I hate to sound hyperbolic, but this 5 Ingredient Butter Tomato Sauce is probably the last red sauce recipe I’ll ever need. It’s ridiculously easy and still “lick the spoon” good. No, more like “scoop spoonfuls into your mouth sans pasta” good. Or, “I might have to make this into a soup” good.
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It’s All About the Butter
How is it so good? If you’re a fan of plain buttered pasta with salt and pepper, you already know that it’s all about the butter. Butter gives this sauce a delicate creaminess, compliments the sweetness of the tomatoes, and provides a little bit of body to keep the sauce from feeling too thin or light. It’s just perfect, really. So yes, real butter is mandatory for this recipe.
The Secret is in the Salting
Also, I’m a huge advocate of salting food properly. Salt doesn’t just make food salty, it pronounces individual flavors and helps your tongue differentiate subtleties in flavors that would otherwise be lost.
Too much salt is bad, obviously, for both flavor and health. But, if you salt your food at the very end you’ll get that much needed punch of flavor and still a lot less salt than you’d be getting from pre-packaged or restaurant foods.
This sauce is the perfect example of this concept. When I added the final salt to this sauce after it had simmered for a half hour, the flavor went from “Yeah, that’s tomato sauce.” to “WHOA. Super rich, slightly sweet, and utterly divine.” So don’t judge the sauce until you add your final salt. It changes everything.
Add Toasted Breadcrumbs
What about those deliciously toasty breadcrumbs? They’re an easy, inexpensive, and vegetarian alternative to Parmesan. It’s best to make them out of old stale bread because A) you get better texture and B) you’re saving that bread from being thrown out. See my tutorial on How to Make Breadcrumbs.
Unfortunately I didn’t have any old bread today so I used the store bought bread crumbs that I had in my pantry. They’re still pleasantly flavorful and give the pasta a wonderful texture. The next time you’re about to chuck a piece of stale bread, toss it into the freezer instead (properly wrapped and sealed, of course) and save it for the next time you want to make some super awesome toasted bread crumbs! :)
Recipe adapted from Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce.
Pasta with 5 Ingredient Butter Tomato Sauce
Servings 4Ingredients
TOASTED BREAD CRUMBS (optional)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs ($0.24)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked Pepper ($0.05)
PASTA WITH BUTTER TOMATO SAUCE
- 8 oz. pasta ($0.50)
- 4 Tbsp salted butter ($0.31)
- 3 cloves garlic ($0.24)
- 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes* ($2.43)
- 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
Instructions
- To make the toasted bread crumbs, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the bread crumbs, salt, oregano, and some freshly cracked pepper. Cook and stir the bread crumbs continuously until they achieve a deep golden color. Remove them from the skillet and let cool until ready to use.
- To make the sauce, mince the garlic and add it to a large deep skillet with the butter. Sauté the garlic in the butter over medium heat for about a minute, or just until it becomes fragrant. Add the can of tomatoes, along with all the juices, and some freshly cracked pepper. Break the tomatoes up into a few chunks with your spoon (they should be soft and easily crushed).
- Stir the ingredients in the skillet, then let it come up to a simmer. Once it reaches a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and let it continue to simmer, without a lid, for about 30 minutes. Stir the sauce occasionally as it simmers, breaking the tomatoes into smaller pieces as you stir.
- While the sauce simmers, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Save about 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water before draining the pasta in a colander.
- After simmering for 30 minutes, the sauce should have thickened and become slightly less acidic and slightly more sweet. Season the sauce with a final 1/2 tsp of salt (or to your liking). Add the cooked and drained pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Use some of the reserved starchy cooking water to loosen the pasta if it becomes too dry. Top the pasta and sauce with a generous sprinkle of toasted bread crumbs, then serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Want a version of this 5 Ingredient Butter Tomato Sauce, but with meat? Check out The Best Weeknight Pasta Sauce.
How to Make Butter Tomato Sauce – Step by Step Photos
To make the toasted bread crumbs, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot and shimmering, add 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp oregano, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir and cook the bread crumbs until they become a deep golden color (this happens quickly), then remove from the heat. They should look like damp sand or brown sugar. Let the bread crumbs cool until you’re ready to use them.
For reference, here is a spoonful of the untoasted bread crumbs next to the toasted bread crumbs. (sorry about the blur).
