oil-free-tomato-sauce

Oil-Free Tomato Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

When I think of Italian Cooking, I think of wine, olive oil, lots of garlic, and pasta. We made this simple oil-free tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes and used only four ingredients! Yes, a delicious and bright tomato sauce without oil and with only four fresh ingredients!

Oil-Free Vegan Tomato Sauce

We know most tomato sauces contain oil, but we wanted to taste the freshness of the locally grown tomatoes we were using – I mean, tomato season is so short, so let’s let them shine.

By cutting the tomatoes into large chunks and letting them cook down a bit in our dutch oven, we were able to easily retain flavor while the skins softened and started to peel away.

A quick run through our food mill (get one of these and make homemade apple sauce too! YUM!) and the tomatoes were ready for their saucy friends – garlic and onion!

The Other 3 Ingredients

After the run through the food mill, we added minced garlic and thinly sliced onions to the pot and let the sauce thicken and cook down.

Not sure how long it cooked – maybe 15 minutes, it was thicker and a nice texture for our spaghetti. We add several stalks of fresh basil (we’ll fish out the stems later) and let the sauce do it’s thing.

Spaghetti and Vegan Tomato Sauce

Meanwhile we boiled up some spaghetti. Retaining a bit of pasta water, we added the spaghetti to our thickened sauce, salted to taste, and use a bit of pasta water to help the sauce stick to the pasta – it is like MAGIC! and voila – dinner was served.

Oil-Free Tomato Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

Oil-Free Tomato Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

Oil Free! 4 Ingredient Bright and Fresh Tomato Sauce! Pairs perfect with pasta! YUM!

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds fresh tomatoes, quarter, or cut in large chunks
  • 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 onion thinly sliced
  • 2-3 stalks fresh basil

Instructions

  1. Cook quartered tomatoes in large pot or dutch oven over medium heat until skins start to peel away and tomatoes begin to break down
  2. Run cooked tomatoes through a food mill (or food processor) and return to pot
  3. Add minced garlic and onions (cook until sauce is thickened and not watery) (at this time boil water for pasta)
  4. When you put pasta in water - toss fresh basil in the sauce and let cook down.
  5. Fish out basil stems, salt sauce to taste.
  6. Retain some pasta water, drain pasta, and add to sauce. Use a little pasta water to help sauce stick to pasta. Serve with nutritional yeast, vegan parmesan, etc.

Want to watch us cook it?

Home cooked dinner on a weeknight

With the help of the food mill, this was ready in under an hour. Simple and easy (and you didn’t have to turn on the oven – a winner in hot temperatures)!

Don’t miss out – grab some late-season tomatoes and whip yourself up a batch. Love tomato recipes? Check out this post with our homemade Pico de Gallo! YUM!

Snap a pic of your remake and tag us on Facebook and Instagram, we love to see your #veginspiredfoodie creations!

Happy Cooking!

XO,

Kathy

oil free, whole food plant based tomato sauce.  Only four fresh ingredients needed for this quick homemade sauce. #vegan