What makes marinara sauce?

[drcrappants]

I've been making a chili and have been hoping to just pour some of that over some noodles as a semi-spaghetti sauce. It definitely does not taste like general marinara. In it i basically just use ground beef, beans, and diced tomatoes. sometimes onions and garlic. And i toss in some chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne, salt pepper and cumin if i have it. Marinara sauce seems to just be diced tomatoes, no? So what am I missing here? just basing off the looks of those canned spaghetti/marinara sauces in stores, it definitely looks/tastes different. My guesses are either i need to dump a whole lot of oil in there or i need to add different spices?

[luckytrim]

Basic marinara sauce is highly seasoned tomato sauce with onions, garlic and oregano. the name comes from the Italian for "Sailor", as in "Sailor's Sauce", because being a meatless sauce, it "Traveled" well for long periods without spoiling. The spice blend changes from recipe to recipe but almost all I've seen contain the basics I've mentioned. I myself also utilize bay leaf and Romano and Parmesan cheese.

As to your Chili over Pasta- check this out......

Cincinnati chili

[jabbur]

As Lucky said it is the spices that change tomato sauce into marinara or chili. The spices he mentioned are good. I also will sometimes add basil to mine. It's the chili powder, cayenne and cumin that make it chili. You can use diced but I always add them to a tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes depending on what I have in the pantry. The crushed tomatoes makes for a bit thicker sauce especially if you add the diced tomatoes. You can still put chili over noodles just don't expect it to taste like spaghetti!

[luckytrim]

Quote:

The crushed tomatoes makes for a bit thicker sauce especially if you add the diced tomatoes.

What Jabbur said ! I almost always use the diced in the crushed, and if I don't then I'll thicken with a can of tomato paste.
If I'm feeling a little kinky, I'll thin-slice a rib of celery and add it to the mix.
My Mother did this with a carrot as well.

[yassy]

i love marinara sauce. its my favorite