Marcella Hazan’s 3-Ingredient Tomato Sauce
It's touted as the World's Best Pasta Sauce recipe, yet it's incredibly simple to make! Created by renowned food writer and chef Marcella Hazan, this easy, 3-ingredient tomato sauce, once you've made it, is tossed with fresh pasta, and you'll never make another tomato pasta sauce recipe again!
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Marcella Hazan's famous 3-ingredient tomato sauce proves that a truly delicious pasta sauce doesn't need a long list of ingredients. Made with canned whole tomatoes, butter, and onion, it simmers gently for 45 minutes into a rich, silky sauce that's perfect for tossing with your favorite pasta.
What Is Marcella Hazan's 3-Ingredient Tomato Sauce?
Marcella Hazan's classic tomato sauce is made with just whole tomatoes, butter, and a halved onion. The ingredients simmer together uncovered for 45 minutes; then the onion is removed and the sauce is seasoned with salt before serving with pasta.
It may be one of the simplest pasta sauces you'll ever make-and it has long been celebrated as one of the best.
Why This Simple Pasta Sauce Works
There's no chopping, sautéing, garlic, or long ingredient list. The onion gently flavors the tomatoes as they cook, while the butter softens their acidity and gives the sauce a rich, silky texture.
And most of the cooking time is hands-off. Once everything is in the saucepan, you simply let it simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally.
Ingredients for This 3-Ingredient Pasta Sauce
You need only three main ingredients:
- Whole peeled tomatoes: Canned whole tomatoes give the sauce wonderful flavor and texture.
- Onion: Peel and halve the onion, but don't chop it. It flavors the sauce as it simmers and is removed before serving.
- Butter: Unsalted butter adds richness and mellows the tomatoes beautifully.
You'll also want a pinch of salt for seasoning.
Hazan's Most Important Tip
Keep the saucepan uncovered while the sauce simmers. This allows excess moisture to evaporate, making the tomato flavor richer and more concentrated.
After about 45 minutes, remove the onion, season the sauce to taste, and toss it with your favorite pasta. It really is that simple.
Who is Marcella Hazan?
Marcella Hazan was one of the most influential Italian cookbook authors in America, often compared to Julia Child for the role she played in introducing home cooks to traditional Italian cooking.
Her landmark cookbooks emphasized good ingredients, straightforward techniques, and letting simple flavors speak for themselves. In a New Yorker essay, David Sipress writes about how profoundly Hazan's recipes changed the way he cooked.
And it all began with a simple, 3-ingredient sauce and 45 minutes to simmer.
Then all you need to do is add pasta or use it in place of marinara sauce in recipes like my Simple Baked Rigatoni or my Easy Italian Mac and Cheese.
Marcella Hazan's 3-Ingredient Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 (28-oz) can whole peeled Italian tomatoes with juices
- 1 medium onion peeled and halved
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Add the tomatoes and their juices, onion halves, and butter to a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat as needed to maintain a gentle, uncovered simmer.
- Cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon as they soften.
- Discard the onion halves and season the sauce to taste with salt. Toss with your favorite hot pasta and serve.
Notes
- Tomatoes: Whole peeled canned tomatoes work especially well here because they have a lovely texture and break down naturally as the sauce simmers. Use the tomatoes along with all of their juices.
- Butter: I prefer unsalted butter so you can season the finished sauce to taste.
- Onion: Leave the onion in halves rather than chopping it. It gently flavors the sauce as it cooks and is discarded before serving.
- Storage: Refrigerate leftover sauce in an airtight container for up to 3 to 4 days.
- Freezing: The sauce freezes well. Let it cool completely, transfer it to a freezer-safe container, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and gently reheat before serving.
- Canning: This recipe is not formulated or tested for home canning and should not be stored at room temperature.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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Well let me say this about the sauce. I used fresh tomatoes from my garden I had frozen and defrosted to peel. Twas a bit short so I added once can of diced tomatoes, the butter and onion. Smelled divine, had to cook a bitonger to get to best consistently. Gorgeous color, unlike any other. Found it a great bright back note, but added oregano, basil, garlic, sugar, balsamic and red pepper flakes. Then it became the best sauce ever. Last night over fettuccine with parm, today in an Italian, fresh moz, basil baguette sandwich, yum. Will never make pasta sauce again without starting this way.
Hi MaryAnn, fresh tomatoes from the garden can never be beat! I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you too for sharing your tweaks and additions. Isn't making homemade tomato sauce so fun!
My first ever pasta sauce not out of a jar -- and it's SO delicious! After cooking I kept the onions and ate them as a side (so good!) then used a stick blender for a few seconds to smooth the consistency. Wonderful, thank you!
Hi Gail! Don't you love making your own sauce! I'm so glad you enjoyed this one. Thanks for trying the recipe!
So fresh tasting. It is the best sauce! And comes together so fast.
Hi Pam! So glad you enjoyed it-- thanks for letting me know!
Hi Pam! I’m so glad you you liked it— thanks for trying it and letting me know how it worked for you!
2nd time i am making it for visitors. First visitors this sauce isn’t out of the jar like most. They could straight away tell the difference.
Hope the one tonight goes well too.
Thank you so much.
Oh yay! I'm so glad it's working well for you. There's nothing like homemade sauce! Have fun tonight.
Great taste, I blended the onion and had a garlic clove added.