On to the amazing sauce… Start with 4 Tbsp butter and 3 cloves of minced garlic in a large, deep skillet. Sauté the garlic in the butter over medium heat for about a minute, or just until the garlic becomes really fragrant (you don’t want it to brown).
Then add one 28oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes to the skillet. I didn’t realize I bought tomatoes “in heavy juice with basil”, but I didn’t find the basil made much difference in the end flavor. The heavy juice was nice, though. It created an instant sauce that didn’t need much thickening.
Break the tomatoes up into smaller pieces as you stir the tomatoes into the butter and garlic. The tomatoes will be soft and easily crushed with a spoon. Finally, add some freshly cracked pepper. Let the sauce come up to a simmer without a lid. Once it reaches a simmer, turn the heat down to medium-low and let it gently simmer for 30 minutes.
Stir occasionally as it simmers and continue to break the tomatoes up into smaller pieces. The sauce will slowly sweeten as it simmers and become less acidic, but the real flavor comes when you add a final 1/2 tsp of salt (more or less depending on your taste buds). Taste and season accordingly.
While the sauce is simmering away, cook 8oz. pasta according to the directions. Before draining it in a colander, save some of the starchy pasta cooking water because it’s great for loosening up the sauce if it gets too dry when you add the pasta. Stir the drained pasta into the sauce.
Finally, top it with some of those delicious toasted bread crumbs! (I added some chopped parsley just to give the photos some color.)
Then DIG IN.
I haven’t made yet but I am wondering if the sauce can be made ahead of time and reheated?
Yes, for sure! I would just avoid topping with the breadcrumbs until serving.
can the sauce be frozen with butter? just curious if freezing changes texture after reheated?
Hi Molly, you can freeze this sauce. It will not change in texture dramatically.
Could you possibly use diced tomatoes in a can instead? That’s all I had available and I’m curious if it’ll work?
Absolutely! XOXO -Monti
I made the sauce without the breadcrumbs to use for pizza and “lick the spoon good” is the correct description! I used crushed tomatoes since that’s what I had.
This sauce is amazing, my family loves it! And it’s so easy! I add a little sautéed onion and some fresh basil when I have it. I usually use less butter – about 2-3 TBSP – to try to make it a little healthier. I’ve never made the breadcrumbs, but I want to try them.
I make this pasta at least once a month! I love how easy and DELICIOUS it is! Everyone I’ve made it for loves it and I also add fresh basil to the sauce!
If we have spaghetti, this is what my kids want! So simple yet so delicious.
made this with Macaroni instead of Spaghetti then added Cayenne to make it spicy. I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned and it was perfect 😍😍😍😍 thank you so much
I can’t always find canned tomatoes where i live. How many (or how much weight) fresh tomatoes would you use?
Will the sauce be as delicious if I add ground turkey ?
I think that will probably just be a matter of personal preference. :)
Absolutely delicious. I used tomato sauce instead of whole tomatoes (because that’s all I had). It was so good!
Wow so finally someone picked up on my “secret ingredient” I always added to my famous spaghetti sauces, BUTTER! Yes it gives the sauce a velvety rich flavor. Use the butter every time and your guests will always ask for your spaghetti sauce recipe! Warmest regards XOXO
How could a recipe this simple and with such plain ingredients turn out so good?! Friends, it’s the question I asked myself after my second bite of this spaghetti. It was so flavorful and miles better than jar sauce and spaghetti tossed together. In making this recipe I realized that Beth is an amazing cook for being budget and flavor conscious. Brava!
This is the best pasta I’ve ever made. After making it the first time, I’ve made it nearly every other week. I do make a couple of changes. I use gf pasta and panko due to my allergy to wheat and I use at least 5 cloves of garlic due to my affinity for bad breath.
The last time I made this pasta, my oven mitt caught on fire while stirring my the boiling pasta and I sliced my finger on the lid of the tomato can. Even after all that, the pasta turned out wonderful and I was very glad to have its warm tomatoey buttery comfort.
This so reminds me of a dish my late mother used to make, it had elbow macaroni and canned whole tomatoes and butter, and just salt and lots of pepper. Wow, I loved this growing up but don’t seem to make it now, I will have to fix that! Adding garlic and breadcrumbs sounds delicious, I will definitely try that, and cooking the sauce longer, my Mom’s version just heated them through and then you were done.
I usually love BudgetByte’s recipes… But this one just fell flat for us. I like a more flavorful sauce, with lots of herbs I suppose. My husband noted that someone that loves buttered noodles would love this.
