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Here's the recipe I use for a tomato meat sauce using canned tomatoes. The meat could easily be left out:

1 cup onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef
2 (or more!) cloves garlic, crushed
2 14 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano*
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme*
1 bay leaf

*I've also used Italian Seasoning in place of these two separates.

Directions:
Brown ground beef with garlic and onion. Drain and return to pan. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until the flavors come together, at least an hour. Serve with your favorite pasta, with breaded chicken and cheese as chicken parmesan, etc.

We have also made this without meat, too. Great with beef/sausage/spinach stuffed shells.

If you want to use fresh tomatoes but don't have the best-quality ones (or need to cook them for fear of salmonella contamination), try roasting them! Core them, brush lightly with olive oil, and roast at ~375F until they're nicely wrinkled and slightly browned and fragrant (30 minutes or so?) Then chop them, gently saute a thinly sliced clove or two of garlic (and maybe a bit of finely chopped onion, if it's to your liking) in olive oil for 10 minutes, and add the tomatoes and their juices, plus a shake or two of basil and oregano and salt to taste at the end of cooking.

I made some insipid supermarket plum tomatoes into a delicious sauce earlier this summer by doing this - makes a great pasta, especially with feta, pine nuts, and mint!

I'm almost afraid to post this...because I agree w/izatryt....this ought to be an interesting thread!
I make a sauce that my sicilian grandfather taught me....he was off the boat from Sicily in the early 1900's....I preface that because some people don't feel that some of the ingredients I put in belong in sauce.....lol
I use either canned or fresh tomatoes....depends on what is on hand. I begin by sauteing onions, garlic and (eek) green peppers....then I brown whatever meat happens to be around...whether it's a few chicken legs....a spare rib or two....always some pork & chicken (skin on)....sausage too if I have some. The meat gives it a very rich flavor.
I combine the veggies, the meat & the tomatoes, I also add a can of water. The only spices I add are parsley, basil, salt & pepper. I also add a smidge of sugar. Then simmer for about 4 hours on low...stirring periodically so things don't burn. Take out the meat & shred it from the bone, adding it back to the sauce for serving. If you like meatballs, you can make those, brown & add them the last two hours.
Go ahead...lemme have it for the peppers, meat & sugar! lol

@mepolo - I totally understand your trepidation, and my hands are shaking as I type (and I'm giggling, too). I think we've been here before? ;)

I also love a little green pepper (chopped finely) in my sauce. It adds a note that I just love and really miss if it's not there. I also put in some baby food carrots for sweetness. I don't use sugar, but I know there are some very strong opinions out there on that one. I'm a little afraid of tomato paste - I carmelize a few tablespoons with the onions, garlic & pepper, but less hesitant since I saw that Anne Burrell uses only paste - no canned or fresh tomatoes at all. I don't use a lot of different meats, mainly due to cost. It's usually ground beef or meatballs and mild Italian sausage, unless I'm doing chicken or eggplant parm. I have trouble finding San Marzano tomatoes, but I'd like to try them. I usually have a semi-chunky sauce (from using whole and/or diced tomatoes), but I like it smooth, too. Spices are bay, s&p, a couple pinches of fresh or dried thyme, dry oregano & basil, with fresh basil at the very end. I always add some red wine at the beginning, and pasta water at the end.

Covering my head and waiting for the onslaught. ;-D

I'm actually not satisfied with my sauce, so I'm constantly trying new ideas. I've learned a lot from JerzeeTomato, LoCo and chiffOnade. Hoping they'll chime in.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there are a lot of posts in SE where Italian American and more straight-up regional Italian is confused. When meat and/or multiple meats are in a slow-cooked tomato-based sauce, isn't it considered an Italian American "gravy" versus a marinara sauce which is meatless?

^Yeah, the original poster asked for marinara sauce recipes. Gravy=all day cooked sauce, with everything thrown in, almost always with meat and all leftover veggies, changing from week to week. Sauce tends to have more limited and traditional components, but thinner marinara sauces usually have tomato, basil, garlic, onion, and so forth in various permutations--Mario Battali's definitely has carrot, I remember reading somewhere.

I think everyone is right! Liking different types is good and no one is wrong!

I have to say I am really hooked on Mario's simple recipe, so much so I no longer make any other. It does have a bit of carrot, lots of onion and garlic, and uses fresh thyme instead of basil/other. I think the thyme is why I like it so much, I don't like basil that much in my tomato sauces. I add hot pepper flakes and a little red wine too sometimes.

I love seeing the different ways of making things, and getting new ideas for old favorites!

I guess I read it that she wanted a tomato sauce/marinara recipe, and I read it as and/or....not strictly a marinara type...but any tomato sauce...
@izatryt - yes...I grew up understanding that the sugar was to help cut the acid...not know how common a baking soda was in my Nanu's world....that might be what he was used to. I like the bit of balance it adds....similarly to Perky's carrots....but I plan on trying the baking soda too. I think in a way it's like pizza sauce...some like it spicier, some like it sweeter....right?

It's so simple, I can't understand why more people don't opt to do it. Using a good quality canned tomato still qualifies as "scratch."

Please, whatever you do - don't put sugar in it. Sugar is a "masking" ingredient used only to hide inferior tomatoes. If you believe your sauce needs sweetening, you can add grated carrot or up the amount of onion.

Sugar in tomato sauce is an abomination.

i like to make these two versions of tomato sauce... This one's cooked, and this one is raw. Both are really good.

Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking

I agree with embolini9. I made a delicious sauce out of sauteeing some olive oil and garlic, adding some fresh basil and mushrooms, then piling on the tomatoes. I used a mixture of fresh and canned. Sometimes the juice from those canned tomatoes adds a whole lot!

Hillary
Chew on That