Roasted Balsamic Vegetable Pasta Sauce
This homemade roasted balsamic vegetable pasta sauce is delicious and packed with an array of roasted vegetables!
Hi. My name is Mel.
I like schedules. I like routine. I thrive on both of those things. Like majorly.
I planned to post this amazing roasted vegetable pasta sauce this morning (have you ever noticed that all my posts go live at 6 a.m. – seriously, I have scheduling issues). But then. Then. Life happened. I won’t go into all of it but this week has been crazy. Nightmarish. Hard. Busy. Just life.
And as much as I love this here blog and my routines, they both take a backseat to life stuff. I know you know what I mean.
But don’t you worry, the very second I had five-except-more-like-65 extra minutes, I sat down to type up this post because this pasta sauce is glorious and delicious and packed with the most fantastic array of roasted vegetables lightly touched with balsamic and rosemary.
It completely takes spaghetti night to an incredible new level. And there is just something divine about roasted vegetables. Flavor, flavor, flavor.
Plus the recipe comes from my Aunt Marilyn who has impeccable food taste and who lists this meal as a staple for her family which, in other words, means it should be a staple for your family, too.
What to Serve With This
- Divine Breadsticks or Cheesy Garlic Bread
- Steamed vegetable like broccoli or peas
- Simple green salad (or something more fancy like this Romaine Salad with Chicken, Cheddar, Apples and Spiced Pecans)
One Year Ago: Firecracker Chicken
Two Years Ago: Baked Doughnuts
Three Years Ago: Potato Puffs {a.k.a. Homemade Baked Tater Tots}
Roasted Balsamic Vegetable Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant, diced (about 2-3 cups)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 medium zucchini, or 1 large, diced (about 2-3 cups)
- 1 red pepper, cored, seeded and diced
- 1 yellow pepper, cored, seeded and diced
- 8 ounces white button mushrooms, stems removed, mushrooms quartered or halved
- 1 red onion, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
- 2 cans (28-ounces each) crushed tomatoes
- ¾ cup water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- Hot, cooked pasta for serving
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Place the chopped eggplant in a large colander set over a bowl or in the sink and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt and stir well. Drain for 30 minutes. Rinse the eggplant under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Combine the eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms and onion in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl or liquid measure, whisk together the oil, vinegar, garlic and rosemary until well blended; pour over the vegetables and toss until evenly coated. Scoop the vegetables onto a large, rimmed baking sheet (12X18-inches) spreading out evenly (use two pans if it seems only one pan is overly full).
- Bake the vegetables for 25-35 minutes until the vegetables are golden and tender, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle remaining the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt over the cooked vegetables (more to taste if needed).
- While the vegetables roast, combine the crushed tomatoes, water, sugar, basil and pepper flakes in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add roasted vegetables to the tomato mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Serve over hot cooked pasta with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from my Aunt Marilyn
We made this tonight and added some chopped spinach at the end of the veggie roast, because, why not? (And I didn’t want my spinach to go bad before we could use it all.)
This was hearty and tasty and a great way to get in a lot of vegetables. Thanks for sharing this—we will be making it again. Life is Good 🙂
Thanks for this recipe, Mel! I found it last year when I had a plethora (great word, right?) of eggplants, peppers and tomatoes in my garden and could not locate an approved canning recipe for a pasta sauce with these ingredients. I ended up doubling the recipe and used fresh tomatoes rather than canned and freezing in ziplock bags. I just made another big batch to freeze from this years garden harvest. Roasting the veggies makes the taste so much better. Thank you to you and your Aunt Marilyn! (I did finally locate a recipe I could can in a BH&G tomato cookbook).
This recipe is SO good! I used eggplant, green peppers, zucchini, carrots and red onion. The vegetables were amazing on their own. Once I added them to the sauce-wow!! The only thing I did differently was to add a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas to add a little protein. I will definitely make this again!
This is my new favorite pasta sauce! Thank you for sharing!
This was spectacular! What a way to add dimension and flavor. We’ll definitely make this again.
Yum! I made this on Thursday and everyone loved it! I made it with a pound of penne and had a nice amount of sauce left over. So tonight, I am using the leftover sauce to make pasta al forno (baked pasta) with fresh mozzarella cubes. Can’t wait and think it will be delish!!! Thanks again for yet another great recipe!
I made this tonight and it was fantastic! I halved the recipe and it was a perfect amount for us. Delicious.
This is an ecxcellent dish. I pureed mine in the food processor than added it to browned ground beef and it made a wonderful bolongnaisish type sauce. Great way to get veg into someone who doesn’t typicaly eat veg.