So so so good and really simple to make as well! Don’t need to buy sauce (that typically disappoint) any longer. The crunch of the toasted breadcrumbs was a nice touch. Reminds me of the flavor/texture of eggplant parmesan dishes.
I’m obsessed with this! I made it the other day and it was super easy to manage even though I had three pots going on the stage at once. I didn’t do the breadcrumbs but I cooked up some diced chicken to stir through, and I finished it off with grated fresh parmesan. The buttery flavour of the sauce is to die for. Will definitely be making this again.
This sauce is absolutely pure and perfect. It needs nothing extra! Thank you for the great recipe!
Thank you Ellen!
My boyfriend loves your website, and only makes recipes that you post. We are planning an Italian night and we’re making this recipe! We also want to incorperate meatballs with this recipe, but we are not sure when to add the additional bread crumbs. What would you recommend?
You use the bread crumbs on top after the dish is plated, like you would use Parmesan cheese. :) Is that what you were asking?
The toasted breadcrumbs are genius. I’m not vegetarian but occasionally cook for kosher guests and i always keep an eye out for dairy replacements. The texture was surprisingly good and I didn’t miss the cheese at all.
So good! Had this for dinner tonight alongside some steamed veggies. Easy to make and we enjoyed it so muchthat everyone went back for more.
I was skeptical of this recipe – it seemed too simple – but it’s great! Even my 11 year old son who normally turns his nose up at tomato-based sauces liked it. Like others have commented, this is even better heated up as leftovers with a little parmesan on top.
AWESOME! If I would’ve known it was so easy I would’ve made it 20 years ago!!! I will never buy jar sauce again. It is great alone or you can play around with seasonings and add ins- literally a perfect sauce. Good canned tomatoes are key and also good butter – they make a difference. Thank you for this recipe!!
I love this sauce! I use Cento San Marzano tomatoes. It tastes even better as leftovers.
Have you ever bulk prepared and frozen this sauce for future use? I’d like to make a whole bunch all at once but I’m not sure exactly how to change the recipe other than extending the simmering time to allow for more liquid to heat off
I haven’t bulk prepped this one, since it’s so easy to whip up fresh, but I don’t think you’d need to do anything differently to bulk prep it. Just make sure to divide and cool completely in the fridge before transferring it to the freezer. :)
I would like to try this, but with fresh tomatoes. Can you offer any advice? I’m trying to help come up with some recipes to share with food pantry recipients. They have access to lots of fresh tomatoes and this recipe might work!
You might need to blanch and peel the tomatoes first, or else the peels may affect the texture of the sauce quite a bit. Other than that, I’m not sure exactly what changes would need to be made without testing it out and experiencing the flavor difference between the canned and fresh tomatoes. That would guide me on what changes need to be made.
Thank you for the reply. I just now saw your message. I had a feeling that there were going to need to be peeled first.
I made this a couple of days ago with a large can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes and Cavatappi noodles. I skipped the bread crumb topping. A bit ago I reheated the leftovers in a bowl with some wilted baby spinach. My daughter was nearby and asked if I’d save a few bites for her. Ugghh. After she ate the rest she said “this is quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten”. I would agree. For such simple ingredients, this is so INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL!
Incredible!! So glad I tried this and it will definitely become a regular.
Thank you for sharing this awesome and easy pantry recipe!
Hi Sandra, for fresh tomatoes, you might want to try cutting them in half, removing as much tomato gel and seeds from each half into a strainer over a bowl to catch that yummy goodness. You can then place these cut side down on a baking tray with at least 1″ or more of a lip to catch the additional juices. Bake at about 350 or 375 depending on the size of your tomatoes for about 45 minutes or until you see the skins starting to turn dark. You will easily be able to remove the skins while hot and you have a more concentrated tomato product. I do this for my canning now. I would cover the baking tray with parchment paper, especially if there is a question about an acid reaction. I’ve used stainless steel trays and then I found an enamel coated one which was huge. Saved me a lot of roasting time…lol! Anyway, I add fresh garlic, onion, and red bell pepper to the skinned tomatoes, along with the strained and roasting juices, and cook it on the stovetop. You can add anything else you want spicewise and then I use a stick blender to make a smooth sauce (my preference). If all you have are fresh cherry tomatoes, look up the recipes for roasting them. It’s like eating candy! They come out fantastic! I use a little oil when I roast cherry tomatoes in a Pyrex dish because I don’t can those but roasting cherry tomatoes is a very versatile recipe and you can make add Mexican spices, Italian spices, etc. I find myself eating the roasted cherry tomatoes by the spoonful. Hope this helps you with the fresh tomato issue!
great recipe, simple, quick and tasty. I am a huge fan of San Marzano tomatoes and I use them whenever a recipe calls for canned tomatoes. In my area we have Shoprite stores. Their San Marzano tomatoes are the best on the market and I have tried them all! When they have their “can-can” sales I stock up. Just passing this along. Love your recipes, you are very on point!
