Description
This delicious tomato marinara sauce tastes as good as usual, yet it’s hiding lots of veggies and beans inside for extra protein.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2/3 cup diced white onion
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 1 medium zucchini, diced
- 5 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 cup cooked white beans, rinsed and drained (Great Northern, cannellini, navy beans, etc)
- 1 teaspoon each: dried oregano, fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
- 1 cup (1 ounce) freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Sauté the veggies. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot and sauté, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes. Add the bell pepper, zucchini and the remaining oil. Sauté for 5-8 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and lightly caramelized around the edges. Add the garlic and tomato paste and sauté for 2 more minutes, stirring frequently.
- Blend. Transfer the entire veggie mixture to a blender. Add beans, oregano, salt, pepper and ½ cup water and purée until completely smooth. (If need be, add in extra water so that the sauce can blend.) Add the Parmesan and purée until smooth.
- Serve or store. When combining the marinara with pasta, I recommend reserving and adding in some of the starchy pasta water (at least ¼ cup per 1 cup of the marinara) to thin out the marinara and help it cling to the pasta. Any leftover marinara can be refrigerated in a sealed container for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Enjoy!
Notes
Tossing with pasta: One batch of this mixed with a pound of pasta (after it has been cooked) will make for a pretty saucy pasta, similar to the photos above. Feel free to use less sauce if you prefer.