Who else loves pasta dishes?! We definitely eat our fair share of them around here! What’s not to like?! Noodles…YUM! Rich, Italian flavors…yes please! An excuse to eat copious amounts of parmesan cheese…sign me up!
I created this Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Pasta Sauce to make our family’s love affair with noodles a little bit healthier and a whole lot more nutritious! Not only is this sauce vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and paleo-friendly…but it uses some of the very best summer produce items…tomatoes and zucchini!
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that this delicious sauce is made in the Vitamix! We’ll talk more about how to make this Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Pasta Sauce later…but let me just tell you that the zucchini is completely undetectable because it’s blended really well in my favorite kitchen appliance! 😉
Yep. I’m singing “oops I did it again” in my head because I created another recipe that’s packed full of fresh zucchini! I can’t help myself! It’s oh so very easy to add it to this Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Pasta Sauce, and my family has absolutely no idea they’re eating noodles with an extra serving of veggies!
One of the things I absolutely adore about this recipe is it’s versatility! You can make a batch to use any dish that calls for pasta sauce! {Like this pizza casserole }! Serve it plain over fresh homemade whole wheat pasta {pictured here, recipe coming soon}! Or, if you have a meat-lover in your house like I do, sauté some ground beef and then add this Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Pasta Sauce for a healthier twist on the classic Italian meat sauce!
Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Pasta Sauce: Method
This recipe is straightforward and simple! Blend everything in the Vitamix {or other high-powered blender or food processor} then transfer to a saucepan and cook!
It’s important to let the sauce simmer for a while to allow the flavors to blend. Since tomatoes vary in their sweetness and size, be sure to taste your sauce and adjust the seasonings as you see fit!
The sauce will become deeper red as it cooks, so if it looks a little pink when you’re just done blending done worry!
Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Pasta Sauce: Substitutions
As always I recommend making this recipe exactly as written, but here are a few potential substitutions:
Campari tomatoes
You may use heirloom tomatoes in place of Campari tomatoes, or any other vine-ripened, naturally sweeter variety. I do not recommend Roma or beefsteak tomatoes because in my experience they are firmer and less flavorful.
If you have a garden obviously the absolute best results come from tomatoes that you’ve picked straight from the vine in your own backyard! You can also use 6 cups of canned tomatoes with the liquid {about 4 cans} during the winter months when they aren’t in season!
Sugar
Even just a touch of sugar really brings out the natural sweetness in the tomatoes, so I don’t recommend omitting it. You can substitute coconut sugar or honey for a paleo and refined-sugar free option!
Spices
Ok, if you know me then you know that I am feeding three kids who can be randomly picky and like their sauce silky smooth. If you really know me then you know that my last two pregnancies forever changed my tastebuds. So much so that I very rarely {if ever} cook with fresh garlic or onions {gasp}! If you’d like to sub fresh herbs for the Italian seasoning {basil, parsley and oregano} by all means do it!
If you’d like to use fresh garlic and onions in place of the onion & garlic powders you’re more than welcome to go ahead and do that too! However, you will need to sauté the garlic and onions together with some olive oil until they are soft and fragrant. Once they’re cooked, add them to container of your Vitamix and blend them with the rest of the ingredients!
Ingredients
- 6 vine-ripened Campari tomatoes, quartered
- 2 cups zucchini, shredded
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- 4 TBS Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp garlic salt (or more to taste)
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 TBS sugar (or coconut sugar for paleo)
Instructions
- Place zucchini and 4 tomatoes into the wet container of a Vitamix blender.
- Blend, starting on low speed and gradually increase to high speed for 30-60 seconds or until a liquid is formed. (You may need to pause, scrape down the sides, then continue blending).
- Add the rest of the ingredients (the remaining two tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and sugar) and blend until completely smooth.
- Transfer mixture to a 4-quart saucepan and cook on medium heat until the mixture begins to bubble.
- Once mixture begins to bubble turn heat to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the sauce is a deep red color.
- Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
- Serve over your favorite pasta!
Since fresh tomatoes and zucchini are in season during the summer months, I’m always looking for ways to cook with them that do not involve turning on the oven! This month’s Recipe Redux challenge was to do just that…beat the heat by making a “no-oven-required” meal!
Since this sauce is blended in the Vitamix and cooked on the stovetop, it totally fit the billet! Keep cool and pasta on folks! 😉
If you make something from JoyFoodSunshine I would love to see your creations! #joyfoodsunshine
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Pinned! This is such a smart, produce packed recipe. I’m definitely making it!
Call me crazy, but I never thought to use the blender to make pasta sauce!! We have tomatoes growing in our garden, so I’ll have to give this recipe a try! 🙂
You’re not crazy! I just use my blender to make everything! 😉
This pasta sauce looks delicious! I love that it is packed with hidden zucchini… I will definitely have to try this soon!
Thank you Meredith! I love sneaking zucchini in just about everything! 😉
You nailed it. Pinning and putting on my recipes I want to make list!
Thank you Diane!
We are all about the fresh tomato sauce too! Nothing better. Nice to meet you from Carmy’s group. Would love to have you join our meatless Monday linkup with your post.
Than you Deborah! 🙂 <3
This looks so fresh and delicious! We have a lot of zucchini in our garden so this is perfect! I second Deborah, we’d love to have you link up and share for Meatless Monday!
It is complete genius to use the blender for this! I can’t wait to use up my fresh garden produce in this recipe, yum!!
Thank the Lord for the Vitamix!!!! They are such a blessing, and I love how they can blend anything up to make it super silky smooth. This is probably the most beautiful pasta sauce I’ve ever seen.
I love that you used zucchini in your tomato sauce. Such a great way to use up a bunch!
Love how easily this sauce comes together in the blender! The fresh flavors of the tomato and zucchini are perfect together! Easy and delicious for the win!
Tis the season to find all kinds of ways to use that zucchini and I do love this! Especially for folks who seem to have an aversion to green things on their plate, sneak veggie!
I must make this ASAP! It sounds and looks amazing! My family is going to devour it!
This is a brilliant way to up the veggie content for dinner! Perfect for picky eaters. 🙂 Thanks!
What a great way to use up those fresh summer veggies! Can’t go wrong with pasta either! 😉
I love, love, love this recipe! The addition of zucchini is wonderful and the texture look so good!
My husband was JUST inquiring whether I knew how to make a good homemade pasta sauce and the answer was: no! Totally going to try this one – sounds delicious and so easy!
Great use of summer produce!