Easy Marinara Sauce In 15 Minutes

The other day, my best friend told me: “I want to learn how to make marinara sauce. Like a really, really good marinara sauce.” Because a really good red sauce is hard to come by, right? Alex and I have tried a lot of recipes over the years: many of them take hours to simmer on the stove, and they don’t turn out that great. We wanted to make one that was tangy, super flavorful, and also takes about minutes to make. Meet our new best ever easy marinara sauce! It’s heavy on the tangy sweet tomato flavor, a little garlicky, and perfect for a simple pasta or dipping grilled cheese or calzones. Also try: Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

The secrets to this truly easy marinara sauce

There are lots of people who claim they have the best marinara sauce recipe. Or even the most traditional marinara sauce. Here, we’ve used some time-tested techniques and some “shortcuts” to make this easy marinara sauce that is both delicious and doesn’t take an hour to simmer. (Speaking of, if you’d like a long-simmered sauce, try our Best Vodka Sauce.) Here are some of our secrets to an easy marinara sauce that doesn’t even require chopping:

What if I can’t find fire roasted tomatoes?

Fire roasted tomatoes are key in this recipe, because of their sweet flavor right out of the can. These tomatoes have been charred over an open fire, then canned. Other tomato varieties can taste bitter out of the can, and need to be cooked for longer. If you can’t find fire roasted tomatoes for this recipe, you can substitute any high quality variety of canned tomatoes. You may find you have to cook the sauce a little longer to remove the bitterness. Take a taste at the end, and see if it needs a little extra love.

Best ways to serve marinara sauce

Of course you know how to serve marinara sauce, but here are some suggestions:

Want more easy Italian recipes?

Here at A Couple Cooks, we love Italian recipes. We’ve mastered the art of artisan pizza with our Pizza Margherita and fluffy Pizza Dough Master Recipe. We’ve got a totally authentic Cacio e Pepe and an Italian-grandmother style Vodka Sauce. Here are a few more easy Italian recipes that we love:

Easy Creamy Gnocchi: It takes just 20 minutes to put together this gourmet Italian mac and cheese.Pasta Puttanesca: This classic pasta gets big flavor from tomatoes and Kalamata olives. Tuscan Soup with White Beans: This Tuscan soup tastes like pizza, in liquid form.