This Veggie Packed Meat Sauce packs all the flavor of a traditional pasta sauce but is loaded with hidden veggies. Trick yourself and your family members into eating some extra veggies with this easy pasta sauce.
One-pot
Easy cleanup
You’ll Learn: Tricks for meal prepping and freezing this veggie-packed sauce
Worth It: It’s a satisfying, protein-forward option that actually keeps you full
Bonus: One-pan approach for easy cleanup
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Packed with veggies and flavor – This is a veggie based sauce but it is packed with so much delicious flavor. With every bite you get so many veggies and it is SO tasty. Even kids who are picky eaters will eat this hidden veggie pasta sauce!
- Freezer friendly – I love making a double batch of this and freezing extras for a later date. It is SO great to have this sauce on hand.
- Meal prep favorite – This is the perfect thing to make and enjoy all week. It adds so many vegetables to your plate in just one recipe!
Serving Suggestions
This hidden vegetable pasta sauce is great with any noodle or pasta dish. It is also delicious as the sauce for your lasagna or meatballs. I love topping it with parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and fresh basil.
I love serving pasta with a lemon kale caesar salad or grilled caesar salad. For a bigger group or Sunday dinner, I love making an antipasto salad to go with this pasta sauce. Make some no knead tomato focaccia to go with it and soak up extra sauce.
Ingredients
- Avocado oil – I used avocado oil, but you can use any neutral oil you would like
- Yellow onion – onion is the base for flavor in this recipe. Yellow onion is my favorite because it gives a subtle onion flavor
- Zucchini – zucchini is my go to hidden vegetable to add because it blends in so nicely once it is cooked
- Carrots – the carrots add just a little bit of sweetness to the sauce that is really tasty
- Ground beef – I used ground beef, but you could also use ground chicken or turkey here instead
- Tomato sauce – use your favorite jar of tomato sauce for this recipe. Just make sure it is only tomato sauce rather than marinara
- Salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried basil – this simple spice blend adds so much good flavor to make the perfect sauce. You can add more seasonings to taste
Ingredient Substitutions
This hidden veggie tomato sauce is already gluten-free, so it’s great for so many eaters! I chose to use onions, zucchini, and carrots, but you could hide all different types of veggies in this meat sauce if you want to get creative! Garlic, bell pepper like red peppers, or celery would all be great.
If you wanted to add some extra protein with your hidden vegetables, or make this a vegan recipe, you can use beans, lentils, or chickpeas.
For a smooth texture, you could also put the vegetable in the blender with a little vegetable broth before adding to the meat. The smoother sauce could also be delicious on a pizza.
I like to saute the vegetables in this recipe, but you could also put them on a baking sheet and blend them if you prefer.
Let’s make some Veggie Packed Meat Sauce!
Step 1: Saute veggies and season
To begin, dice carrots, zucchini, and onion. Then, heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan and add veggies to the pan (Image 1). Next, add seasonings to the veggies (Image 2), saute for an additional minute (Image 3) and then remove the veggies from the pan (Image 4).
Step 2: Brown meat and add sauce
Then, add ground beef to the frying pan and brown for 5 minutes. Season the beef with salt (Image 5) and add tomato sauce to the pan. Next, add the sauteed veggies back into the pan (Image 6).
Step 3: Simmer
Then, cover the frying pan and simmer the sauce on low for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Finally, remove from the pan and enjoy with your favorite noodles!
Step 4: Enjoy!
Storage and reheating
Once prepared, store this sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat this sauce in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Check out these other pasta sauce recipes!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
Email Recipe for Later
Recipe
Veggie Packed Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 medium zucchini
- 3 large carrots
- 1 lb ground beef
- 28 oz tomato sauce in a can
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
Instructions
- Finely dice onion, zuchini and peel and dice carrots – the smaller the dice, the less noticeable they are in the sauce. You can also chop these in a food processor to save time.
- Add oil to a frying pan and heat over medium heat
- Add veggies to the pan with the warm oil and saute for 6 minutes
- Add 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp dried oregano and 1 tsp dried basil to the pan with the veggies
- Saute for another minute and then remove the veggies from the pan
- Leave the heat on medium and add ground beef to the pan
- Brown the meat and cook into crumbles for 4 minutes
- Add 1 tsp of salt to the meat and brown for another minute
- Pour tomato sauce into the pan with the meat and add the seasoned veggies back into the pan
- Cover the pan and simmer the sauce for at least 30 minutes stirring occasionally
- Remove from heat and enjoy with your favorite noodles
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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