These 2 Common Ingredients Are Ruining Your Marinara Sauce

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Marinara sauce is a fundamental building block of Italian cuisine, one every home pasta cook should master. Though it might seem like a simple tomato sauce, there are a few critical things you should do — and not do — to make the most of your next batch. One of the easiest is to avoid two ingredients that you might think are adding flavor but are actually ruining your sauce. These are dried basil and garlic powder, neither of which you should ever put in a marinara sauce for a variety of reasons.

The advantages of dried herbs and spices are obvious: They're affordable, long-lasting, and convenient for those times when your food needs a flavor boost. Still, not every herb is well suited to the drying process, and basil is among them. "Fresh basil gives marinara its signature aroma and finish," chef Matthew Cutolo of Gargiulo's told Mashed. In comparison, he noted that dried basil has a completely different flavor, which he describes as "more muted, even dusty."

From a pasta perspective, much of basil's appeal comes from its aromatic essential oils, which provide a freshness that contrasts with the rich tomato base. However, few of these oils survive the drying process, significantly changing the final flavor. This is one of the reasons that using the freshest possible ingredients is a key Italian restaurant secret you should use at home.

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It's not just dried basil — the preservation process also has a great deal to do with why garlic powder is ruining your sauce, too. While garlic is yet another fundamental part of Italian cooking (marinara included), Pinch and Swirl recipe developer Marissa Stevens told Mashed that you should avoid the shortcut of using powder and instead opt for freshly sliced or minced garlic. Garlic powder can be quite pungent, but it's also less complex than the fresh stuff, especially if that canister has been sitting in your spice rack for months or years.

This flavor degradation is an inevitable result of the production process. Garlic releases its characteristic flavor and odor when it's cut or crushed. This is caused by enzymes and compounds that degrade over time and can be destroyed by heat, like the kind used in the dehydration process that precedes powdering.

At the end of the day, there's nothing stopping you from creating a suitable marinara sauce with dried basil and garlic powder — plenty of home chefs do so every day. However, while these might seem like subtle distinctions, simple, fresh additions can turn an easy homemade marinara sauce recipe into an extraordinary one that would make any Italian grandmother proud.