This is such a great, simple spaghetti recipe! It tastes so much better than store-bought sauce and pasta; it’s filling and delicious! I added some cooked kale from another one of the recipes on this site, just to add some greens to the dish, and it was so tasty (I imagine some cooked spinach would do the trick as well!). The breadcrumbs are such a nice added flavour and texture to an otherwise plain meal.
Definitely late to the party…has anyone tried using 1 can of diced tomatoes and 1 can of tomato sauce? I always seem to have these two things because I buy them at Costco and I have whole tomatoes less often. I did see the comment that diced tomatoes are usually made from the lower quality ones. Maybe I’ll give this a try and post my results (or even do a taste test?).
Hello, thank you for the recipe!
Made this with butter a few times, it’s absolutely perfect, but I was wondering if it would be possible to replace the butter for margarine here ? Sorry if it it’s a silly question!
Thanks so much :)
It’s not a silly question! But no, I would not suggest replacing the butter. The butter is the key to making this sauce taste so good and no substitute will have the same effect. :)
Thanks so much! That’s what I thought too (: You’re a peach, have a great day!
……how does this work?
It’s too easy. It should taste like just plain tomato blah…..but it doesn’t. It was delicious! I didn’t even do the breadcrumbs because I was lazy.
I just noticed this calls for salted butter but I have unsalted butter because that’s what I usually use anyways. Should I just add salt to my liking at that point? I never buy salted butter so I’m unsure of the differences.
Thanks for your time!
Yes you can use unsalted and add salt if you’d like.
Yep, you’ve got it! Just add salt at the end to your liking. :)
Hi! I was wondering if this recipe would work with canned crushed tomato’s?
Yes, although usually the better quality tomatoes are reserved for the whole canned version, and tend to taste better.
I am so happy I found this recipe (and this blog!). I am addicted to this sauce. Great, simple, easy, delicious recipe! =)
I read recipes on Pinterest like its a religion, and I have never commented one way or another on one that I tried, however, this made a truly wonderful sauce. My Nonna was from Sicily, and her sauce was heavenly and totally worth the effort but it takes all day to properly make. This sauce is SO good, and so easy to make, even if your a novice, that I had to say a heartfelt thank you to Beth for publishing it for all of us to try. I know the breadcrumbs are an extra step, and all you working moms who are exhausted – use parm if it’s easier and give yourself a pat on the back that your kids are fed and survived another day! But if you have the time, or energy, try the toasted breadcrumbs at least once – they are crazy good with the silky, buttery sauce.
We make this about once a week now. My kids all eat it without complaining. Thanks for this delish recipe.
1,743mg sodium per serving, plus whatever sodium content is in the canned tomatoes. This is death by salt.
Can you please explain how you got that number?
I’m also Curious. It looks like the added salt is only 3/4 tsp. for an entire recipe. This is a little high for my taste and I’ll likely only add a 1/2 tsp., but that’s not 1743mg… 1/4 tsp of salt is 1500mg. That’s 375 mg per serving (plus whatever salt is in the tomatoes).
ugh, I meant that 3/4 of a teaspoon is 1500mg….
Don’t know where your math comes from but this whole recipe has about 1000mg of total sodium depending on brand of butter used.
That breaks down to roughly 250mg of sodium per serving, or about 17% of the under 1500mg that’s the recommended allowance.
Made it as is and it was great! Kids loved it!
I love this recipe. It is so simple, and yet so good. I like cooking up a bit of sausage and add that to the mix. Our local store has this amazing in store made wild garlic and honey sausage that is just mmmmmm! I often forget the toasted crumbs and just use parm from the shaker (I know, I prefer the taste over the expensive stuff tho).
This was amazing! I really don’t like store bought pasta sauce, it’s always so sweet, so I’m glad this showed me how to make it myself.
