Seed Oil Free Sugo di Pomodoro
Few things in cooking are as satisfying as a deeply flavored tomato sauce made entirely from scratch with ingredients you can actually trust. This classic Italian sugo skips the industrial seed oils entirely, relying instead on quality extra-virgin olive oil to build a rich, fragrant base with garlic and a whisper of red pepper heat. San Marzano tomatoes are crushed by hand and simmered low and slow until the sauce transforms from bright red to a gorgeous brick-red — that color shift is your cue that something genuinely delicious is happening in the pan. A handful of torn fresh basil stirred in at the end keeps things vibrant, and the optional knob of butter rounds out the finish with a silky, restaurant-worthy texture. So many jarred sauces and even restaurant versions rely on refined vegetable or canola oils as a cheap base, which makes a homemade version like this one a real find for anyone keeping those oils off the table. The ingredient list is short, the technique is forgiving, and the result is the kind of sauce that makes a simple bowl of pasta feel like a proper occasion.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 can (28 oz) whole peeled san marzano tomatoes
- ½ tsp sugar
- ¾ tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 6 fresh basil leaves
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Pour the tomatoes and their juices into a large bowl and crush them by hand, squeezing each tomato until broken into rough, uneven pieces. Set aside.
- 2
Warm the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is pale golden and fragrant, about 3–4 minutes. Watch closely — the garlic can color quickly.
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