“Get your Veggies” Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

My husband and two little boys aren’t super great about eating vegetables. Carrots, sure. Cucumbers, sure. So this mom has to get creative. And this spaghetti sauce recipe that is entirely made out of vegetables, AND tastes good! It’s a winner.

And we love spaghetti here in the Larson house. So I was inspired by Jamie Oliver’s 7-veg tomato sauce, and put my own spin on it and made it more “busy-parent friendly”. The biggest battle is prepping the veggies for this recipe, but I highly recommend these knives for your young kids to help!

My family loves it and I feel really good knowing they are getting a boat-load of nutrition from it.

“get your veggies” spaghetti sauce recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8 oz of sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 2 small yellow onions, diced
• 2 small leeks, sliced
• 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 zucchini, seeds removed and diced
• 2 sticks of celery, diced
• 10 oz bag frozen butternut squash, cubed (can use fresh, but frozen is a huge time saver!)
• 1 (28 oz) can plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
• 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Prep veggies.*
2. Heat Dutch oven to a medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add finely minced garlic, and sauté for 1 minute. Then add all prepped veggies, including mushrooms, onions, leeks, carrots, zucchini, celery and squash.
3. Cover Dutch oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are tender.
4. Pour in tomatoes + liquid from can and break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Stir in broth, oregano, parsley flakes and granulated sugar.
5. Simmer for 25 minutes (uncovered) until sauce has reduced. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.
6. Use an immersion blender to blend until sauce is smooth. Salt and pepper, to taste.
   

*For extra flavor, you can roast the veggies in the oven (400 degree F for ~45 minutes) with some olive oil, salt and pepper to maximize flavor. This would essentially replace Step 3 of the directions.

Divide up this batch recipe (I weight out to 25 oz with scale) in quart-size freezer bags and freeze for future meals.

Bon appetit!