Okay I have a confession to make. I hide vegetables in my sauce. I have been doing it for years and I am not sorry about it even a little bit.

It started when my babies were in the puree stage. I would mix their little vegetable pouches right into whatever I was cooking and honestly it was one of my best mom hacks. Extra nutrition, no complaints, everybody wins. But then they grew out of the baby food stage and I had to get creative. So I started adding real vegetables directly into my sauce, dicing them up, cooking them down, blending them smooth so nobody could see a single trace of anything green or orange in there. And every time I made it I would add a little more. More zucchini. More carrots. More bell pepper. Because you genuinely cannot taste them and I truly believe they make the sauce even better and richer and more delicious.

Now I don’t just use this for spaghetti night. This sauce goes on everything. We are talking lasagna, baked ziti, pizza, stuffed peppers, meatball subs, chicken parmesan, dipping sauce for breadsticks,  if a recipe calls for tomato sauce, this is the one I reach for. Every single time.

And here is the other thing I love about this recipe, it it makes four 24oz jars. That is a big batch and that is completely intentional. We are batch cooking here and if you know you know. Having jars of this sauce in the fridge or freezer means dinner on a busy Tuesday night is already halfway done. That kind of prep changes everything.

Let’s Make It

Start by dicing up all your vegetables,  onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and carrot. Don’t stress about cutting them perfectly because they are all getting blended smooth at the end anyway. Just get them into reasonably small pieces so they cook down evenly.

Heat your olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add your diced vegetables and all your seasonings, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, basil, and your garlic. Sauté everything together until the vegetables are completely soft. You want them really tender here, not just slightly cooked. Take your time with this step because soft vegetables blend smoother and the flavors deepen beautifully as they cook down.

Once your veggies are soft and fragrant, add your four cans of crushed tomatoes and stir everything together. Bring it to a simmer and let it cook low and slow for at least 2 hours. The longer it simmers the better it gets, the flavors meld together and deepen into something really special. If you have more time, let it go even longer. This is not a rushed recipe. 

Once it has simmered and everything is beautifully cooked down, use an immersion blender right in the pot to blend everything smooth. No chunks, no visible vegetables, just a gorgeous rich velvety sauce. If you don’t have an immersion blender you can carefully transfer it in batches to a regular blender,  just be careful with the hot liquid!

What to Put It On, Because the List is Long

This sauce is so much more than a spaghetti sauce. Here are just some of the ways we use it in our house:

• Classic spaghetti and meatballs
• Lasagna and baked ziti
• Homemade pizza sauce
• Stuffed peppers
• Chicken parmesan
• Dipping sauce for breadsticks or garlic bread
• Shakshuka, just crack some eggs right into a pan of this sauce and let them poach
• Soup base, add some broth and pasta for a quick tomato soup
• On top of roasted vegetables or eggs in the morning

Honestly if a recipe calls for tomato sauce, use this. You will never reach for a jar from the store again.

Tips From My Kitchen to Yours

Add even more vegetables if you want. Mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower, butternut squash, this sauce can handle it all. I have thrown in a little bit of everything at different times and it always turns out great. Nobody will ever know.

The longer it simmers the better. Two hours is the minimum. If you can let it go three or four hours on a lazy Sunday afternoon, do it. The flavor gets deeper and richer the longer it cooks.

Freeze it! This recipe makes four big jars and they freeze beautifully. Fill your freezer jars leaving a little room at the top for expansion, let them cool completely, and freeze. Pull one out the night before you need it and let it thaw in the fridge. Dinner is already done before you even start cooking.

Batch cooking is a game changer. If you are not already batch cooking I want you to try it just once and see how it changes your week. Making a big pot of this sauce on a Sunday means Wednesday night pasta takes 20 minutes instead of an hour. That extra time matters. Protect it. 

Hidden vegetables, big batches, and a sauce so good your family will ask for it on everything. That is what we are doing here and I am so glad I finally wrote it down to share with you.

…and that’s all we did today. 

Cyndi 

Item’s Used

• Rubber Spatula
• Wooden Utensil Set
• 6pc Non Stick Pot Set
• Measuring  Cups
• Immersion Blender
• Ball Mason Jars

Loaded Veggie Sauce

5 from 1 vote

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Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

What You’ll Need

• 4 cans crushed tomatoes- 28oz cans
• 1 whole onion diced
• 1 whole bell pepper diced
• 1 zucchini diced
• 1 large carrot diced
• 2 whole heads of garlic minced
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp basil
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Method

 

1. Dice onion, bell pepper, zucchini, carrot, and garlic.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
3. Add vegetables, garlic, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and basil.
4. Sauté until vegetables are very soft.
5. Add crushed tomatoes and stir well.
6. Bring to a simmer and cook for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
7. Use an immersion blender to blend sauce until smooth.
8. Cool and store in jars or freezer-safe containers.

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