Marinara vs. Pasta Sauce: What's the Difference?

Pasta with tomato sauce is a favorite Italian dinner staple that most Americans make at home and order in restaurants. But if you've ever done a quick Google search for a recipe or browsed a few menus of Italian restaurants in your area, you've likely run into some confusing terminology. Pasta with some type of tomato-based sauce can go by many names — and the distinctions between them can be major or subtle. Here’s a breakdown of the similarities and differences between the most common terms you're likely to see when it comes to Italian noodles and sauce.

What Is Marinara?

In short, marinara sauce is a type of pasta sauce. It's likely the one that most people are familiar with — a simple, tomato-based pasta sauce without a lot of fuss. What distinguishes marinara as its own signature sauce is its unfussy ingredient list and quick cook time. It traditionally consists of only tomato passata (tomato puree), salt, and pepper; it may occasionally include a pinch of chili flakes, a sprig of basil, or a clove of garlic. Marinara is thin and homogenous in consistency; you won't find any chunks or tomato skins in classic marinara. 

While many recipes would lead you to believe otherwise, true marinara is a relatively plain sauce that really showcases the taste of the tomatoes without a lot of other supporting characters muddling the flavor. It's more traditional than other popular American versions of Italian sauces. Marinara can also be used as a dipping sauce or as an ingredient in other recipes, like mussels marinara.

What Is Pasta Sauce?

Technically, pasta sauce is any sauce typically paired with pasta — like pesto, bolognese, Alfredo, and marinara as well. But people usually think of a more robust and flavorful tomato sauce as classic "pasta sauce." There are really no hard-and-fast rules on what can simply be called pasta sauce. Still, it often contains a mixture of tomato products, including crushed tomatoes, passata, and tomato paste combined with fresh and dried herbs, salt and pepper, garlic, onion, and more. The consistency is usually a thicker, chunkier product. This formula is much more popular with American pasta sauces, especially pre-made jarred sauce; you won't generally find this type of sauce among the Italian classics.

If you've ever thumbed through an old French cookbook, you may have encountered the term “sauce tomate,” also known as, tomato sauce. This is one of the five French "mother sauces" and is a more French-influenced take on classic Italian red sauces. Sauce tomate includes the usual suspects like tomato product and seasoning, but also includes pancetta or another cured pork product and meat stock. The primary diversion from Italian tradition is the occasional inclusion of a roux, a cooked paste of butter and flour, used to thicken the sauce. In some preparations, the final sauce is closer to the texture of tomato paste than thin marinara. It's not uncommon to see a version of sauce tomate billed as “pasta sauce” in recipes and restaurants.

What About Meat Sauce?

Bolognese is a highly traditional Italian pasta sauce with a base of tomato paste and ground meat. In America, it's often called "meat sauce" or "spaghetti sauce," but some refer to this type of sauce as "pasta sauce." The varieties you'll find gracing American menus and recipes divert considerably from the classic Italian recipe, creating an entirely new dish. Traditional Italian bolognese starts with long cooking of a sofrito — a blend of carrots, onions, and celery — in olive oil until they're nearly melted. This is followed by ground beef and pork deglazed with red wine and a dollop of tomato paste before being cooked for hours and finished with a splash of milk.

In contrast, American "meat sauce" usually starts with ground beef and sometimes includes some sofrito veggies, along with the occasional bell pepper or mushroom. This is mixed with crushed tomatoes or tomato passata and is usually seasoned with dry herbs and cooked for a much shorter time period. This type of sauce is very common in the U.S. and has become ubiquitous as "pasta sauce," especially when paired with spaghetti.