Easy Oven Roasted Marinara Sauce Low Carb Recipe

 

6 cups Marinara Cost: $6.27
Per 1/2 cup Serving: $0.53 each

 

Recipe By: Susie T. Gibbs
Serving Size: 12, 1/2c servings
Yield: 6 Cups
Prep. Time: 20 Minutes
Cooking Time: 50 Minutes Roasting, 30 Minutes Stove Top
Start to Finish: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Low carb oven roasting tomatoes and garlic delivers a flavor packed fresh marinara sauce that doesn’t require a can opener.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds tomato — whole
• 7 cloves garlic — divided
• 4 ounces onion — (medium onion), chopped fine
• 3 tablespoons olive oil — divided
• 2 teaspoons oregano — divided
• 2 teaspoons thyme — divided
• 2 tablespoons basil leaf, dried — divided
• 2 tablespoons parsley, freeze-dried — divided
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes — divided
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper — freshly ground
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt — divided
• 2 whole bay leaves
• 1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup tomato paste — Bionaturae Brand (BPA-free) preferred
• 1/8 cup basil, fresh — (optional garnish)

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Wash and dry tomatoes and garlic. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise. Seed tomatoes into a small saucepan. Reserve the seeds and center pulp removed from the tomatoes. Toss tomato halves and 4 unpeeled cloves of garlic with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon each dried oregano, thyme, basil and parsley. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place cut side down on unlined, 14×18 baking sheet.
3. Roast tomatoes and garlic cloves for 20 minutes. Remove pan and flip tomatoes over. Drain pan juices into saucepan that contains the tomato seeds and pulp. Spritz cut sides of tomatoes with olive oil spray or drizzle on another tablespoon of olive oil. Return tomatoes and garlic to oven and cook another 25 minutes until tomatoes look browned and garlic is soft.
4. While tomatoes are roasting and cooling, bring medium saucepan containing pulp and seeds to a boil and reduce to simmer. Reduce liquid by half. As tomatoes roast and are turned, pan juices will develop. Drain pan juices into this mixture and allow it to simmer while the tomatoes cook. Once all juices have been captured, pour the contents of this sauce pan through a mesh strainer. Press solids firmly with the back of a spoon to extract all pulp and juice. Scrape the underside of the strainer. Return the strained pulp concentrate to the pan with the liquids. Use the strainer to strain the tomato skins as well. There may be pulp left on the skins that will add flavor bits to the tomato broth.
5. While tomatoes are roasting, peel and thinly slice remaining 3 cloves of garlic. Coarsely chop onions. Heat a medium saute pan over high heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, chopped onions and sliced garlic. Once onions start cooking, reduce heat to low and sweat onions and garlic until they turn translucent and become soft, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining dried herbs and spices. Saute briefly. Remove pan from heat and wait for tomato pulp to finish reducing and tomatoes to finish roasting in the oven.
6. When tomatoes have browned, remove from oven and pour any pan juices into the sauce pan containing the tomato broth. Let the tomatoes rest to become cool enough to handle. Pinch the tomato and the skin should slide off the tomato. Cut out core and remove skins. Place peeled tomatoes and garlic in food processor or blender. Pulse to puree to a desired consistency. Place tomato skins and cores in mesh strainer. Strain and scrape pulp back into sauce pan containing tomato broth. Discard any seeds and skins.
7. Add pureed tomato and garlic to the sauce pan. Add sauteed onions, garlic, herbs and spices to the sauce pan. Add all other ingredients except fresh basil garnish. Bring up marinara sauce to a boil and reduce to simmer. Slowly simmer and allow marinara to cook over low heat for about 45 minutes to an hour. Check water liquid level. If the sauce looks like it is getting thick and rich, taste for doneness. Adjust seasoning for salt and pepper if necessary.
8. Serve immediately, or let cool completely, portion and freeze.

Per Serving: 87 Calories; 4g Fat; 2g Protein; 9.4g Carbohydrate; 2.9g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 240mg Sodium; 6.5g Net Carbs

Serving Ideas:
Serve over low carb garlic zoodles (zucchini noodles) or over a bed of sauteed garlic spinach. Top grilled chicken breasts with low carb sauce and mozzarella cheese, then melt cheese in the broiler and call it grilled chicken parm. Make lasagna or stuffed peppers with the sauce, or use it to dress Italian sausage with onions and peppers. And don’t get me started talking about meatballs and sauce! Divine!

SUSIE T’s NOTES:
This low carb roasted marinara works as a base for so many different dishes from simple meat sauce to Bolognese, lasagnas, and baked parmigiana of all varieties. Because if freezes great, portioning in 1/2 cup to 1 cup measures and freezing to pull out at a moment’s notice, it makes last minute meal planning a snap!

You can decrease the cost of this meal if you don’t mind ingesting BPA from your tomato paste. I use BPA-free, Bionaturae Tomato Paste which is quite a bit more expensive than standard canned tomato paste.

For a similar step-by-step photo tutorial, please visit Fluffy Chix Cook Roasted Veggie Marinara