‍This recipe is perfect for days when you want to make something at home without spending too much time standing over the stove. This is also a great recipe that you can put together in the morning or mid-day and let simmer in an Instant Pot or slow cooker.

If you haven't been saving your leftover red wine for cooking, it's time you start now – this is an excellent recipe for putting it to good use. Reducing the wine in a separate pan is a small step that really brings out the flavors of this easy marinara sauce. But, if you're in a hurry, you can skip that step and simply add the wine to your onion and garlic mixture and reduce there.

We're serving this homemade marinara with pasta, lemon-basil chicken, sautéed mushrooms and zucchini, parmesan cheese, and toasted rustic bread from KC's Kitchen on Saturday evenings through the end of Spring.

Ingredients

• 2 TBSP olive oil 
• 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 yellow onion, diced small
• 3 cans (14.5 oz) of crushed tomatoes 
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp dried or fresh oregano 
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ cup (20 g) roughly chopped fresh basil, plus more for serving

How to Prepare

• In a soup pot over medium heat, sauté onion in olive oil. You will want it to cook until translucent. 
• While waiting on the onion to cook, add red wine to a small saucepan over medium heat and gently simmer until reduced to half. Remove wine from heat and set aside.
• To your onions, add garlic and continue cooking for three minutes. 
• Follow with tomatoes, reduced wine, water, tomato paste, basil, seasonings, and salt.
• Let simmer for 1 hour on low heat (or the "Slow Cook>Normal" function on your Instant Pot). 
• Stir in fresh basil and serve.

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Tip to Reduce Food Waste

If you don't end up eating all of your marinara sauce, try using it on a homemade pizza. You can also freeze the leftover and add it to your next batch, but just make sure you eat all of it. I don't recommend freezing your second batch that has used repurposed marinara.

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