This is a house made Marinara that has been adapted from a recipe that was taught to me by a chef from Italy who said it was his mother’s recipe she would make when he was a kid.

I have added ingredients to bulk up the flavors to give it some depth of flavor.

Homemade Marinara (GF) (V)

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Dinner, Entree, Main, Sauce

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: bake, Comfort Food, Freeze, GF, Gluten Free, Homemade, lasagna, Make Ahead, Marinara, pasta, pasta bake, sauce, spaghetti, Spaghetti Sauce, Thaw

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours hours 58 minutes minutes

Total Time: 3 hours hours 18 minutes minutes

Servings: 20 servings

Author: Chef Tony Zentgraf

This marinara recipe is versatile and you can freeze it in smaller portions for later use.

Pull it out from freezer and thaw for some spaghetti and meatballs or use in lasagna or make a pink sauce by mixing with half and half or cream when making your pasta dish.

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• ▢ ½ cup Olive Oil
• ▢ 3 ea Large Red Onions ¼" diced
• ▢ ⅓ cup Garlic chopped
• ▢ 1 tbsp Kosher Salt
• ▢ 2 cups Red Wine
• ▢ 4 cans Whole Fire Roasted Tomatoes (you can use diced or non roasted tomatoes)
• ▢ 1 lb Basil (stems removed)

Instructions

Prep before cooking

• Cut the red onions to ¼" dice
• Mince the garlic in a small food processor or by hand
• Whole roasted tomatoes, smash by hand or dice them saving the juice.
• Wait to cut the basil until ready to add to the sauce at the end.

Cooking the sauce

• In a heavy bottom pot, add the olive oil over medium heat.
• Add the onions once the oil has been heated. Stir the onions to coat with oil.
• Cook the onions over a medium heat to sweat and slowly break them down.

  The onions will break down and reduce in volume, the onions will add sweetness to the sauce. Do not brown the onions.

  Allow them to slowly break down.

  The heat may need to be adjusted to maintain temperature to avoid browning.
• Once the onions become translucent and softened, add the garlic and the Kosher salt. Stir in the garlic and salt.

  The salt will help to break down the onions and the garlic.
• Cook the onions and garlic over medium heat (do not brown the garlic).

  Cook the onions and garlic until they begin to look mushy. At this point they will break down further in sauce as it cooks.
• Increase the heat to high and add the red wine. Scrape the fond from the bottom of the pot that may be there. Reduce the wine by half.
• Add the hand crushed or diced tomatoes to the pot. Stir to incorporate.

  Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium/low. Sauce should be simmering not rapid boiling.
• Continue to cook stirring every 10-15 minutes to keep from sticking to the bottom.

  Cook Time will be dependent on a few variables, how much water your tomatoes have and how high you are cooking.

  If you cook at a lower temperature the tomatoes will break down slowly.

  If you boil faster the tomatoes have a tendency not to break down easily.

  The sauce will have a chunky consistency but if it is cooked too fast the tomatoes will still looked diced instead of broken down.
• Now is the time to cut the basil.

  Dice the basil into ¼" – ½" dice and add to the Marinara sauce and stir in. Turn off the heat.

  Use immediately for a pasta dish or you can freeze this sauce in smaller portions for later use.

  Yes dice, not julienne. The chef from Italy told me that the reason we dice it is because julienne is a French thing.

  Don't know if that is necessarily true that they don't julienne in Italy but I think he had a grudge against French cuisine.

  Either way this recipe tastes great and is very versatile.