Hidden vegetable pasta sauce recipe

If your kids are fussy eaters like mine, this hidden vegetable pasta sauce is a must try recipe for you. It’s creamy, rich and packed with delicious flavours. Best of all, it’s super quick and easy to make.

It’s hard being a parent. Challenging when your little people demand pasta day in and day out and all you want is a bit of variety in your diet. After months of serving the same weeknight dinner over and over again, I started to experiment with different ingredients for my pasta sauces. My focus was on the produce my kids would never touch – onion, mushrooms, eggplant, capsium… the usual list.

My initial mistake was to serve it all as a chunky pasta sauce. I should have known better. “Mum, there’s veggies in it! We said no veggies!” “Mum, is that onion? I HATE onion!” I’m sure you’ve heard it all before.

The stress of cooking a healthy, nutritious and delicious meal for your family is immense. I spent so much time and energy trying to explain that onion adds flavour, that all their favourite snacks had onion powder in them. But no chance, I may as well be talking to wall. But I wasn’t ready to give up yet. My taste buds had come to life again and I wasn’t ready to give up quite yet. So I took the chunky sauce I just made, the one with all the yucky vegetables, the one that disgusted my kids – and put it in the blender.

A few minutes later I couldn’t believe my eyes. My two little ladies practically inhaled dinner. Their plates and fingers were licked, there were demands for more. They even declared this their favourite ever pasta sauce. It was amazing!

”See mum, you should have just made this all the time. We don’t like veggies.”, they said to me. And that’s when the penny dropped. It wasn’t the ingredients they didn’t like, it was the texture. And the thought of something new. If dinner looked the way they were used to, their minds instantly believed this was the same sauce they always had. I don’t quite understand how they didn’t pick up on the difference in taste but hey, who am I to question this?

Equipped with this newly found knowledge, I ventured into the world of pasta sauces. My general goal was to

• Cook something my kids would eat

• Make it as easy, healthy and delicious as possible

• Use up ingredients already in my fridge

• Have dinner ready in under 30 minutes

Is hidden veggie pasta good for you?

As with any meal, it all depends on the ingredients. You can hide any vegetable you like in a recipe; if the majority of ingredients are terribly unhealthy, the single vegetable won’t make much of a difference. Luckily, my hidden veggie pasta sauce is packed with healthy, fresh foods and oh so good for you. To make this recipe even better, try to opt for fresh, organic produce wherever possible. My hidden veggie pasta sauce is vegetarian/vegan, low fat and incredibly kid friendly. Best of all, it is the best pasta sauce to freeze.

How to jazz up a pasta sauce?

If you ever had pasta at a restaurant or your friend’s place or a school canteen, you have probably come across the wonderfully underwhelming, watered down flavour of thin tomato sauce. But fear not, a few simple additions and any sauce becomes rich and tasty. Personally, I like to add an onion for flavour and a handful of mushrooms for texture. If you have a roasted red capsicum or some sun-dried tomatoes, add a few of those also. Italian herbs and a dash of ketchup are magic weapons. Lastly, I like to blend my sauce to turn it all into a thick, rich tomato sauce. From there on you can add more vegetables as you like.

What is the healthiest type of pasta sauce?

In my opinion, it’s the sauce containing the freshest, highest quality produce. But at the end of the day it all comes down to what you can access and afford. Do you have a farmers market near you and can shop there? Great! But if not, supermarket produce will do just fine. Try to use little, high quality fats and avoid anything with additives. That in itself will make your pasta sauce so much better than any store bought one.

What are the best vegetables to hide?

In short, whatever you want to use up. It’s more a question of quantities rather than eliminating a vegetable altogether. I wouldn’t use a whole head of broccoli in a pasta sauce as this will overpower the flavour of your sauce, but a little can go a long way. I found that using vegetables with meaty textures add a lot of delicious flavours, but also contribute to a smooth, creamy texture. For volume, choose those meaty vegetables, those similar to tomatoes like capsicum, or those with subtle flavours like zucchini.

Tips for making this hidden vegetable pasta sauce recipe

• Start by pan frying your onion and garlic if you use any. This will bring out the base aromas for your sauce. Take your time during this step and allow the onions to turn translucent, or even slightly golden before adding any other vegetables.

• Roast or pan fry any roasting vegetables. My rule of thumb is, if the vegetable works for a Sunday roast, it should be roasted or fan fried for your pasta sauce. I like to use red capsicum, mushrooms and zucchini for this step. If you have roasted carrots leftover, don’t shy away from adding them also.

• Add enough sweetener and salt to your sauce. Tomatoes are quite acidic and need sweetness to round off the flavours of your hidden veggie pasta sauce. I like to add a few dates to my sauce, but you could also use maple syrup or brown sugar. Salt enhances flavours and will make the various vegetables flavours stand out in your sauce. Start with a pinch, stir, taste and work your way up from there.

• If your sauce is too thick, add some of your pasta water until a smoothie-like consistency is achieved.

Ingredients

Canned tomatoes – I usually opt for finely chopped tomatoes or even tomato passata

Olive oil

Brown onion

Mushrooms – button or brown are best

Kale – chopped

Capsicum – red and green

Dried dates – I recommend Medjool dates as they are incredibly sweet and add so much delicious flavour to your sauce

Italian herbs

Tomato paste

Ketchup – this is my secret ingredient to guarantee my kids will eat it. It only needs a small dash, but works absolute wonders when you want to be extra sure for your kids to eat this sauce. Reduce the amount you add over time until it is completely eliminated.

Salt and pepper

Tools you may need

Sharp knife

Chopping board

Large frying pan

Large blender or food processor

How to make hidden vegetable pasta sauce

First, wash your vegetables.

Chop the onion and dates and place them in separate bowls.

Thinly slice the vegetables and place red and green capsicum and mushrooms in one bowl, kale in another. This will make it easier to add them as you go.

Boil a pot of water for your pasta of choice. Add your pasta and cook as per the cooking instructions.

While the water is starting to boil, place a large frying pan onto high heat and heat two tablespoons of olive oil. Once hot, add your onion.

Pan fry the onion and capsicum until the capsicum starts to brown. Take your time during this step and turn down the heat to medium if you have some extra time. The slower your veggies cooks, the sweeter your flavours will be. This is especially important if you or your family have sensitive tummies.

Once the onion and capsicum start to brown, add the mushrooms. Stirring occasionally, allow the vegetables to cook until the mushrooms start to brown also. If short on time, keep the heat to high and stir more regularly.

Next, add your kale, dates, tomato paste and Italian herbs. Stirring regularly, continue to cook the vegetable mix until the kale starts to soften and turns a darker shade of green, as of it got cooked in water.

Lower the heat to medium-low and add the canned tomatoes. Ensure to stir your sauce immediately, as the heat of the pan will make your tomato sauce splatter right away. Allow the sauce to simmer until the tomato sauce is hot, about 5 minutes.

Remove the sauce from the heat and transfer it into a large blender or food processor. Add a dash of ketchup, about one tablespoon, and salt and pepper to taste. Blend the sauce until it is smooth.

Tip: If your hidden vegetable pasta sauce turns out too thick, add some of the pasta water until a smoothie-like texture is achieved.

Serve with pasta, fresh parmesan cheese and basil.

To freeze, allow your sauce to cool down, portion it into small containers and store it in the freezer.