Have a lot of tomatoes sitting on your counter that need to be used up before they go bad? That’s the situation I found myself in a few days ago. When we were up at my parents’ house for Labor Day, we were given lots of tomatoes!
Yeah, we kind of hit the jackpot of fresh produce while we were there! Having all of that fresh produce was great, but we couldn’t eat it fast enough!
I had found a way to use all of the beans, corn, and radishes, but I still needed a way to use the tomatoes and summer squash. I had never tried making my own spaghetti sauce, so I figured now was as good of time as any! 🙂
I love hearty spaghetti sauce that is loaded with veggies, so I set out to make a nice hearty sauce using the vegetables I had on hand. Those vegetables happened to be green peppers, carrots, and summer squash.
I guess I could say it was a success, because the first thing my husband said after taking a bite was, “This is going on the make again list, right?” 🙂 This sauce is plenty filling by itself and makes for a great meatless meal when paired with whole grain noodles. My husband didn’t even mind not having meat present!
Have a great weekend everyone, and if you have tomatoes that need to be used up, give this spaghetti sauce a try! 🙂
Chunky Garden Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce
Author: A Kitchen Addiction
Serves: about 9 cups
Ingredients
- ¼ C olive oil
- 1 C onion, coarsely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 C carrots, coarsely chopped
- 1 C green pepper, coarsely chopped
- 1 C yellow summer squash, finely sliced and quartered
- 10 C tomatoes, washed and cut into chunks
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp dried parsley flakes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or medium stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat for two minutes. Add in the onion, garlic, carrots, green pepper, and summer squash. Cook until onions turn translucent and vegetables start to soften, about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Increase temperature to medium-high. Add tomatoes and spices. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to a boil stirring occasionally. When sauce reaches a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 2 to 2½ hours. The longer you let it simmer the fewer chunks there will be. Stir occasionally to prevent any sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Remove from heat.
- Use sauce immediately or allow to cool completely before transferring sauce to freezer safe containers. Keep a container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks if you want to use the sauce shortly. Store the rest in the freezer.
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This recipe is linked with Heavenly Treats, Mop It Up Mondays, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Sweet Treats and Swanky Stuff, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Weekend Potluck.
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wow This looks so fresh and good!
Oh my goodness… this looks AMAZING. Big fan of hearty spaghetti sauce myself 🙂
You should come and eat some with me! 🙂
Yum, looks delicious! I like your addition of carrots and summer squash.
This looks great! I’d way rather have my sauce packed full of veggies than meat, love this!
Me too! I was so glad that my husband liked it and didn’t mind the lack of meat!
oh this looks so good and fresh, thanks fro sharing! anne
Um, YUM! That looks so delicious and light.
Wow this looks yummy! The addition of carrots sounds amazing.. I will have to try.
You should! 🙂
What a great way to sneak in some extra veggies. This looks amazing. I am craving some pasta right now.
Oh dear deliciousness! This look amazing! I just love all the chunks of veggies! Have a great week!
Thanks Serena! You too!
can this sauce be canned?
Oh this looks fantastic! 🙂 I prefer meatless sauce anyway so this has definitely been bookmarked 🙂
A sauce like this could be the perfect pasta sauce 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
This looks so good – so fresh!
What a lovely pasta sauce recipe!
Yum! Looks like a great way to incorporate fresh vegetables from the garden or farmer’s market!
Yes, I’m planning on making it again with some slightly different fresh veggies!
This is a great way to use up spare veggies lying around! The color is so vibrant.
It seems like either the yield or the quantity of tomatoes is off,which is it?
The tomatoes and vegetables cook down in the boiling process leaving you with approximately 9 cups of sauce.
I am going to be canning this weekend & would love to can this recipe. Can you can this recipe & if yes what adjustments would need to be made for acidity.
I have never tried canning this recipe, so I don’t feel comfortable saying that it can be canned. Sorry!
You don’t peel the tomatoes before adding to the other veggies?
Thanks,
I didn’t peel the tomatoes, but if you’re not a fan of skins, you’ll definitely want to peel them. Hope that helps!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I didn’t have 2 hours to cook down the sauce, but after about an hour the veggies were nice and soft, the flavours were just delicious and with a small amount of cornstarch (sorry!) it thickened perfectly. I’m sure if I’d had the full 2/2.5 hours it would have been perfectly thick by itself. I personally loved that the veggies were a little on the chunky side, and my husband also loved it. I’m a vegetarian so I ate it as is on whole wheat pasta, and he added sausage to his plate. Really wonderful! As an afterthought, I would imagine that if folks are pressed for time that after about an hour it could be pulsed in a blender/food processor for smaller veggies, and a more saucy consistency. I might try that next time! Thanks for the recipe.
This was DELICIOUS!! I couldn’t stop eating it and my meat-eating husband also loved it. Great recipe. I’m going to make it again next week. I added some red wine and mushrooms to mine.
Angie
great start for chili con carne and anything else you like red tomatoes in
CAN I USE FRESH VEGGIES THAT I HAVE FROZEN FROM MY GARDEN ( CARROTS, CELERY, PEPPERS, ONIONS, TOMATOES) I HAVE DICED THEM AND FROZE THEM AS I PICKED THEM HOPING I CAN USE THEM IN A PASTA SAUCE.
It should work to use those veggies. Just thaw them first. The time for cooking the veggies to soften may take longer as they will start cold. Hope that helps!