Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce with onion and butter is one of the simplest—and most surprising—recipes I know. Canned tomatoes simmer with a halved onion, butter and salt until the sauce becomes rich, balanced and deeply flavored. There is no sautéing, chopping or long list of seasonings.
Marcella Hazan taught me more about Italian cooking than any other writer. Her recipes are exacting but never fussy, and this sauce captures her approach perfectly: use good ingredients, treat them simply and let each one do its work.
If you’re going to own just one Italian cookbook, you can’t go wrong with her classic, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.
Over the years I’ve adapted the proportions to make a larger batch without doubling the butter. The ingredients and the essential method remains unchanged.
So here it is, adapted for my kitchen while preserving the simplicity of her original recipe.
Although I never got to meet her, she was always in my ear whenever I cooked an Italian dish. Her strict fundamentals and unbending philosophy changed my cooking immensely.
More Marcella Hazan Recipes and Italian Classics
For another Marcella Hazan favorite, Cannellini Beans alla Marcella Hazan
And a wonderful pesto recipe, Authentic Pesto Recipe Inspired by Marcella Hazan
You may also enjoy Spaghetti al Pomodoro: The 3-Michelin-Star Tomato Sauce That Breaks Every Rule
If you’re looking for meat sauce, Classic Ragu Bolognese Sauce Recipe: Slow and Delicious
And the famous Sunday Sauce, Authentic Sunday Sauce: A Step by Step To Create A Family Tradition
And of course my favorites, My Favorite Recipes
My Larger-Batch Version:
The recipe below uses the same ingredients as Marcella Hazan’s original, but I’ve adjusted the proportions to produce more sauce without doubling the butter. My version is therefore slightly less rich. To make Hazan’s original proportions, use 2 cups canned tomatoes, 5 tablespoons butter, 1 medium onion and salt to taste; the method remains the same.
Ingredients:
4 cups canned Italian plum Tomatoes, cut up, with their juice. You can also substitute fresh if you’ve got good plum tomatoes, but they should be blanched and peeled.
1 medium Onion, peeled and cut in half
6 tablespoons Butter
Salt
1 lb Pasta, spaghetti, penne, or rigatoni.
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Preparation:
Put the tomatoes in a saucepan, add the butter, onion, and salt, and cook uncovered at a gentle simmer for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats free from the tomato.
Stir from time to time, mashing any large piece of tomato in the pan with the back of your spoon. Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before serving.
Toss with Parmesan cheese and serve.
Note: As it’s such a rich sauce, it’s better if you don’t overload the pasta and then you get the wonderful flavor of the sauce, pasta and the cheese. It’s perfectly balanced.
This article is part of The Pasadena Chef Cooking School. Explore more cooking lessons, techniques, and ingredient guides here. The Pasadena Chef Cooking School
Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Put the tomatoes in a saucepan, add the butter, onion, and salt, and cook uncovered at a gentle simmer for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats free from the tomato.
- Stir from time to time, mashing any large piece of tomato in the pan with the back of your spoon. Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before serving.
- Toss with Parmesan cheese and serve.