Easy “Homemade” Tomato Sauce (Using a Jar of Marinara!)

Bring your jar of store bought tomato sauce from a 5 to a 10!

(By the way, this is literally my bolognese recipe without the meat.)

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INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbs olive oil
• Half of a yellow onion
• 4 garlic cloves (never trust a recipe that lists “1 garlic clove” as an ingredient. This is a lie.)
• 1 tbs Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Salt/pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine (optional but suggested)
• 1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce/marinara (I like to use a 32 oz jar)
• 1-2 tsp sugar
• Parmesan and parsley (for garnish)
• Pasta!

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DIRECTIONS

1. Dice the onion and garlic
2. Heat the olive oil in pan over medium high heat
3. When the oil is hot (but not smoking) add the onion to the pan, let stick to brown for a minute, stir and then add the garlic and continue to stir on and off for another minute.
4. Add Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, about a half tsp of salt, about a half tsp of pepper, and continue to stir. It should start to stick to the pan a bit after a minute or so.
5. Add half a cup of red wine (or more!) to deglaze the pan. Stir once or twice to pick up the flavor from the bottom of the pan.
6. Turn the heat all the way down, add the jar of tomato sauce and stir to combine the onions and garlic.
7. Once the sauce has started to bubble, give it a taste. Now is when you get to improvise and make any changes you want. At this point I usually add about a teaspoon of sugar if the sauce isn’t sweet enough. If it’s too sweet or I added too much sugar I’ll add a pinch of salt. I almost always add more freshly cracked pepper.
8. Did I forget to tell you to make the pasta? I always forget to make pasta until the sauce is done… so if you read these instructions before you started – get going on the pasta! If you didn’t, I apologize.
9. Plate with a bed of pasta, topped with a heaping cup or two of sauce, and garnish with a little chopped parsley.

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NOTES

• Easily turn this into a bolognese sauce by adding meat! You can follow my recipe for weeknight bolognese sauce here.
• Want to skip the jar of marinara and make this completely from scratch? Follow my Easy Homemade Tomato Sauce recipe here.
• Let’s talk about “deglazing.” This fancy word you see on menus and in recipes literally just means “removing and dissolving browned food residue from a pan to flavor sauces, soups, and gravies.” (Thanks Oxford dictionary.) Traditionally it’s done with wine but you can use chicken stock, juice, or anything else that might fit what you’re cooking.
• Chances are you are going to make this recipe your own, very quickly. Don’t like spicy food? Leave the red pepper flakes out. Like it really spicy? Add way more than I do. That’s the whole point so go for it!