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Super flavorful vegan marinara sauce that takes less than 30 minutes to make! This marinara can be used in so many different recipes from pizza to pasta and more!
Most of us do not have the time to go full on Italian to make a delicious marinara or spaghetti sauce. Traditional marinara requires cooking, peeling and blending the tomatoes yourself and over an hour of slow cooking, which is fine if you have that time.
I certainly do not have that kind of time and so I needed something on the fly. This recipe utilizes already made tomato sauce to keep it busy adult friendly, and also kid-friendly if you want to make this with your kiddos!
I use this pasta sauce on so many things, because it's so versatile! You can use this delicious sauce for pizza bagels, and stuffed pepper lasagna, or even in stuffed pepper soup for added flavor! Another great way to use this sauce would be in combination with my vegan pepperoni to use on pizza or my pizza bagels (linked above).
🥘Ingredients
Very simple, and few ingredients here. You may choose to add extra seasonings of your liking of course.
Have leftover tomato paste, or want some onion flavors?
Sugar is optional if you don't care for a sweeter sauce.
See recipe card for quantities.
🔪Instructions
Start by opening a large can of tomato sauce and empty the contents into a sauce pot. Heat on medium-low heat to avoid bubbling and splashing.
While your tomato sauce heats up, you're going to pestle your main spices together: basil, oregano and red pepper flakes and any additional seasonings that are a bit larger.
Once you've pestled your seasonings, add everything to the sauce including the vinegar. Your sauce should be steaming at this point.
Mix everything well and allow to heat for about 15 minutes. Congrats, you have a pasta sauce!
👩🏻🍳Cook's Tip
If you do not have a mortar and pestle for grinding your spices, you may use a spice grinder or alternatively, just add the spices as is into your sauce. But I highly recommend pestling or grinding to really bring out their flavors.
Variations
This sauce is super versatile and you can really play around with the end results and cater to what you're really going for while still keeping this a relatively quick recipe:
- Spicy - Add more red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper!
- Cheesy - I fully support adding a sharp vegan cheese like parmesan to this recipe, alternatively, you could also throw in some nutritional yeast.
Equipment
I absolutely recommend investing in a mortal and pestle or a spice grinder for occasions such as this. Breaking down your spices can really bring out so much more flavor.
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This Vegan Marinara is perfect because:
- It's super quick to make
- Budget friendly
- Naturally gluten-free
Storage
This marinara sauce stores beautifully and is absolutely perfect for canning. If storing only temporarily:
Refrigerator: Store for up to 2 weeks. This depends entirely on your fridge, I've had different results with different fridges.
Freezer: Store for up to 6 months.
Reheating: You can reheat this sauce on the stove at low temp, or microwave at 60 second intervals to stir in between. Just make sure to cover the dish so it doesn't make a mess!
Check out some other recipes of mine!
Most manufactured marinara sauces are most likely vegan. Whole foods 360 marinara sauce, Newmans Own, Classico, and Primal Kitchen to name a few options. Alternatively, you can make your own very easily with this recipe.
It depends! If you go with a basic sauce consisting of tomatoes and spices/herbs, the tomatoes are giving a serving of vegetables/fruits for the day and spices have a little bit of nutritional value. If you start adding things like cheese, it may drift away from the healthy range.
📖 Recipe
Hearty Homemade Marinara Sauce
Equipment
- 1 mortar and pestle optional, can also use spice grinder
- 1 sauce pot
- 1 can opener
Ingredients
- 1 28 oz can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes make sure it's plain, no added spices.
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt to taste.
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano can use fresh.
- 1 tablespoon dried basil can use fresh.
- 1 tablespoon sugar optional.
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes can add more if want spicier.
Instructions
- Place a sauce pot on the stove and set heat to medium-low. Open a can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes and dump the contents into the pot.1 28 oz can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
- While your tomato sauce is heating up, go ahead and meddle the spices like basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes and any other bigger spices you plan to use.1 tablespoon dried oregano, 1 tablespoon dried basil, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Once you're satisfied with your seasonings, add everything to the sauce. Your sauce should be hot enough to produce steam at this point.1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, 1 tablespoon dried basil, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Mix everything well and allow the sauce to continue to heat for a little bit to combine those flavors.
- Serve or store!
Notes
- You can use fresh basil and oregano if desired. No need to pestle. Alternatively, you can still use dried and skip the pestle. There's no real rule here.
- If your sauce is too thick for what you're wanting, add some water.
- Sugar is optional
- Add other seasonings like nutritional yeast, parsley or cayenne pepper for extra spice.
- Add some vegan parmesan for a nice cheesy flavor.
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