Vegetable Marinara Sauce is a delicious way to eat your vegetables without diving into yet another salad. During the fall and winter months, I love a warm and hearty option to my beloved everyday salads.
This Vegetable Marinara Sauce is perfect for lunch or dinner and the whole family loves it.
Bell peppers, mushrooms, squash and tomatoes are quickly simmered together to make this simple marinara sauce. The whole meal comes together in about 30 minutes.
The sausage is optional in this sauce and it is delicious when included. However, I really just added it for the benefit of my meat loving family. I’ve made this marinara sauce with only vegetables in the past and it is delicious both ways.
If you have fresh tomatoes at your fingertips, definitely use them. I haven’t had access to nearly as many tomatoes this year as we have had in the past; so for this recipe I used canned tomatoes.
Both kinds of tomatoes work well to create a light and flavorful sauce that is perfect for a vegetarian meal or a meat lover’s sauce.
For one more great way to get vegetables into your meals, check out this tip for How To Microwave Spaghetti Squash. This Vegetable Marinara sauce is delicious over fresh squash!
Kitchen Tip: I use this skillet to make this recipe. (It’s my favorite!)
Vegetable Marinara Sauce with Fresh Basil
Ingredients
- Optional: ½ lb pork sausage or ground beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil only needed if sausage is not included
- 1 green or red bell pepper chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 10-12 crimini or button mushrooms quartered
- 1 Mexican grey squash or Italian zucchini chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 29 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes or 3 cups fresh tomatoes chopped small
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning mix
- pinch of red pepper flakes adjust as desired
- 1/4 cup fresh basil very thinly sliced and then roughly chopped
- 6-8 ounces pasta I used a brown rice fusilli
- Optional: freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Start a pot of water boiling. Cook and drain the pasta according to the directions while making the marinara sauce. In a large skillet or saucepan, over medium to medium high heat, cook and crumble the sausage. If you are making this without the sausage, heat the oil in the empty skillet. Add the bell pepper to the sausage (or to the oil) and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the mushrooms and stir frequently while they cook for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium low and let the sauce simmer, while stirring occasionally for 5-10 minutes. Taste the sauce at this point and adjust the spices as needed.
- Add the squash and the fresh basil and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes, just until the squash is barely tender. Top the cooked pasta with the sauce and grate Parmesan on top if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
{originally published 9/9/12 – recipe notes and photos updated 12/15/17}
Dawnye7 says
That looks so good Mary. Beautiful photo on the finished product, for it makes me hungry.
Big Dude says
Super idea Mary. It sounds delicious and your shot makes it even more so. It's almost like an under-cooked Ratatouille.
Words Of Deliciousness says
This looks delicious. Something nice and quick that my family would love.
Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking says
This looks amazing! I am harvesting more Basil this week and now I know what I am going to be using some of it for! Thanks!!
Julia says
Love using fresh basil wherever I can. Beautiful photo!
Michela says
That looks delicious! I love pasta, that veggie sauce must me super yummy! Great recipe!
I have been following your blog for a while now, but just recently decided to start one myself and comment 🙂
I just wanted to let you know that I really like yours, all your recipes look scrumptious 🙂
Jenn says
That looks amazing, Mary! Wish I had a big plate of it right now.. I don't care that it's 5:30am!!!
Tricia @ saving room for dessert says
I understand about the meat loving family. My husband thinks ground beef should be in everything – but of course that's the only meat I don't like. I love a vegetarian marinara. Sauteed vegetables and tomatoes are a perfect meal. It has been a disappointing year for our garden as well. Have a great week Mary! 33 days until the wedding – I am so excited you'd think I was getting married 🙂
Pam says
Hearty and comforting – my kind of food!
Helene Dsouza says
Always enjoy a good Marinara sauce for week days. It comes handy when I am not much in the mood to cook. Thanks for sharing!
Jed Gray (sportsglutton) says
Sausage or meat is never an option around here. Gotta have that flavorful addition to the marinara…though I do have to compromise with the my wife once in a while. 😉
motherrimmy says
Once again I'm just amazed by your incredible pictures. I feel like I could take my fork and dive right in!
Kathy says
Do you think this could be made in a large batch and frozen?
Mary says
Absolutely! I freeze leftover sauce all the time. Enjoy!
Fern says
I doubled this recipe so I would have some for another me all. Can you believe I got half way through the dinner when I realized: I FORGOT THE BASIL! It was still very tasty. I did use frozen roma tomatoes which made it a bit watery so I added some tomato paste. Perfect! Even without the basil. I’ll add some fresh basil to the remaining sauce and see how different it taste. The reason I picked this recipe was to use up tomatoes in the freezer and some of the fresh basil on my plant. This is a keeper.