How to Make Healthy Pasta Sauces

Spaghetti with sauce

Many pasta sauces are anything but healthy, however with a few simple changes, most can become good for you and your heart. Simple substitutions and the addition of hidden vegetables will take a traditional pasta sauce and transform it into something healthy and tasty for your family. With a bit of ingenuity, even the simplest of sauces can become healthy and satisfying.

Things You'll Need

• Olive oil
• Paper towels
• Box grater
• Shredded vegetables
• Soft, silken tofu

Instructions

1. Use only olive oil to sauté onions and garlic for any pasta sauce you are making. Olive oil is healthier than most cooking oils on the market today.

2. Drain the fat from ground beef. This will reduce the amount of fat in the sauce. Drain the beef on paper towels, then return to the pot, and add the remainder of the ingredients.

3. Shred vegetables such as summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini using a box grader. Add up to a cup of shredded vegetables to the sauce at the beginning of the cooking time. This will add nutrition and will have cooked down enough that they will be undetectable when serving the sauce.

4. Use light cream whenever possible when making cream pasta sauces. You can also substitute blended tofu for cream in many recipes. This will add nutrition and still maintain the consistency of cream sauces.

5. Skip the heavy sauce altogether. Drizzle the pasta with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs such as oregano, rosemary, thyme, tarragon or a combination of Italian herbs.

Tips & Warnings

• Pasta sauce is the perfect place to hide veggies of any kind. Use a blender to puree the vegetables and add the veggies to the sauce.

• Yogurt or tofu can be substituted for ricotta in recipes like lasagna.

• Substitute ground turkey in sauce recipes calling for ground hamburger. Read the labels though, many ground turkey products contain just as much fat as hamburger. For best results, grind turkey breast yourself for an outstanding substitute meat.

References

• Sacramento State College: Healthy Cooking and Baking Substitutions (PDF)
• North Dakota State University: Harvesting Herbs for Healthy Eating
• Stanford University: Five Quick Pasta Sauces