Red Sauce Pasta Recipe
Red sauce pasta is a delicious pasta dish made with tomatoes, garlic, dried herbs and seasoning. Making Italian style red sauce is easy and quick for weeknight dinners just like my white sauce pasta . You can use fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes or even tomato paste to make a simple red sauce. In this blog post, I have shared a basic red sauce recipe and made few variations like creamy red sauce pasta, cheesy red sauce pasta and baked pasta. Make sure you serve red sauce pasta with garlic bread, roast chicken and caesar salad for a filling meal. Learn how to make delicious red sauce pasta with step by step pictures and video.
Equipment
- Cooking pot
- Blender
Ingredients
Red Sauce for Pasta
- 3 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 10 cloves Garlic chopped finely
- 3 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 500 grams Tomatoes
- 2 teaspoon Sugar
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper Powder
- 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Dried Basil
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Flakes
For Cooking Pasta
- 2½ cups Dried Pasta 250 grams
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- 6 cups Water
For Creamy Red Sauce Pasta
- ¼ cup Cream
- ¼ cup Parmesan Cheese
For Cheesy Baked Red Sauce Pasta
- 1 teaspoon Butter
- 2 tablespoon Cream Cheese
- 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
- 2 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
Homemade Red Sauce
- For making red sauce pasta. You have to start by chopped garlic very finely, remove them to a bowl and set aside. For making tomato puree, take tomatoes and chop them into pieces, add them to a blender and make it into a fine puree. Don’t add water when grinding. Set aside till use.
- In a heavy bottom pan with a lid. Add in olive oil and turn on the heat. Add in chopped garlic and let them heat through for 1 minute till garlic gets fragrant. Now add in tomato paste to the garlic oil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes till it gets caramelised and raw smell leaves from it.
- Pour in the freshly made tomato puree and mix well into the garlic and oil. Once it is mixed well, cover with a lid and cook on medium high heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Now open the lid, give a good mix. Season the red sauce with salt and sugar to taste. Taste and adjust salt and sugar as needed. Cover and cook on low heat for 5 more minutes.
- Sprinkle with dried herbs oregano, basil, pepper and red chilli flakes. Mix well. Take it off the heat and allow them to cool completely before pouring into glass jars. You can store this in fridge upto a week or more.
- Now cook your pasta. Bring lots of water to a full boil, add salt to taste. Add in dry pasta into the boiling water and cook as per package directions. Once pasta is cooked, before draining the pasta, remove some pasta cooking liquid for later use. Now drain the pasta in a colander and set aside.
- For making red sauce pasta, simple add cooked pasta into the red sauce along with pasta cooking water and toss well. Red sauce pasta is ready to serve.
For Creamy Red Sauce Pasta
- Use around 2 cups of the prepared red sauce for the measurement. Take pasta sauce in a pan, add in cream and parmesan cheese. Mix well. Once it is heated through, toss in cooked pasta and stir to combine. Serve hot.
For Cheesy Baked Red Sauce Pasta
- Use around 2 cups of the prepared red sauce for the measurement. Heat butter in a pan. Add in the pasta sauce and heat it gently. Add in cream cheese and mozzarella cheese. Mix well. Once it is heated and the cheese is melted. Toss in cooked pasta and stir to combine. You can serve this as it is to bake them.
- For baking, transfer the pasta to a baking dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Place it inside a 200 degree C preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Video
Notes
- If you don’t have fresh tomatoes, you can use canned or tinned tomatoes. You might need to add 2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes. In that case, opt for canned whole tomatoes rather than crushed tomatoes. Whole canned tomatoes has better flavour than crushed tomatoes or tomato puree.
- You can add less garlic if you prefer milder garlic taste. Also you can add more chilli flakes if you like it spicy.
- Chopped onions or shallots can be added in the sauce for flavour.
- You can add cheese when you add cooked pasta into the red sauce for cheesy pasta.
- Use sweet variety of tomatoes for better taste in pasta.
- Never skip pasta cooking water, as it emulsify the sauce and makes it cling to the pasta. Cooked vegetables like sweetcorn, peas, carrots, green beans, broccoli can be added in the sauce. Similarly you can use cooked chicken and prawns in the pasta.
Storage & Serving
Prepared red sauce can be stored in fridge upto a week or more. You can simple boil noodles or pasta and toss with the sauce and serve. You can even use this sauce to make pizza.Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 392kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 14gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 44mgSodium: 2.246mgPotassium: 487mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 1.591IUVitamin C: 18mgCalcium: 262mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!