Blush sauce is an easy, elevated, creamy tomato sauce that comes together in just a few minutes, making it a perfect weeknight dinner. You can make this sauce any time of year to make some amazing pasta dishes or spoon it over some grilled chicken or shrimp for an easy low-carb main dish.
This blush sauce makes a quick, easy, and weeknight dinner, but it is good enough to serve for a nice dinner party. Serve this sauce tossed with your favorite pasta, along with some homemade bread and a nice extra crunchy Caesar salad or an apple and pecan salad, for a complete restaurant-worthy meal.
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🍅 What is blush sauce?
Blush sauce is a delicate, pink, tomato sauce infused with wine, cream, and aromatics. Blush sauce is traditionally served over any kind of pasta, but it can be used for so much more—keep reading to see what else you can do with this delectable sauce!
⭐ Why you'll love this recipe
- It is ready in under 30 minutes
- Simple, easy-to-find ingredients.
- Fantastic tomato flavor
- Super versatile and delicious
- Gourmet yet affordable
- Easy to make, with step-by-step instructions
🥘 What are the ingredients in blush sauce?
- Tomatoes: crushed tomatoes, canned or homemade, or diced fresh tomatoes. If the fresh tomatoes don't have a lot of juice, you may need to add a bit more wine to the sauce. If using canned tomatoes, you may need to balance the acidity with sugar.
- White Wine: Use a good quality dry white wine. This adds a nice, subtle depth of flavor to the sauce, so pick a wine you enjoy drinking. If wine isn't your thing, you can substitute it with chicken or vegetable stock, but I definitely recommend using the wine for the best flavor.
- Heavy Cream: adds a creamy richness to the sauce. To lighten up the sauce, you can use half and half or milk instead. To make it vegan or dairy-free, you can make and add cashew cream or use a nondairy cream.
- Olive Oil: for sautéing. Use extra virgin olive oil to add more flavor to the sauce. You can also use butter instead, if desired.
- Brown Sugar: (if needed) Add this to the sauce to balance the acidity and flavor of the canned tomatoes. I like the depth of flavor the brown sugar adds, but you can also use regular sugar or honey instead.
- Yellow Onion: (diced) adds a sweet, subtle onion flavor to the sauce.
- Garlic: (minced). I used one large clove for this recipe, but use 2 or more if you like a garlicky sauce!
- Basil: (dried or fresh) adds just a touch of herbaceous quality to the sauce. If you don't have basil, you can use oregano or omit it completely.
- Crushed Red Pepper: (optional) adds a bit of heat if you like a little spice.
- Salt and Pepper
- Parmesan Cheese (for serving)
FLAVOR TIP: Use high-quality ingredients and fresh tomatoes (if in season) for the best flavor.
🔪 How do you make blush sauce?
1 - Heat the olive oil (1 tbsp) over medium heat. Add the diced onions (½ cup) to the pan, sauté until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. If the onions start to brown, drop the heat to medium-low.
2 - Add the minced garlic (1 clove) and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Turn up the heat to medium (if it's lower) and add the white wine (½ cup). Simmer for 5 minutes.
3 - Add the crushed or diced tomatoes (12 oz), crushed red pepper flakes (¼ tsp), salt (½ tsp), and pepper (¼ tsp).
4 - Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then drop the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and add brown sugar (¼–1 tsp) if the sauce needs a bit of sweetness or tastes acidic from the canned tomatoes.
EQUIPMENT TIP: Use a large skillet to cook this sauce, if you use a saucepan, the cooking surface area will be smaller and the cooking times may be a bit longer. I used the 10-inch pan from this set for this recipe.
5 - Add the heavy cream (½ cup) and dried basil (¼ tsp) and simmer over low heat for another 5 minutes.
6 - Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. More salt, more pepper? Does it need a little more sweetness?
7 - If making pasta, add your cooked pasta to the pan and gently stir into the sauce.
8. Simmer for 1-2 minutes and serve with lots of parmesan cheese and fresh basil, if desired.
SERVING TIP: Use freshly grated parmesan cheese to top this dish and make this sauce even better!
🍝 How do you use blush sauce?
Any type of pasta is perfect for this blush sauce, but I find that the ridges in the penne pasta hold the sauce perfectly. Top this blush sauce pasta dish with lots of fresh grated parmesan cheese and fresh basil for some amazing, quick comfort food.
