This is a gluten-free, dairy-free, nightshade-free sauce that is amazing! If you didn’t know better you would think it was tomato sauce. We use it as a tomato sauce substitute on everything from spaghetti to pizza and its delicious! I actually prefer it to traditional made tomato sauce (since it’s way easier on the stomach).
So why make a tomato-free sauce? Tomatoes are a member of the nightshade vegetable and plant family. People who suffer from auto-immune disorders such as arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis (just to mention a few) are sensitive to or allergic to nightshade vegetables. And, some studies suggest that nightshade vegetables increase inflammation in the body. So even if you don’t have an auto-immune disorder, it could be nice to take a break from tomatoes every once in a while.
Which brings us back to our delicious Tomato-Free Sauce. I spent a lot of time trying to perfect this recipe and let me just say, it tastes divine. And you can make it in your Instant Pot! If you don’t know what an Instant Pot is, it’s a slow cooker, pressure-cooker, rice cooker, steamer and more all rolled into one appliance. It. Is. Ah-mazing! And it makes everything taste so much better! You can find them on Amazon where they have phenomenal ratings and reviews. I use mine daily. So let’s begin making this fabulous sauce.
First peel beets and cut both beets and onions into wedges. These don’t have to be chopped or even cut neatly, because we’re going to put them in the blender after they’re cooked anyway.
I used “cut and peeled” baby carrots for this recipe for convenience. I just opened up the bag and put them in the pot. But you can also cut up large carrots if you prefer.
I minced garlic into the Instant Pot. But, I suppose you could also just put the garlic in whole, since it’s going to be blended in the final step.
Next we’ll add the water. And, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten the spices, they’re added at the very end after everything is cooked and blended.
Place the lid on the Instant Pot. Double check to make sure the steam release valve is sealed.
Press the “manual” button and set the time to 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, press cancel, and let the pressure release naturally. No need to turn the pressure valve or forcibly emit the steam. Just let the Instant Pot sit there and eventually the pressure will reduce and the pressure button will drop (this can take a while).
Once the pressure valve drops remove the lid and let the vegetables cool slightly.
Now we’re going to blend the vegetables into a sauce. Place enough of the vegetables into your blender to fill it about 1/3 to 1/2 full. The vegetables are still going to be hot so we have to remove the center part of the blender lid. Otherwise the steam from the vegetables will make the blender spray the sauce all over the kitchen and no one wants to spend the evening removing sauce from their walls and ceiling.
Add salt, herbs, apple cider vinegar and ginger to the sauce and mix well.
You can use the sauce immediately or freeze it for later.
If you would like this recipe to taste more tangy, try adding lemon juice.
This sauce seems to taste even better once it’s been in the fridge over night. It also tastes phenomenal when thawed and re-heated after being frozen.
Recipe:
This is a gluten-free, dairy-free, nightshade-free sauce that is amazing! If you didn’t know better you would think it was tomato sauce. We use it as a tomato sauce substitute on everything from spaghetti to pizza and its delicious!
Ingredients
- Two 16 oz. bags of baby carrots (or 5 cups chopped large carrots)
- 2-3 medium sized beets
- 3 medium yellow onions
- 6-7 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 1 /2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Ingredients:
- Peel 2-3 medium sized beets.
- Cut beets, carrots (enough carrots for 5 cups) and 3 medium yellow onions into wedges. These don’t have to be chopped or even cut neatly, because we’re going to put them in the blender after they’re cooked.
- Add Carrots, beets, onions and water to the instant pot.
- Mince garlic into the instant pot.
- Please note that we aren’t adding herbs and spices until the very end, although if you prefer you can add them here instead.
- Place lid on the instant pot. Make sure steam release valve is sealed. Press the “Manual” button and set the time to 10 minutes.
- When the timer goes off, press cancel and release pressure naturally.
- When the pressure valve drops, remove the lid and let the vegetables cool slightly.
- Now we’re going to blend the vegetables into a sauce.
- Place enough of the vegetables into your blender to fill it about 1/3 to 1/2 full. The vegetables are still going to be hot so we have to remove the center part of the blender lid or the steam from the vegetables will make the blender spray the sauce all over the kitchen.
- Place a kitchen towel loosely over the top of the lid and begin blending.
- Once it’s well blended and looks like a sauce you can place it in a large bowl. Keep repeating steps 8-9 until all the vegetables have been blended.
- Add salt, herbs, apple cider vinegar and ginger to the sauce and mix well. That’s it! Now you can enjoy your tomato-free sauce over spaghetti, pizza or anything else you like!
