This simple and rustic naturally purple’ish San Marzano tomato sauce is not to be underestimated. With just a few quality ingredients you can be enjoying a big ole bowl of beautiful, sweet, tomatoey pasta with chewy ‘pasta fresca’ (fresh egg pasta). And it only takes 30 minutes. Adults and kiddos alike love this pasta and the sauce is so versatile that you can eat it with just about any pasta shape. Pile on the freshly grated cheese, or eat it all by itself. This pasta sauce recipe serves two hungry adults, but feel free to double it to make it for the family or your next vegan dinner party! If you’re new to making pasta sauce, I’ve included step-by-step recipe photos and instructions at the end.
Fresh San Marzano Pasta Ingredients — Use the Best you Can Find
It can’t be stressed enough that the quality of ingredients is always important, but in this pasta dish that uses so few ingredients, it’s key to getting the best flavor. Beyond that, this is a totally easy pasta to make. Scale the recipe up or down for your own needs and freeze any leftover sauce for easy weeknight meals.
- 9 ounces fresh San Marzano plum tomatoes, finely diced (about 4 tomatoes) (250g)
- 4 ounces white or purple onion, finely diced (about 1 medium onion), (115g)
- 2 1/2 ounces purple carrot, finely diced (about 1 medium carrot) (70g)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (26g)
- 2 medium garlic cloves, smashed (9g)
- 6 ounces maccheroni pasta (or other preferred noodles) (160g)
How to Make Fresh San Marzano Tomato Pasta
- Blister the garlic. Add the olive oil and garlic to a pot and heat on medium-high cooking the garlic in the oil until it’s blistered and fragrant (just a couple of minutes).
- Sauté the onions and carrots. When the garlic is blistered, add the diced onion and carrots, season with salt, and cook until the onions are translucent and have turned a light purple color (if using purple carrots) but not browned.
- Add the tomatoes and finish the sauce. Next, add the diced tomatoes, season with a little more salt, give everything a good stir, place a lid (with no holes) over the top, reduce the sauce to a simmer, cook for approximately 25 minutes. Check the sauce every 5 minutes or so and give it a quick stir, place the lid back on and continue cooking until it’s thick and shiny. Turn off the heat while you cook the noodles.
- Cook the pasta. About 5 minutes before the sauce is finished cooking, drop the fresh maccheroni into a pot of lightly salted boiling water and cook for 5 minutes to “al dente” (or as indicated on the package). During the last minute of the pasta cooking time, add about 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water to the sauce and stir it around. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings if needed. If the sauce is still too thick, add a spoonful of starchy water at a time until it’s the perfect consistency.
- Assemble the pasta. As soon as the pasta is cooked through, strain and place the noodles directly into the pasta sauce, turn the heat on and toss everything together, remove from heat and serve immediately and Enjoy!
Ways to Customize this Sauce
This sauce is quick, easy to make, and uses ingredients you probably already have right in your own pantry or growing in your garden. And if you’re wondering about whether or not to grate some cheese over the top…do it if you’re not vegan. Grated parm or Grana Padano makes the perfect savory cheesy contrast to this sweet tomato sauce. If you want to eat less refined carbs, substitute whole wheat or gluten-free pasta noodles.
- blanch the tomatoes to remove the skins before adding the tomatoes to the pan (I didn’t do this step because most of the tomatoes I used had been sliced from the night before)
- make it spicy by adding whole dried peppers to the oil with garlic in the beginning, or add a pinch (or three) of crushed red pepper flakes
- add a beefy, porky, or smokey flavor by throwing in a little ground beef, ground pork, or pancetta and cook it with the olive oil and garlic until cooked through then proceed with the remaining instructions
- add chopped celery to the onions and carrots if you happen to have some on hand
- substitute the onions with shallots
- use regular canned tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes (Mutti brand or other high-quality San Marzano tomatoes is highly recommended)
How to Cook Pasta Like a Pro Every Time
If you’ve eaten a forkful of pasta at your favorite restaurant you may have wondered why it can sometimes be so much richer and velvety (even tastier) than the stuff you make at home. Restaurants typically use more fat (and sometimes dairy) than you’d ever imagine cooking with at home. And one of the biggest differences between your spaghetti and theirs mostly comes down to cooking techniques and the quality of ingredients used. In order to bring out the best texture, flavor, and maximum pasta goodness, follow the guidelines below.
