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.
My husband can finally enjoy spaghetti and meatballs again…he can’t eat any nightshades…thanks for sharing this recipe…it is delicious and so easy to make…by the way, love the whole website…a lifesaver!
Yay so glad!!
I haven’t made this yet but I just wanted to say that I’m so excited to! I was just diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and I was so upset that I wouldn’t be able to hsve marinara sauce anymore. I seriously cried when I found this recipe, it made me feel like I could actually do this whole diet. So thank you so much and I can’t wait to make it tomorrow! ☺
YAY! Let us know when you make it!
Can half&half be used to make a Vodka like sauce?
I haven’t tried that myself, but I’m sure it still would taste good 🙂
Cooking Suggestions for a slow
Cooker?
I haven’t tried this in the slow cooker, but you should be able to follow the stovetop instructions in the recipe notes for sauteing the veggies and then transfer everything to the slow cooker and add the water and set on low for a couple of hours until everything in tender.
Just made this for the first time (stovetop for this maiden voyage) and am totally IN LOVE!!!
What method would you recommend for canning method? I am concerned that the amount of lemon juice is not enough acidity for water bath. I have lots of garden beets this year and would love to save them as sauce.
Yay! I’m not familiar with canning but I’ve actually had people tell me they’ve tried it and it doesn’t work out. I would recommend freezing because I know that works for sure 🙂
This recipe is to die for!! I sub the water for bone broth for a bit more depth and nutrients!
So glad you enjoy it!!
I have lots of beets from my home garden. Can the instant pot do more than one batch at a time? Can the sauce be canned for shrlf-stable storage? TIA!!!
Yay! You could do a double batch in your instant pot if you have the larger one. I’m not familiar with canning but I’ve actually had people tell me they’ve tried it and it doesn’t work out. I would recommend freezing because I know that works for sure 🙂
I have to admit this confused my tastebuds very well. It’s been a few years since I’ve had tomatoes but I saw this recipe and decided to try it. It’s all made and I stood in my kitchen eating it by the spoonful and had to tell myself “it’s ok, you can eat it, it’s not going to hurt you” because it tasted so good and in my mind clearly tomatoey”. Can’t wait to try it on my cauliflower pizza tomorrow!
Thanks for the amazing recipe!
lol so glad you liked it!!
When ever I buy carrots or celery I always break off a piece and taste before buying. I ruined a whole batch of carrot soup 30 years ago due to unsweet tasteless carrots and don’t get me started on woody bitter celery.
This is a great recipe and it needs tastes veggies to start with!
I’ve been making nomato sauce off and on for years due to a tomato allergy. This is THE best recipe I’ve come across. And easiest. Thank you.
So happy to hear that, thank you!!
This is my second time making this recipe and I loved it! I added Italian sausage to the original recipe with anchovy paste and some nutritional yeast. I used the base recipe for stuffed cabbage with dill weed.
Tomatoes were a tough thing to cut out for me! This sauce makes it sooo easy to enjoy the foods you love without suffering the consequences! I have used this sauce for pasta, pizza, chilli and jambalaya and it is soo good. I make it at least 1-2 times a month to always have on hand.
I’m so happy to hear that!! It’s so handy to keep on hand in the freezer! Thanks so much for leaving a review 🙂
What the heck is AIP?
You can read all about the autoimmune protocol (AIP) in this blog post here 🙂 https://unboundwellness.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-aip-diet/
Thank you for your reply. Well I thought I was going blind because I absolutely could not find your video in the notes. It seems that it does not appear if one is using Firefox as a browser. When I switched over to Chrome (which I prefer not to use), the video magically appeared! Just thought you would like to know.
Just made the recipe using the stove top method. Ended up cooking the veggies for an hour since the beets did not soften up very well. My high speed blender also got stuck (likely on the beets) so used my immersion blender instead, which worked just fine. Delicious sauce, love the taste! I plan to try your skillet lasagna with the sauce. I was somewhat disappointed that I ended up with less than 3 cups in total. Not sure why. Perhaps you chop your veggies much finer? I rough chopped everything and used a measuring cup. My sauce was also quite thick. Perhaps cooking it so long evaporated some of the liquid. Overall, I am very happy with the result and plan to double up next time. Thank you!
Variations in results are definitely normal due to variations in vegetable suppliers. Sorry that this first batch was trickier! If you end up with a thicker sauce, you can always add a bit more liquid and blend it together, which will also give you more sauce all together. You can watch the video in the notes to match the size of your chopping and steps followed.
Try roasting your beets and carrots , onion and celery tossed in olive oil it softens and adds such great flavor and its hands off. Just check for browning and stir once browning.
When ever I make regular tomato sauce I roast tomatoes garlic onions olive oil seasonings etc all on a sheet pan. Talk about Flavor WOW!
Roasting is hands off and gives you caramelized natural sugars.