My family’s beloved San Marzano Tomato Sauce. This luscious red sauce is simmered for several hours to develop the richest taste. It’s filled with fresh herbs, authentic Italian flavors, and the most inviting aroma. Easily the best tomato sauce I’ve ever had! From my family to yours.
This Italian tomato sauce (also known in Italian as “Pomodoro sauce”) is unique from all my other recipes because it was the first recipe my mom ever taught me how to make. It was the very beginning of my love for food. For years, this sauce has brought my loud, bold, and very loving family together and has been a part of many memorable family dinners.
When you make this homemade pasta sauce, you will find the results are luscious, rich, and developed in flavor. It is the perfect sauce to complement your favorite Italian dishes! Although tomato sauce is quite simple, using quality ingredients matters. And letting your sauce cook low and slow for hours will give you the most beautifully rich and savory sauce you’ve ever had.
The first steps for making this sauce are to put on some Frank Sinatra, grab a glass of vino, and enjoy the sweet aroma of simmering tomatoes & garlic. ‘Cause, that’s Amore!
One reader, Kathryn, made this: “I’m just 2 hours into simmering and my gosh, this sauce is like a warm hug on a cold day.“ ★★★★★
Ingredients Needed
You’ll need just a handful of pantry items and fresh herbs to make this recipe happen. Here’s the full list: canned San Marzano plum tomatoes, garlic cloves, quality tomato paste, olive oil, salt & black pepper, and fresh herbs – basil and oregano.
How to Make San Marzano Tomato Sauce
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1
Sauté the garlic. In a large sauce pot, sauté the minced garlic in oil for about 30-60 seconds (stir constantly to avoid burning the garlic).
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2
Add the tomatoes and simmer low and slow. Once the garlic is fragrant, add the canned tomatoes with the paste and salt, then partially cover the pot with a lid. Let the sauce cook on the lowest setting for 4-6 hours. Stir occasionally to prevent any burning.
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3
Add the herbs last. When the sauce is finished cooking, add the chopped basil and oregano. Taste, season with any additional salt if needed, then serve!
Tips for Success
- Use quality San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes: to make a perfect tomato sauce you need San Marzano. These tomatoes give your sauce a thicker consistency and are sweeter, richer, and less acidic in flavor. I grew up with my mom always using Cento, but I also love using D.O.P-certified brands and preferably organic tomatoes. Be sure that whatever tomato you do use, is a product of Italy to ensure its top quality!
- Use Amore Sun-Dried Tomato Paste: Rather than using regular tomato paste as a thickener, my family loves to use this sun-dried tomato paste for a richer taste. If you do not have this available to you, no problem, swap it for regular tomato paste!
- The best herbs for tomato sauce – traditional Italian tomato sauce always calls for fresh basil or oregano – or a combination of both! Sometimes you’ll see thyme thrown into red sauces too. Using fresh herbs is key for authentic flavor. I do not recommend using dried herbs in a lot of my recipes, especially when it comes to homemade tomato sauce.
- Add a Parmesan cheese rind: When you purchase a block of Parmesan cheese – save/freeze your cheese rind for recipes like this! It’s a unique ingredient that instantly adds flavor. The rind won’t melt (though it will get soft); it will just sit in your sauce or soup and infuse it with extra umami and savor. Add the rind during the simmering time of the sauce, then use a utensil to carefully remove it before serving.
- Achieve rich flavor by using lots of garlic! As a born and raised garlic lover, I encourage you not to shy away from the number of garlic cloves listed. So much flavor in red sauces comes from the aromatics (garlic, onions, etc.). We use lots of garlic in this sauce to create a complex flavor! It will not taste “garlic-y”- but wonderfully balanced and rich.
One reader, Mark, made this his go-to: “I made this about 5 times now and it is definitely going to be it for me going forward. No more store sauces.“ ★★★★★
How to Avoid an Acidic Sauce
Add a carrot to simmer in the sauce: my mom always did this when she made sauce, and it’s a little-known secret many Italians use to balance the acidity of sauces. The sweetness of the carrot releases its flavor and naturally absorbs any acidic flavors from the tomatoes. How to: Remove the stem, peel the carrot skin off, and place the whole carrot into the sauce to simmer. Then, remove and discard the carrot once the sauce is finished.
