The Fancy Jarred Tomatoes Giada De Laurentiis Uses In Marinara Sauce

Making marinara sauce like Giada De Laurentiis means you are going to have to get yourself a fancy jar of crushed tomatoes, and you are going to love them for more than just this sauce. The professional chef uses a tomato aptly named Datterini, which means "little dates," to craft her pasta sauce. Datterini tomatoes are just small cherry tomatoes and have a sweet and delicate taste that is perfect for adding flavor to just about any sauce. Per her Giadzy website, De Laurentiis prefers the Italian, female-owned brand Masseria Dauna. The company grows these little fruits on a mountain in the Puglia village of Lucera and uses a simple salt and water brine to preserve them in jars.

Not only do Datterini tomatoes have the sweetest flavor of all tomatoes, but they also have little to no acidity. These favored fruits can be either red or yellow and believe it or not, the yellow ones are even sweeter than the red ones. They have thick skin, not too many seeds, and meaty flesh. While you can generally find them at specialty grocers or even Whole Foods, they are going to run you a pretty penny.

But once you taste a jar of these babies, there is no going back. You can use them in a variety of recipes. Try the yellow Datterini tomatoes with a little bit of pancetta. The savory meat and sweet flavor of the Datterini complement each other perfectly and taste lovely together in a simple pasta. You may want to add them to your next tomato, mozzarella, and arugula salad or even throw them on top of a Neapolitan pizza.

Of course, if you cannot find any jarred Datterini tomatoes and still want to make a marinara sauce that has the same flavorful vibe as that of De Laurentiis's version, you can use a Corbarino tomato. These tomatoes are slightly bigger and also have a lovely sugary taste with little acidity. You can also use San Marzano crushed plum tomatoes; however, if you opt for these tomatoes, get the right ones. Do you know how Champagne has to come from grapes grown in Champagne, France? Similarly, only use San Marzano crushed tomatoes for your marinara sauce if they actually come from San Marzano.