the quality of canned tomatoes you use.
We like it chunky! If you like “zero chunk” marinara sauce, you can use a blender to puree crushed tomatoes from can and then use pureed tomatoes to make marinara sauce.
Garden fresh tomatoes can be used to make homemade sauce. Extra prep work is needed if using fresh tomatoes. You have to blanch, peel the skin and dice tomatoes first or roast it in oven then crush it.
Red pepper flakes are optional but highly recommended. It adds little kick to the sauce which makes it tastier. If you can’t handle even little bit of heat, skip red pepper flakes from the recipe.
You see those browned garlic in the step-by-step picture collage? Oh it wasn’t browned accidentally but I did it on purpose. Somehow browned garlic adds a difference depth of flavor to the sauce and I’m a huge fan of browned garlic flavors.
Always taste and add seasoning as you go to suit your taste preferences.
 Recipe yields approximately 3 cups. Nutrition values mentioned are for 1 cup.Nutritional Info – Please keep in mind that nutritional information provided is only a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.