Roasted Veggie Pasta Sauce
Roasted Veggie Pasta Sauce is an easy pasta sauce with the added goodness of roasted vegetables and tomato passata. With just a handful of simple ingredients, it’s ready in under an hour. And I’ll show you how to turn it into a comforting Roasted Veggie Pasta dish too.
With a 5 month old baby I’m all about quick and easy meals these days. If I can sneak in some vegetables and the kids still love them, it’s definitely a win. This pasta sauce ticks all those boxes. The vegetables gets roasted in a sheet pan, then cooked with tomato passata(strained tomato puree). The veggies give body and a hint of sweetness, balancing the tartness of the tomatoes.
What’s In The Pasta Sauce?
- Tomato passata – My favorite special ingredient to make a speedy sauce is the tomato passata or strained tomato puree. It’s smooth and perfect for sauces. I have a post that go into details of Tomato Passata. Tomato passata is mainly used in Europe and the equivalent in North America is canned crushed tomatoes. Either can be used.
- Vegetables – Red bell pepper, zucchini, carrot, onion and garlic
How To Roast Vegetables For The Pasta Sauce
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Cut the the bell pepper, zucchini, carrots into roughly equal sized pieces. Quarter the onion. Peel the garlic cloves. Mix all the vegetables with olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. Spread it in a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
How To Make The Veggie Pasta Sauce
Transfer the roasted vegetables to a bowl and puree with a hand blender. I like mine chunky, with little bits of vegetable still visible. If you prefer a smooth, pureed sauce, add the roasted vegetables to a blender along with the tomato passata and blend until silky.
Otherwise, add the tomato passata to the blended vegetables and give it a quick blend to combine. Check the seasoning, and you’re done! This makes about 5 to 6 cups of sauce.
If I’m using it right away in pasta, I skip cooking it altogether. I usually use about 2 cups and freeze the rest.
What to use the pasta sauce on
I love using this sauce on basically every tomato-based dish I make.
- Stir it into any tomato-based pasta dish for an easy dose of veggies.
- Add a cup of it to your lasagna meat sauce.
- Mix it into keema (minced meat) curry.
- Since it’s essentially a marinara with roasted vegetables, use it anywhere you’d use marinara sauce.
I don’t cook this sauce before storing – I cook it when I’m ready to use it in a dish. That’s because tomato passata is already smooth and saucy, so unlike crushed or whole tomatoes, it doesn’t need time to cook down.
This pasta sauce is a base recipe, so feel free to play around with it as you like. It has a natural sweetness from the roasted vegetables — I like to crank up the heat with chili flakes, and add a bit more salt and pepper when I’m using it in a pasta dish.
How To Make Roasted Veggie Pasta
Cook your pasta according to the package instructions, then drain and set it aside but save about ½ cup of the pasta water before you do. You’ll want it on hand in case the sauce needs thinning out later.
Heat a bit of oil in a pan and add the roasted veggie pasta sauce along with the chili flakes. Let it come to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and stir in the cream until it’s fully combined.
Add the cooked pasta right into the pan. If the sauce feels too thick, add the reserved pasta water a little at a time until it loosens up to the consistency you like. Check the seasoning one more time, adding extra salt, pepper, or chili flakes if it needs it, then finish with a scatter of chopped parsley.
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Recipe
Roasted Veggie and Tomato Pasta Sauce
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Hand Blender
Ingredients
Pasta Sauce
- 2 red bell peppers diced
- 2 zucchini halved and sliced
- 2 carrots peeled and sliced
- 1 large onion quartered
- 4 garlic cloves peeled
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups tomato passata (1 bottle, approximately 680 ml)
Roasted Veggie Pasta
- 4 cups fusili pasta
- 2 cups roasted veggie and tomato pasta sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup full cream
- 1 tsp red chili flakes
- salt to taste
- chopped parsley to garnish
Instructions
To make the pasta sauce
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Add the bell pepper, zucchini, carrot, onion and garlic to a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle salt, black pepper and oregano. Pour olive oil and give it a good mix.
- Spread it evenly on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are roasted and lightly browned.
- Let the veggies cool. Once cooled, add them into a mixing bowl and puree using a hand blender. Alternatively, transfer roasted veggies to a blender and puree.
- Add the tomato passata and mix it in. You can use the pasta sauce right away in your dish. Check seasoning and heat it through. Refrigerate or freeze the remaining pasta sauce.
To make the pasta
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and set aside. Reserve about ½ cup of pasta cooking liquid.
- Heat oil in a pan and add the pasta sauce. Add chili flakes. Let it come to a boil. Lower the heat and add the cream. Stir to combine.
- Add the pasta in. If the sauce is too thick, add the reserved pasta liquid gradually to thin it down until it reaches the desired consistency. Add more if needed.
- Check seasoning and add more salt, pepper or chili flakes if needed. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Notes
- Freeze the remaining sauce in 1 cup zip lock bags.
- If using to jars to freeze the pasta sauce,always leave room on the top for it to expand. I’ve lost quite a few jars and sauces to this. So I always use zip lock bags.
- To thaw, plunge them in hot water for 10 minutes or defrost them in the microwave.
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Great recipe, thanks!
This was definitely the best pasta recipe I’ve eaten in my entire life. It is incredibly easy to make, it doesn’t take long and you end up with leftover sauce that you just freeze and make pasta whenever you want in like 12 minutes total. The best thing is that from the whole meal, the pasta itself will be the most expensive ingredient. Completely stunning recipe, I’m happy I was able to find it and I will tell all my friends and relatives about this amazing dish.
Thank you so much for sharing this with the internet.