This pasta sauce uses butternut squash and Italian herbs to mimic a traditional marinara sauce but without the acidity. Even though it is sweeter than tomatoes, butternut squash is a wonderful substitute. Add all the traditional herbs, spices and aromatics and you have a sauce that will make the house smell like pasta night.
If you follow a low acid diet, be sure to check out my low acid salad dressing with ginger and tahini and my low acid zucchini soup with ginger and tomato free, low acid BBQ sauce.
More Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Recipes
Serve this sauce over pasta with my Gluten-Free Meatballs. Or, for another easy, no tomato, dairy-free pasta sauce try my Vegan Creamy Pasta Sauce which uses riced cauliflower as the base.
If you love Italian, be sure to check out my gluten-free chicken piccata recipe, gluten-free chicken marsala and gluten-free vegan chickpea stew.
A Quick & Easy Pasta Sauce
Prepping and cooking the squash is a little time consuming, so I wanted the rest of the recipe to be quick and easy. I used dried herbs and spices to speed up the process. If you would like to use fresh ingredients, here’s how to do it:
- SautΓ© 1/4 c chopped onion for 5 minutes. Add 1-2 minced garlic cloves and cook , stirring for 1 minute.
- Add to the blender along with a handful of fresh basil leaves, 1 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves and leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme.
In order to get a little tang like you would have with tomatoes, I include 2 tsps of lemon juice. I know that some low acid diets include lemons. You can also use lemon zest. This is the yellow outer layer of the skin and it has all the bright lemony flavor. If you need a quick tutorial on how to zest a lemon, check out this post. Leave out the lemon out if you do not tolerate it.
Gluten-Free Pasta
People often say, “oh poor you can’t eat pasta!” Pasta can be a a confusing subject if you are new to a gluten-free diet. See more specific information in my blog post about gluten-free foods where I answer the question Is pasta gluten-free?
How to Peel and Dice Butternut Squash
Some markets carry peeled and cut butternut squash. This is a great time-saver but I find that it can be pretty expensive. So here’s an easy way to do it at home.
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. A Y shaped peeler works best.
Peel down to the bright orange flesh
Peel the bottom
Trim the top and bottom to create flat surfaces
Cut in half lengthwise, top to bottom
Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. The seed pod is slimy, so scrape all the way down to the firm flesh and it will come out much easier.
This was a 1 1/4 lb squash (on the small side), so I just cut off the rounded part on the bottom. The remaining large piece was about 1″ thick. If you have a larger squash you may want to cut it in half (top to bottom) to make the slabs about 1″ thick.
Cut into approximately 1″ strips then cut across into cubes.
How to Cook the Butternut Squash
The cut squash can be roasted on a pan in the oven or in pot on the stove top. I prefer the oven so I can set the timer and walk away. The squash then goes into the blender with the rest of the ingredients.
But if you have an immersion blender, the stove-top method makes this a one-pot sauce. You’ll have to stir the squash as it cooks but then the rest of the ingredients go in the pot and get pureed.
Make Ahead
This sauce will keep well in the refrigerator for at least a 5 days. In fact, the flavors will get even better. So feel free to make it ahead of time and you’ll have a comforting, delicious sauce that is ready for pasta, spaghetti squash or eggplant parmesan.
No Tomato, Low Acid Pasta Sauce
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Ingredients
- 1 approximately 2 lb butternut squash or 20 oz squash cubes (frozen is ok)
- 2-2Β½ c low sodium broth*
- Β½ c grated Parmiggiano or Romano cheese* vegan subs are ok or β cnutritional yeast
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp dried Italian seasoning or a combination of oregano, basil and thyme*
- 2 tsp lemon juice If tolerated
- ΒΎ-1ΒΌ tsp table salt
- ΒΌ tsp granulated garlic*
- ΒΌ tsp granulated onion*
- 2 pinches red chili flakes, optional
Instructions
- If using a whole squash – Peel with a vegetable peeler. Cut off the ends and cut into 1" cubes. If using frozen, defrost on a towel for 30 minutes.
