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This red wine pasta sauce is a bold, flavorful twist on classic marinara. Simmered with garlic, herbs, and a splash of red wine, it’s the perfect way to elevate pasta night or add a homemade touch to your favorite Italian-inspired dishes. Save this recipe for an easy, freezer-friendly sauce you can use with pasta, casserole dishes, or as a dipping sauce.
Here is Why This Red Wine Sauce Recipe Works
Bold flavor, no fuss: This sauce brings the big, rich flavors of garlic, herbs, and red wine without any complicated steps. Fancy, but make it easy.
Homemade taste that beats the jar: Once you try this, store-bought marinara will feel like a bad memory.
Versatile for all your cravings: Not just for pasta…. think pizza, lasagna, eggplant Parmesan, or even meatball subs. It’s the sauce that does it all.
Freezer-friendly lifesaver: Make a big batch and freeze it. Your future self will thank you when dinner’s ready in minutes.
This sauce is really delicious. You can use it in all your favorite recipes that call for tomato sauce. Try some on pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, our cottage cheese lasagna, or as a dipper for breadsticks. It’s even good on our sausage pizza or veggies.
The Ingredients
- Produce: Onions, garlic.
- Pantry: Olive oil, diced tomatoes, tomato paste
- Spices and Seasonings: Dried thyme, dried oregano, dried basil, bay leaf, sugar, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper.
- Other: red wine.
Pasta Sauce Variations
Creamy Tomato Wine Sauce: Stir in ½ cup of heavy cream during the last 5 minutes of simmering the marinara sauce.
Rustic Vegetable Marinara: Add 1 cup of diced zucchini, bell peppers, or carrots to the onions.
Mushroom and Olive Pasta Sauce: Add 1 cup of sautéed mushrooms and ½ cup of sliced black or Kalamata olives.
Best Red Wine for Pasta Sauce
When it comes to choosing the best red wine for pasta sauce, the key is to pick something you enjoy drinking. A dry red wine with a good balance of acidity and flavor will complement the tomatoes and herbs. Here are some great options to consider:
- Cabernet Sauvignon: Bold and rich, this wine adds depth and pairs well with hearty sauces.
- Merlot: Smooth and slightly fruity.
- Chianti: Has a bright acidity and earthy notes.
- Pinot Noir: Pinot Noir works well if you prefer a more subtle wine flavor.
Tips for Success
- Cook the onions slowly over medium heat until they’re soft and translucent. This builds the base of your sauce.
- After cooking the garlic, stir in the wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan to incorporate all the flavorful bits.
- Don’t skip the bay leaf. It adds depth to the sauce, even though you’ll remove it before blending.
- If using a blender, let the sauce cool slightly, and don’t overfill the container to avoid splatters.
- Before serving, taste your sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Storage
Refrigerator: Store the sauce in the fridge for up to 5 days. Make sure the container is tightly sealed to maintain freshness.
Freezing Instructions: Pour the cooled red wine sauce into freezer-safe containers. Leave some space at the top for expansion during freezing. Label with the date and freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheating Instructions: Reheat in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Optionally, you can zap it in the microwave in 45 to 60 second bursts.
Spaghetti Sauce with Red Wine
This red wine pasta sauce is bold, versatile, and endlessly delicious. Perfect for pasta, pizza, or meal prep, it’s the kind of recipe you’ll make once and wonder how you ever lived without it.
Here are just a few ideas to use this sauce: smother it over grilled chicken, use it as a pizza topping, simmer meatballs in it, or stir it into risotto.
More Recipes to Try
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Red Wine Pasta Sauce
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Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 8-10 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 cans diced tomatoes, not drained, 28-oz cans
- 6 oz tomato paste, six-ounce can
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1-½ tablespoons dried basil
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoons sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and cook the onions over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 7-8 minutes.
- When the onions are soft and transparent but not brown, add the garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Stir in the diced tomatoes and their liquid, the tomato paste, the red wine, thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaf, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil, turn the heat to low and simmer for one hour.
- Transfer from the heat, remove and discard the bay leaf.
- Use an immersion blender or kitchen blender and process until the sauce is smooth (if using a kitchen blender, do not fill the container more than 2/3 full and do not cover with the lid.
Notes
- This sauce can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for 5 to 10 days, or in the freezer for 3-months.
- This is a gluten-free tomato-garlic sauce
- Add additional garlic cloves for a more pronounced garlic flavor.
- If using a food blender, allow the sauce to cool before blending and do not overfill the container.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Tomato and garlic cooked together in a sauce? Yes. Just yes. 🙂 Love this recipe — and so versatile. Use it on pasta, of course, but in so many other dishes. We always have some sort of Italian-style tomato sauce in our freezer. Terrific post — thanks.
Thanks, John….This supply won’t last long at our house either! ?