Marinara Sauce with Roasted Tomatoes

This easy, homemade marinara sauce features savory and sweet, oven-roasted tomatoes. Move over store-bought marinara sauce, there’s a new kid in town.

Sep 10, 2024

If you’ve strolled through your local farmer’s market recently, you have probably noticed an abundant supply of fresh tomatoes. It’s still peak tomato season (June to September) and that means it’s the perfect time to make this marinara sauce featuring roasted tomatoes.

The benefit to roasting tomatoes is that it concentrates their flavor and sweetness by driving off some of the moisture. This creates a rich savoriness that you don’t find in fresh tomatoes. Roasting tomatoes is a good cooking method to keep in mind during the winter when the flavor of out-of-season tomatoes could use a little help.

While you could use any variety of tomato to make this sauce, I prefer plum (as known as Roma or Italian) tomatoes for roasting because their firm flesh resists becoming overly mushy when roasted. Additionally, this tomato variety has a good flesh to seed ratio, meaning more flesh and fewer seeds.

Let me take you through the steps for making this sauce. It’s a very simple recipe with common ingredients you likely have on hand, and best of all, the sauce is ready in about an hour.

Start with fresh tomatoes

You’ll need 3 pounds of fresh tomatoes to make this delicious sauce. I like using plum tomatoes.

Prep the tomatoes

Start by removing the core of cleaned tomatoes and slice them into quarters. Toss the cut tomatoes in a little olive oil and place them on a sheet pan in an even layer. Roast in the oven until the skins begin to brown and the flesh softens. The roasting process takes about 35 to 45 minutes.

Sauté the onions and aromatics

While the tomatoes are roasting, sauté the onions in a large saucepan until they soften and become translucent. Once the onions are sautéed, add the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes (the aromatics) and continue to sauté for a minute or two. This cooking technique is called blooming, and it gives an extra “oomph” of flavor to the spices.

Stir in the tomato paste and allow it to caramelize

Once you’ve stirred the tomato paste into the sautéed onions, allow it to cook until the color of the paste goes from bright red to maroon. This 3-to-5-minute caramelization step intensifies the flavor of the paste, creating a deeper, sweeter flavor profile.

Add the roasted tomatoes and blend it all together

All that’s left to do is add the wine to the saucepan, stirring it around to loosen the caramelized paste from the bottom of pan (this is called deglazing the pan). Toss in the roasted tomatoes, and with an immersion blender, blend the sauce to your desired consistency. Add the sugar, salt, pepper, and fresh basil and it’s done.

This marinara sauce is incredibly versatile and can be used in all kinds of dishes – pair it with your favorite pasta, use it to make lasagna or chicken parmesan, or serve it as a dipping sauce with a crusty baguette.

To your health,

Darlene

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MARINARA SAUCE with ROASTED TOMATOES

Yield: 7 servings

Serving Size: 1/2 cup marinara sauce

Prep: 15 minutes

Ready: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds fresh plum tomatoes (about 12 to 14 plum tomatoes)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3/4 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut tomatoes in quarters and place in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil and toss to coat. Place tomatoes on a large, rimmed sheet pan and roast 35 to 45 minutes or until skins begin to brown and flesh softens.
While tomatoes roast, add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to a large saucepan and, over medium heat, sauté onions until softened and translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and continue to sauté an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomato paste to saucepan and, stirring frequently, cook until tomato paste color darkens, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add wine to the saucepan and stir to loosen paste from bottom of pan.
Remove saucepan from heat and add roasted tomatoes. Carefully insert an immersion blender into saucepan and process tomatoes to desired consistency. If you don’t have an immersion blender, process roasted tomatoes in a blender or food processor to desired consistency and add to the saucepan. Return saucepan to heat and reduce heat to low. Add sugar, salt, and pepper to marinara sauce and stir to combine. Allow sauce to heat through, about 5 minutes. Stir in basil and use sauce as desired.

Nutrition Information per Serving

122 Calories, 7 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 0 mg Cholesterol, 287 mg Sodium, 12 g Total carbohydrate, 3 g Dietary fiber, 7 g Total sugars, 0.5 g Added sugars, 2 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 30 mg (2%) Calcium, 1 mg (6%) Iron, 476 mg (10%) Potassium