There’s nothing better than a homemade pasta sauce recipe! Here are the top 10 sauces to make your dinners taste better.
Purchased marinara is good and all, but it can’t hold a candle to the real thing. That’s right, a homemade pasta sauce recipe cooked with love is the best meal around. You may not always have time for a homemade sauce, but many times cooking from scratch is easier than you think.
Here are our top 10 homemade pasta sauces to make when you need inspiration! There’s a good quick and easy red sauce, tangy, garlicky and bright. Then pick from the best creamy white sauce, bright green pesto cream sauce, or even a light and fragrant white wine sauce. With these these sauces to your arsenal, there’s nothing you can’t do.
And now…the top homemade pasta sauces!
When it comes to homemade pasta sauces...this one is king. It's tangy, super flavorful, and also takes about minutes to make. Meet our new best ever easy marinara sauce! It’s heavy on the tangy sweet tomato flavor, a little garlicky, and perfect for spaghetti or any noodle you choose.
Total time: 17 minutes
Here’s a delicious homemade pasta sauce everyone should know how to make: cream sauce! This luscious sauce is perfect for pasta and is ready in 10 minutes. It’s so simple to whip up by making a roux, a skill all cooks should have in their back pocket. Even better: you don’t have to use cream! Milk is all you need for this garlic cream sauce, then add just a small sprinkle of Parmesan cheese at the end.
Total time: 10 minutes
Here’s a genius kitchen move: 5-minute pesto cream sauce! Did you know you can simmer pesto with cream and it thickens into a sauce? Just throw these two ingredients into a pan and voila! You’ve got a beautiful, bright green sauce that’s full of savory, herby flavor.
Total time: 5 minutes
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!
Total time: 20 minutes
Adding wine to a pasta sauce makes it taste like it’s from at a fancy restaurant…but it’s easy to make at home! The flavor tangy from the wine and savory from the Parmesan cheese. Our favorite way to serve this is with pasta: it’s a simple light sauce that takes only 15 minutes to put together.
Total time: 15 minutes
Looking for a great tomato sauce? Here’s your recipe: this Tomato Cream Sauce! Rich heavy cream is the ideal pairing with tangy, acidic tomatoes. The way the cream rounds out the flavor and texture is simply stunning. It’s similar to an Italian vodka sauce, but a lot less work.
Total time: 30 minutes
Looking for a simple pasta sauce that packs a big flavor punch? Try this Garlic Butter Sauce! It’s easy to whip up with only a handful of ingredients, but man is it irresistible. It’s also great for customizing based on the veggies you have on hand.
Total time: 20 minutes
This homemade pasta sauce has a secret: it's plant-based! This vegan alfredo sauce recipe is the perfect example. It’s creamy and luscious, yet full of nutrient-rich cauliflower and protein-packed cashews. It couldn't be more lusciously creamy.
Total time: 25 minutes
The secret to Italian grandmother style vodka sauce? Simmer the pasta sauce. For 1 hour! You won’t see a lot of 1 hour simmers over here, since we’re all about fast and easy dinner recipes. But even more than fast and easy, we’re obsessed with flavor. Our best vodka sauce is so full of flavor, it’s worth every second of that simmer.
Total time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Last up in our top homemade pasta sauces: ever wanted a healthy version of a white pasta cheese sauce? Meet the answer: creamy cauliflower sauce! This sauce is like a healthy alfredo sauce, but unlike the traditional version, you’ll feel light and vibrant afterwards. It's lusciously creamy, with garlic and Parmesan cheese.
Total time: 20 minutes
More pasta recipes
There are so many delicious ways to make sauces from scratch! Here are a few tasty pasta recipes to try, some of them showcasing the sauces above:
- Try Easy Tortelloni or Cheese Tortellini in Creamy Marinara
- Go big with Burrata Pasta with Tomato Basil Sauce or Pesto Cavatappi
- Opt for Mushroom Pasta with Parmesan or Roasted Eggplant Pasta
- Add shrimp for Cajun Shrimp Pasta or Creamy Shrimp Pasta
- Grab Homemade Mac and Cheese or Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
- Bake up a pan of Baked Rigatoni
Want more? Head to 18 Types of Pasta to learn more about pasta shapes and how to use them in your cooking.
Easy Homemade Pasta Sauce
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This homemade easy marinara sauce is full of tangy tomato flavor and takes just over 15 minutes to make: no chopping required!
Ingredients
- 28 ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes (or best quality crushed tomatoes)*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, place the crushed tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, oregano, kosher salt, and whole basil leaves.
- Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer 15 minutes.
- If desired, pulse with a blender: All crushed tomato brands are different, and some may be chunkier than other. If you’d like, pulse the sauce a bit in a blender or immersion blend to get to the desired texture (we like ours a little chunky, but you could make it fully smooth too).
Notes
*If you can’t find fire roasted tomatoes, use the best quality tomatoes you can find. Taste the tomatoes before you start. If they taste bitter, you may need to simmer the sauce a little longer than the stated timing. Fire roasted tomatoes taste sweet right out of the can so they can simmer less time, whereas other brands taste bitter and need longer to simmer.
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian inspired
Keywords: Pasta sauce recipe, Pasta sauces, Homemade pasta sauce
Let us know if you have any questions!
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