Why is my pasta sauce so bland?

[Spilledmycoffee]

Dd (2.5) would happily live off pasta and asked for it tonight. We didn't have a jar of sauce and I didn't fancy going back out. I'm usually pretty good with a tin of tomatos and some herbs and spices, but pasta sauce has always eluded me. Tonight dd would only eat her pasta if every mouth full had a mound of cheese on it because it was so boring. Can anyone suggest where I might be going wrong? I'd love to stop buying the jars because they're so full of sugar and salt (although perhaps that's the secret?!)

Tonight's sauce was:

1 tin tomatos
Half a stock cube
Pepper
2tsp smoked paprika
2tsp italian herbs and spices
1tsp onion granules
1tsp garlic powder
1tsp oregano
1/2 tsp coriander

It wasn't bad it was just really tasteless. Whats would the above need to make it taste better?

My very busy friend chops up the garlic, onions, fills a baking tray with tomatoes, basil, sloshes over the olive oil and bakes it all in the oven then blitzes it and uses as required. Her children go mad over her sauce

Chop very finely equal amounts of onion, carrot and celery then sauté for 45 mins on very low heat with a little oil, add chopped tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper plus garlic (I use frozen) cook for further 40 mins. It's really good - but do use plum tomatoes not chopped as it's richer