Make a classic but simple Italian tomato sauce with only 4 main ingredients. This quick and authentic sauce can be made with canned or fresh tomatoes and is perfect for pasta, pizza, or spaghetti.
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I learned to make this incredible-tasting (but super easy to make) homemade tomato sauce while going to culinary school in Italy.
Our chef in school referred to this recipe as "simple tomato sauce" because it was easy to make and was the base for many other sauces or pasta dishes (like this eggplant pasta alla Norma).
It's also a versatile recipe that can be made with canned or fresh tomatoes, depending on the season, as well as different varieties of tomatoes like San Marzano, plum, or Roma.
If you've been looking for an Italian tomato sauce made from scratch, this is the recipe for you! It's perfect as a classic spaghetti sauce, on top of a pizza, or even stored in your freezer for those emergency dinner situations.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- The importance of each ingredient. Italian cooking uses minimal, high-quality ingredients that taste great!
- How to make this homemade Italian sauce with canned or fresh tomatoes.
- Tips for storing the sauce in the freezer.
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Ingredients You Need
The trick to amazing tasting Italian food? Keep the food simple and use in-season, local ingredients. That's exactly what we're doing with this sauce!
- Extra virgin olive oil: Always use good-tasting, high-quality extra virgin olive oil to ensure the sauce turns out delicious. Learn more about how to pick out a bottle of olive oil.
- Carrots: The natural sugar found in carrots helps to neutralize the acid in tomatoes.
- Red onion: Since red onions (Tropea onions specifically) are popular in Calabria, we always used red onions in culinary school. But, this recipe will also taste delicious with yellow onion.
- Canned whole peeled tomatoes: If you can find them, this sauce tastes amazing with San Marzano tomatoes. However, plum or Roma tomatoes are also delicious. If you're making this recipe with fresh tomatoes, check out the recipe card below for instructions on how to blanch the tomatoes.
- Black pepper/Morton kosher salt: It's always important to properly season sauce. This will help enhance the tomato flavor. Be sure to taste, then add pepper and salt, as needed.
How To Make This Recipe
1. Add the extra virgin olive oil, carrots, and onions to a large saucepan over medium heat and cook until softened.
2. Crush the canned or fresh tomatoes with your hands directly into the saucepan. Then, you can add any leftover tomato juice that's still in the can to the saucepan.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes until the flavors marry together. You can stir the sauce occasionally to ensure the bottom doesn't burn. If you notice the sauce is bubbling too intensely, turn down the heat slightly.
4. Once cooked down, taste and season with black pepper and Morton kosher salt to taste. Puree with an immersion blender or in the container of a blender until the sauce is smooth.
Tomato Sauce With Fresh Tomatoes
If you want to make this recipe with ripe, summer tomatoes, which I highly recommend, then you'll need to flash-cook (blanch) the tomatoes. Here's what to do:
- Boil a large pot of water over high heat.
- Score the bottom of each tomato with a small "X". I like to use a pairing knife for this.
- Add a small amount of tomatoes to the boiling water and cook for 30 - 90 seconds until you start to see the skins split open.
- Finally, remove them from the boiling water and transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking.
- Then, you can peel off the skin and use the tomatoes in the simple tomato sauce.
Expert Tips
- Freezer Storage: Allow the sauce to fully cool, then store it in an airtight container. You'll want to leave some room at the top of the container so the sauce can expand as it freezes. The sauce can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- You can also pour the cooled sauce into an ice cube tray then allow it to fully freeze. Pop the sauce out of the mold, then place the cubes in an airtight bag in the freezer for up to 6 months. This makes it easy to use small amounts of sauce.
Recipe FAQs
While we didn't make this sauce with garlic in Italy, you can definitely add garlic if you'd like! Finely mince the garlic and add it to the saucepan after the carrots and onions have softened. Cook for 1 minute before adding in the tomatoes.
This is a simple tomato sauce that highlights the fresh taste of the tomatoes. There's really no need to cook this type of sauce for a long time. If you're looking for a sauce that cooks low and slow, check out this bolognese ragu sauce.
This simple Italian tomato sauce is very versatile. You can use it as a pizza sauce, with spaghetti and meatballs, or paired with your favorite pasta.
More Pasta & Sauce Recipes
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Simple Italian Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- saucepan
- immersion blender (or regular blender)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup finely diced carrots
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion
- 56 ounces canned whole peeled tomatoes
- finely ground black pepper to taste
- Morton kosher salt to taste
Instructions
For Simple Tomato Sauce
- Add extra virgin olive oil, carrots, and onions to a large saucepan over medium heat and cook until softened.
- Crush the canned tomatoes with your hands directly into the saucepan. Add in any leftover tomato juice still in the can to the saucepan. Simmer for 10 minutes until the flavors marry together. Stir occasionally to ensure the bottom doesn't burn. If you notice the sauce bubbling too intensely, turn down the heat slightly.
- Once cooked down, taste and season with black pepper and Morton kosher salt to taste. Puree with an immersion blender or in the container of a blender until the sauce is smooth.
- Allow the sauce to fully cool, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. For long-term storage, see instructions below.
Notes
- Boil a large pot of water over high heat.
- Score the bottom of each tomato with a small "X". I like to use a pairing knife for this.
- Add a small amount of tomatoes to the boiling water and cook for 30 - 90 seconds until you start to see the skins split open.
- Finally, remove them from the boiling water and transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking.
- Then, you can peel the skin and use the tomatoes in the simple tomato sauce.
Randy
Obsessed with this recipe! So good, especially when I use San Marzano tomatoes!