I love a good heavy, complicated pasta sauce as much as the next gal, but sometimes simplicity is best. Here’s my go-to low-effort pasta sauce.
All you need are cherry tomatoes, garlic cloves, white onion, basil and a few basic spices; and 30 minutes. Yes. It’s that fast!
Keep in mind that these are the amounts I use for about 2 servings. I am a 27 year old woman living in a one bedroom apartment alone, and I don’t love having tons of leftovers, so most of my recipes make roughly a serving or two. Double the recipe amounts if you want more.
So start by putting about 15 cherry tomatoes, three whole peeled garlic cloves, 8-10 basil leaves (fresh is best if you grow your own like me) and several large chunks of onion in an oven safe dish.
Cover generously with my favorite Red Chili Pepper Olive Oil from Papa Vince Olive Oils over the whole thing. Regular olive oil works fine too, but the Papa Vince Chili Olive Oil gives it a nice subtle spice that is to die for.
Now cover with a layer of each: salt, black pepper, Trader Joe’s Onion Salt (or regular onion salt if you want to be lame) (you can also substitute onion powder if you want less sodium), and Italian seasoning (I like the Dash Italian because it doesn’t add any salt). You can mix it in a little bit if desired, but it’s not totally necessary since we will be mixing it all up after baking.
Bake in the over at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes and garlic are nice and soft, and ready to smoosh.
Pour the entire mixture into an emulsifier (you can use a blender as well, you just may need to add water or some liquid) and blend it up until it becomes a sauce consistency. I like to leave mine kind of chunky, but you do you.
And that’s it! You have the most amazing flavor bomb of a sauce and it was that easy.
It is also very cost efficient as there aren’t too many ingredients and the few ingredients it does have are relatively inexpensive. If you grow your own basil, like me, it cuts down the cost even more!
Finally, I’d like to add that making your own pasta sauce from scratch it 1000x better than buying pre-packaged sauce. There are less added chemicals and preservatives, you can customize the taste to your buds, and it’s so much more fresh. I know normally the reason for store bought pasta sauce is that it’s easier, cheaper and less time consuming, but with this fast, simple and inexpensive recipe, there’s nothing to lose!
So what are you waiting for? Go make your own pasta sauce from scratch like the Italian chef you are!