Home > Recipes > Meals > Classic Tomato Sauce
Even though I love food and I want my food to be good, I wouldn’t call myself a food snob by any means. I don’t have super high standards, I believe I’m annoying about it, and I don’t think I’m “too good” for certain types of food. But… there is one type of food that I am a borderline “snob” about. And that is Italian food.
Having an Italian father who is a really good cook, and spending time in Italy with family eating real Italian food I have admittedly developed a pretty specific palette when it comes to Italian food in America. Italian food traditions are very important to families and recipes are passed down through the generations. Because of this I believe all Italians have a really specific taste and they don’t like foods that differ from those tastes a lot. I’m pretty open to trying Italian food that people other than my family make, and I usually like it, but one thing I really don’t budge on is Italian restaurants here in the US. I don’t really like going to Italian restaurants because the food is never as good as the food I can get at home and it is always way overpriced. This may be a hot take, but you should never get pasta at a restaurant unless you know they give you a large serving. Usually, you get charged $25+ for a pasta dish that costs $5 to make and they give you like 4 ravioli or one little spiral of spaghetti. That is such a ripoff!! Because of this I have perfected (thanks to my family) the classic tomato sauce and swear by it for any dish that needs tomato sauce.
It’s 5 ingredients (can be 6 if you decide to add basil), super simple, and filled with flavor. It makes me cringe when I see videos of people online dumping Italian seasoning, parsley, oregano, or whatever else they think is needed. You don’t need that!! All you need is tomato sauce, salt, olive oil, and garlic. Trust me, I promise you won’t be disappointed. Every time someone has been like “you need more seasoning” “where’s the flavor?”, I have them try this sauce and all their comments disappear.
Ingredients
- 1 can of tomato sauce (get how many ounces you want, a 28-oz can makes quite a bit but it can be saved to use at a later time) (the best quality would be tomato passata, which is pure tomatoes in a skinny glass jar, a popular brand is Mutti, but I have a hard time finding those in my local grocery stores so I get a can of tomato sauce, with no additives).
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed with the back of a knife
- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
- Couple of pinches of salt (this is really dependent on taste)
- Water (fill tomato sauce container 3/4 the way with water, get off leftover tomato sauce)
- 2-3 basil leaves, if desired.
Instructions
- Heat olive oil and garlic over medium heat in a large pan until fragrant
- Pour tomato sauce into the pan, mix oil and sauce. Add salt.
- Pour in water with leftover tomato sauce from the can. Mix. Bring sauce to a simmer and lower the heat.
- Cover the pan with a mesh pan cover, to avoid splash back (if using a normal pan lid make sure to lift the lid often to let the water evaporate). Mix sauce often to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 40 minutes until sauce has reduced a bit and thickened. Taste often to adjust salt*
- About 15 minutes in, add basil leaves if wanted.
- Once sauce is done remove garlic and basil leaves.
- Use as desired, I usually use this sauce when making pasta.
* If you add to much salt you can add a tiny bit of sugar to help balance the salt. But only add a little bit to avoid the sauce turning sweet!