Easy Marinara Sauce

Got pumpkin? Elevate your marinara sauce! This zesty, three ingredient Easy Marinara Sauce cooks in minutes, adds a veggie without chopping or compromising taste. Perfect to serve on spaghetti tonight or use in your favorite recipes. This makes a great pizza sauce!

Easy Marinara Sauce

We love pasta and anything pasta sauce smothered in our house.

And when something is a fan-favorite, I always seek opportunity to add in a little extra boost of nutrition.

If you caught my last post, you know the benefits + tips and tricks of canned pumpkin.

This quick hack provides extra nutrition without chopping, dicing or simmering.

So ladies (and gentlemen), embrace the jarred sauce.

And get ready to give your marinara an upgrade!

What’s the difference between marinara and spaghetti sauce?

Over the years, I’ve gravitated to marinara sauce instead of spaghetti sauce for several reasons:

• Simple ingredients (often less sugar than other sauces)
• Light flavor
• Thinner texture

Because of it being a thinner texture, it’s perfect for mixing in pumpkin puree in this recipe!

What ingredients do I need?

• Jarred Marinara Sauce– I always look for one with low sugar and as natural as possible
• Canned Pumpkin Puree– make sure it’s 100 percent pure pumpkin
• Italian seasoning– I always keep this on hand and it’s the perfect addition to the marinara sauce
• Spinach leaves– optional but another easy way to add color and nutrition that blends in well

How do I make marinara sauce?

Combine your jarred sauce, canned pumpkin and seasoning.

Mix it all together and warm on stovetop or in microwave (no judgment!) until desired temperature and consistency.

Sprinkle with some greens for color and flavor.

Top on your spaghetti dinner use in your favorite recipe.

Do I have to use Marinara Sauce?

The quick answer: No!

My take: I prefer buying marinara, especially when on sale, as a simple, healthier option that I can customize.

I like the general consistency and in my opinion, pumpkin only improves it by giving it a little more oomph and body.

But this trick works on any tomato sauce, pasta/spaghetti sauce, or pizza sauce.

Ways to serve Easy Marinara Sauce:

• Smothered on top of spaghetti and meatballs (or your favorite pasta)
• on pizza/flatbread
• in lasagna
• As a dipping sauce (Kid favorite for breadsticks, parmesan air fryer cauliflower gnocchi)

How do I store leftovers?

You can keep this on hand in refrigerator for up to 5 days. Make sure you store in glass or plastic airtight container.

The sauce will thicken a bit when chilled so you can reheat and stir to desired consistency.

You can also add a tiny bit of water when reheating, if needed.

Can I freeze the sauce?

Yes you can freeze this marinara sauce!

In fact, sometimes if I have extra pumpkin leftover that needs to be used, I’ll mix this up and put in a freezer bag.

Now, I have a healthier option ready to defrost and mix right into whatever I need.

Tips/Tricks

• You can use your favorite jarred (or canned) pasta sauce
• The pumpkin will thicken up sauce slightly
• You can use more or less pumpkin, depending on your preference
• If your jarred sauce is already seasoned, you can adjust seasoning or skip it all together

What makes this marinara healthy?

Marinara itself is fairly nutritious (Hello Vitamin C and Lycopene!) but by swirling in pumpkin you’re that much closer to the goal of 5 cups per week of red and orange vegetables.

PLUS, adding pumpkin actually REDUCES the sodium in canned sauce. So. Cool.

Be sure to brush up on all the benefits of pumpkin and why you should be adding this into your pasta sauce (and many other foods!) here.

Looking for something Similar?

You could use this sauce recipe in one of my favorite pasta dishes:

No Prep Slow Cooker Lasagna

If you’re loving these 3-ingredient recipes, check out:

3 Ingredient Cherry Berry Ice Cream

Full Heart

If this recipe made your day easier, added in some extra nutrition or infused joy into your day, I’d love to know. Please leave a comment below. Or, better yet, share the gift of easy with others! Tag me so I can see your creations 🙂