Paleo Spaghetti Sauce – No Sugar, GAPS
This paleo spaghetti sauce is hearty, comforting, and packed with healthy veggies and protein. Add to your weekly menu for a quick and healthy meal. We use this sauce as a base to many meals, such as traditional spaghetti sauce, lasagna, cabbage “pizza”, and as a dipping sauce. If you have ever followed Whole30, Paleo, or GAPS, you know spaghetti sauce feels like one of those “fill in the cracks” kind of foods. I love how satiating and versatile this sauce is, while packing a good punch of veggies and protein. If you (or your children) are working on gut healing or overall health, a generous scoop of fat (tallow, duck fat, lard, olive oil, etc.) can be added without affecting the flavor too much.
Whole30, Paleo, GAPS, Weston Price, Carnivore…
What do Whole30, Paleo, GAPS, WAPF, carnivore and other “trending” diets have in common? While many people may consider these diets trendy, they are actually traditional/ancestral ways of eating. Each of these styles of eating:
- Seeks to re-balance and re-store the body’s health.
- Eliminates processed foods and focuses on whole foods like meat and eggs (from healthy, pastured animals), fermented veggies, and healing animal fats.
- Emphasizes healing, following hunger cues, and noticing when our bodies feel well or unwell after eating certain foods. (As opposed to other diets that count calories, focus on weight loss, or are passive/convenient for time savings or cravings).
- By adding in the healing foods and removing the processed foods, many people can rapidly bring down inflammation and heal from allergies and autoimmune conditions.
- Can be used as a shorter-term reset to restore health. Many people strictly follow one of these protocols for a period of time, and then gradually re-introduce more foods. Our family followed the GAPS protocol very strictly until we had major health improvements. Several years later, a good majority of what we eat is still “GAPS”, because the foods are delicious, healthy, and make us feel well.
Why Make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce?
If you read the label of spaghetti sauce purchased from the store, you will see it often contains many other ingredients besides tomatoes and herbs. These ingredients are generally sugar, seed oils, thickening agents, and preservatives. What you may not know, is there are often additional ingredients that are not required to be on the label.
“Off Label” Ingredients in Pasta Sauce
I recently read an article about the global tomato sauce processing and production, lead by China, the highest tomato producer:
Ma Zhenyong, managing director of Jintudi, one of the biggest Chinese exports of tomato products, appeared on The Empire of Red Gold. The film producer saw a white substance being added to the tomato sauce in large quantities. This substance does not appear on the label. When asked by a translator, the managing director said, “I cannot answer that. This is our recipe. I cannot talk about it. These additives are legitimate. We filed our recipe at the Chinese Goods Inspection and Examination Office. We only add what is filed there.”
The white powder is soybean powder, used as a thickener, as well as other ingredients.
Zhenyong said privately to the translator, “With regards to our production, 80% of the product is the raw material, tomato. In the remaining 20%, there is soybean, starch, maltose. The tomato paste represents 80%. And then, you know, the recipes are not fixed.”
The translator told him he does not have to talk about it, he was just asking the question from the producer of the documentary. Zhenyong answered privately to the translator, “The best thing is not to talk about the substances that are added.”
The producer says, “According to my information, some boxes of Chinese concentrate contain up to 55% additives. It’s a method of lowering manufacturing costs since these are cheaper than tomatoes. The reason they can cut their products with soy is because of an agreement with their distributors. The entire production and distribution chain is complicit in this fraud. Only the consumer is fooled.”
These ingredients do not appear on the label. It can be classified as Industry Standard. (source)
“Paleo” Pasta Sauce
This recipe is titled Paleo, but really it fits into a lot of other health-restoring protocols, such as GAPS, Whole30, etc. I love how versatile this spaghetti sauce is. If you are avoiding certain veggies or herbs for a time, you can simply swap out other preferred or well-tolerated options.
Our family enjoys onion, carrots, zucchini, and tomatoes as the base veggies, and basil, oregano, garlic, and onion as the herbs. You can substitute or add in any of your family favorites!
Paleo Spaghetti Sauce – No Sugar, GAPS Recipe
Equipment
- stock pot
- immersion blender
Ingredients
- 56 oz crushed tomatoes (from clean, organic source in glass jar, if possible or about 7 cups de-seeded and de-skinned chopped tomatoes)
- 2 cups zucchini (finely chopped)
- 1 pc onion (medium – finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup carrots (finely chopped)
- 1/3 cup healthy fat (butter, grass-fed lard, avocado oil, palm oil, ghee, duck fat, etc.)
- 4-6 pcs garlic cloves (fresh – minced)
- 2 tbsp basil (dried)
- 1 tbsp oregano (dried)
- 1 tbsp sea salt
Instructions
- Heat fat or oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add finely chopped zucchini, onion, and carrots. Cover and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic and salt to pot and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add crushed tomatoes, basil, and oregano.
- Simmer with the cover on, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Blend in a blender or with an immersion blender for a smoother/saucier consistency (optional).
Notes
Recipe Notes
- If you use fresh tomatoes in this recipe, try to use a “meatier” tomato, such as Roma, for a thicker sauce consistency.
- If you want to use a commercial sauce, check ingredients to make sure it contains only tomatoes (and maybe herbs). Glass jars are more ideal than canned tomatoes (due to leaching). Before the tomatoes were packaged in glass jars, they may have been processed in chemical-leaching containers. If you are in a sensitive period of healing, it may be best to make this recipe from whole tomatoes.
- The herbs and amounts listed give a good baseline for the recipe. Depending if you use a sauce that already has herbs or your family’s preference, you can alter the herbs and amounts to your liking.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as our family! Please let me know your feedback and favorite variations in the comments.
Resources
Posts
How to Start an Ancestral Diet (without Overwhelm)
Fermented Dilly Beans
How To Cure A Dairy Allergy or Sensitivity With the GAPS Diet
What is the GAPS Diet – An Easier Explanation
Favorite books
1. Gut and Psychology Syndrome Book
2. GAPS Stage by Stage With Recipes Book
Shop This Post
- stock pot
- immersion blender
- crushed tomatoes
- basil
- oregano
- sea salt
- grass-fed lard
- avocado oil
- palm oil
- ghee
- duck fat
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Yum, that makes me really hungry. 😄
There is so much you can do with a delicious homemade sauce! Thanks!