Healthy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe with Hidden Vegetables {Real Food, No Sugar}

Pass it along!

This Healthy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe with Hidden Vegetables is a hit even with picky eaters. Made with carrots, zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, tomato, and garlic, this healthy pasta sauce is amazingly versatile and is a great sauce for spaghetti, pizza, lasagna, and soup.

---

Pasta Sauce with Real Food Ingredients

For years, I was guilty of adding lots of unnecessary ingredients to my tomato sauce–soy sauce, sugar, chicken bouillon….In fact, I even shared my recipe with others.

Boy, was I on the wrong track.

All of the “added flavor” for which I was searching was possible all along in real food ingredients.

Thankfully, a good friend set me on the right track when she served my family a meal of spaghetti sauce with hidden vegetables…and my children actually ate it.

Tweaking my friend’s recipe and using simply vegetables and the method of roasting my ingredients before blending and cooking them, I (thankfully!) discovered a much better and more tasty pasta sauce–one for which I will gladly trade all my added and unnecessary junk food ingredients any day…

…and now there is no going back.

Pasta Sauce with No Sugar + No Soy Sauce

Some of the key ingredients that I used in my previous recipes for tomato sauce (and still see in some other online recipes) were sugar and soy sauce.

Sadly, these ingredients are not necessary, if you simply use the right method for cooking the tomatoes.

In this recipe for Healthy Spaghetti Sauce with Hidden Vegetables, carrots magically add sweetness–booting added sugar to the curb. And the process of roasting the vegetables lends a flavor that no soy sauce can imitate.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce

So I suppose another possible title for this recipe could be “Roasted Vegetables Tomato Sauce,” since this is the key process that lends flavor to the sauce.

What do you need for this amazing, real-food spaghetti sauce?

Ingredients for Healthy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe with Hidden Vegetables

• 5 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 1/2 cup bell pepper (any color)
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 1 1/2 cups chopped eggplant
• 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp. sea salt
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. fresh basil
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

How to Make Healthy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe with Vegetables

1. Preheat oven to 350F (150C) with the broiler on.
2. Into a greased baking pan, pour the garlic, zucchini, bell pepper, carrot, eggplant, tomatoes, and mushrooms.
3. Pour the 1/4 cup of olive oil and sea salt on top of the vegetables and toss to coat evenly.
4. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and begin to brown. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
5. While the roasted vegetables are cooling, sauté the onion in the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan or stock pot, until caramelized.
6. Add the cooled vegetables, fresh basil, and caramelized onion to a large blender. Blitz until smooth. (Alternatively, you can pour the vegetables into the stock pot and use an immersion blender to blend until smooth.)
7. Pour the pureed vegetables into the stock pot. Season with dried oregano, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
8. Bring the sauce to a slow boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue simmering for 20-30 minutes. (You may add bone broth or chicken broth to thin the sauce, as necessary.)
9. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves.
10. Serve hot in pasta, pizza, lasagna, or soup.

Substitutions and Additions

• Broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, or pumpkin. Add extra veggies or substitute the ones already in the recipe. When choosing vegetables, always make sure to use at least one vegetable with a sweet undertone (such as carrots or butternut squash) to ensure that you do not need to add any additional sugar.
• Ground beef or ground turkey. If you want to add meat, brown it with the chopped onion in the olive oil and do not blitz it in the blender.
• Fresh parsley or green onion. Adding extra fresh herbs will expand the flavor palette of this sauce.
• Bone broth. To dilute the sauce and add nourishment, use bone broth instead of just water.
• Heavy cream. If creamy is what you’re after, then look no further than heavy cream. See “Creamy Vegetable Pasta Sauce” below for more instructions about adding this ingredient.

Chunky Vegetable Pasta Sauce Recipe

To make this pasta sauce chunky, simply use an immersion blender and don’t blend until smooth. Leave a few chunks throughout the sauce.

Creamy Vegetable Pasta Sauce

A creamy sauce is delectable! Make this recipe creamy by adding 2 cups heavy cream after step 8. Once the pasta sauce has simmered for 20-30 minutes, pour in the cream and stir well.

Closing Thoughts

This recipe for Healthy Spaghetti Sauce with Vegetables is my new go-to recipe. (Thank you, friend!) In all honesty, I feel re-energized whenever I eat it.

I hope you will enjoy it just as much as my family does. When you try it and share it with your friends, tag #thesantoscookbook on social media so we can take a peak at your creation, too.

Healthy Spaghetti Sauce with Hidden Vegetables Recipe Card

Pass it along!