Kid-friendly No-Cook Marinara Sauce Recipe - Sticky Fingers Cooking
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Recipe: No-Cook Marinara Sauce

Recipe: No-Cook Marinara Sauce

No-Cook Marinara Sauce

by Dylan Sabuco
Photo by Marie C Fields/Shutterstock.com
prep time
5 minutes
cook time
makes
4-6 servings

Fun Food Story

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No-Cook Marinara Sauce

Marinara sauce is not only a classic element of Italian cuisine, but also one of the most versatile. You can use it as a pizza sauce, a pasta sauce, or a dip for anything from fried seafood to breadsticks. And this no-cook version is incredibly easy to prepare!

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Chef Erin, Food-Geek-in-Chief

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

  • measure :

    to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

  • mix :

    to thoroughly combine two or more ingredients until uniform in texture.

Equipment Checklist

  • Can opener
  • Small mixing bowl
  • Measuring spoons
  • Wooden spoon
scale
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Ingredients

No-Cook Marinara Sauce

  • 1 4-oz can tomato paste **(for NIGHTSHADE/TOMATO ALLERGY sub 1/2 C pumpkin purée + 1 big pinch of other seasonings)**
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 pinch granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1 T water
  • 1 tsp olive oil

Food Allergen Substitutions

No-Cook Marinara Sauce

  • Nightshade/Tomato: For 1 4-oz can tomato paste, substitute 1/2 C pumpkin purée and add 1 big pinch of all the seasonings in the recipe.

Instructions

No-Cook Marinara Sauce

1.
measure + mix

This recipe is super simple. All you have to do is dump all the ingredients into a bowl, mix them, and adjust the flavor and texture to your liking. Let’s dive in! Measure 1 can tomato paste, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 pinch of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 tablespoon water, and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Stir to combine. Take a small taste and adjust the flavor and texture to your liking by adding more oil, water, or seasonings.

2.
dip + dunk

Dip and dunk your brushed breadsticks in this super simple and delicious sauce. Buon appetito!

Let's Learn About Italy!

Photo by Marina Andrejchenko/Shutterstock.com
  • Italy became a unified country in 1861, only 150 years ago. It is sometimes called "bel paese" or "beautiful country."  
  • Italians invented the piano and the thermometer! 
  • In ancient Roman mythology, two twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome, Italy's capital city. The myth says the twins were abandoned and then discovered by a she-wolf before being found and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Eventually (and after many exciting adventures), they found themselves at the location of Palatine Hill, where Romulus built "Roma." The Italian wolf became Italy's unofficial national animal. 
  • In the 1930s and 40s, Mussolini, Italy's prime minister, and dictator tried to eliminate all foreign words from the Italian language. How did he do that? He just changed them! For example, in soccer, "goal" became "meta." Disney character names changed, too: Donald Duck became "Paperino;" Mickey Mouse became "Topolino;" and Goofy became "Pippo." Although they're not banned anymore, these words and names have stuck. So now if you go to the Italian Disneyland, called Gardaland Park, you will see Topolino and Pippo! 
  • About 60 million people call Italy home, and it is 116,350 square miles, slightly larger than the US state of Arizona. If you compare that to the United Kingdom, 67 million people live there, and it is about 94,350 square miles. So, the UK is smaller than Italy but has a bigger population! 
  • The Italian flag is green, white, and red. These colors represent hope, faith, and charity.
  • The average Italian eats close to 55 pounds of pasta annually. If you think about how light pasta is, that is a considerable amount! There are more than 500 different types of pasta eaten in Italy today. 

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Italy?

  • Kids begin school at 6 years old. They grow up speaking Italian, but they learn English in school, so many become bilingual in Italian and English.
  • The most popular sport for kids is football (soccer). The Italian word for soccer is "calcio," the same word they use for "kick." A favorite of younger kids is "Rody, the bouncing horse," a plastic horse that a small child can hop onto and bounce around the room. Rody was invented in Italy in 1984.  
  • The family ("la famiglia") is a central characteristic of Italian life. Children have great respect for their older relatives. It is traditional to name the first male child after the grandfather and the first female child after the grandmother.
  • If kids live close to school, they can go home and have lunch with their families! Lunch at school might be pasta, meat with vegetables, a sandwich, or a salad with lots of ingredients. Families typically eat dinner later (7 to 8 pm), so kids end up staying up later, too!
  • Between lunch and dinner, kids often enjoy "merenda," which is an afternoon snack that translates to "something that is deserved." It is really a mini-meal that can include both savory and sweet foods. Examples of savory foods are a salami or mortadella sandwich, a slice of rustic bread rubbed with a cut, raw tomato, or "pizza bianca" (white pizza without tomato sauce). Types of sweet foods eaten during merenda are "gelato" (a lower-fat type of ice cream), any kind of cake, or biscotti dipped in warm milk.

That's Berry Funny

How do you fix a broken tomato? 

Tomato paste!

Lettuce Joke Around

Why did the tomato blush? 

Because he saw the salad dressing!

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