The BEST Easy Blush Sauce
A quick tomato-based sauce infused with wine, cream, and aromatics that comes together in a snap and tastes absolutely amazing!
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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
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
Ingredient Substitutions
- 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
Calories: 194kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 3gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 416mgPotassium: 337mgFiber: 2gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 659IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 60mgIron: 1mg
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