Here’s the ideal quick tomato sauce recipe for pasta: Tomato Basil Sauce! It’s got a rustic texture and a tangy, developed flavor.
Need a great homemade tomato sauce for pasta? Try this Tomato Basil Sauce, a rustic sauce that’s bold on tomato flavor: in 20 minutes! Some tomato sauce recipes bubble for an hour or more, but this one’s quick to whip up. It works with 8 ounces pasta, so it’s great for a fast weeknight dinner with a few easy sides: or double for a crowd!
Ingredients in tomato basil sauce
This tomato basil sauce comes out with a rustic texture and a tangy, tomato forward flavor. Fresh basil adds just the right peppery nuance! There’s just a handful of ingredients in this one. Like many Italian-style recipes, it’s simplify at its finest. Just a few ingredients make massive flavor. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Canned whole San Marzano tomatoes
- Salt
- Basil
Whole tomatoes are key (San Marzano preferred)
Whole canned tomatoes are what make the body of this sauce so tasty. It’s a little unusual, since most canned tomato sauce recipes are made with crushed or diced tomatoes. Here’s what to know about this specific type of tomato:
- San Marzano tomatoes are an Italian variety of tomato (not a brand). They have a sweeter, Italian-style flavor straight out of the can.
- Where to find them? They’re becoming widely available in many American grocery stores, so you should be able to find them in the canned tomato section. They’re worth seeking out here.
Serve tomato basil sauce chunky, or blend
This tomato basil sauce recipe comes out with a chunky texture that’s a little more rustic than most sauces. You can stay with it chunky, or simply give it a little whiz with the blender or immersion blender before serving. Here are some notes:
- You’ll mash the whole tomatoes into a chunky sauce with a potato masher. The flavor of whole tomatoes is a step above crushed tomatoes. See the photo for the approximate texture.
- This results in a chunky texture. The rustic texture gives beautiful bursts of tomato basil flavor. The sliced garlic (instead of minced) also contributes to the chunky texture.
- Whiz it up if you like! You can immersion blend the sauce to make it smoother, more like what you’d expect from a jarred marinara sauce.
How to serve tomato basil sauce
This tomato basil sauce we developed especially for our stunning Burrata Pasta: one of our top favorite pasta recipes. The way the chunky sauce coats the noodles makes for little bursts of tomato, garlic and basil flavor. Of course, you can serve it in a myriad of different ways. Here are some ideas:
- Swirl into 8 ounces spaghetti, bucatini, or other long noodles (aka Homemade Pasta Marinara)
- Stir in 2 to 4 ounces goat cheese for a creamy pasta
- Add burrata cheese on top for Burrata Pasta
- Use in baked pasta like Baked Rigatoni (scaled to 1.5 times the recipe)
More pasta sauce recipes
These homemade pasta sauce recipes are great for easy, throw-together meals! Here are some favorites:
This tomato basil sauce recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.
Description
Here’s the ideal quick tomato sauce recipe for pasta: Tomato Basil Sauce! It’s got a rustic texture and a tangy, developed flavor.
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
- 28 ounce whole San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup roughly chopped basil leaves, plus more for garnish
- 8 ounces spaghetti or bucatini pasta
- Add the olive oil to a saucepan over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and cook for about 30 to 45 seconds until lightly browned and fragrant.
- Add the whole tomatoes with the can liquid, taking care as it will spit when the tomatoes hit the hot oil. Use a potato masher to break up the tomatoes into small pieces (see the sauce photo above). Add the kosher salt and chopped basil leaves and bring to a heavy simmer.
- Cover the saucepan with a lid slightly ajar and simmer, bubbling rapidly, for 10 to 12 minutes until thickened. It will have a chunky, rustic texture (see the photos). If you prefer it smoother, carefully pulse it in a standard blender or with an immersion blender until it comes to the desired texture. Serve with 8 ounces spaghetti.
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian inspired
- Diet: Vegan
Keywords: Tomato basil sauce, tomato sauce, tomato sauce recipe