recipes

43 Tomato Sauce Recipes for All Your Pasta-Adjacent Needs

Whether you're looking for ways to doctor up canned tomatoes or use summer's ripest fruits to top pasta, fish, chicken, and more, your new favorite tomato sauce recipe is here.
Image may contain Food Dish Meal Bowl Plant and Stew
Photo by Alex Lau, Styling by Andy Baraghani

Homemade tomato sauce is one zillion percent better than the jarred stuff, and yes, that is an accurate percentage point. With numbers like that and recipes like these, why wouldn't you make your own? Here, everything you need to turn peak produce or the canned stuff into delicious tomato sauces to top pasta, fish, chicken, and more.

  • Image may contain Bowl Food Dish Meal Plant Soup Bowl and Produce
    Photograph by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by D'mytrek Brown, Props from Meilen Ceramics
    1/42

    Quick Tomato Chicken Curry

    The honey lends a sweet, caramelize-y twist to this quick curry, but if you want to up the heat, add a big pinch of cayenne pepper. Have some thick, crusty bread handy to scoop up all the extra sauce, or serve alongside a pile of rice for a low-maintenance comfort food dinner.

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  • Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Sue Li
    2/42

    Saucy Chicken Puttanesca

    Here, chicken legs are gently oven-braised in puttanesca sauce until nearly falling off the bone. 

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  • Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Taneka Morris, Prop Styling by Tim Ferro
    3/42

    This is no Italian gravy; the Southern sauce is an alternative to sausage gravy. Try is on biscuits, pork chops, and more.

  • Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
    4/42

    Fall-Apart Caramelized Cabbage

    This is one of the easiest, most delicious ways to cook down a whole head of cabbage until it’s falling-apart tender. 

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  • 11/42

    Double-Tomato Focaccia

    This focaccia gets twice the tomato goodness through the combination of fresh cherry tomatoes and slowly sautéed and simmered sauce in the topping.

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  • Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Sue Li
    12/42

    Poached Cod in Tomato Curry

    We opted to use cherry tomatoes for this poached cod recipe because we like their sweetness and how quickly they collapse into a sauce.

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  • ©Romulo Yanes
    21/42

    Pasta al Pomodoro

    The secret to this simple tomato-based pasta recipe? Pasta water and butter.

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  • Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards, Prop Styling by Dayna Seman
    22/42

    BA’s Best Baked Ziti

    We know ricotta is a traditional addition to baked ziti, but it has a tendency to get dry and grainy when baked. Our update uses a creamy Parmesan béchamel, in addition to a tangy tomato sauce, which together make for a super flavorful finished dish—that won’t dry out in the oven.

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  • Photo by Heidi's Bridge
    23/42

    Pasta Alla Vodka

    It's creamy. It's cheesy. It's tangy. And it's about to be your new favorite pantry pasta.

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  • Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott
    24/42

    Quick 5-Ingredient Tomato Sauce

    You don’t need hours to simmer tomato sauce. This recipe shows you how to make an excellent one in 30 minutes, with 5 ingredients, in 1 pan, with very little effort.

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