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An easy marinara sauce loaded up with chunky summer veggies and served over pasta. This Garden Veggie Pasta is a delicious, healthy meal the whole family will love!
Kids love anything with noodles, so pasta dishes are a great way to sneak in some extra nutrition!
This is a basic marinara recipe combined with sautéed chopped summer vegetables. If you’ve never attempted to make your own marinara sauce, you must try it – it’s so easy! I use canned crushed tomatoes for ease, and they are great year round, but you could certainly use fresh.
This Garden Veggie Pasta is the one of just a few ways I can get my son to eat zucchini (enchiladas, muffins and dessert bars are the other ways!). Give it a try today!
Ingredients you need
Ingredient notes and substitutions
Tomatoes ~ I used canned tomatoes for convenience. Fresh tomatoes can be cooked down instead of using canned.
Veggies ~ With so many vegetables, like eggplant, zucchini, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, and more packed into this veggie pasta recipe, it is loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Calcium, iron, magnesium, folate, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin K, B vitamins, and more!
Feel free to use your favorite vegetables. Other summer veggies that would work great in this recipe: sweet corn, green beans, yellow summer squash, or green peas.
Pasta ~ Pasta not your thing? This healthy vegetable sauce would be great served over rice, baked potatoes, zoodles, or polenta.
Protein ~ Feel free to add in some white beans, chickpeas, or pan-fried tofu for an extra protein boost.
Oil-free ~ If you’re following an oil-free diet, feel free to use ¼ cup vegetable broth or water to sauté instead of olive oil.
Gluten free ~ Use gluten free noodles.
How to make the recipe
While the pasta is cooking, sauté the onion, carrot and garlic in olive oil over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes until starting to soften. Add the bell pepper, zucchini, and eggplant and sauté another 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, salt, pepper, dried basil, balsamic vinegar and stir to combine.
Simmer the sauce on low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve the sauce over the cooked noodles. Easy and delicious!
Storage/Freezing
Leftovers can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.
You can also freeze this Garden Veggie Pasta in a freezer safe bag or container for up to 3 months. Please note, however, the vegetables and noodles may lose some of their texture upon reheating. For best results, freeze the pasta and sauce separately.
Recipe pro tips for success
~ Use a medium shaped pasta, like penne, rotini, rigatoni, or gemelli.
~ Cook the pasta in well salted water until al-dente.
~ Don’t skip the balsamic vinegar! It adds a sweetness and depth of flavor that rounds out the sauce beautifully.
~ Bump up the protein in this veggie pasta dish by adding a can of white beans or chickpeas (drained and rinsed) or cubed baked tofu.
~ Use gluten free noodles or spiralize some zucchini for a gluten free version.
~ For an oil-free version, sauté with ¼ cup low sodium vegetable broth or water instead of oil.
Pasta FAQs
Of course! Most store-bought packaged noodles are vegan, but be sur to read ingredient labels as some may contain egg.
Pasta can definitely be part of a healthy diet when eaten in moderation. Choose 100% whole grain pasta for added fiber and nutrients. Pairing noodles with a vegetable-heavy sauce like this Garden Veggie Pasta is always a good choice!
The word primavera in Italian means spring. Pasta primavera is an American dish consisting of pasta and fresh vegetables. Usually, these dishes are made with spring vegetables, but you can find a primavera recipe for any time of year. This Garden Veggie Pasta could also be called pasta primavera, but if you want a more classic version, try my Vegan Pasta Primavera.
I like medium size pasta noodles for this dish, like penne or rotini, as they match the size of the chopped vegetables best. Longer noodles, like spaghetti or fettuccine, are a bit clunky here and smaller noodles, like orzo or ditalini, won’t hold up to the thick chunky sauce.
More veggie pasta recipes
- Cauliflower Bolognese
- Vegan Pasta Primavera
- Easy Hummus Pasta
- Spinach Artichoke Pasta
- Easy Mediterranean Pasta
- Roasted Fall Vegetable Pasta
- Pasta with White Beans and Kale
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you tried it, please use the rating system in the recipe card and leave a comment below with your feedback.
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For even more easy family recipes, be sure to check out my cookbook, The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook!
Garden Veggie Pasta
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 ounces penne or pasta noodle of choice (gluten free, if desired)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small zucchini diced
- 1 ½ cups diced eggplant about ½ of an average sized eggplant
- 1 large carrot peeled and diced
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and diced (or color of choice)
- 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 2 teaspoons [dried basil]
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Garnishes, optional
- torn fresh basil
- sprinkle of vegan parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package directions in well-salted water.
- Meanwhile, sauté the onion, carrot and garlic in olive oil over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes until starting to soften.
- Add the bell pepper, zucchini, and eggplant and sauté another 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, salt, pepper, dried basil, balsamic vinegar and stir to combine.
