Making macaroni pasta sauce is easy, and it starts with a béchamel sauce made from butter, flour, and milk. The moment the milk and flour have been mixed to make a roux, the milk is slowly added until the sauce is smooth and thick.

Macaroni pasta sauce is a delicious pasta dish that is prepared using ingredients like tomatoes, garlic, dried herbs, and seasoning. Preparing Italian-style sauce of macaroni pasta is easy for dinners like any white sauce pasta.

Ensure that you serve red sauce pasta with stuff like garlic bread, roast chicken, and Caesar salad for a filling meal. Discover step-by-step ways how to make a tasty red sauce pasta.

What is Macaroni Pasta Sauce?

Macaroni pasta sauce is one of the easiest-based sauces tossed over cooked pasta. It is also recognized as marinara pasta or tomato pasta. It is made with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, dried herbs, and seasonings. 

This is the basic classic dish served mostly in Italy and their restaurants. Typically, macaroni sauce pasta is a vegetarian pasta dish made only with classic tomato sauce and cooked pasta.

 However, when Italians moved to other parts of the country, they began to incorporate ingredients that were obtainable locally like meats and dairy products.

Macaroni Pasta Sauce

Macaroni pasta sauce is also known as simple Italian tomato sauce. Mastering the skill of making red sauce is straightforward. You can use the freshest ingredients possible.

Initially, heat up some good-quality vegetable oil, and saute garlic till fragrant. Add in tomato paste, this needs a few minutes of stir-frying in the sauce.

The moment tomato paste is fried in the oil, you can now add in freshly made tomato, and cook on average heat for some time till reduced and thickened. Finish red sauce with seasonings and dried herbs. 

Red sauce can be cooled, and stored in glass jars in the fridge for up to some weeks or a month. This sauce can also be used to make pasta and pizzas.

Once you have this sauce ready, your dinner can then be a breeze. Modify pasta by adding cooked prawns, chicken, sautéed veggies, and broccoli to the sauce to make a filling nourishing, and healthy meal. 

But if you are a cheese lover, then check my cheesy pasta which can be served as it is or baked till bubbly and golden. 

Macaroni Pasta Sauce Ingredients

1. Dried Herbs – You can use fresh basil if you can find it. Meanwhile, a combination of dried basil and dried oregano is good enough.

2. Garlic – the quantity of garlic used depends on your taste. Add more or less depending on your preference. 

3. Vegetable Oil – high-quality vegetable oil is the key to red sauce.

4. Possibly – You can use finely chopped onions in the red sauce which makes it tasty. 

5. Pasta – You can use penne in this recipe which is commonly used pasta. However, you can use macaroni and spaghetti. It is best to use pasta with tube shape. So the sauce clings to the pasta will be good. 

6. Seasonings – salt, sugar, pepper, and red chili flakes are the only seasonings used in this recipe.

7. Tomato paste – It is good if you can use tomato paste in this recipe to provide rich tomato flavor in the sauce. You can use homemade tomato paste or canned. 

8. Tomatoes – It will be good enough to use fresh tomatoes for making the sauce. There is nothing that can beat fresh tomato puree.

But if you cannot find fresh tomatoes, use canned or tinned tomatoes. In that case, opt for canned whole tomatoes rather than crushed tomatoes. Whole canned tomatoes have better flavor than crushed tomatoes or tomato puree.

How to Make Macaroni Pasta Sauce 

1. Add Ons – Cooked vegetables like sweetcorn, peas, carrots, green beans, and broccoli can be added to the sauce. Similarly, you can use cooked chicken and prawns in the pasta. 

2. Choosing Tomatoes –Peradventure, you are an Indian; choose tomatoes that are naturally sweet like Bangalore variety, ruby tomatoes, plum tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes.

Do not skip pasta cooking water, as it emulsifies the sauce and makes it cling to the pasta. This is Italian modus operandi.

3. Low and Slow – Cook red sauce slow and low for a longer time which makes the tomato flavor. Make sure you use tomato paste in the sauce which enhances the tomato flavor and provides the creamy consistency.

4. Pasta Cooking Water – Anytime you are making pasta dishes, reserve some of the pasta cooking water before draining the pasta.

Tomatoes are regularly described as sweet, tart, tangy, or well-balanced. Some tomatoes are described as having a mild or bland flavor.

Bottom Line

Reserve macaroni pasta sauce cooked in water and add it to the curry before adding pasta. This helps in thickening the sauce and also prevents the pasta from drying. 

Moreover, if the pasta is not cooked soft then it will not absorb the masalas fully so make sure to cook pasta perfectly.