I absolutely love tomatoes. I use some variation of tomato in nearly everything I cook. I eat them by themselves. I just really love them. When I started the Autoimmune Protocol, I was not happy to see tomatoes weren’t on the list of approved foods. Upon searching for no-mato sauces, I just knew there was no way the conglomeration of vegetables people were blending together would taste like tomatoes. So I did a lot of research and came up with my own recipe!
Let. Me. Tell. You. It fooled me and my fiancé! It is really that good! Even though there are a million no-mato sauce recipes out there, I just have to share mine because it has the acidity, the sweetness, and all of the tomato-y goodness…without the tomatoes, sugar, or non-AIP-approved foods!
What Makes Your Recipe Different?
There were two important factors to me when making this recipe. First, it had to have the unmistakable acidity of a real tomato sauce. And, second, it had to look like tomato sauce. Visuals and aesthetics are important to me, especially when it comes to food, and I just couldn’t eat something that looked like…well…not appetizing. I think my recipe satisfies both requirements. I hope you’ll try it and see for yourself!
Quick Note
I batch-prep this recipe because it is so delicious and freeze whatever portion I don’t plan to use within 3-4 days. If you want to just test the recipe out, I would suggest at least halving it because it does make quite a few servings.
Recipe
[recipe title="The BEST No-Mato Sauce" servings="20" preptime="15 minutes" cooktime="15 minutes" ][recipe-ingredients]
* 1 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
* 9 carrots, sliced
* 9 celery stalks, sliced
* 1 beet, cubed
* 1 cup cranberries, frozen or canned
* 3/4 cup cherries without the pit, frozen or canned
* 6 cloves garlic
* 1 can pumpkin purée
* 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
* 1-2 tsp sea salt
* 4-6 cups bone or veggie broth, enough to cover fruit and vegetables
[/recipe-ingredients]
[recipe-directions]
1. Cut all vegetables.
2. Set Instant Pot to sauté and add onion. I use water or veggie broth to prevent sticking, but feel free to use oil if you prefer.
3. When onions begin to turn translucent, add carrots and celery. Cook until they begin to soften.
4. Add all other ingredients to Instant Pot.
5. Put the lid on Instant Pot, turn valve to sealing, and set Instant Pot to pressure cook for 15 minutes.
6. When the Instant Pot is finished pressure cooking, turn valve to venting and release steam. Remove lid.
7. If you don’t want your sauce super runny, dump off some of the broth. I left about 3 cups of broth in the Instant Pot.
8. Then, using an immersion blender, blend the vegetables until the dish becomes a marinara-like texture. You can use a blender if you’d like.
9. Season to taste. Use within 4 days or freeze.
[/recipe-directions]