Our red wine pasta sauce is perfect for any weeknight dinner. It’s made with robust red wine, fragrant garlic and herbs, and juicy tomatoes. The subtle sweetness of the wine meshes perfectly with the savory ingredients to create an unforgettable pasta dish that your family will love.
It is quick to prepare, but the flavors deepen after a long, slow simmer. Serve it over your favorite pasta, or use it as a base for our lasagna with cottage cheese.
You can make this rich, versatile pasta sauce from scratch at a considerably less cost than a jar of store-bought sauce.
Is Pasta Sauce the Same as Marinara Sauce?
While both sauces are tomato based and used interchangeably, there are some differences in their ingredients, texture and preparation methods.
Marinara sauce is a type of pasta sauce that has a simple tomato base and is quick to prepare. Pasta sauce is any type of sauce that you can pair with pasta, from pesto to Alfredo or a garlic-butter sauce.
This recipe for red wine tomato sauce has extra flavor from wine and a long simmer and is a great example of a typical pasta sauce that you find in a restaurant.
What causes Italian Tomato Sauce to have a bitter taste?
Making a good tomato sauce requires a balancing act between acidity and sweetness.
Tomatoes are a high acidic food with a good portion of that acid contained in their seeds. The long cooking time required for making Italian tomato sauce can concentrate the acidic flavor. There are a couple of tricks to prevent or correct the balance of the sauce.
- Add a touch of sugar and/or a chopped carrot in the initial process may prevent bitterness.
- Cooking the sauce for no more than 1-1/2 hours.
- A pinch of baking soda will change the pH of the sauce and make it less acidic.
- Stir a teaspoon of butter into the hot sauce
Making Red Wine Pasta Sauce:
Here is a brief overview to get an idea of what to expect when making wine based tomato sauce. Scroll down to the printable recipe card for all the details.
Store the sauce in Mason jars in the fridge for up to five days. You can also freeze some for a future yummy dinner.
- Sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil.
- Stir in two large cans of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, dried oregano, basil, sugar, seasoning and a bay leaf.
- Bring the sauce to boil.
- Reduce heat to low.
- Cover and simmer for 1-1/2 hours.
- Puree with an immersion blender or a food blender.
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.
Red wine pasta sauce will be a family favorite, so make a large batch and freeze some for later.
I know it is pretty easy and convenient to just open a jar of store-bought tomato sauce but we hope you try this recipe. Taste and see how delicious and easy it is to make tomato sauce from scratch.
We would love to hear what your favorite tomato-based Italian dish is.
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Red Wine Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium onions finely chopped
- 8-10 garlic cloves minced
- 2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes, not drained
- 1 six-ounce can tomato paste
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1-1/2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 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.
John / Kitchen Riffs
Wednesday 1st of May 2019
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.
Pat Nyswonger
Wednesday 1st of May 2019
Thanks, John....This supply won't last long at our house either! ?