roasted tomato, carrot, bell pepper pasta sauce
Published: November 2023
A simple homemade pasta sauce loaded with delicious, roasted tomatoes!
Introducing a healthy, simple homemade pasta sauce that freezes so beautifully and creates a quick, delicious dinner for littles (and the whole family)! In this recipe, you’re literally just roasting tomatoes, carrots, and a bell pepper + blending + mixing with some pasta and parmesan. It’s one of my favorite, easy homemade meals and it’s packed with nutrition!
To add extra nutrition to this recipe, cook your pasta in bone broth before tossing with this sauce! The Kettle & Fire chicken bone broth is one of my absolute favorites to cook pasta in and I love that it makes a simple pasta so nutrient-dense. Code MYTODDLERSKITCHEN will get you 20% off of your purchase when you buy from their site!
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
High-speed blender: you need a larger-size blender in this recipe (or you may need to blend in batches). We’ve had this ninja blender for over 8 years and it’s a favorite kitchen product over here.
Baking tray: You’ll need a large size baking tray for this recipe, like this one!
Freezing cubes (recommended if freezing): I love the silicone freezer molds from Souper Cubes. You can get these on Amazon and they hold pasta sauces/pastas with sauces so well in single-serving portions.
HOW I LIKE TO SERVE
You can serve this pasta sauce with some pasta and keep it at that for a well-balanced dinner. Alternatively, here are some ways that I’ve served this pasta to make it extra delicious:
Topped with my grilled turkish meatballs
Tossed with my oven-baked meatball recipe (just make the meatball part of this recipe then toss with the pasta and sauce)
Tossed with some spinach and extra parmesan
Topped with rotisserie chicken (I usually buy one from Costco)
Served with a side of oven-roasted broccoli
Served next to my oven-baked chicken thigh recipe (this one is super easy!)
MAKE AHEAD AND FREEZE
In general, pasta sauces freeze wonderfully and this recipe is no exception. It freezes 3-6 months (see notes below for details) and I’m telling you, future you will be pretty happy to pull some soup from the freezer to have a ready-to-go pasta sauce. You can thaw in fridge overnight OR place in a pot on low heat directly from frozen and let it simmer, then add in your pasta.
These silicone freezer soup trays are my absolute favorite for freezing pasta sauces, soups, etc.! You can freeze out the portion sizes that best suit you, and take out the pasta with sauce (or frozen sauce alone) a portion at a time when you’re ready to eat. Doesn’t get easier than this friends.
INGREDIENTS
16 oz pasta
8-10 roma tomatoes (sliced into halves)
3 large carrots (peeled and cut into large strips lengthwise)
1 red bell pepper (sliced into fourths)
Large handful of shredded parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup)
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (+ more to taste)
Salt and pepper (+ more to taste)
DIRECTIONS
Cook pasta, drain, and set aside (I like to toss the pasta with about 1 tbsp of butter and around 1/2 cup of pasta water after draining).
Preheat oven to 425F
Wash all produce, cut (see instructions on how to cut in ingredient list), drizzle with olive oil and season with a dash of salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes, tossing halfway through.
Toss roasted tomatoes, carrots, and bell pepper into high-speed blender and add about 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning. Blend on high until a puree-like texture is formed. Taste the sauce and add more Italian seasoning/salt/pepper as you prefer.
Optional step (if you want the sauce to be more liquid-y and less like a puree): pour the sauce into a mesh strainer with a large bowl underneath, and push down to press all of the liquid out (so the thicker parts of the sauce will remain in the strainer). This will give you a thinner sauce.
Pour over pasta along with parmesan cheese, mix, and enjoy! See notes below for detailed storing instructions.
STORING, FREEZING, AND RE-HEATING
When storing just the sauce (without pasta): it can stay in fridge for up to 5 days in a sealed container and can freeze for around 6 months. When freezing this sauce, I like to use silicone freezing molds to freeze them into one-portion sizes so they're ready to go for meals! I heat on the stovetop on a low simmer and then add the pasta afterwards.
When storing the sauce and pasta together: it can stay in fridge for 3-4 days in sealed container and freeze for up to 3 months. To heat from frozen, thaw in fridge overnight and warm up in the microwave or on a very low heat on the stovetop (add a little bit of water as well).
ADDITIONAL NOTES
When making this sauce, I like to use pastas that hold thicker pasta sauces a little better (rigatoni, penne, cellentani, rotini). You can use a spaghetti also but it just may not hold the sauce as well as others.
In the last step when you toss the pasta with the sauce and parmesan, this is also an optional place to add several large handfuls of spinach in the mix!
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Roasted Tomato, Carrot, and Bell Pepper Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
- When storing just the sauce (without pasta): it can stay in fridge for up to 5 days in a sealed container and can freeze for around 6 months. When freezing this sauce, I like to use silicone freezing molds to freeze them into one-portion sizes so they're ready to go for meals! I heat on the stovetop on a low simmer and then add the pasta afterwards.
- When storing the sauce and pasta together: it can stay in fridge for 3-4 days in sealed container and freeze for up to 3 months. To heat from frozen, thaw in fridge overnight and warm up in the microwave or on a very low heat on the stovetop (add a little bit of water as well).
- Optional step (if you want the sauce to be more liquid-y and less like a puree): pour the sauce into a mesh strainer with a large bowl underneath, and push down to press all of the liquid out (so the thicker parts of the sauce will remain in the strainer). This will give you a thinner sauce.
- When making this sauce, I like to use pastas that hold thicker pasta sauces a little better (rigatoni, penne, cellentani, rotini). You can use a spaghetti also but it just may not hold the sauce as well as others.
- In the last step when you toss the pasta with the sauce and parmesan, this is also an optional place to add several large handfuls of spinach in the mix!
