Marinara Sauce
Marinara (mariner's) sauce is a southern Italian tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs (such as basil), and onion. However, there are many variations. Some of these include the addition of capers, olives and spices. There are at least two folk theories as to the origin of this sauce: One says cooks aboard Neapolitan ships invented marinara sauce in the mid-16th century after Spaniards introduced the tomato (a New World vegetable) to Europe. This meat-free sauce was easy to make and resisted spoiling due to the high acid content of tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons virgin olive oil
- 225 grams (8 ounces) Spanish onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves (or ½ teaspoon dried)
- 4 teaspoons fresh basil leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 85 grams (3 ounces) red bell pepper, diced
- 1.3 kilograms (1 pound and 14 ounces) skinless plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Salt to taste
Ingredients for 6 servings (1.7 kg) · the original recipe
Method
- 1
Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat until it shimmers.
Stovetop - 2
Add the onions and garlic, and sauté them for about 2 minutes until the onions are translucent.
- 3
Add the thyme, basil and bell pepper. Cook 5 minutes more.
- 4
Add the tomatoes and sugar. Bring to a boil and then lower to a light simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.
Stovetop - 5
Season with salt to taste.
- 6
Serve hot by ladling over pasta, seafood or rice.
Recipe from Wikibooks Cookbook, written by Wikibooks contributors. Used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence; the ingredient list and method on this page are taken from that page and edited (its notes, tips and variations are not reproduced), and are available under the same licence. The macros, equipment tags and scaling are Ma Kitchen’s own and are not the source’s figures. Ma Kitchen is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wikibooks Cookbook. Copied on 2026-11-12.
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