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.
Can this be made in a slow cooker?
I would make it on the stove before a slow cooker!
This recipe is a staple in my house for sure. I’ve made it several times and it freezes REALLY well. Thank you so much for this yummy recipe!
Pretty good. I used dried basil instead of fresh. I highly recommend using an immersion blender to make your life easier. I tasted after blending and added about an extra tbsp of lemon juice and about 1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar for more acidity. I also added extra basil (1/2 tsp?) and oregano (1/4 tsp?), but I think the main flavor that was missing was the acidity.
Hi Michelle, thank you so much for your recipes – they make adjusting to a nightshade free lifestyle so much easier (and more enjoyable)! I have been GF/DF for a while but removing nightshades has been an adventure! Do you think some of this sauce could be used as a replacement for when recipes call for tomato paste or not really? Either way, I look forward to trying this (and to using it in some of your other recipes too)! Thank you again!
It isn’t quite as thick and concentrated, but you can try to cook it down a bit!
Due to terrible salty and sour taste in my mouth for 18 months, I was told to stop eating nightshades. Eliminating eggplant and tomatoes had an instant result – better sleep! I’m now going to start trying your recipes and substitutions. I will also tell someone I know who has Psoriasis about eliminating nightshades!
Can we make a big batch and can it to store for future use and if so how long?
I keep it for up to 3 months in the freezer!
The first time I tried this recipe I used red beets. The sauce looked very dark almost purple. The second time I tried this recipe I used orange beets. The sauce tasted good but looked like mustard. How do you get that nice red color?
I follow the recipe exactly as stated here, but since the recipe uses all real ingredients the color can vary depending on the specific vegetable. Sometimes my sauce is lighter/darker, but I just do exactly as said above!
Are the Beets used in this recipe raw or cooked?
raw!
Looking forward to trying this…
What size instant pot are you using?
I got the mini (3quart?). Thx.
I use this 6 quart Instant Pot.
I was really skeptical, but this is so close! It’s absolutely wonderful 🙂 Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it!!
One of the best paleo AIP sauces I have ever made. And I have made many. Tastes very similar to tomato sauce due to the spices, only better! I have also frozen some for future use. Great recipe! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you!!
I am so excited to try it tonight
YAY! Let us know how you liked the recipe!
I just made this today to go in your One Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Roll and to say I was skeptical isn’t an exaggeration and yet, having just tasted it I’m in a bit of food shock. I mean, what magic is it that makes beets, carrots and celery taste tomato-y? The next time I make a batch I’m going to triple it up so there’s always some in the freezer.
Just to clarify, I noticed you have it listed as over 400 calories for a 1 cup serving however when I ran it through several other recipe calculators to confirm (because that didn’t seem possible) there’s just over 400 calories in the entire batch and mine made just shy of 4 cups, for about 103 calories per one cup serving.
Sorry about that, we have updated that!!
YAY! So glad you enjoyed it so much! I love having some in my freezer all the time!
This is the best one I have ever found. Would add more spices next time. It is amazing!!
So glad you enjoyed!!
I really love this nomato sauce! I was really pleasantly surprised, because I thought I didnt like beets, but you can’t taste beets. How long do you think this will last in the fridge?