Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce

Oh man, this is one of those recipes I remember so fondly from my childhood. Mom would take a jar of cheap spaghetti sauce, add to it a jar of mushrooms and all the vegetables from my Dad’s garden, and that was a feast. We’ve taken this comforting family recipe a step further and created a homemade Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce that’s also delicious.

Plus, we’ve made it just as easy as opening up a jar for those busy weeknights when time is of the essence. The beauty of food prep and freezer meal cooking is that you get all of the tedious parts out of the way on a weekend or one week every quarter and the rest of the year you eat like kings with very little effort. It’s beautiful. And also tasty.

Our garden veggie sauce has a lot of ingredients, but it’s also one of the best sauces you’ll ever have. You should also try our Creamy Sausage Rigatoni Sauce.

Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce Recipe

• 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
• ½ cup carrot, diced
• ½ cup zucchini, diced
• ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
• ½ cup onion, diced
• ½ cup red bell pepper, diced
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 28 oz. diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. parsley
• 1 tsp. thyme
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. pepper
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes

How to Make Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce

Assembly Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to a large freezer bag.
2. Squish gently to mix.
3. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw overnight in the fridge or at least for a few hours.
2. Simmer on the stovetop for 45-60 minutes, stirring often or in the slow cooker for 2-3 hours.
3. Serve over your favourite pasta. If desired, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.

The sauce seems a little thick, what can I add?

You can adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water. You may also need to add a small can of tomato sauce. This is also a great way to extend the sauce to feed more people.

How do I know when the sauce is cooked?

Like most homemade sauces, soups, and stews, the flavors only get better over time. You can serve the sauce as soon as all of the vegetables are tender, but the longer you wait, the better it gets. It will also improve in flavor overnight in the refrigerator.

I’m not a fan of chunky sauces, what can I do?

If you want a very flavorful but smooth sauce, you can use an immersion blender to turn this sauce into pureéd sauce instead of chunky sauce. My immersion blender is one of my favorite tools!

Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce Recipe Ideas

Freezing the recipe in your freezer bag down in your cooking pot is a great idea, because then it fits right into your pot and can thaw directly on the stove. Put a little water in the pan to keep it from sticking until it starts to thaw good. To freeze it in your pot, put the freezer bag with ingredients down in your pot, put it in the freezer, and then pull the pot out after a few hours. The bag will now be shaped like your pot.

If you aren’t a fan of the stovetop method, you can cook this for about 20 minutes on high pressure in the Instant Pot or put it in your slow cooker for 2-3 hours. The texture will be mushier, but the flavors will be there.

You can use several teaspoons of Italian seasoning instead of all of the different spices in the recipe. You’ll need four teaspoons.

This sauce is customizable. If you don’t like mushrooms, leave them out. Love garlic? Add more! If you want more sauciness, add tomato sauce, tomato paste, or crushed tomatoes and increase the amount of seasoning. The key to customizing the sauce is understanding what each ingredients brings to the flavor. Carrots, for instance, bring sweetness to the sauce. If you leave those out, you may need to adjust the flavor with a little brown sugar.

One of my favorite things to do with any tomato-based sauce is add a little lemon juice at the end of the cooking time. It adds just the right flavor adjustment to brighten up the dish and accentuate the tomato flavor that sometimes gets muddled during long cook times.

You can use frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed, to remove as much water as possible. I like to squeeze it out with a tea towel. It won’t add quite the same flavor and will look different, but will still contribute to the dish.

How do I store Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce?

The sauce should be kept in the refrigerator and will keep for up to a week in an airtight container. It can also be re-frozen and thawed again since it is only vegetables, not meat. Even if you add cooked ground sausage or beef, when you cook the sauce, it can be frozen.

What to Serve with Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce

Serve this delicious pasta sauce over rotini, rigatoni, shells, or any pasta designed to carry a heavy, chunky sauce. Spaghetti will work but will be more challenging. Serve it alongside a nice, bright salad and crusty bread like our freezer garlic bread.

Print

Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 

Servings: 6

Calories: 268 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrot, diced
• 1/2 cup zucchini, diced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 28 oz diced tomatoes, do not drain
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

Assembly Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to a large freezer bag.

2. Squish gently to mix.

3. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

4. Cooking Instructions

5. Thaw overnight in the fridge or at least for a few hours.

6. Simmer on the stovetop for 45-60 minutes, stirring often or in the slow cooker on low for 2-3 hours.

7. Serve over your favorite pasta.