Neapolitan Sauce

The Neapolitan is a basic sauce that goes with almost every pasta dish and can be varied with lots of other ingredients like minced meat, tuna, salmon etc. You can buy it ready in the supermarkets.

I wouldn’t call my website “Cooking without flavor enhancers” if I didn’t publish my own recipe here as well. So it is time to do this as it is also an important part of the recipe “Breaded Parmesan Chicken Fillet with Mozzarella and Sauce Neapolitan“.

It is easy to cook and, as this is my general opinion, it does not take much more time than to open the jar and heat the sauce after you bought it from your local food store. Still, it is also more healthy and you can prepare it in advance if you do not have much time to cook for lunch or dinner.

What you need:

1 medium chopped onion
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp olive oil to fry
50 ml white wine (or water)
1 can of diced tomatoes (400gr)
300 ml concentrated tomato juice
1 garlic clove
1 tsp dried thyme (or freshly chopped)
1 tsp sweet paprika powder
1 tsp dried oregano (or freshly chopped)
1 bay leaf
2 whole allspice
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

How to prepare:

In a pot heat the olive oil on high. Add the chopped onions and fry until glassy.

Add the tomato paste and the sugar and let fry until the oil is separating from the onions, deglaze with the wine (or water).

Add the diced tomatoes, the concentrated tomato juice and the garlic and bring it to boil. Reduce to medium heat and let cook for 2-3 minutes. At this point you can puree the sauce with a hand blender if you do not want a chunky sauce.

Add all other ingredients and let simmer for approx. 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. If the sauce is getting too thick add some water.

Remove the bay leaf and the allspices at the end of the cooking. Eventually add some more salt to taste.