My favorite marinara

Somehow I forgot to post my marinara sauce recipe with my pizza series.  I use the same marinara sauce for pizza, spaghetti,lasagna…pretty much anything needing a red sauce.  I know it seems weird, but I like having the chunky sauce on pizza.  If you don’t, you could also give it a quick blend before putting it on pizza.  I like to make a big batch of this and store the extra in the freezer for later. It’s great for a quick dinner of spaghetti and some sort of vegetable – a meal even my toddler with increasingly picky tastes will eat.

Enjoy!

Marinara Sauce (Makes about 8 cups of sauce)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 cup diced carrots
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 (15.5 ounce) cans no salt added diced tomatoes
3 (8 ounce) cans no salt added tomato sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 bay leaves
½ tablespoon dried basil leaves
½ tablespoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrots. Sauté until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic powder; cook for 1 minute.

2. Add remaining ingredients. Stir to distribute seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cook for 20-30 minutes, until thickened to desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Remove bay leaves before serving or blending.

Nutritional Information (Amount per cup):

Calories: 77
Protein: 2 g
Fat: 2 g
Saturated Fat: less than 1 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Carbohydrates: 14 g
Fiber: 4 g
Sodium: 176 mg

Recipe Notes: Chop your vegetables to your desired size. If you are going to blend the sauce, you don’t need to chop them as small. You could also shred the carrot, if you prefer hiding them in the sauce that way. I try to keep this sauce fairly low in sodium, since whatever it is served with has a fair amount of cheese adding the salt. If you want to make a meat sauce, brown the meat before the vegetables. Remove the meat, drain any fat. Then sauté vegetables in oil. Add meat back in with remaining ingredients.

I freeze this in 2 cup plastic containers. It is best to cool the sauce in the fridge before freezing. Freezer bags would also likely work.

Source: adapted from my mom’s recipe

Low iodine adjustment: Use non-iodized salt.  I made this a lot on my low iodine diets.