Butter Is The Secret To The Best Tomato Sauce (2024)

Before you lecture me about how butter does not belong in marinara, hear me out. Marcella Hazan, Julia Child of Italian cooking, used it. So did I, and so can you. Why add butter? Its richness cuts through the acidity of the tomatoes resulting in a sauce so creamy and velvety, you might've assumed there was heavy cream if you didn't know better.

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What makes Marcella's technique so genius is the simplicity of it. She didn't even bother to chop the onion, she just sliced it in half and threw the whole thing in the pot. I finely chopped mine, along with some minced garlic, to reduce the amount of simmering time. But that's almost beside the point; The key to everything is the butter. Add a half stick to the pot and BOOM! You've just made a sauce to write home about.

It may be September, but killer juicy tomatoes are still around. Take advantage and make this sauce! Don't worry about removing the skins or picking through all the seeds. Let's just call this a rustic spaghetti. If the tomatoes are good, the marinara will be too.

GET THE RECIPE HERE.

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