Tastes perfect!
Hi Carolyn! I'm so glad you enjoyed the pasta sauce. Your tips are super helpful-- thank you for trying it and letting me know how you liked it!
We love this sauce! I keep the onion and use my immersion blender at the end of cooking to smooth it out. I also add just less than a teaspoon of sugar. Seriously, it is so good!
I forgot to mention I use Cento San Mariano whole, peeled tomatoes.
Hi Vicki! You made my day! I'm so glad you enjoy this pasta sauce, it's a weekend staple at my house too. The immersion blender is a great tip as is the added sugar. Thank you for trying the recipe and letting us know how it worked for you and which tomatoes you used.
I have made this sauce multiple times already and it always seems to be extremely watery once the 45 minutes are up, I’m not sure what I am doing wrong but it still tastes very good!
Different tomatoes can contain different amounts of moisture. One way you can thicken a sauce is by bringing it to a hard boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue cooking until done. This helps deactivate an enzyme that breaks down tomato's natural pectin (thickener).
Can you double this recipe?
Absolutely! I have friends who have made multiple batches for the freezer.
I have a question. I tried to make this sauce yesterday and it did not come out good :(. My boss made it at his house once and it was literally the best sauce I’ve ever tasted, then I tried to make it and it tasted off. Does it matter what kind of tomatoes you use? I used the 28oz can of peeled tomatoes, but I think they were plum tomatoes. Not sure if it makes a difference! Otherwise I did everything else by the recipe. I know the sauce is amazing because I’ve had it made the right way before lol.
Hi Ashley, I'm so sorry this tomato sauce recipe didn't turn out as expected. You are correct that different varieties of tomatoes make a huge difference in the sauce. And everyone has a different opinion on which tomatoes are best. Much of it has to do with the balance between sweetness and acidity. I like mine a bit on the sweeter side, so lately I've been preferring to use canned "Cento San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes." It has a sweeter balance and I'm happy with the flavor of the sauce it makes. Other brands that are popular are "Hunt’s San Marzano Style Tomatoes" and "Alta Cucina Whole Plum Tomatoes." It would be interesting to ask your boss which product he used in the recipe. I'd LOVE to hear. Thank you for trying it though!
I have been making this for my son for years but I am going to be the reason he drops down with a coronary. Is there a less unhealthy version of this recipe, 5 tablespoons of butter! I feel guilty every time I make it for him, I’ve tried less butter but it doesn’t taste as nice at all, even if I just put 4Tbls of butter in he can tell. It is amazing though.
Hi Mandy! I'm so glad you enjoyed this pasta sauce. I absolutely love it too! As to reducing the butter, I've also tried it several different ways, including adding half butter, and half olive oil. Both, though, are 100% fat, although olive oil contains less saturated fat so is healthier. But the flavor isn't the same!
Fantastic! Onion, too. 😋
So glad you enjoyed it, Maggie!
I can't rate the recipe, because it is wrong. The original calls for one stick of butter, a halved yellow onion; 24 oz San Marzano tomatoes, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp sugar.
Melt the butter, then add the onion, cut sides down. The heat should not be high enough to cause the onion to sizzle, just coax out flavour for 3 or four minutes. Drain the canned tomatoes into the butter and onions, then crush the tomatoes by hand into the pan. The entire contents of the can goes into the pan. Add salt and sugar.
On a LOW simmer, use the back of a slotted spoon to further crush the tomatoes, also use the spoon to mix the butter into the sauce. The tomatoes can be crushed sufficiently with the spoon that blending should be unnecessary. Remove onion after the allotted total simmer time of 45 minutes. You can simmer longer if it seems watery to you, but the crushing and spoon mixing is key.
One pound of pasta should be added unrinsed to the pan after it is cooked to liking. If you rinse the pasta, the sauce will not cling as well and you will say you don't like it.
A recipe should be done at least once as designed before changing. I have made this many times and never had anyone say that it is anything other than outstanding.
Hi Dave, thank you for your input on Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce. This recipe is based on Marcella's "Tomato Sauce" recipe in her Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking cookbook, which I have in my library and one I highly recommend for any cookbook collection. She does not specify a particular brand of tomatoes other than "imported Italian plum tomatoes with their juices." She also does call for 5 tablespoons of butter. That being said, we all make our own versions of favorite recipes, and your adaptations sound wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
This was the best pasta sauce I have ever tasted! Period!
Someone commented this pasta sauce was so good people eat it without the pasta and I am one of them. It's delicious and of course, it's great over pasta but it is also great right out of the pan. It's the ONLY pasta sauce I have been able to eat right out of the pan without pasta. Easy to make and you'll LOVE IT! Give it a try!
I love tasting it right out of the pan too! I'm so glad you liked it!!
Should you drain the tomatoes first?
I’ve got this on the stove and it’s simmered for 3/4 hour but it’s still very watery.
Hi Dave, you do not drain the tomatoes. I would continue to simmer for a bit longer and then mash some of the larger chunks of tomatoes. This will help thicken the sauce.
Thanks.
It does taste incredible and right up my alley, super easy! LOL
That’s awesome! So glad you enjoyed it— and I agree— it doesn’t get easier!
I kept the onion. It’s yummy!
I love the onion too!!
Very tasty. I added some spices. Loved it.
Its really easy and YUMMY!!
So glad you liked it!