Use a stainless steel pot: When making tomato sauce, choosing the right pot is essential. My top recommendation for sauce is stainless steel. Other pots, such as non-stick or cast iron can cause the acid in the tomatoes to mix with the metal and result in an unpleasant metallic taste.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course! We love cooking our Italian meatballs with this sauce. If the meatballs are about 2 inches in size, after being browned in a pan or baked, you can add them to the sauce to cook for the last 60-30 minutes. If they’re much bigger, let them simmer in the sauce for 2 hours. Stir the sauce gently to prevent breaking the meatballs, and ensure you use a large enough pot!
Yes! We love to make tomato sauce with fresh garden tomatoes. Use our fresh tomato sauce recipe for this process! This recipe will take less time, but the flavor is equally as delicious.
Of course! I recommend first sautéing the garlic in a pan. Then add the garlic to a slow cooker with the rest of the sauce ingredients, and set it on LOW for 5 hours. Stir a few times throughout the cooking process. Add the herbs at the end.
This was the way my mom taught me how to make tomato sauce, just with garlic as the aromatic. Many traditional tomato sauce recipes only call for garlic, so it’s common to see onions not included. But we have tried it with onion, and it’s delicious too! If you want to add onion, dice it small and saute the onion (before the garlic) for about 3 minutes. Then add the garlic!
Only if you want the sauce to be very smooth, with no texture/chunks of tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes are so tender that they will naturally break down as they cook, especially in this recipe since it calls for a longer simmering time. So no, they do not need to be chopped before cooking!
Yes, homemade sauce like this recipe can definitely be canned. Although I’ve never canned this recipe, we’ve had many readers have great success with it!
Tips for Storing Leftovers & Freezing
Store & keep fresh: Let sauce cool to room temperature, then store in an airtight container or glass jars. Chill in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days.
How to freeze: First, let the sauce cool to room temperature – then store it in an airtight container or freezer-friendly ziplock bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Our Favorite Ways to Serve it Up
The best way to serve this tomato sauce is with your favorite Italian dishes! Some of our favorites are…
Lasagna. We love layering this sauce in our vegetable lasagna, spinach lasagna roll-ups, and Italian sausage lasagna! For a healthier take on lasagna, we also love making our zucchini lasagna or eggplant lasagna too.
Baked pasta. This sauce is always the perfect addition to our baked ziti or baked rigatoni! And we can’t forget our baked cauliflower ziti too.
Meatballs. Make my family’s Italian meatballs with this sauce, or try it with our vegetarian zucchini meatballs or eggplant meatballs – so yummy!
Eggplant & Chicken Parmesan. My mom has always made this sauce with her famous chicken parmesan. And I love to serve it with this classic eggplant parmesan!
Rollatini. We love making zucchini rollatini or eggplant rollatini with this sauce as well.
Pasta noodles. You can also keep it simple, and serve this red sauce with your favorite Italian noodles such as penne, rigatoni, fusilli, spaghetti, or shells! And whatever you serve this sauce with, don’t forget to add crusty rosemary garlic bread on the side for dipping.
I hope you love this homemade tomato sauce as much as we do! It’s a staple for complimenting my favorite Italian recipes – especially around the holidays.
One reader, Joe G, made this: “This is the real deal. I followed it exactly. Simmered for hours. With the chicken parm recipe this was the best I’ve ever had. And I’ve been to Rao’s!“ ★★★★★
More Tomato Sauce Recipes
If you love this sauce, you might also like our fresh tomato sauce, Italian meat sauce, authentic Italian Bolognese Sauce, or spicy arrabbiata sauce!
San Marzano Tomato Sauce
Video Tutorial
Ingredients
- 8 garlic cloves, minced
- 3-4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4-5 28oz cans San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes (with juices)
- 2-3 Tablespoon amore sun-dried tomato paste (or use regular tomato paste)
- 1/2 teaspoons (each) salt & black pepper
- 3 Tablespoons fresh basil (for dried basil – 1 Tbsp)
- 2 teaspoons fresh oregano *optional
Instructions
- Cook garlic: In a large stainless steel pot on LOW-MEDIUM heat sauté garlic in olive oil for 30-60 seconds. Stir constantly to keep garlic from burning.