If pasta isn't your thing, use this sauce to make a creamier version of chicken parmesan, or add this sauce to:
- grilled or roasted chicken
- meatballs
- sausage
- shrimp
- roasted cauliflower or crispy cauliflower
- grilled or roasted mushrooms (mushroom parmesan..yum!)
- use as a pizza sauce
- as a dip for focaccia bread
- spread on grilled cheese sandwiches
- as a dip for polenta fries
- use as a sauce for polenta
- use as a dip for mushroom fries
🥫 How do you make blush sauce taste even better?
Using canned tomatoes works well for this recipe, but if you have access to fresh tomatoes, your sauce will taste that much better. Using high-quality fresh and heirloom tomatoes during the peak of the season will render the absolute best flavor for this blush sauce.
During the summer months, check your local farmers market for fresh tomatoes, or if you're willing, try to grow some of your own! There's nothing like fresh tomatoes in the summer!
🥡 Make ahead, reheating and storage instructions
Prepare in advance. You can make this sauce ahead of time, up to 2 days before serving.
Store covered in an airtight container for up to 2 days as a sauce or up to 5 days when mixed with pasta.
To reheat this sauce, add it to a pan and warm gently over low heat. Do not microwave or heat over high heat, the cream in the sauce may break, and you might end up with an oily, broken sauce.
If you are reheating the sauce mixed with the pasta, you can microwave it to reheat it without breaking the sauce.
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Recipe
The BEST Easy Blush Sauce
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*Easily adjust serving size to your liking by clicking the number under servings or with the boxes below in the ingredients section.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 oz Crushed Tomatoes canned or fresh or homemade
- ½ cup Dry White Wine
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
- ½ cup Yellow Onion diced
- 1 - 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil extra virgin
- ¼ teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes optional
- ¼ tsp Dried Basil or 1 teaspoon fresh basil
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- Parmesan Cheese optional, for serving
- Fresh Basil optional, for serving
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Instructions
- Heat the olive oil (1 tbsp) over medium heat. Add the diced onions (½ cup) to the pan, and sauté until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. If the onions start to brown, drop the heat to medium-low.
- Add the minced garlic (1-2 cloves) and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Turn up the heat to medium (if it's lower) and add the white wine (½ cup). Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the crushed tomatoes (12 oz), crushed red pepper flakes (¼ tsp), salt (½ tsp), and pepper (¼ tsp).
- Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then drop the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and add brown sugar (¼–1 tsp) if the sauce needs a bit of sweetness or tastes acidic from the canned tomatoes.
- Add the heavy cream (½ cup) and dried basil (¼ tsp) and simmer over low heat for another 5 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. More salt, more pepper? Does it need a little more sweetness?
- If making pasta, add your cooked pasta to the pan and gently stir into the sauce.
- Simmer for 1-2 minutes and serve with lots of parmesan cheese and fresh basil, if desired.
Notes
- White Wine: Use a good quality dry white wine. This adds a subtle depth of flavor to the sauce, so pick a wine you enjoy drinking. Use chicken stock or vegetable stock if you don't want to use wine.
- Brown Sugar: (if needed) Add this to the sauce to balance the acidity and flavor of the canned tomatoes. I like the depth of flavor the brown sugar adds, but you can also use regular sugar or honey instead.
- Heavy Cream: adds a creamy richness to the sauce. To lighten the sauce, you can use half and half or milk instead of the cream. To make it vegan or dairy-free, you can make and add cashew cream or use a nondairy cream.
- Tomatoes: crushed canned tomatoes or fresh tomatoes. If the fresh tomatoes don't have a lot of juice, you may need to add a bit more wine to the sauce. If using canned tomatoes, you may need to balance the acidity with sugar.
- Use a large skillet to cook this sauce, if you use a saucepan, the cooking surface area will be smaller and the cooking times may be a bit longer.
- You can make this sauce ahead of time, up to 2 days before serving. Store covered in an airtight container for up to 2 days as a sauce or up to 5 days when mixed with pasta. To reheat this sauce, add it to a pan and warm gently over low heat. Do not microwave or heat over high heat, the cream in the sauce may break, and you might end up with an oily, broken sauce. *If you are reheating the sauce mixed with the pasta, you can microwave it to reheat it without breaking the sauce.
Nutrition
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