- Don’t pre-cook your pasta noodles. In most cases, try to time the pasta so that the sauce is ready just before (or well in advance of) the noodles and not the other way around.
- Add starchy pasta cooking water to the sauce. Just before the noodles are finished cooking to “al dente” doneness, add a little starchy water to the sauce and stir.
- Don’t over-salt the cooking water. If the pasta cooking water is too salty, it’ll make your final sauce too salty when it gets added. Alternatively, if the pasta water is not salty enough, the noodles will be bland.
- Cook the pasta directly in the sauce at the end and toss. When you can, it’s good to finish cooking the noodles directly in the sauce for 30 seconds to 2 minutes. But this is not a technique to be used when making Pasta alla Carbonara because egg yolks are involved.
- Don’t add any cheese while the sauce is boiling, simmering, or otherwise cooking. Adding grated cheese to a pasta sauce while it’s cooking, causes the cheese to separate and become stringy. The fat in the cheese will separate leaving the sauce oily. Instead, remove the sauce or pasta from the heat and add the cheese after 15-20 seconds. Alternatively, in some recipes, you may serve the grated cheese at the table instead of adding it directly to the pasta.
- Skip the dairy. Butter and cream aren’t necessary to create a smooth velvety texture to pasta, although in the right amounts and in the right sauce the addition can be delicious. If you’re using dairy to enhance the flavor, go for it, but if you’re just trying to create a better mouthfeel, use the techniques above and you can’t go wrong.
- If the sauce is tomato-based use Mutti brand tomatoes (or the best San Marzano DOP tomatoes). My recommended canned tomato brand to use for all your tomato-based pasta sauces is Mutti. These are the best 100% Italian (non-GMO, no additives or preservatives added), tomatoes from near and around Parma, Italy. These tomatoes are available in the US (and other global markets including China. In Italy, if your family doesn’t grow and can their own tomatoes, or buy them from a local producer, Mutti is a staple found in just about every cupboard here. The reason is simple. These tomatoes are delicious with intense real tomato flavor. We have access to an abundant variety of high-quality canned San Marzano DOP tomatoes that we love and buy, but we still always keep Mutti on hand. They’re consistently great-tasting. This is important when I’m developing and sharing recipes. I want the Biting audience to have the best possible results when replicating a dish at home. Using a consistent brand that’s available to me and you make the most sense. I’m not paid by Mutti. for the endorsement. They are just one of the best brands out there, and using them absolutely will make all the difference in your homemade pasta or pizza sauce.
Fresh San Marzano Tomato Sauce w/Maccheroni tips + tricks +FAQ’s
- What are San Marzano tomatoes? Let’s unpack it. You’ve most likely heard of San Marzano tomatoes by now, but just in case here’s why they’re prized all over the world by chefs and people who just appreciate good food. Official DOP San Marzano tomatoes are only grown in a relatively small region between Naples and Salerno, Italy (emphasis on the “DOP”). They’re often pricier than their neighbors in the canned tomato aisle, so are they worth it? In my opinion, absolutely and unequivocally, yes. San Marzano tomatoes are considered the Cadillac of canned (or jarred) tomatoes. Or rather maybe more like the Ferrari? San Marzano is a region of Italy and happens to be a type of plum tomato grown in volcanic soil in the Mediterranean climate. The San Marzano plum tomato variety is longer and thinner than the typical plum “Roma” tomato you find in grocery stores and in many cans and jars. San Marzano tomatoes also have fewer seeds making them ideal for pasta sauces and pastes. Not all canned tomatoes from Italy are San Marzano tomatoes. And San Marzano tomatoes are now grown outside of Italy too (even in the U.S) and the seeds are readily available so you can grow your own if you’re so inclined)! Confused much? Well, the “DOP” abbreviation is a protected status and seal of approval issued by the Italian government for specific foods and food products which must meet rigorous quality control measures to attain this status of “Protected Designation of Origin” which is why Italians (unlike Americans) don’t have to worry about eating woodchips which are unknowingly used as fillers in their bags and little green shakers of grated “Parmesan cheese”! Because like San Marzano tomatoes, other products in Italy like Parmigiano Reggiano cheese from Parma or balsamic vinegar from Modena, also have this protected status and extremely stringent rules and regulations around where the product is grown, how it’s harvested, etc. All that said, we have tons of delicious tomato varieties here in Italy grown across many different regions and Mutti happens to be my favorite brand of commercially canned tomatoes whether or not you buy their San Marzano D.O.P tomatoes or the ones grown in the north or south of Italy. They’re excellent.
