Marinara sauce without tomatoes? Yes, it can be done and it is quite good! My daughter was diagnosed with a tomato allergy a few months ago and our family has really missed eating spaghetti and meatballs. What red-blooded American wants to give that up? I know it’s Italian, but it’s become an American staple food.
This Nightshade-Free Marinara Sauce builds on a previous recipe for Notmato Paste.
I published a Notmato Paste recipe a little while back made from beets, carrots, garlic, onion and a little vinegar. It amazingly looks and tastes just like tomato paste! That recipe is the base for this Nightshade-Free Marinara Sauce.
Investing some time in a big batch of Notmato Paste can make for quick and easy meals later.
The Notmato Paste is a little bit of work, mostly in the peeling and chopping, so I often make the Notmato Paste in volume when I’ve got some time. I’ll freeze some in ice cube trays so I have it for recipes that call for tomato paste or sauce and then I’ll use some for this Nightshade-Free Marinara Sauce. The Marinara Sauce freezes well, too, if you want to make a bunch and then have it on hand for a quick dinner. The recipe as written below makes about 7 cups of Nightshade-Free Marinara Sauce.
Once you have the Notmato Paste, this Nightshade-Free Marinara Sauce is super easy to make.
Once you have the Notmato Paste, it’s very simple to make the Nightshade-Free Marinara Sauce. Just caramelize a small onion, deglaze the pan with some red wine and reduce it, add your Notmato Paste and water and season with garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer the sauce for 30 minutes to meld the flavors and you’re ready for some spaghetti!
Spaghetti and Meatballs – Yay!
We served this with spaghetti and gluten-free quinoa meatballs (really yummy!) and it felt just like pre-allergy days! Yay!
- 2 onions, chopped
- 12 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 small or 1 medium beet (about 4 oz), peeled and chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups water
- 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup white distilled vinegar
- 1 small onion, chopped
- ¾ cup dry red wine
- 2 ¼ cup water
- Notmato Paste from above (about 4 ½ cups)
- 1 ½ tsp granulated garlic (roasted if available)
- 2 ¼ tsp dried basil
- 1 ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 ½ tsp Kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Heat ½ cup oil in a large pot over medium to medium-high heat.
- Add onion and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally about 10 minutes until onions are tender.
- Add garlic and stir just until aroma comes and then add 2 cups water.
- Add beets, 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, and ¼ cup white vinegar.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes until carrots and beets are soft.
- Let cool a bit and then puree in a food processor.
- Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add onion and allow to slowly, lightly brown (about 10 minutes).
- Add red wine to pan scraping up brown bits from bottom and simmer until reduced by about half.
- Add water, notmato paste, and seasonings: granulated garlic through pepper.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer covered about 30 minutes.
Do you have the nutritional values of these sauces? I use them all the time but my hiaband has recently been diagnosed with heart failure and I need to know the sodium content.
There’s a small amount of sodium naturally occurring in the vegetables, but most of it would come from 1 1/2 tsp of Kosher salt. That would add 2880 mg for the entire recipe so about 205-410 mg per serving. You could always use less salt, too.
Any thoughts on pulling this off without the carrots? We made your chili tonight using mushrooms and it was amazing! Hoping marinara might make a comeback as well.
The carrots add flavor, texture, and color so I’m not sure how that would work. Maybe squash, pumpkin, or sweet potato could substitute. Mushrooms are an interesting textural idea but would lack color.
Fantastic! I was expecting to just throw it away, but it truly was good! I tried it on my pizza also and it was just as good tasting as pizza sauce from a can! Thank you
Can this recipe be made in quantity and ‘canned’?
If so, instructions would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry, I’m not an expert on canning.