This Roasted Tomato Marinara Is The Boost Your Meal Has Been Waiting For

Sure, store-bought marinara sauce is a great option when you're in a pinch, but if you haven't tried making your own from scratch yet, you might be surprised to learn how easy it is. This roasted tomato marinara sauce recipe by Catherine Brookes is loaded with natural sweetness and tang, offering a far superior depth of flavor to its jarred counterparts. Here, we slow-roast fresh cherry tomatoes with onion and garlic for the ultimate aromatic and caramelized richness. Once they're cooked, the juicy tomatoes are fall-apart tender, making them ideal for blitzing into a smooth sauce, and a medley of sweet, herby, and spicy add-ins creates a well-rounded blend.

The resulting homemade marinara sauce is incredibly versatile, great for storing in the fridge and using in dishes throughout the week, or even freezing for later. Try tossing it with spaghetti and meatballs, adding it to a hearty lasagne, or spooning it atop a chicken Parmesan. But, be warned, because there'll be no going back to jarred once you've discovered just how delicious this homemade version tastes.

As well as those juicy cherry tomatoes, you'll also need a roughly chopped onion, some whole cloves of garlic (with the skin still intact), extra virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper, dried basil, oregano, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Add the tomatoes, onion, and garlic to a large mixing bowl.

Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss well to coat everything thoroughly.

Spread the coated tomatoes, onion, and garlic out onto two baking sheets.

Bake for 50 minutes, stirring halfway through to ensure even browning.

Peel off the skins from the garlic cloves.

Add the tomatoes and onion to a large jug blender along with the peeled garlic, basil, oregano, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes.

Blitz until smooth, or pulse for a chunkier finish if preferred. Feel free to adjust the salt to taste.

Transfer to a jar and leave to cool before storing in the fridge.

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This homemade sauce offers the perfect opportunity to sneak some hidden veggies into your dinner, especially if you're cooking for picky eaters. Sticking with tomatoes as your base, you can absolutely build on this with a whole host of other vegetables, with various options fitting seamlessly into the sauce. One particularly great choice is carrots, which pack plenty of natural sweetness. Just peel and dice them up, and toss them onto the baking sheets with the tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Bell peppers work wonderfully here too, with red being the go-to color if you want to boost the vibrance of the sauce. Butternut squash or sweet potatoes are also excellent options for adding a delicious dose of caramelized sweetness to the marinara.

To amp up the savory flavor of the sauce, try tossing some diced celery or leeks into the mix. Or, to give it a heartier feel, you could try including some cauliflower florets, which would also give it a bit of a creamy texture. Zucchini and mushrooms are ideal add-ins, too. Essentially, you can customize the sauce however you see fit, so feel free to experiment with whatever you have leftover in your fridge.

Whip up a batch of this sauce, and you'll soon realize just how versatile it is. The sweet and tangy flavor notes of the roasted tomatoes will pair exceptionally well with a whole host of other add-ins, so don't hesitate to customize the marinara to your taste. If you prefer a spicier sauce, you can absolutely increase the amount of red pepper flakes recommended in the recipe, perhaps to half a teaspoon or more. Or, you could roast up some fresh serrano peppers with the tomatoes, and blend these into the sauce. For a more herbaceous flavor profile, try incorporating some extra herbs, such as parsley, thyme, rosemary, or sage. These can either be dried or fresh, but remember that if opting for the latter, you'll need to increase the amount you add by about triple.

To give this marinara a slightly more sophisticated feel, there's also the option to introduce a splash of wine. Red wine is ideal here, adding a fruity, acidic complexity that complements the sweetness of the tomatoes and aromatic flavors of the onion and garlic beautifully. If a deeper, umami richness is your aim, add a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Alternatively, to make the sauce a little richer, try stirring in some melted butter or heavy cream.

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