This was great I cut it in half and still had left over’s! First tomato sauce that didn’t mess with my tummy, love that I can enjoy spaghetti again! So easy, and tasty, reminded me of a few meals in Italy I had years ago. Thank you for sharing with all of us!!!!
Using extravirgin olive oil instead of butter, and fresh not totally rape tomatoes instead of canned ones makes the meal a lot tastier and not that more expensive…. Add the parsley and grated parmesan, no bread crumbs – best pasta ever.
Wow! I never knew tomato sauce could taste this good. Mr. MLM and my four-year-old stepdaughter LOVED it. She asked me to make it every night, and normally, she is opposed to eating anything but dinosaur chicken nuggets.
This is a family favorite. I have made home-made sauce for decades, and this is one of the best. We use San Marzano canned tomatoes.
This is one of my favorite recipes! It always seems to turn out right. It’s not too heavy, and the bread crumbs add such a lovely dimension to the dish. Love your blog by the way! You’ve helped my family and me sooo much.
Hi Beth! I was just wondering how this dish could be altered to use fresh tomatoes. Do you have any suggestions or advice that could help me? Thank you! Your website is great!
Hi Ciara, I haven’t tried this with fresh tomatoes, but I suspect you may need to simmer it a bit longer. Also, the canned tomatoes are peeled, so you may want to blanch and peel the fresh tomatoes before making sauce with them.
This was amazing. Will be our new go-to for pasta sauce because it’s so easy and tasty. Breadcrumbs were an excellent touch. Thank you for sharing.
I made this tonight and IT WAS AWESOME!!!! The tomatoes were hard to break so I ended up using a potato masher which worked perfectly. One of the best tomato sauces I’ve ever had/made!!!
This is a VERY good sauce, and the breadcrumbs are a nice touch.
I LOVE this recipe. It’s simple and super easy to make. I added some ground beef, onions and angel hair pasta. I also made the bread crumbs, which took the pasta to a whole different level. I increased the servings to six instead of four, so I can have left overs every night when I come home from work. I will definitely make this recipe again. Thank you, Beth!!!! :-)
It looks good. I love it:-)
Best pasta sauce recipe I’ve ever tried! I love your recipes, Beth, because they are simple and OH SO adaptable to one’s preferences. Even besides that, they are excellent as written. I read the comments before attempting it because your readers always have great suggestions and I ended up doing a bit of a “toppings bar” with grated mozz., chopped Italian parsley, fresh ground pepper, red pepper flakes and the seasoned breadcrumbs.
I don’t understand the people who complained it was bland – you know your preferences better than Beth.
Made this tonight. It was ridiculously good. All three kids ate it without complaint. Which is better than the usually 33% refusing to eat!
Wow. Just made it and it taste exactly like the tomato sauce they make at the Italian place down the street. Also my boyfriend loves mean so i used some left over ribs and it works amazing with it.
Excellent, thanks! The second time I made it I added a bit of Maggi (I add it to everything) and some cooking cream, not better than the posted recipe, just a little different.
Yep. Best tomato pasta recipe ever. I stuck to the recipe as written. Amazing.
Made it tonight and loved it! We forgot the bread crumbs but the buttery flavor of the sauce was great. Felt much more satisfying than a jar of sauce on pasta. I didn’t miss the meat at all in this meal.
Planning on making this tonight but I have big meat eaters at my house. Would meatballs work? Without a ton of sauce and all that butter I wasn’t sure if they would really work. If not…..any other suggestions?
I’d just cook the meatballs separately and then combine the sauce and meatballs at the end after they’re both finished cooking.
I cooked some ground beef and an onion beforehand, then added everything else and let it simmer together as directed. It was amazing. No need to cook everything separately – it just adds even more layers of deliciousness to let it marry together the whole time. =)
Somewhere I found a recipe, that resembles this one for the tomato sauce. It contains a lot of butter (70 gr), can 450 gr tomatoes and one whole peeled onion and salt. Put everything in a pan and after is start to boil, uncover and simmer on very low heat for 45 min! Take out the onion and eat with pasta and parmesan! It’s the best!
I may be the odd man out but I found the recipe as written rather bland. I had to up the seasonings A LOT(more salt and pepper,garlic powder,onion powder,crushed red pepper and fresh basil)! Plus I added sauteed chicken and shrimp because the family would not have eaten it without a protein. But to be fair I change almost every recipe I come across and my son ate two bowls. Also I used both garlic and onion because of the comments.
