Essential Italian Herb Pasta Sauce
The perfect marinara sauce to be used with noodles, lasagna, or any other pasta dish. This can be a sauce with or without meat
Equipment
- Crockpot or large stew pot
Ingredients
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 large carrot peeled and shredded
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 28 oz cans crushed roma tomatoes
- 12 oz tomato paste
- 2 tbsp oregano
- 2 tbsp basil
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
Instructions
For herb sauce
- In a medium sized pot, sauté onions, garlic, and carrots in olive oil on medium heat until they are golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes
- In either a large stew pot or crockpot, add sauteed vegetables, cans of tomatoes, spices, and brown sugar
- Stir well to combine and cook on low heat for 6 hours
- Once sauce is cooled, divide out into 3 portions
For sauce with meat
- Cook italian sausage on the stovetop until it is cooked through. Add one pound of meat to each portioned out section of sauce
Notes
This pasta sauce will create enough for 2-3 pasta dishes. I freeze each portion in gallon bags. Fill each ziplock and lay it flat on a cookie sheet in the freezer so they freeze flat and are easier to store.
I double this recipe when I make it, and freeze most of it.
When making a meat sauce, only add 1 lb of cooked meat to each frozen portion, not the whole batch. This can be done either before you freeze it or at the time of serving it.