- Two options for cooking the squash: Roasting: Toss the squash with 1 Tbsp of the olive oil, spread out on 2 sheet pans and roast at 400Β°F for approximately 20 minutes or until soft.Stove-top: Heat a large pot with 1 tbsp oil. Add the squash and cook, stirring occasionally until soft. You can skip the blender if you have an immersion blender. Add the ingredients to the pot as described in step 4 and blend until smooth. Then see steps 6 & 7.
- Remove the plastic center piece from the blender lid. This will allow the steam to escape and prevent an explosion of sauce all over your kitchen!
- While the squash is hot, add Β½ tsp of the salt, 2 c of the broth and the remaining ingredients to the blender or food processor and puree for at least one minute.
- Scrape down the sides and blend for another 1 minute on high.
- The sauce should be smooth. If it is too thick add 1/4 c broth and blend. Add more until you like the consistency.
- Taste. If needed, add additional salt or chili flakes to amp up the other flavors.
I just want to thank you for this recipe! Food and cooking is a huge part of my life but I have been struggling with some serious stomach troubles and am trying to follow a low acid diet, which goes against my typical meal plans. I was looking for something I could make last night and came across this. I happen to have a cute little butternut squash in the fridge that needed to be used. This recipe was delicious!! I took the easy route with the onion and garlic granules. This thing I’ve been dealing with has left me exhausted and weak so I really appreciated the simplicity, but the flavor was still amazing. It will definitely become a regular in my cooking cycle. Thank you!!!
I’m so glad that this recipe works for your special diet. And thank you so much for taking the time to leave this wonderful comment!
Janet! I love all of your recipes and I cannot wait to try this one! You are a gift to the internet community and people like me who are looking for substitutes for their once favorite meals (due to certain food/digestive limitations). Thank you for your detailed instructions, the pictures are an added bonus!!
Can I use my Instant pot for this recipe?
Hi Leslie, I do not have an instant pot so I did not test the recipe with it. The roasting process of the butternut squash concentrates the flavor. The instant pot would likely change the moisture content. I would start with less broth when you blend it and then add as needed.
Thank you so much for your quick response!
Let me know if you try it. I’d love to hear how it turns out.
How much nutritional yeast? And how would I use that in the recipe?
Also, what meat would you recommend to have with this pasta, chicken?
This sauce can be used just as you would use a marinara sauce. It pairs well with chicken and pasta. I recommend starting with 1/3 cup nutritional yeast.
My wife has been having serious heartburn issues during her pregnancy, and this was a perfect tomato sauce substitute. Cheers!
Thank you for posting this! I was looking for a pasta sauce without tomatoes, to try and make for my bf who suspected he had the same thing as his mom and thatβs that he gets heartburn from too many tomatoes. He was skeptical at first as to what I was making for supper when he saw me walking out with a butternut squash. He started saying he didnβt really prefer squash, but I shushed him, and made it anyway. The least that would happen is he wouldnβt like it, but he very surprisingly did. Even went back for 2nds and said this is the sauce that we should βgetβ whenever we want something that requires tomato-based sauce. I followed the recipe, save for measuring the Italian seasoning, and then thought I maybe added too much, but it was still delicious.
My only questions are, how can you make this and then can or jar it? And have it be shelf stable? And can you also put this on things, like making mini pizzas and freeze them, only for them to be heated up and eaten at a later date, how long would something like that last in the freezer and the best way to keep it from going bad/freezer burn?
Thanks for posting this recipe in the first place, literally a game changer for life. And itβs delicious!
Hi Rachael, I do not do much canning so I’m not sure how it would work with the sauce. If you plan to use it as a pizza sauce, I would reduce the added liquid by half so it doesn’t make your pizza soggy. If you wrap the pizza well, it should last 2-3 months on the freezer. To prevent freezer burn, wrap snugly in plastic, then foil, then place in a zip top bag with as much air pressed out as possible. Enjoy!
Have you ever tried this recipe with homemade unsweetened pumpkin puree?
Hi Debbie, I have not tested it with pumpkin puree. I liked the idea of a sweeter base in the butternut squash but I’d be interested to hear back if you try it out.