Easy Weeknight Marinara Recipe

To me, nothing tastes as delicious as homemade marinara. Trust me, I won’t ever turn down a jar of Ragu, but sometimes it doesn’t hit the spot like fresh spaghetti sauce. However, I always thought marinara was complicated to assemble and had to spend an entire day simmering on the stove to turn out delicious. How wrong I was! My sweet friend Anne shared this delicious recipe with me, and I’ve since shared it with my mom and sister…we all love it! With only 5 ingredients and 30 minutes cook time, it really couldn’t be easier!

Ingredients

• 1 large can whole peeled tomatoes (I always check to see if these are from Italy…no clue if that makes a difference, but it can’t hurt, right? 😂)
• 8 garlic cloves diced (I typically use an entire head because you can’t ever have too much garlic, right?)
• 1 TBS Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 tsp Salt (or more to taste)
• Basil (1 spring of fresh basil or 1/4 tsp of dried basil)

Directions

• Crush up the tomatoes with your hands.
• Heat 1/4 cup of Olive Oil over medium heat in a large pot
• Add garlic and cook until fragrant (just about a minute)
• Add in tomatoes with their juice
• Add salt, Italian seasoning, and basil
• Simmer covered for 30 minutes
• Serve over your favorite pasta!

You can also add in ground beef, Italian sausage, or ground turkey (yuck.) if preferred. Note that you may need to adjust the salt or spices. I love to serve this marinara with homemade pasta, and I’m sure it would work wonderfully in baked ziti or lasagna as well!

Are there any recipes you thought would need tons of time and effort that turned out to be easy and quick? Let me know below! Also, it’s definitely not as quick and easy, but would you like a post all about my homemade pasta? It’s pictured above, and IT. IS. DIVINE.

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