# Spaghetti with Garlic Marinara

Spaghetti with Garlic Marinara — a easy recipe with 6 main ingredients, ready in about 30 min and serving 4. Check which of its ingredients are on sale at grocery stores near you.

- **Time:** 30 min
- **Serves:** 4
- **Difficulty:** easy
- **Tags:** dinner, pasta, quick, italian, vegetarian
- **Source:** https://savingrecipes.com/recipes/spaghetti-marinara

## Ingredients

- 1 lb spaghetti
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 onion
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil
- 2 tbsp olive oil _(pantry staple)_
- Salt & pepper _(pantry staple)_

## Instructions

1. Sauté diced onion in oil until soft; add garlic for 1 min.
2. Add crushed tomatoes, simmer 15 min, season with salt.
3. Cook spaghetti; toss with sauce and a splash of pasta water.
4. Top with parmesan and torn basil.

## Tips

- Save a cup of pasta water before draining. The starch in it emulsifies with the sauce so it clings instead of sliding off.
- Add the garlic only after the onion has softened, and give it one minute. Burnt garlic turns the whole sauce bitter and there's no fixing it.
- Finish the pasta in the sauce for the last minute rather than spooning sauce on top. It absorbs flavour instead of just being coated.

## Substitutions

- **Crushed tomatoes:** Whole peeled tomatoes crushed by hand have better texture. Passata is smoother. Fresh tomatoes need peeling and much longer cooking.
- **Parmesan:** Pecorino is sharper and saltier. Nutritional yeast for a vegan version.
- **Fresh basil:** Stir in at the very end — heat destroys it. Dried basil is a different thing; add ½ tsp with the tomatoes instead.
- **Spaghetti:** Any long pasta. Gluten-free pasta works but releases more starch, so use less of the pasta water.

## Storage & reheating

The sauce keeps 5 days refrigerated and freezes 3 months — a double batch is the same work. Dressed pasta doesn't store well, so keep sauce and pasta separate if you expect leftovers.

## Common questions

### Why does my sauce taste sharp or metallic?

Canned tomatoes are acidic. A pinch of sugar, a grated carrot, or a longer simmer all round it out. Don't use baking soda — it flattens the flavour.

### How long should I simmer it?

15 minutes gives a bright, fresh sauce; 45 minutes gives a deeper, sweeter one. Both are correct — they're just different sauces.

### How much pasta per person?

About 4 oz (115 g) dried per person for a main course.


_Photo: Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marinara_Spaghetti_and_meatballs19.jpg)_