Easy Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce Recipe

Italian food is a favourite in my house and I enjoy cooking this cuisine because it consists of simple ingredients and flavours. Italian food is also usually really quick and easy to make and well-suited to those who are cooking on a budget. One of the easiest things to make is a tomato and basil pasta sauce.

This is something that you can use in many ways, and you can also liven up the sauce by adding a vast range of ingredients to this basic dish. Making your own sauce for the pasta is simple and far more delicious than anything you can buy out of a jar.

Here is an easy recipe for tomato and basil pasta sauce.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: N/A
Vegetarian/ vegan: YES
Dairy-free: YES
Gluten-free: YES

Ingredients for Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce

• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• A handful of fresh basil, torn
• 1 tsp of sugar
• Salt and pepper

How to Make Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce

1. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
2. Add the crushed garlic and cook for one minute.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, and sugar to the pan. 
4. Increase the heat to bring the tomato sauce to the boil.
5. Reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.
6. Add the torn basil and season with salt and black pepper.
7. Cook for another two minutes and then stir into cooked, drained pasta.

How to Use This Sauce

This sauce is ideally suited to using with pasta. However, your choice of the type of pasta will make a difference in the taste of the meal. For example, the sauce will simply coat pasta such as spaghetti or tagliatelle. On the other hand, if you opt for pasta shells or penne pasta, then these shapes capture the sauce and you will get a bigger mouthful of the tomato and basil flavour with each bite.

You can also use this sauce as a base for other dishes. For example, stirring it into minced beef is an easy way to make a bolognese for spaghetti bolognese or lasagne. It is also a great sauce to use in eggplant parmigiana.

Using this sauce with pasta is not the only option. You can also use it as a sauce with any meat. It is particularly nice poured over a chicken breast.

Additional Tips

• If you like a bit of spice in your food, try adding some chilli to this sauce.
• Red wine is also a nice addition, but make sure you cook the sauce for long enough to reduce the wine.

If you enjoy this flavour combination, you might also like to make a tomato and basil soup or a tomato, zucchini, and pepper soup.