Roasted Marinara Sauce (Red or Green Tomatoes)

I wish I could say this marinara recipe was passed down to me from my Italian grandmother. Or how I learned to make it as a child, standing on a chair next to the stove as my mom helped me stir the simmering sauce with a wooden spoon.

Instead, it comes from a frazzled gardener desperate to do something with a pile of green tomatoes before she and her husband left for a fall hunting trip to Newfoundland. 

That frazzled someone is me (surprise, surprise). It may have come out of desperation, but has since become a go-to way to use up a bundle of tomatoes of varying ripeness that needed rescuing from a looming frost.

Someday I’ll share my Grandma Carm’s homemade ravioli recipe or how my mom makes amazing spaghetti sauce using Italian sausage from our hometown in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In the meantime, let’s put the last of your tomato harvest to good use!

Why I love this marinara sauce recipe

There are many reasons this recipe has become a go-to for using up end-of-season tomatoes:

• Uses simple, fresh ingredients
• No need to remove tomato skins or seeds
• Don’t need the perfect “paste” tomato — just use what you have
• The tomatoes don’t even have to be ripe!
• Easily scalable based on how many tomatoes you have
• Freezer-friendly 

Supplies

• Cutting board
• Knife
• Baking sheet or roasting pan
• Silicone baking mat
• Saucepan or Dutch oven
• Food processor
• Rubber scraper/spatula

Marinara ingredients

Ingredient quantities are best left to tase based on how many tomatoes you have. Here’s what I used for this batch:

• Fresh tomatoes — enough to fill a baking sheet
• Garlic cloves — I typically use a whole bulb
• Whole onion
• Extra virgin olive oil — enough to coat tomatoes
• Fresh or dried Italian herbs, such as basil, oregano, thyme, and bay leaf
• Salt and pepper
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce or sugar (optional – to balance acidity)

How to make roasted marinara sauce

1. Roast the tomatoes.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise and arrange on a baking sheet with a baking mat. Drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix together to coat. Roast in the oven for a total of 60 to 70 minutes, stirring at least once part way through.

2. Sauté the garlic and onions.

While the tomatoes are in the oven, slice or chop an onion. Coat the bottom of a saucepan or Dutch oven with olive oil and heat the burner over medium-low. Add the onions. While the onions soften, peel and chop the garlic cloves. Add garlic for the last few minutes. 

2. Puree into a sauce.

Allow the roasting pan and saute pans to cool. Transfer the tomatoes, garlic, and onions into a food processor and blend until a sauce forms. 

3. Simmer the sauce. 

Add the sauce back into your saucepan on the stove top. Bring the contents to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add herbs, additional salt and pepper, and Worcestershire sauce or sugar. Allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes. If the sauce is runny, leave the lid off to achieve a thicker consistency. Add more salt, pepper, and herbs to taste. Sometimes I sneak in garlic powder at the end if that whole clove just wasn’t enough!

This batch turned out red, but it always looks different based on the ratio of red to green tomatoes.

Enjoy your sauce fresh or allow to cool and freeze in pint or quart mason jars. 

Your turn

How do you make use of an end-of-season garden harvest? Let me know in the comments below.