Home » Vegan Raw Recipes » RAW MARINARA SAUCE

RAW MARINARA SAUCE

Raw marinara sauce made with raw tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh herbs is quick and easy to make, and perfect on salads, zucchini noodles or pasta!

head on view of mason jar filled with raw marinara sauce with wooden spoon.

This raw marinara sauce has been a great recipe to come back to again and again! I’ve been making this raw tomato sauce for years and think you’ll love it as much as I do.

It’s raw, oil-free, super simple to make and tastes fresh and delicious. This is easily customizable so you can come up with different variations using herbs and spices to suit your taste.

I think you’ll find this raw tomato sauce with a mix of tomatoes to be flavorful, healthy and so easy to put together. And it’s great with raw zucchini pasta!

top down view of ingredients used to make raw marinara sauce recipe.

Ingredients

In this recipe, a mix of tomatoes are blended with garlic, onion and herbs for a thick and flavorful tomato sauce.

Here is everything you will need:

  • Tomatoes – the best tomatoes to use are roma, cherry, or on the vine, but you can use your favorite
  • Sun-dried tomatoes – not packed in oil
  • Garlic – use fresh or garlic powder
  • Shallot
  • Herbs – change it up using cilantro, parsley or basil
  • Salt + pepper

top down view of ingredients for raw marinara sauce added to food processor.

How To Make Raw Marinara Sauce

(Note – The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post)

  • Soak the sun-dried tomatoes in cool water for at least 20 minutes, up to 2 hours.
  • Add the tomatoes, soaked sun-dried tomatoes, shallot, onion, fresh herbs, salt and pepper to the bowl of a food processor or blender. Blend until desired consistency, leaving it a little chunky or pureeing until smooth.

And that’s it! Now your marinara sauce is ready to use.

top down view of raw marinara sauce in glass jar with items surrounding.

How To Store

  • Refrigerator: Leftovers will keep for 5 – 6 days in the refrigerator, stored in a covered container.
  • Freezer: Raw marinara sauce is freezer friendly and freezes well for up to 2 – 3 months. To freeze, store in freezer safe containers (affiliate link), leaving 1/2 inch head space for expansion. Let thaw before using.

Serving Suggestions

This homemade raw tomato sauce is versatile and can be used for all types of pastas, as a dressing or dip.

If you try this raw tomato sauce recipe, please let me know! I’d love to hear any tips or changes you made to the recipe in the comments below!

Print

MARINA’RAW’ SAUCE

Fresh and super simple to make, this raw marinara sauce tastes delicious on salads or zucchini noodles. It’s even great on cooked pasta!

  • Author: Julie | The Simple Veganista
  • Prep Time: 25 min
  • Total Time: 25 min
  • Yield: Serves 4
  • Category: Sauce, Condiment
  • Method: food processor
  • Cuisine: Italian
  • Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 lb. tomatoes (roma, grape or cherry, on the vine, etc), chopped
  • 1 cup (3oz.) sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil)
  • 1 clove garlic (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
  • 2 tablespoons shallots
  • 1/2 cup herbs (cilantro, parsley or basil), medium packed
  • salt + pepper, to taste

Instructions

Soak sun-dried tomatoes: Start with softening the sun-dried tomatoes. Do this by placing them in a small bowl of warm, not boiling, water, and let soak for about 20 minutes. Drain water.

Make the sauce: Once tomatoes are ready, place all the ingredients into a food processor or blender, and blend until mixture is fairly smooth. You can also leave it a little chunky if you like. Taste for flavor adding more of anything you like.

Store: Leftovers sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 – 6 days.

Makes 2 cups.

Serves 3

Notes

This can be served with zucchini ‘noodles’, regular pasta, or whatever you come up with. Here’s a few serving suggestions to get you started: this Raw Pasta Primavera and this ‘Raw’sta Vegetable Pasta.

Feel free to substitute any herbs and spices in the sauce, make it your own. You can use parsley, thyme, basil, or red pepper flakes to spice it up. Have fun creating and enjoy often!

Nutritional values are estimates only. See our full nutrition disclosure here.

Updated: Marina’raw’ Sauce originally published July 2012 and has been updated June 2020 with new photos and helpful tips. 

FOLLOW TSV on FacebookInstagramPinterest or RSS for more updates and inspiration!

8 Comments

  1. Oh, and I also added a handful of cilantro ;)

  2. I’m a newbie raw foodie and I must say this is the most delicious marinara. I used what I had on hand, dried oregano, dried basil, onion flakes & powder, garlic powder. I also added 1/2 a habanero and one madjool date. I’ll use this recipe often, thanks!

  3. I’m genuinely surprised at how much I loved this! I was a little nervous, but I added 2 spoons of pesto and it was delicious! Very flavorful. I am not vegetarian but am trying to get more raw veggies in my diet, so I mixed this with some ground beef and warmed it slightly. I paired it with your raw veggie spaghetti as well and it was so refreshing and filling 😋 thank you so much for the yummy ideas! They are a life saver!

  4. Love this sauce. Very fresh. We use it on zoodles and as a sauce on raw dehydrated red peeper flax pizza crust with coconut amino marinated shallots and mushrooms. It’s awesome.

  5. Josephine says:

    Just made this and put in with some raw vegan “meatballs” that I made in my dehydrator. I also used zucchini noodles and nutritional yeast. I used different spices thou. I put in organic dried onion, garlic, and Italian seasoning instead. This sauce is so good, definitely going to make it again.

  6. Connie Ptak says:

    Great recipe! So nice on a hot day!! I used a little bit of braggs to it. Wonderful!!

  7. Anonymous says:

    I just made this – it was delicious and so easy! I added nutritional yeast to it too :)

    1. julie@thesimpleveganista says:

      Great! I love this sauce, it's divine. The nutritional yeast is a great addition. I will try that for sure. Thanks for the inspiration. :)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star