This easy and healthy hearty marinara sauce has a loose, slightly chunky consistency with a fresh tomato taste, making the best quick sauce for spaghetti, pizza, meats, and fish, and also as a dipping sauce. It is keto, low-calorie, and low-sodium!
What is marinara sauce?
Known as all marinara in Italy, it is a traditional 17th-century Italian tomato sauce made with onion, garlic, tomatoes, basil, and oregano, used originally as a pasta sauce.
Variations also include olives, capers, and salted anchovies.
Italians use it for spaghetti and vermicelli as well as with meat or fish.
As for texture, marinara is a loose, spreadable sauce with a smooth, slightly chunky consistency usually cooked in 30 minutes or less on the stovetop. This means, it is a quick sauce that is much looser than tomato sauce like Pomodoro sauce, which is a thick, smooth, long-simmered sauce.
It has a deep red color and tastes like fresh tomatoes!
Ingredients and Substitutions
For the Hearty Marinara Sauce:
- 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or another other vegetable oil)
- ¼ small yellow onion, small diced (or white onion)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon granulated stevia, or sugar if you're not on a keto diet to balance acidity
- Table salt to taste (for a low-sodium marinara sauce, add only a pinch)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
How to make marinara sauce at home
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil, and cook the onion for about 3-4 minutes or until softened, stirring now and then. PIC. 1 Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute or until fragrant, stirring occasionally. PIC. 2
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper, dried basil, and oregano. PIC. 3 Reduce the heat to medium-low, bring the mixture to a simmer, and let it cook, covered, for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until slightly thickened. PIC. 4
- You can serve our hearty marinara sauce with spaghetti or any other round, long pasta or noodles such as vermicelli, or with meat or fish such as this Italian baccala or to dip fried foods such as fried cheese sticks or pasta chips.
What to serve healthy marinara sauce with
Italians traditionally use marinara in pasta or on pizza. But nowadays, it has also been used to dip in many fried foods, including seafood.
What's the difference between a marinara sauce and tomato sauce?
Tomato sauce is a broad term including all sorts of red sauces. Classic tomato sauce, for example, is more labor intensive and can use different forms of tomatoes (puréed, diced, whole, etc). Some types like Pomodoro sauce are thick and smooth while others include more ingredients like vegetables (carrots, onion, and celery), ground meat, and wine such as ragu alla bolognese, being not as thick yet chunky. In addition, they will usually simmer for a longer period of time so the sauce reaches deeper flavors and a thicker consistency.
On the other hand, a hearty marinara sauce is a type of tomato sauce made with a few simple ingredients such as crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, oregano, and basil and is simmered in under 30 minutes. The reason why has a bright red color and a fresh tomato taste. Also, it has a thin or loose consistency and it can be left chunky.
What is the difference between marinara sauce and spaghetti sauce?
Basically, marinara sauce takes less time to simmer (under 30 minutes), requires fewer ingredients, and calls for neither extra veggies nor ground meat. It has a thinner consistency and can also be used as a dipping sauce while spaghetti sauce cannot!
On the other hand, traditional spaghetti sauce requires more ingredients including ground meat and some other veggies, takes more time to simmer on the stovetop, and has a deeper flavor and thicker consistency.
Pizza Sauce vs Marinara sauce
Although pizza sauce and marinara sauce are similar, they are not the same. Pizza sauce is thicker and usually smooth while marinara sauce is thinner and slightly chunky.
Pizza sauce is present in our Margherita pizza, kitchen blender pepperoni pizza, shrimp pizza, and breakfast pizza.
Expert TipS FOR MAKING KETO MARINARA SAUCE
- Cut down some prep time by using canned crushed tomatoes instead of peeling and chopping fresh tomatoes.
- Choose a different type of canned tomato, depending on if you want a chunkier or smoother hearty marinara sauce.
- Simmer the sauce a little longer to make it thicker.
- Adjust the herbs and spices to your taste!
- Add some type of sweetener to balance the acidity of the tomatoes.
- Simmer the sauce over medium to medium-low heat and cover with a lid to avoid mess easily.
Is this healthy marinara sauce keto, low calorie, and low sodium?
Yes! It is keto because it uses stevia instead of sugar, low-sodium because it calls for a pinch of salt, and has much fewer calories than most of the marinara sauces out there that require no-healthy ingredients.
Storage
- FRIDGE: Store this healthy marinara sauce recipe in an airtight container or in a Mason jar for about 7-10 days.
- FREEZER: Or, you can make it ahead and freeze it in an airtight container for 3 months.
Other Recipes with Tomato Sauce
- Spaghetti with meat sauce
- Bow tie pasta with tomato basil sauce
- Keto cabbage rolls
- Mediterranean pizza toasts
- Cheesecake Factory four cheese pasta
- Gigi Hadid pasta
- Gluten-free chicken Parmesan
- Penne Pomodoro
- Turkish aubergine with tomato sauce
PIN & ENJOY!
Healthy Hearty Marianra Sauce (Keto, Low-Calorie and Low-Sodium)
Equipment
- 1 large skillet
- 1 wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or another other vegetable oil
- ¼ small yellow onion small diced (or white onion)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon granulated stevia or sugar if you're not on a keto diet to balance acidity
- Table salt to taste for a low-sodium marinara sauce, add only a pinch
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil, and cook the onion for about 3-4 minutes or until softened, stirring now and then. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute or until fragrant, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper, dried basil, and oregano. Reduce the heat to medium-low, bring the mixture to a simmer, and let it cook, covered, for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until slightly thickened.
- You can serve it with spaghetti or any other round, long pasta or noodles such as vermicelli, or with meat or fish such as this Italian baccala or to dip fried foods such as fried cheese sticks or pasta chips.
Recipe Notes
- FRIDGE: Store this healthy marinara sauce recipe in an airtight container or in a Mason jar for about 7-10 days.
- FREEZER: Or, you can make it ahead and freeze it in an airtight container for 3 months.
Nutrition
** Nutrition labels on easyanddelish.com are for educational purposes only. This info is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate, since the nutrition content of recipes can vary based on ingredient brand or source, portion sizes, recipe changes/variations, and other factors. We suggest making your own calculations using your preferred calculator, based on which ingredients you use, or consulting with a registered dietitian to determine nutritional values more precisely.
Please note that health-focused and diet information provided on easyanddelish.com is for educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. Consult with your doctor or other qualified health professional prior to initiating any significant change in your diet or exercise regimen, or for any other issue necessitating medical advice.
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