Clean Eating Simple Spaghetti Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is a healthy substitute for spaghetti sauce? ›

Carrot and Beet Sauce

Similar to marinara but with a different flavor, carrots, and beets offer a ton of nutrition and can be supplemented in many dishes that use tomato sauce. Try sauteeing the vegetables with onion, garlic, and olive oil, then blend to desired texture. Add seasonings to taste.

When you make pasta sauce from scratch, you can have more control over how much salt, fat and calories are in it. Try this simple recipe at home using canned tomatoes. If you are buying a jarred or canned sauce, choose a tomato-based (marinara) sauce rather than a creamy sauce.

To make your tomato sauce less acidic, add 2 dessertspoons of powdered milk to your sauce. Which type of powdered milk should I use? You can use Régilait semi-skimmed, full-fat or skimmed powdered milk.

The healthiest pasta sauces get most of their fat from olive oil (marinara) or olive oil and nuts (pesto), not cream or cheese (alfredo). And the good guys don't pile too much salt or sugar on top of your spaghetti. Here's how to find them. Check the photos for some great-tasting Best Bites and Honorable Mentions.

Many marinara sauces use inflammatory vegetable oil, like Prego, which uses canola oil. For this reason, a no-sugar added marinara like Rao's is a much more blood-sugar friendly and nutrient-dense option. Rao's uses seven simple ingredients, one of which is olive oil, contributing 7g of healthy fats per ½ cup serving.

If you have the right ingredients, and you know how to make it at home, your own sauce is not only going to taste great, but it will be less expensive than most ready-made products. There are a few gourmet spaghetti sauces available in markets, and they have excellent flavor and texture, but they are pricey.

Tossing in strips of basil, a sprig of thyme or some oregano can take your sauce to the next level. Although fresh herbs might pop a bit more, dried herbs and spices can work just as well. Sprinkling in some red pepper flakes, a pinch of parsley and a dash of salt and pepper can liven up your jarred pasta sauce.

Using 1 or 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and poked with a fork added in during the cooking stage of the sauce, draws out the acids into the potato. When the potato is soft and you can break it in two with a fork, its job is done. Since I've been doing it this way, I've have very few complaints about heartburn.

What's the healthiest way to eat spaghetti? ›

To make your standard wheat-based pasta healthier, simply switch up the ratio of veggies to pasta: Double up on the veggie serving you'd normally have, and cut the pasta by a half or third. You'll keep the flavor, add extra fiber, and generally max out on nutritional quality, without ever noticing the difference.

This is also why folks often use the terms marinara sauce and spaghetti sauce as one in the same. They are similar, spaghetti sauce is essentially a version of a marinara sauce. Spaghetti sauce usually contains added ingredients such as ground beef to make a bolognese sauce.