This is the classic tomato sauce Stanley Tucci makes on repeat.
Stanley Tucci is everywhere again—back in the spotlight with The Devil Wears Prada 2, popping up in headlines and interviews, and reminding everyone he’s just as compelling at the stovetop as he is on screen. That dual identity is part of Stanley’s appeal: equal parts actor and cook, with a style that leans simple, practical and confident.
One of the clearest examples is his go-to tomato sauce, which he shared on Instagram. It’s the kind of recipe that doesn’t try to reinvent anything; it just does a few smart things really well.
How does Stanley Tucci make tomato sauce?
Stanley starts with a trick that feels obvious once you see it. To remove the tomato seeds, he halves the tomatoes, drops them into a bowl of water, and gives them a gentle squeeze. The seeds slip right out, no knife work or patience required. It’s a small but slightly genius move that makes you wonder why you’ve been doing it the hard way.
From there, the base of his sauce begins like most good sauces, with extra virgin olive oil and alliums. In this case, that means garlic, yellow onion and the very Italian Tropea onion (a sweet red onion from Calabria). Tropea onions are milder and more delicate than standard red onions, which means they melt into the sauce rather than standing out. They can be a little tricky to find, but you might spot them at farmers markets or specialty grocers in warmer months. I used to grow them myself when I lived in California, but the frequent rain on the Oregon coast makes that a little harder now. If you can’t track them down, a regular red onion or even a shallot will do, but they really do add something special to a dish.
Once the onions and garlic have softened, Stanley adds the fresh tomatoes. He seasons them generously and lets everything cook down before blending the mixture with an immersion blender. If your tomatoes are more delicate, you can skip this step and let them soften on their own, but it’s helpful if your tomato skins are thick.
Then comes the part that makes this sauce especially smart: He adds whole, peeled, canned tomatoes (specifically ones from Campania) and crushes them right in the pan before finishing the sauce with fresh basil and another drizzle of olive oil. Mixing fresh and canned tomatoes might sound redundant, but they’re doing two different jobs. Fresh tomatoes bring brightness and that just-picked flavor. Canned tomatoes add consistency, body and a deeper, steadier sweetness. Together, they strike a beautiful balance.
What makes this sauce so appealing isn’t just the cooking method or recipe; it’s how Stanley uses it. He treats it like a foundation that you can take in a dozen different directions. Add shrimp, stir in peas, fold in a little sauteed guanciale, or bring in some heat with pepperoncino. He mentions mixing it with beans, too—really whatever you have on hand. This would be a great sauce to keep in the fridge and use for something slightly different each night.
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