Made this today for dinner and served with chicken nuggets. Yummy.
I made this last night, and we really liked it. I made it with broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, and red pepper. I was out of rosemary, unfortunately, but I’ll make this again with it! I “healthified” the recipe by cutting down the sodium (I used no-salt-added canned tomato products & didn’t add any salt on my own) and by serving with spaghetti squash instead of pasta. Actually, my son got to eat it with pasta – lucky dog! Hubby & I are watching our calories. Thanks for another keeper, Mel!
I love this recipe! I might even repost it on my blog, if that is ok with you. And I am definitely making this recipe as soon as possible…I’m a sucker for pasta 🙂
HI Mel I was just wondering how I can print out a recipe with the picture on it? I have a cooking binder and I love having the pictures on all the recipes. You used to have that as an option so I have a ton of your recipes with the pictures and I love it.
Thank you!
Hi Brittany – I used to have a printable with a picture but it was because I was creating all those printables manually through google docs. I switched over to the new site design earlier this year and went to a more automated printable version that doesn’t include pictures right now. However, I’m hoping that functionality will be added soon and will post about it when it does. In the meantime, although it creates more work for you, you can always copy and past the recipe to Word and copy and paste a picture from the post. Sorry there isn’t an easier way right now!
All will be well. It is hard to move. Twice in 18 months and had a baby 2 weeks after moving 1800 miles. I think I am just now recovering. I am majorly impressed that you are so consistent with blogging and everything! So go you! Feel good that you are wonderful and put your family first.
I love roasted veggies and spaghetti, so I know I would love this dish. It might not be kind to my waistline, mostly because I can’t eat a normal sized portion! But I can tell myself it’s chock full of good-for-you veggies as I chow down.
How did I ever survive without you? Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. This is on the list for dinners this week as well as the Tomato soup and tune melts. We have tried so many other recipes over the last few weeks. I am sure these will be equally amazing!!
This is my kinda sauce!
I can’t wait to try this, but I’m going to opt for the eggplant substitute. My friend’s mom forced me to eat it once when I was young and over for dinner. I can’t bring myself to try it now even as an adult. Crazy, old, neighbor lady!
I hope everything is ok. I’m a total list and schedule person, too, so I get it. Although, my kids have done everything possible (it feels like that anyway) to relax me a bit.
Hi Mel! I hope this coming week is much better for you and the family! Recipe sounds great….I love eggplant!!! Take care!
Wow, this sounds amazing! Balsamic vinegar is like a secret ingredient that turns really good food into REALLY good food! We’ll have to try this soon. Bless both you and Aunt Marilyn for sharing such awesome recipes!
Looks delectable. My tastebuds are anxious to try it. Thanks Mel!
Love this recipe, but for some reason I can’t print this or any of your recipes today-do you know what’s happening?
Martha – what browser are you using? Have you tried it recently? It’s working for me in all browsers so I’m not sure what might be happening. Any additional info you can give me, would help me troubleshoot the issue. Thanks!
Nice recipe, Mel. Thank your aunt. Have a good weekend!
You being a mother of five with the high energy, extremely productive life of blogging, church activity, multiple moves, (not to mention far away family who can’t come alongside of you to ease your life a bit) and who knows what else has always seemed to me to be a “nightmarishly busy” life to me. So very thankful you have your priorities right! I brought up your site as I was eating my scrambled egg w/ mushrooms and red peppers toasted sandwich. I topped it with the new version of Heinz tomato ketchup with balsamic vinegar. The balsamic ketchup made the sandwich over the top and I was thinking I needed more recipes that that have the delicious taste of balsamic vinegar in them. 🙂 We are having company over for dinner on Thursday and I feel confident in serving this because it came from Mel and her “famous” Aunt Marilyn.
Hope the schedule is back to normal in your life Mel. This sure looks amazing! I can’t keep a schedule for the life of me…
Mmm this sounds perfect!!!
That looks delicious! I’ll need a good dose of “real” food after stuffing myself with your brownie cheesecake…. I reposted it too it was so good!
xxx
The Gift of Gaby – Brownie Cheesecake
I love all your recipes from Aunt Marilyn, so I will definitely will be trying this one!
Family should come first! Hope you enjoy the weekend. And I am totally drooling over this recipe! I make a roasted veggie pasta but it doesn’t have balsamic in the sauce. I bet that secret ingredient sends this dish over the top. Can’t wait to try it!
Yep, this is gonna be dinner tomorrow. I would do it tonight but I still have leftovers of your Pumpkin Black Bean Chili (which I cannot wait to eat more of). This looks amazing though – excited to try it!