No-Tomato Pasta Sauce

3 minutes

I hated ALL tomatoes as a child. That included ketchup, pasta sauce, and pizza sauce. Luckily my tastes have changed! But if you’re kids are as picky as I was, let me introduce you to my no-tomato pasta sauce recipe. It’s a quick and easy pasta sauce recipe…with no tomatoes.

How to Make No-Tomato Pasta Sauce

Step 1: Get all your ingredients ready. Chop your onion, mince the garlic, grate the carrots, and dice your peppers.

Step 2: Add olive oil to a large saucepan over medium heat and then sauté the onion for about 5 minutes or until translucent.

Step 3: Add the minced garlic to your saucepan and sauté for 1-2 more minutes or until fragrant.

Step 4: Stir in your diced red & yellow bell peppers and the grated carrots. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften. (See our Tweaks for alternatives)

Step 5: Add the dried oregano, dried basil, salt, and black pepper. Mix well.

Step 6: Carefully add the vegetable stock and bring the entire mixture to a simmer. Continue cooking for 10-15 minutes, allowing the flavours to combine.

Step 7: Remove from heat. Blend the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth. If you prefer a chunkier sauce, you can skip this step or blend it less.

Step 8: Season with salt and pepper to taste. Plate and adorn with parmesan.

Tweaks

Admittedly, this sauce can be runny if you don’t blend it properly or let it simmer long enough. And…it’s not RED! Try a few of these tweaks if you’re looking to change things up.

• Add Some RED – Missing that lovely red color you usually see with the tomato based sauce? Try adding 15 oz. of beets to give it some more color!
• Where’s that Tang? – Need a little tang in that sauce? Try adding 1 Tbsp of red wine vinegar.
• Thicken It – Too watery for you? Add 1 cup of pumpkin puree. If that’s too weird for, try another squash puree like butternut or kabocha.

Storage

I always make too much pasta sauce…on purpose. It’s even more delicious on days two and three if you ask me. Plus, I like having the leftovers as a ready-to-go lunch.

Refrigerate: Homemade pasta sauces will last 3-4 days in the fridge. Once cooked and cooled, transfer it to a glass container, and then cover. A few layers of cling will do, or a reusable lid.

Freeze: You can freeze pasta sauce for around 6 months. If you’ve got a lot, split your sauce into appropriate portions and store them in an appropriate sealed container to ensure it is well preserved when frozen. Want more help? Read this.

Reheat: The best way to defrost pasta sauce is to place it in the refrigerator overnight. Once mostly thawed, you can place your pasta sauce in a sauce pan on a low burner setting, stirring every few minutes.

Alternatively, you can place your pasta sauce directly in the microwave from frozen. You should ensure this is done on a low setting and remove it every few minutes to stir it thoroughly.