From Garden to Freezer: How I’m Making Homemade Pasta Sauce From Our Extra Zucchini & Tomatoes 🌿🍅
This is probably my favourite part about growing our own food.
Taking what we grew in the garden and figuring out how to turn it into something we’ll actually eat all year long.
Now, in the past, I usually just froze my extra tomatoes and zucchini, and then whenever I wanted pasta sauce, I’d thaw everything out, roast it and make a fresh batch.
And that worked totally fine — but it took up so much space in my freezer, and obviously meant starting from scratch every single time.
So this year, with my excess of tomatoes and zucchini, I decided to get ahead of it and make a bunch of freezer batches of homemade pasta sauce instead.
And the process is actually super simple.
🍅 Roasted Garden Tomato Pasta Sauce
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Storage: Freezer
Ingredients
Fresh garden tomatoes
Onion
Whole garlic cloves
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Instructions
1. Prep your tomatoes.Wash your tomatoes and cut them into quarters. Arrange them skin-side up on a baking sheet.
2. Add the aromatics.Cut your onion into chunks and scatter it around the tomatoes. Add whole peeled garlic cloves.
3. Season.Drizzle everything generously with olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Roast.Bake at 375°F for approximately 40 minutes, or until the tomatoes and onions are very soft and nicely roasted.
5. Blend.Carefully transfer the roasted vegetables and juices to a countertop blender. Blend until completely smooth.
I prefer my tomato sauce really smooth, which is why I use a regular blender for this one.
6. Cool and freeze.Allow the sauce to cool before portioning it into freezer-safe containers. Label each container with the contents and date before freezing.
🌿 Roasted Zucchini Pasta Sauce
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Storage: Freezer
Ingredients
Fresh zucchini
Onion
Whole garlic cloves
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Instructions
1. Prep your zucchini.Cut the zucchini into chunks. If you're working with one of those giant zucchinis that somehow hid in the garden until it became the size of a small child 😂, scoop out the larger seeds first.
2. Add your onion and garlic.Spread the zucchini onto a baking sheet along with chunks of onion and whole peeled garlic cloves.
3. Season.Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Roast.Bake at 375°F for approximately 40 minutes, or until everything is tender and nicely roasted.
5. Blend.For the zucchini sauce, I use a hand/immersion blender because I prefer this sauce to have a little more texture.
Blend until you reach your desired consistency.
6. Cool and freeze.Let the sauce cool, portion it into freezer-safe containers, label and freeze.
🍝 Turning the Zucchini Base Into Creamy Zucchini Pasta
When you're ready to make dinner, thaw your zucchini sauce and warm it in a saucepan.
This is when I like to add:
Heavy cream
Freshly grated Parmesan
Fresh basil
Oregano
Thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
You can also add collagen powder for some extra protein, which is something I've done with mine.
Add your cooked pasta directly to the finished sauce and toss everything together. I like finishing it with extra Parmesan, green onion and a few chili flakes.
You can also add grilled or roasted chicken if you want some additional protein.
Freezer Tips
Make sure your sauce has cooled before freezing and leave a little room in your container for expansion.
I also label everything with the sauce and date. Otherwise, six months from now I will absolutely be standing in front of my freezer trying to determine what the mysterious orange container is. 😂
For best quality, I aim to use our homemade frozen sauces within the year.
Products I Used
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you.
Comments