Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
60 min
Total Time
90 min
Yield
3 quarts

When your family is craving a taste of Italy, serving up a fantastic marinara sauce is eccellente (meaning excellent). This is a recipe that is versatile and adaptable to your family’s preferences. You can use fresh or canned tomatoes, add vegetables like carrots, mushrooms, or zucchini, and serve it in a variety of ways. Check out the ideas below, or create your own delizioso (meaning delicious) dish.

8 ways to adore this fresh marinara sauce:

As a dip. This is one of my favorite ways to use marinara sauce. Serve it up as dip with a cheese stick, with meatballs, with toasted garlic bread, or alongside pizza (because some of us can never have enough sauce on a pizza).
On pizza. Make your own whole wheat pizza crust or use store-bought, top it with some marinara sauce and your favorite pizza toppings, and enjoy. And remember, if you don’t have time to make a pizza crust and you don’t have a store bought one on hand, a whole wheat English muffin, pita, flatbread, or other pizza “base” will work. Kids usually adore a make your own pizza night. This is a great way to get the kids interested in being in the kitchen.
In a calzone. What’s great about calzones (and pizza too) is that you can tailor the stuffing ingredients to your child’s preferences.
With pasta. Serve it up on whole wheat pasta. Or for a simple pasta dish, you can mix the marinara with whole wheat noodles and sprinkle it with parmesan, mozzarella, or both.
On vegetables. Serve your marinara on spaghetti squash.
On a sandwich. Try it out in Sloppy Joes or as an addition to your grilled cheese sandwich.
As a substitution. Does the recipe you are making call for a jar of pre-made marinara? No need to drive to the store to get it if it’s already in your freezer. And you had control of every ingredient lovingly placed into your marinara.
Your own creation. Marinara is so versatile that you can come up with your own recipes using it as the starting ingredient.

Toss marinara with noodles and your choice of cheese, top leftover meat with it, let the kids get creative and make their own pizzas… the possibilities are immense. With so many ways to use marinara in your meal preparation, it’s definitely a freezer staple that you should consider stocking if you don’t already. Buon appetito (meaning “enjoy your meal")!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 large onion (or 2 medium onions), chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
5 (14 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes (or use 6-8 medium fresh tomatoes in place of each can of tomatoes)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
2 Bay leaves
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup white wine, white cooking wine, or water if you prefer
1 cup chicken broth

Preparation

Sauté vegetables until tender.
Combine sautéed vegetables with 1 can of crushed tomatoes in a food processor. Pulse until well blended.
Pour into a large stockpot and combine with the remaining cans of tomatoes and all other ingredients.
Simmer on low for 1 hour.
Place in freezer bags, removing air, and lay flat.
Freeze for up to 3 months.