The Best Napoli Sauce

Name: The Best Homemade Napoli Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4 Servings (Approx. 3 cups)
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil; 30g butter; 800g whole tinned tomatoes (Italian quality preferred); 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 onion, diced; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1/4 tsp red chilli flakes; A few sprigs of fresh basil (optional); 1 tsp each salt and pepper; 1 tsp sugar (to taste)

This is the BEST homemade napoli sauce! I spent many years trying to perfect this Italian staple (I tried fresh tomatoes, even fresh homegrown tomatoes), and to my surprise, this resultant recipe was actually impossibly easy. This is great over fresh pasta, on pizza bases, chicken parmigianas… the list goes on. I try to always have a batch of this in my freezer.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

30 g butter

800 g whole tinned tomatoes

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 onion, diced

1 tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp red chilli flakes

a few sprigs of fresh basil (optional)

1 tsp each salt and pepper

1 tsp sugar

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 oz butter

2 lbs whole tinned tomatoes

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 onion, diced

1 tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp red chilli flakes

a few sprigs of fresh basil (optional)

1 tsp each salt and pepper

1 tsp sugar

Ingredients note

Use good quality Italian tinned tomatoes. I prefer whole tomatoes, but I have made this with diced tinned tomatoes and it’s still great – it has a more rustic vibe to it.
The red chilli flakes don’t add heat, just flavour. If you like heat, you can increase the amount.
The fresh basil sprigs are highly recommended because they impart great flavour. But if you don’t have any at hand this sauce is still definitely worth making.

Note: The original quantity of this recipe (unadjusted) yeilds about 3 cups of sauce. If you do increase the quantity, note that the cook time will take a little longer.

Variations

This sauce has so many uses – obviously it’s great over fresh pasta, particularly filled pastas like spinach and ricotta. It’s also great on pizza bases, topped with some extra dried herbs.

This is the sauce I use on my spinach and ricotta cannelloni:

I also use this napoli on my chicken parmigianas and it has really taken them to a new level!

Directions

1Cook the sauce

1. Heat the oil and butter in a large pot over low-medium heat. Add the onion and gently simmer it for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so the onion doesn’t burn or stick to the bottom of the pot.

2. Add the garlic, oregano and chilli flakes and continue simmering for another 3 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer over low heat. Place a lid on the pot and stir every 10 minutes or so.

Tip: Keep an eye on the sauce each time you stir; as the sauce thickens you may need to reduce the temperature further – you want to avoid vigourous simmering.

4. Cook the sauce for 1 hour. You can tell when it’s had enough, as the tomatoes break down and it thickens up to a sauce consistency.

5. Remove the basil sprigs with tongs and discard them. Taste the sauce – if it’s too tart, add 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar at a time, stirring and tasting again. Adjust salt and pepper to taste as well.

2Puree the sauce (optional)

1. Leave the sauce to cool slightly. If there’s enough sauce in the pot to cover the head of an immersion blender, you can blend the sauce directly in the pot. Otherwise, once it’s almost completely cool, you can transfer the sauce to a blender.

Tip: This sauce stores well in a freezer for up to 6 months.

Wine pairing

Of course, an Italian classic like napoli sauce deserves to be paired with like company. So I’m suggesting a variety of Italian reds, such as Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Nero D’Avola or Barbera.

Depending on what you serve the sauce with, you may decide to change the wine pairing.