- Can I use canned tomatoes or jarred tomatoes in this recipe? Yes, you can! Just replace with equal amounts as is called for.
- What are the top 5 Italian Pasta dishes of all time? In my opinion, it’s impossible there are only 5 that would beat out all the rest, but if I were forced to decide, it could be any of these: Ragù alla Bolognese (with rigatoni, pappardelle or any other appropriate noodle), Pesto alla Genovese, Spaghetti alla Carbonara, Spaghetti or Bucatini all’Amatriciana, Spaghetti or Linguine alle Vongole, and Bigoli all’Anatra. I could name 20 more, but these offer a wide variety and are a great place to start.
Let’s get started!
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Garden Fresh San Marzano Tomato Sauce w/Maccheroni
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 servings depending on the hunger level 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This simple and rustic San Marzano Italian tomato sauce is not to be underestimated! With just a few quality ingredients you can be enjoying a big bowl of beautiful, sweet, tomatoey pasta with fresh egg maccheroni noodles! And it only takes 30 minutes. Adults and kiddos alike love this pasta and the sauce is so versatile that you can eat it with just about any pasta shape. Pile on the freshly grated cheese, or eat all by its deliciously sweet self! This pasta sauce recipe serves two hungry adults, but feel free to double it to make it for the family or your next vegan dinner party!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 9 ounces fresh San Marzano plum tomatoes, finely diced (about 4 tomatoes) (250g)
- 4 ounces white or purple onion, finely diced (about 1 medium onion), (115g)
- 2 1/2 ounces purple carrot, finely diced (about 1 medium carrot) (70g)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (26g)
- 2 medium garlic cloves, smashed (9g)
- 6 ounces maccheroni pasta (or other preferred noodles) (160g)
Instructions
- Blister the garlic. Add the olive oil and garlic to a pot and heat on medium-high cooking the garlic in the oil until it’s blistered and fragrant (just a couple of minutes).
- Sauté the onions and carrots. When the garlic is blistered, add the diced onion and carrots, season with salt, and cook until the onions are translucent and have turned a light purple color (if using purple carrots) but not browned.
- Add the tomatoes and finish the sauce. Next, add the diced tomatoes, season with a little more salt, give everything a good stir, place a lid (with no holes) over the top, reduce the sauce to a simmer, cook for approximately 25 minutes. Check the sauce every 5 minutes or so and give it a quick stir, place the lid back on and continue cooking until it’s thick and shiny. Turn off the heat while you cook the noodles.
- Cook the pasta. About 5 minutes before the sauce is finished cooking, drop the fresh maccheroni into a pot of lightly salted boiling water and cook for 5 minutes to “al dente” (or as indicated on the package). During the last minute of the pasta cooking time, add about 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water to the sauce and stir it around. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings if needed. If the sauce is still too thick, add a spoonful of starchy water at a time until it’s the perfect consistency.
- Assemble the pasta. As soon as the pasta is cooked through, strain and place the noodles directly into the pasta sauce, turn the heat on and toss everything together, remove from heat and serve immediately and Enjoy!
Notes
- If you don’t want tomato skins in your sauce. If you’re starting this recipe using whole tomatoes, you may want to blanch them in boiling water for 30 seconds or until the skins start to come loose from the fruit. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skins and proceed with the recipe. We didn’t mind a more rustic take on this tomato sauce with the skins cooked right in. Plus, we needed to use up the already sliced tomatoes from the night before so removing the peels wasn’t an option. The pasta sauce is excellent with our without the skins!
- If you don’t have purple carrots. Just use regular orange carrots.
- Thin out the sauce using the pasta cooking water. When the pasta noodles are almost finished cooking, add the starchy cooking water to the sauce a little at a time which will help loosen it up. This sauce is a bit on the thicker side because this recipe uses only fresh San Marzano tomatoes and no tomato paste, etc. And San Marzano tomatoes don’t have as much juice as canned tomatoes do. Plus, adding starchy water to pasta sauce happens to be a professional technique to make pasta velvety and rich.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2
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Garden Fresh San Marzano Tomato Sauce w/Maccheroni step-by-step recipe photos and instructions