I didn’t have time to simmer it as long, and I also used a can of crushed tomatos (it was what I had, already open in the fridge) and it was STILL delicious. I will make this again! And I will try it as directed :)
I love the idea of using breadcrumbs as a kind of “parmesan.” Normally our bread goes moldy before it goes stale, but I do like to save the end pieces for breadcrumbs (since they aren’t as good for sandwiches, imo).
Thanks for the recipe!
My family of four ate every bite and liked it a lot! I did make meatballs on the side to complete the dish.
This is maybe the fourth or fifth recipe I’ve tried from this site and my ultra-picky family liked them all. We especially like the lime cilantro (culantro) chicken.
I have lots of diced tomatoes in my pantry. Do you think they would work instead of whole?
They might not be as tender as the whole tomatoes. I’ve heard that the ripest tomatoes are saved for the cans of “whole” tomatoes, while the less ripe are used for cans of diced tomatoes. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do find their texture to be a bit different.
I used half diced tomatoes and half crushed, and it turned out great. =)
Is there any way to use fresh, peeled tomatoes in this recipe? My tomato plants are overloaded and I’m looking for ways to use them. This sauce looks yummy!
I think Marcella Hazan’s version uses fresh tomatoes. It doesn’t look like the technique is much different. :)
I’ve been using Marcella Hazan’s version for many years now and we love it. She doesn’t use garlic, but I do. She also cuts a small white onion in half and simmers it in the sauce and removes it at the end. Also, she uses canned tomatoes. I top with parmesan, not bread crumbs but might do that in the future.
I have made Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce and I really liked it. She uses an onion, no garlic. I love your idea of using garlic instead of the onion. I’m going to have to give your version a try! Your first photo of the pasta is totally crave-inducing!
I definitely want to try the onion version, too. I bet it’s nice and sweet!
I’ve been a huge fan of the original recipe for a couple of years now and agree that the butter just takes it over the edge. My pro tip for days when I’m using an inexpensive jarred sauce is to simmer it on the stove and add some butter–it can take the edge off of the over-sweetness or acidity that I find with the jarred stuff.
Love the idea of adding breadcrumbs to this!
I discovered Marcella Hazan’s recipe some years ago. I have always made it with a whole onion but now I will try the garlic instead! Lately, I have been making this without the butter because hubby and I “went plant based” three months ago. He ALMOST had a heart attack so we are very serious about trying to reverse his heart disease according to Dr. Greger of nutritionfacts.org. and the book “How Not To Die.” Yikes, did I say that? It was a total shock.
I appreciate your plant based recipes so much. I have made your Vegetable and Lentil soup many times. It is delicious and I continue to experiment with lots of your other recipes.
Of course, this tomato sauce is not as good without the butter but that’s a small price to pay for having my hubby by my side for years to come. We are now very outspoken about heart disease and preach to anyone who will listen. It might save a life, right?
I will certainly make some bread crumbs for it, also! What a good idea since we are not eating Parmesan, darn it.
(I do sneak some once in a while just for myself.)
Have you tried plant based butters like Earth Balance? There’s also a really awesome butter made out of cashews from Miyoko’s Creamery.
This reminds me of Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce which I make often.
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015178-marcella-hazans-tomato-sauce
It’s amazing that such a simple and inexpensive group of ingredients can come together to produce something so incredibly delicious! Thanks for reminding me. I’m a recent subscriber to your blog and love it. Keep up the great inspiration.
Yes, her sauce was the inspiration for this! :) (I linked to it on the recipe card and in the intro to make sure she got credit).
Yum. Marcella’s sauce has got to be in the top three most iconic recipes in the world of food writers. Maybe even in first place, fame-wise. I like it with the onion, though.
Will this keep in the freezer do you think?
I like to freeze pasta with sauce sometimes. It does get a tad bit more dry, but still enjoyable.
I looooove this recipe but personally can’t live without the onion in it (I have tried)… you reminded me to make this again tonight as I haven’t bought groceries and have everything on hand. AMAZING
Oh gosh, I think I just immediately changed my mind about what to make for dinner.
Could I use panko bread crumbs for this? Or would you recommend using regular?
I think panko would work well, too. They have great texture that I think would be closer to homemade bread crumbs. I’m sure they toast faster, though, since they are less dense.