You will want to pour this roasted tomato and garlic sauce over everything, not just pasta. It feels like the ultimate comfort food.
The best hack for the best pasta sauce – start with roasting.
Listen, just give yourself the extra 20 minutes and roast the tomatoes and garlic for this sauce and I promise you won’t regret a thing.
It brings out all the flavors you’re wanting and it’s actually really simple. Layer in flavors at the end you have something that tastes BETTER than the restaurant, but all at home, cheaper, and with simple ingredients.
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Why You’ll Love this Saucy Dish:
- Cozy, but Elevated – it feels special because it’s a decadent, creamy sauce. You’ll want this for weeknights, but it’s totally worthy for guests and holidays too. You’ll want it on pasta, but also toast, veggies, rice, and more…ok, you’ll want to drink it.
- Big Flavor with Simple Ingredients – Tomatoes, Garlic, Fresh Basil, lots of spices, and a few other simple and easy to find ingredients make this dish come together.
- Layered Flavor – Roasting, adding fresh herbs, sauteing and simmering all add layers and depth to the dish that will make even you impress yourself that you did this
Ingredients for roasted tomato and garlic pasta sauce:
Gather your ingredients!
Cherry Tomatoes
Because cherry tomatoes are smaller, they not only roast quicker, but they caramelize faster from having a higher sugar level. This makes them ideal for roasting.
Substitute: Plum or Roma tomatoes will also work. So will roasted red peppers instead.
Garlic
There’s not a dish that I don’t want to put garlic in, but I get even more excited when it’s the entire bulb. It adds to much depth and flavor to the dish.
Substitute: While it would definitely be different, shallots or yellow onions could also work in place.
Fresh Basil
The amount of robust flavor you get from adding in fresh basil at the end is unmatched.
Substitute: Parsley would be an ok sub, but it will alter the taste. We would try to at least add some dried basil and then probably add in some chopped spinach or kale.
Coconut Cream
This is the thicker part of full-fat canned coconut milk that you would buy in the grocery store.
Substitute: Blended silken tofu, cashew cream, blended white beans with water as all good subs. Alternatively, you could use any thicker plant based milk like creamy oat or soy milk, these just may take longer to reduce and you may want to add in a teaspoon or two of flour or cornstarch to help thicken.
Sun-dried Tomatoes
We use sun-dried tomatoes in oil for this recipe and love the added tomato layer and flavor they bring.
Spices
We’re using a combination of fresh herbs, aromatics, and dried spices in order to bring flavor to all aspects of this dish.
Other Leveled-Up Vegan Sauces to Try!
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Roasted Garlic and Tomato Sauce with Pasta
You will want to pour this roasted tomato and garlic sauce over everything, not just pasta. It feels like the ultimate comfort food.
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Ingredients
For the Roasted Garlic and Tomatoes
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 400˚F/200˚C.
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Cut a small piece off the top of the garlic bulb to expose the cloves. Place in a small ramekin or oven-safe bowl if you have one. If not, just in the center of an 8×8 baking dish. Place 3 cups cherry tomatoes around it. Drizzle 2 tablespoon olive oil over the garlic and 2 tablespoon over the tomatoes, along with 2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, and ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper and gently stir to coated all sides of the tomatoes. Bake for 25-30 mins (garlic should be golden and soft and tomatoes blistered).
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While that’s roasting, bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente (or a minute or 2 less). Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water before draining.
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Once the oven goes off and tomatoes and garlic have slightly cooled, carefully into a blender, add the tomatoes and oil. Squeeze garlic cloves (reserve 1-2 tablespoon of the oil the garlic was cooking in) into blender and add ½ cup coconut cream and blend until smooth.
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In a large skillet, over medium heat, add about 1-2 tablespoon of the oil the garlic cooked in. Add in 2 tablespoon tomato paste and cook for 1-2 minutes, careful not to burn. Then add ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, 1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon each black pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook for another minute. *If you missed saving the oil above, you can use the oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes as well.
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Pour in blended sauce and ½ cup reserved pasta water and stir. Add in ½ cup fresh chopped basil, and ⅓ cup grated plant-based parmesan. Stir together well and then add in cooked pasta. Cook until pasta is heated and cooked through, about 1-2 minutes.
Notes
Nutritional facst are only estimates, please utilize your own brands for accuracy.
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Nutrition
Serving1bowl (¼ of the dish)Calories679kcalCarbohydrates99gProtein18gFat24gSaturated Fat8gPolyunsaturated Fat2gMonounsaturated Fat11gSodium626mgPotassium896mgFiber6gSugar10gVitamin A935IUVitamin C31mgCalcium71mgIron5mg
Frequently Asked Questions
Coconut cream and plant based parmesan are the ingredients we need to consider. For the coconut cream, depending on your allergens, you can use cashew cream, blended silken tofu or blended white beans (cannellini or butter beans) as an alternative.
Otherwise, you can use your favorite safe for you plant based milk with a teaspoon or two of cornstarch added in to help thicken – this method may require more time to reduce.
For the parmesan – maybe contain coconut, but you can look for one that does to, replace with nutritional yeast, or just omit.
This can be stored once cooled in the fridge for up to 5 days. You may need to thin the sauce if desired.
Yes, the sauce once cooled, can be frozen for up to 3 months by placing in an air tight, freezer safe bag or container. Make the pasta the day you want to serve.
A simple salad goes well and then we usually serve garlic bread with it.