Homemade Marinara Sauce With Fresh Tomatoes (2024)

This homemade marinara sauce is made ultra-simply from scratch with fresh tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. No cans here, just delicious, fresh from the garden tomato sauce! With almost 300 five-star reviews, you can be sure this homemade tomato sauce will be a hit!

If it’s the peak of summer, your garden is churning out more tomatoes than you know what to do with, and you’re hungry…I have two words for you: homemade marinara.

More specifically, a homemade marinara with fresh tomatoes (no canned tomatoes or tomato paste here)! Because summer is all about celebrating that garden-fresh produce, and this marinara is the perfect way to celebrate.

Most recipes will have you blanch the tomato to remove the skin, but I find that it’s unnecessary and takes too much time (plus, the skin has healthy insoluble fiber – double win). Let’s cook!

Making this marinara is crazy easy

To make this simple marinara sauce, heat a touch of oil in a pot, add some garlic, throw in diced fresh tomatoes and let that all simmer.

Once you’ve cooked down the tomatoes into your desired thickness and consistency, add in your flavor makers: basil, parsley, and honey.

Sarah’s Tip

Not only is cooking going to break those tomatoes down into a smooth sauce and remove those sour tones, but it’s also going to increase the concentration of lycopene, one of the most potent antioxidants!

What are the best tomatoes for marinara sauce?

You can use almost any tomato to make marinara sauce from scratch, but the best ones will be the paste tomatoes. These are meatier and have less water content, meaning you need to cook them for less time to get to that nice, thick sauce. Look for Roma or San Marzano tomatoes (and learn about the different types of tomatoes here).

What’s the best texture for marinara?

This homemade marinara sauce recipe is naturally chunky, but you can easily make it into a smooth and silky marinara with a quick blitz in the blender. I prefer to use a handheld immersion blender to puree it right in the pot, but you could also transfer it (carefully – hot!) to a countertop blender.

• Keep it chunky for use with your favorite pasta
• Blend it smooth for use as a dipping sauce (like with air fryer mozzarella sticks!)

This sauce is great in…

Marinara sauce is a type of tomato sauce that’s more light and acidic than, say a pizza sauce. It’s great as a pasta sauce and spaghetti sauce, but there are quite a few ways to use marinara sauce (that aren’t pasta!)

• Ratatouille: A gorgeous dish packed with eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes!
• Shakshuka: Eggs are poached in tomato sauce then served with bread. The ultimate breakfast!
• Italian Style Seitan Meatballs: For a classic pasta dish, serve this marinara with “meat” balls.