- Simmer the sauce on low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve the sauce over cooked noodles.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition values are calculated using online calculators and are estimates only. Please verify using your own data.
Beth says
I confess I didn’t exactly follow the recipe. I basically used the new York Times classic marinara sauce recipe (plus a glug of red wine and about T. of tomato paste), and followed the directions to add veggies according to your recipe (I used a zucchinni, couple carrots, and red bell pepper). I wouldn’t do a thing different – it came out great! My dad and I ate it as vegetarian meal with garbanzo beans last night as per his diet restrictions. With a side of greens tossed in oil and vinegar it made a truly delicious meal the second day.
Jenn Sebestyen says
Glad you loved it, Beth!
Cathy says
This is a delicious way to use plentiful garden produce. I didn’t have a whole pepper so added more eggplant, which I peeled. And left out the broth because I had 4 cups of my own frozen tomato sauce and tomatoes. This recipe is now filed with my favorites.
Jenn Sebestyen says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Anna says
I love this recipe!! So tasty, and great to make a big batch of.
Jenn Sebestyen says
Thanks, Anna! So glad you love it.
Laura says
Can I substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth? Just beaucse I have that on hand in the pantry?
Jenn S. says
Of course.
Chrissy says
This looks amazing! I’m going to make a batch this weekend, does anyone know if it freezes well?
Jenn S. says
Hi, Chrissy. I’ve never tried freezing it, but I think it should work just fine. Enjoy!
Joy says
Super easy to make, customizable, and delicious! I used noodles as the base but as curious to try it as a lasagna.
Jenn S. says
I’ve never done it lasagna style, but it’s a great idea! So happy you loved it, Joy! Thank you for your comment.
Susan says
I made this tonight following your exact recipe and added a dash of red pepper flakes too; loved it. I served it over white basmati rice. Will definitely make again very soon. Thanks or sharing 🙂
Jenn S. says
Excellent! So glad you liked it, Susan! A little heat from red pepper flakes sounds great too. It’s such a versatile sauce. Thanks for stopping by!!
Jenna says
I made this tonight and it was wonderful! I didn’t have eggplant so I substituted Monterey mushrooms and I served it over pan fried polenta. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Jenn S. says
Thank you so much, Jenna! I’m so happy you loved it. I think mushrooms would be a delicious substitution. And serving it over polenta sounds super yummy too! Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback. I hope you find lots more recipes to love as well. Have a great week!
Linda @ Veganosity says
I love simple, easy, and fresh recipes like this one. You don’t even need a salad because it’s filled with veggies. 🙂
Jenn S. says
Absolutely right! It’s definitely a complete meal all on it’s own!
Audrey @ Unconventional Baker says
Wow, Jennifer. This looks SOOO good. I’ll have to try it. Love the chunkiness — makes a dish so much more filling.
Jenn S. says
Thanks, Audrey! I’m a huge fan of making just one dish for dinner as opposed to the main part of the meal plus 1 to 2 sides. With this chunky sauce there is no need for any veggie sides. Maybe some crusty bread, but that’s another story!
chef mimi says
funny – I made something so similar the other night! (not on the blog) Who needs meat when you have such lovely fresh veggies!
Jenn S. says
I’m sure there are a ton of different versions of this out there! It’s so good and fresh veggies are the best! Thanks for stopping by, Mimi!
veggiesdontbite says
This looks great Jenn! And I love how you sneak in all those veggies!
Jenn S. says
I’m not exactly being sneaky in this recipe…they are there in all their glory. But, I do love a good sneaky recipe from time to time too!
Strength and Sunshine says
No matter how many times I tell and SHOW my family how easy it is to make your own sauce…they refuse and always buy gross sugar and sodium filled jarred…I just shake my head 😛
Jenn S. says
I know the feeling! Someone once asked me (I won’t mention names!!) if I bought Prego or Ragu….um, yeah, NEITHER! LOL!
Natalie says
I love throwing veggies into my marinara sauce, but I have never tried all these veggies! Zucchini and carrots are good in everything! And I used to love eggplant parmesan so that one sounds great too! Never would’ve considered bell pepper, but I bet the flavor is amazing in there! Chunky tomato sauce is always the best 🙂
Jenn S. says
Thanks, Natalie! I’m not sure I would do a green bell pepper ’cause it’s a pretty strong flavor, but the red, orange, yellow are all mild enough they just blend right in!
Sina says
As always, this looks super delicious, Jenn! Pasta is one of my favorites and I love that you’re using eggplants! 🙂 Can’t wait to try your recipe!
Jenn S. says
Thanks, Sina! You are so sweet! We eat so much pasta around here…gotta switch up the sauces to make it interesting! The eggplants in my garden are growing like crazy!!