The Best Nightshade Free Marinara Sauce (AIP, Instant Pot)
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This sauce is a nightshade-free marinara sauce that’s made without tomatoes! It’s AIP compliant, as well as Whole30, Paleo, and sugar-free.
If you were to ask me what my favorite food was when I was a kid, I probably would’ve said pizza and pasta. I mean, can you blame me? Who doesn’t love pizza? I grew up in New York in a Jewish/Italian American family, and my dad always used to joke that spaghetti sauce ran through the veins, and thus, mine.
That’s why my heart completely dropped when I first came to terms with my nightshade intolerance at 20 years old. No ketchup? No Caprese salad? No pizza?!
I went about nine months being nightshade free before I was eventually able to discover the glory of red sauce without tomatoes. Wait, what? How?! It’s a veggie-rich sauce made to taste like tomato sauce, but without the tomatoes. SCORE. Over the years, I’ve perfected my own version. It’s just the right flavor and consistency, and it’s made quickly and easily in the Instant Pot. You’re serious about 20 minutes away from having nightshade-free tomato sauce right now.
The Best Nightshade Free Marinara Sauce
The Ingredients You’ll Need For the Nightshade Free Marinara Sauce
Carrots
Carrots are the main veggie in this dish. They have a pretty neutral flavor and their color adds some of the red tint to the sauce.
Beets
This is the main veggie in the sauce that gives it its red color. I know some people don’t love beets, but really
Onion and garlic
These add a ton of flavor to the sauce. Technically, you can leave out the garlic, but you’ll miss a lot of the flavor.
Celery
Another crucial vegetable in this sauce.
Basil, parsley, and oregano
Lemon juice
Lemon juice adds that acidity that tomatoes naturally have without being overly vinegary. I just don’t love the taste of apple cider vinegar in this sauce, but you can use that as well.
The Appliances
The Instant Pot
If you don’t have an Instant Pot yet, I highly recommend it. It’s a safer pressure cooker that also has a slow cooker function, steam function, satuee function, and more. It’s saved me hours in the kitchen and can cook pretty much anything. I’ve included instructions to make this without an instant pot. However, it will more than double the cooking time, so seriously… this thing is life changing.
Vitamix
The Vitamix is one of my favorite kitchen appliances. It just blends so well, and the damper insert is perfect for making chunky sauces like this nice and smooth. You can use other high speed blenders as well!
Some things to consider…
I would not make any swaps rather than what may be noted in the section above.
All of the ingredients listed should be used as is to get a great product.
Your flavor will often vary depending on the veggies you have at the time.
Something that I’ve learned from cooking with real food ingredients (especially vegetables) is that you don’t get that identical product like you would with processed food. The flavor of every carrot is going to be a little bit different, some beets are stronger than others, and sometimes your basil is a bit milder… that’s okay! I’m used to my sauce always tasting just a tad different depending on the ingredients, the season, etc. so if it doesn’t taste identical each time, that doesn’t mean you did anything wrong!
What to pair this sauce with…
Compliant pasta
If you’re AIP, pair this sauce with spaghetti squash or zoodles! If you’re not AIP and can tolerate something like rice pasta or chickpea pasta (which are pictured in the picture above) go for it!
The following AIP recipes…
AIP Nightshade Free Marinara Sauce
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Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil, sub avocado oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 white onion, diced
- 2 ½ cup carrots, chopped
- 1 ¼ cups celery, about 4 stalks, chopped
- 1 ¼ cup beet, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to the base of the instant pot and set to saute.
- Saute the onions and garlic for 2 minutes, before adding in the carrots, beets and celery. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Press cancel to turn off the saute function.
- Pour in the water and lemon juice and add the seasonings. Stir to combine.
- Lock the lid onto the instant pot and flip the the pressure release valve to closed. Press "manual" (it will default to high pressure" and use the "+" button to set the time to 14 minutes. Allow the instant pot to come to pressure and the sauce to cook.
- Once the sauce has finished, carefully release the pressure valve. Once depressurized, remove the lid and allow for the sauce to cool before blending it in a Vitamix or high speed blender until smooth.
- Season further to taste and enjoy!
Notes
- To adapt for the stove, use a large, deep sauce pot to saute the garlic and onion on low heat in olive oil until softened. Add the remainder of the veggies and saute for a few minutes. Add about 1-1.5 cups of water to the pot (just enough to cover the veggies) along with the herbs and bring to a simmer for about 30 minutes or until the veggies are completely softened. Allow to cool. Pour off some of the water if a thicker sauce is desired. Combine all of the of the veggies and seasonings with the lemon juice in a blender and blend until smooth.
- The pasta in the background of the pictures is GF chickpea pasta, and is not AIP or paleo. See suggestions above for more options for what to pair this sauce with.
- All nutrition information is an estimation and will vary.