- Add tomatoes and simmer: pour canned tomatoes with juices in with the garlic. Add tomato paste, salt, and black pepper. Mix ingredients together, partially cover with lid – but not completely, and simmer on LOW heat for 3+ hours. Stir every so often to avoid burning. Note: if using a parmesan rind, add it in this step and let it simmer with sauce until finished. Remove and discard rind when ready to serve.
- For smooth sauce: when sauce is finished cooking, use a hand immersion-blender to puree. Note: If you prefer a chunkier/thicker sauce (like I do), you can skip this step as the San Marzanos naturally break down while cooking.
- Add herbs: when sauce is finished, mix in chopped fresh herbs. Season with additional salt & black pepper if needed and serve!
How does this recipe have fat listed, but neither saturated nor unsaturated fat?
Hi I’m wanting to make a “Sunday gravy” and this seems like a wonderful base. I plan to add some Italian sausage and homemade meatballs…any thoughts?
Hi Jessica, oh for sure! This is the perfect sauce for that. You can add the sausage right away or half way through, along with the meatballs halfway through. 🙂 Some people like to add the meatballs raw and let them simmer the whole time with the sauce, so that’s an option too!
The olive oil is the only fat in the recipe so go off that
What size sauce pan do you use?
A 4-5 quart pot should work!
This is simply the best spaghetti sauce I have ever made. DELICIOUS! Sometimes I add meat. Sometimes I do not. My family loves it either way. If you simmer as directed it just explodes with flavor. Thank you, Bethany.
Yikes! It looks wonderful and I’m making it now. But! I made a mistake and didn’t realize that seasonings were to be put in at the end of cooking and I threw everything together. I’m hoping it still comes out as good as it’s planned. Any suggestions?
Hi Suzanne, you’re totally fine! If they’re fresh, they should come out just fine in the sauce 🙂 no worries!
How would I go about reducing the ingredients if I wanted to use 1-2 cans instead of the 4-5 in the recipe?
Hi John, for 2 cans, I would do 2 Tablespoons olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 1/2 Tablespoos paste, and about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of fresh basil 🙂
This year I on purpose grew my own San Marzano tomatoes just for this sauce. They are all about equal in size, as you would expect. How many would I use to equal one can, and do I just drop them off?
Sorry, bad talk to text. I said, and do I just chop them up? How does it get saucy like
In the can?
Hi Patty, the cans are 28 ounces so you could weigh them if you have a scale! or about 2 1/2 to 3 cups per can. And yes, I would chop them up. You can use my fresh tomato sauce recipe too as a guide if you want!
The San Marzano tomato sauce recipe looks amazing! I love how simple and fresh the ingredients are. Can’t wait to try this.
I plan to make this in a few days: I’m just waiting on my DOP San Marzano tomatoes from Amazon. (After reading comments on San Marzano tomatoes & watching your YouTube video on this recipe, I decided not to make this until I have the DOP ones.)
Questions: have you ever added wine to this recipe? If so, do you have that recipe on your website/blog? Also, what’s the max time to simmer this sauce? How many servings does this make with 5 of the 28 oz cans?
Thanks in advance!
Hey Britt, so glad you have the DOP tomatoes on the way! Always makes for a special sauce. 🙂 So, a little hard to determine for everyone what the exact measurements are because it depends how much it reduces. Each 28 oz can is about 3 cups, so with 5 that’s 15, then I’d say it reduces by a few cups. So it makes a hearty portion of about 12(ish) cups! Again, guesstimating a little there cuz the more the sauce cooks the more it reduces so it just depends! But I hope that helps 🙂
This has to be the best Salsa Pomodoro I’ve made yet…and have tried a few!
Sautéed the garlic; dumped it in the slow cooker added the rest, including Parmesan rind (worked brilliantly as it does in my Bolognese) – 5 hours on low, stir as and when and hey presto! Fresh oregano and basil at the end step it up to sublime! Had some gnocchi around…easy and why not! Bravo!
I made the recipe exactly as detailed. I had a reggiano parm rind and came out perfect. I have a family member who loves meat so I cooked some Italian mild sausage and made a small batch with that. Outstanding with a nice Amarone.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the sauce, Creig 🙂 sounds like a delicious pairing. I appreciate you sharing!
I love this sauce recipe. Question. Am I able to can this tomato sauce?
So glad to hear it, John! Yes, lots of readers have had success with canning it 🙂