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This homemade marinara sauce is made ultra-simply from scratch with fresh tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. No cans here, just delicious, fresh from the garden tomato sauce! With hundreds of five-star reviews, you can be sure this homemade tomato sauce will be a hit!
save this recipe!If it’s the peak of summer, your garden is churning out more tomatoes than you know what to do with, and you’re hungry…I have two words for you: homemade marinara.
More specifically, a homemade marinara with fresh tomatoes (no canned tomatoes or tomato paste here)! Because summer is all about celebrating that garden-fresh produce, and this marinara is the perfect way to celebrate.
Reader rating
“This is THE marinara sauce! When it was finished cooking and cooled, I tasted it and could not believe how delicious! When one of my daughters arrived for dinner I asked her to taste it just to be sure. She did but said nothing. I asked if it was all right. She said she was just savoring the flavor and didn’t want to interrupt that. Other guests said it was the best marinara they had ever eaten.” —Claudette
Most recipes will have you blanch the tomato to remove the skin, but I find that it’s unnecessary and takes too much time (plus, the skin has insoluble fiber – double win). Let’s cook!
What’s the best texture for marinara?
This homemade marinara sauce recipe is naturally chunky, but you can easily make it into a smooth and silky marinara with a quick blitz in the blender. I prefer to use a handheld immersion blender to puree it right in the pot, but you could also transfer it (carefully – hot!) to a countertop blender.
- Keep it chunky for use with your favorite pasta (like these vegetarian stuffed shells)
- Blend it smooth for use as a dipping sauce (like with air fryer mozzarella sticks!)
Homemade Marinara Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil, 15 mL
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 fresh tomatoes, 1 to 1.5 lbs, diced
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp Italian parsley, flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp honey, 15 g
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Tomatoes: Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until soft and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and allow to simmer uncovered until tomatoes have mostly broken down, about 25 minutes. Stir often to prevent burning.
- Herbs: Stir in remaining ingredients. Continue simmering about 10 minutes.
- Serve: You can serve it like this or puree it in a food processor or blender for a smoother sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information calculated by Sarah Bond, degreed nutritionist.
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!Seasonal Tip
They say what grows together goes together, so why not use the fresh cucumber growing in your garden to make this easy tzatziki sauce? Serve it as a dip with veggies, as a side, or as an appetizer with this marinara!
Got fresh tomatoes?
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Sarah,
I’m excited about your marinara sauce but have 1 (important?) question.
I will be using a blend of approx 10% jet star and and 90% heirloom which I know have a lot of water, which I don’t mind cooking down (more time for wine tasting!) I’ll also end up with a lot of seeds & am concerned that If I remove most of them, I’ll also loose a lot of the meat. Will leaving them in have a negative impact on the final product?
I have a garden full of Heirlooms, enough for 6-8 quarts of sauce so using another type really isn’t in the cards. Will greatly appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks
Hi Rob! Leaving the seeds in shouldn’t have much impact on the final product. They won’t influence the flavor, but could obviously change the texture. If you’re sensitive to textures like that in food then you might just strain them out through a mesh sieve.
Tasty! I have a bunch of tomatoes from my garden and was looking for sauces I could make and freeze. Beautiful.
So happy to hear it, Bonny! 😀
Sarah how do you store fresh marinara?
You can either store it in the fridge for about a week, or you can freeze it 🙂 I just freeze it in cup sized portions so it’s easy to thaw the perfect amount.
My neighbor left 10# of Roma tomatoes on my porch. I hated to waste them so I ran a Google search for something that looked palatable. I’m not a big “spaghetti sauce” fan, but this looked easy with simple ingredients I had on hand. Mind. Blown. This is delicious! I even tripled the batch and made it for visiting children and grandchildren…it was a huge hit! I am growing Roma tomatoes next year 😉
So happy to hear it, Delin! 😀 Enjoy!!
I haven’t tried it yet, but I can’t wait. Can it be frozen if you make too much?
Yep you can freeze it 😀 I just freeze it in cup sized portions so it’s easy to thaw the perfect amount.
This recipe is absolutely amazing! My brother has allergic reactions to store bought sauces and I wanted to make my own sauce anyways, I didn’t have canned tomatoes, this recipe was perfect. i added some water and cut the tomatoes before hand to have a smoother sauce. Everyone in my family loved it! I made it for school too 🙂 I’m 13, and this prooves anyone can make this sauce!!
This makes me so happy to hear, Cara! I’m glad you and your family enjoyed it! Happy cooking 😀
Just a heads up type of comment re: quantity changes. While the basic amount changes if you change the servings from 2 to 4, for example, the number changes but the amount in parentheses doesn’t, so be careful.
Example, change from 2 to 4 servings and tomatoes changes from 5 to 10, but the (1 to 1.5 lbs. diced) remains the same. Same for oil-change 2 to 4 and it remains as 15 ml instead of changing to 30 ml.
Could easily be confusion as to why a recipe didn’t quite turn out if the cook only noticed the unchanged amount reference.
Thanks so much for pointing that out!
When I read the recipe I thought it was going to be just okay because it looks so simple, but this came out delicious! When my mom tried it she said it’s way better than store bought one. I used a bit more honey that suggested here and did process in a food processor at the end. It was I credibly good, I will definitely cook it more often.
So happy to hear it, Marcel! 😀 Enjoy!
Hii
How many tomatoes doesone need for 1 serving of pasta?
About half the recipe (2 to 3 tomatoes) 🙂
I will be making this soon….looks delish!!! My husband and I try to eat as natural as we can and while jar sauces are good (we have one we like to use), I would love to be able to make my own. Is it possible to put this in a crockpot and cook that way? I work long hours and it seems like I never have enough time when I get home to do much. The crockpot is my go to for those long days.
I haven’t tried this in a crockpot but think it would work well! 😀