30 Minute Meals
Greek Tomato Sauce
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
30 minutes
Yield
4 -6
This Greek Tomato Sauce will take you on an adventure.... a flavorful adventure! You'll notice some spices not usually in a tomato sauce like cinnamon and cloves, but I promise, the will give you a flavor you never thought you needed!
You seriously cannot go wrong with any kind of tomato sauce. It has to be one of the most versatile foods and this Greek Tomato Sauce 🍅 is no different. For this recipe, I’ve taken your classic tomato sauce but added a Greek flair to it! However, that doesn’t change how versatile this sauce is. Use it all day, every day, on all your favorite foods and noodles!
❤️ Why You’ll Love Greek Tomato Sauce
- Quick: With only 10 minutes to prep this has to be the easiest sauce!!
- Versatile: You heard it once, I’ll tell you again, use this all day every day. You won’t regret it!
- Unique: You’ll notice I’ve added some different spices to this sauce to give it a little more of an exotic spin to your typical pasta sauce
🍲 Ingredients
Cinnamon – Yep, a weird, not-so-common ingredient in this sauce that I promise you will give you something you never knew you needed. I used Simply Organic Cinnamon for this recipe and I wouldn’t use anything else. Why? Because they just make such quality spices. What comes with quality spices? The best flavors!! You seriously will LOVE this addition to this sauce.
Tomatoes 🍅 – Use what’s fresh or in season, you don’t have to use all the same kind here. Get creative. Try different colors, tomatoes are all wonderful in this sauce.
Clove – Another weird ingredient but let me tell you the combination of spices in this recipe will seriously make such a difference. It transforms a normal, regular (and boring) pasta sauce into something that has so many complex flavors.
👩🍳 How to Make Greek Tomato Sauce
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Blending: I don’t like to keep my tomato sauce super chunky, that’s why blending in the end really helps have that smooth consistency. You can really blend your sauce as much or as little as you want. It’s all personal preference.
🗒 Best served with
👝 How to Store Leftovers
The sauce will last in the fridge for up to 1 week in a tightly sealed container. The sauce will last up to 3-4 months in the freezer in a tightly sealed container or air-tight zip-lock bag.
🤔 Common Questions
Not only does this add flavor, cinnamon can help temper the acidity of the tomatoes in the sauce to make your sauce less acidic and a bit more sweet. Don’t worry, it won’t overpower your pot! Trust me here.
Yes, onions will cook in the sauce as well but they take MUCH longer to do it this way and you run the risk of having partially cooked onions in your sauce. By cooking them first in the pot releases sugars and makes them taste sweeter versus having a strong onion flavor throughout.
Greek Tomato Sauce
Your Greek mommy that is. 😍 Step into my kitchen to learn how to make yummy Greek food. 🍽️💃
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 large white onion roughly chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
- dash of black pepper
- 1 tbsp. oregano
- 1 tbsp. basil
- 1 tsp. Simply Organic Cinnamon
- 1/2 clove spice
- 3 large bay leaf
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3 cups ripe fresh tomatoes, assorted is fun, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp. brown or white sugar
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet or pot on medium heat. To the pot, add the onions and garlic and sweat them out on medium heat for around 5 minutes. Stir often to avoid burning.
- To the skillet or pot, add the salt + pepper, oregano, basil, cinnamon, clove, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Stir till the onions and garlic are fully coated and continue to cook on medium heat for 3 minutes.
- To the pot or skillet, add the tomatoes and sugar. Stir till combined and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15-2o minutes.
- Let the mixture cool for a few minutes, remove the whole bay leaf, then transfer to a blender or food processor.
- Enjoy the sauce immediately with rice, paste, protein or veggies or cool completed and transfer to a tightly sealed container or jar.
Video
Hi do I need to blend it or can I just serve that as is before blending?
You can! but I prefer it blended. Either will be epic though!
Can this be canned?
Yep!!!!
I absolutely loved this recipe! I loved the addition of the basil which worked magic with the tomatoes. I put in a whole cinnamon stick and one whole clove, and the result was subtle and so delicious. I removed the clove and cinnamon stick before blending and served it with chicken and pasta. I love Greek cooking, live on the shore of the Mediterranean-not too far from Greece, and I collect Greek cookbooks. The old skool traditional recipes like this one, are so popular with my family. Thank you Maria!
Thank you so much Fiona!
When you say 1/2 clove spice, what exactly do you mean what?
oh shoot, sorry! 1/2 tsp!
Hey Maria, I thought so. 😉 … Hmm, I think 1 teaspoon is more than enough. I did it with less than that and it came out fantastic. And for the second time I cooked this lovely sauce, I replaced the fresh tomatoes with 400 ml Passata. It was excellent.
Thanks for your recipes and ideas. Keep on with it!
Best regards, Patrick
You are so welcome, thank you Patrick!
Love this recipe. But you should add some salt to it.
Greetings from Germany 🙂
Patrick
Hey Patrick! Thank you so much for flagging that! That was an error! I have added salt to the recipe now!