I have made several nomato recipes and this is by far the best. I used home grown beets,
Betterave Merveille Hative. They have a gorgeous colour and mild flavour, which gave the sauce a gorgeous colour and natural tomato taste. I am definitely going to make this all the time! Thanks
yay, so glad you enjoyed!!
Thank you for this!! I can not have nightshades at all anymore. It had been 5 years since I had a real pizza, lasagna, spaghetti.. People say “just take the tomato sauce away it is the same”. It isn’t, it is just bleh food. So, I stumbled across this, tried a small batch.. Made lasagna for my family and they were not much of the wiser with this. They knew something was off since I was eating it, and started turning their taste buds on high gear lol. But, after I told them what I made, they were okay with it. So, now… I can have the classic Italian dishes and not be feeling like my family is betraying me in being able to eat what I love so much. (not a real betrayal haha) So, thank you again!!!
Ahh yay!!! SO glad you liked it, Kamie!! 🙂
This sauce is an absolute game-changer. I’m so grateful because I can’t eat tomatoes. I used garden-fresh oregano which really popped, added a bay leaf, and I didn’t feel like using the Vitamin (so loud!), so I used an immersion blender instead and came out perfect.
Yum!!
Oh. My. Goodness! Why have I waited two years to find find this perfect nomato sauce recipe?! This is heavenly! I took a leap of faith and made a triple batch. I’m so glad I did! Dear hesitant cook, don’t wait another minute. I’m tempted to put a ladle or two in a bowl and savor my return to marinara sauce. Michelle, THANK YOU for your hard work and for sharing your discovery with us!
Thank you so much, Devree!! I am so happy that you like it!! 🙂
This turned out SO GOOD. I was literally standing in the kitchen scraping the pot and licking the spoon and GIGGLING after I finished packing it up to freeze LOL
One question… It says it makes 6 cups? I made a double batch and I think I got just a little over 7 cups total. Any thoughts?
I’m planning to use it in the No-Tortilla Soup, the Nightshade free BBQ sauce, and the Sloppy Joes. And maybe pizza.
I made this for the first time today and it is ahhmazing! I am not nightshade fee BUT many times the acid in tomato sauces is just too much for me. Being Italian I have just continued on and dealt with it. Well – no more – I can’t believe the taste – it is spot on! I imagine using this as a base for bolognese, gravy with meatballs and on pizza!!! Thank you for your talent and creativity!!! You are changing lives 🙂
You’re so sweet! Thank you, Stephanie!! So glad you liked it!!
Ever since I tried this I’ve been making it at least once/week. I can’t tolerate onions and garlic right now so I use garlic-flavored olive oil and green onions. Still tastes amazing and so versatile!
Delish! Not tons of reviews so was hesitant. However, great mostly neutral flavor (not too sweet like anticipated). Used 1 tsp dried basil (didnt have fresh), and used yellow onion (didnt have white) -other than that followed recipe using instant pot. Beautiful color and great taste! Would recommend!
Is this the same recipe as the Nomato Sauce? Because I can’t find that recipe on your blog. You are a rockstar btw!!!
This is the nomato sauce, yes! 🙂 Thank you!!!
Oh my goodness gracious, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE!! It tastes soo much like a carroty tomato sauce, even without the garlic (which I only omitted because I not supposed to eat it)! I would recommend this to ANYONE, even if not AIP! Not only is it delicious, but it’s SO easy! Again, thank you so much!
I am so happy you like it, Ariana!! Thank you so much!!
I truly can’t believe how good this sauce is! I’m on Day 8 of AIP and have really been struggling. Last week’s recipes were a bust and I wasn’t holding out hope for this — especially since I don’t like beets at all. I roasted the beets and half the carrots to add a different flavor to the beets. I seriously can’t believe how good this sauce is! I made sloppy joe’s over roasted sweet potatoes. Thank you! Oh, and the Mongolian beef recipe is amazing, too!
Thank you so much, Erin!! So happy you liked it!
I have made this three times already in the past two weeks! It is AH-MAZING when you can’t have tomatoes. I have made double batches in my Instant Pot all three times and it freezes so well. I did use a bit more oil and increased the seasonings. YOU MUST TRY THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have frozen beets in my freezer from the summer. Would it work to use those?
As long as they’re still good, it should work! I would defrost them first.
This sauce is so good! It completely surpassed my expectations. The only thing I did different was to use 2 stalks of celery instead of 4. Otherwise made it exactly as written using the Crock Pot Express Multi-Cooker. This is a keeper and will be my go-to marinara sauce. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Thank you so much, Jeri! So glad you liked it!
It seems counterproductive to go to such extreme and then put it together with gluten-free pasta. I am celiac.
You can easily use zucchini noodles. Everyone has a different tolerance level. I myself cannot tolerate nightshades but can tolerate gluten-free pasta… everyone is different.