Instant Pot Nomato Sauce (AIP/ Paleo)

I love a lot of things – garden fresh veggies, quick & easy recipes, a good batch cooking session, pasta, a freezer stocked with AIP staples… I have to say, my newest recipe checks all of those boxes.

To be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of beets on their own despite having amazing nutrient value, so I’ve had to get creative with sneaking them into my diet. We recently had a surplus of beets and carrots from the family garden, so I thought it was time to experiment with some sauce making.

Beets are a rich source of iron, folate, vitamin C, manganese and potassium. Eating beets can also be great for supporting liver and gallbladder health.

This marinara sauce is completely nightshade-free but I swear you wouldn’t even know it. We were all standing over the pot eating this sauce with a spoon exclaiming how much it tasted like the real deal! The bone broth gives it richness and depth of flavor while the balsamic vinegar gives it that quintessential tang. Not to mention, this recipe is packed with veggies and fresh herbs and makes A TON! Seriously, this recipe makes 13 cups of sauce in under an hour. If that’s not a batch cooking win I don’t know what is.

This sauce is great with AIP-compliant pasta or as a classic pizza topping. 

Instant Pot Nomato Sauce (AIP/ Paleo)

Makes 13 cups

Ingredients:

2 TBS olive oil
7 cups beets, peeled and roughly chopped
6 cups carrots, peeled and sliced
4 cups celery, chopped
2 onions, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups fresh basil, loosely packed
1 cup fresh parsley, loosely packed
2 TBS fresh oregano
2 cups bone broth
1 cup water
½ cup balsamic vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
5 tsp salt
2 tsp dried oregano
1 ½ tsp black pepper (omit for elimination-phase AIP)

Directions:

Turn the Instant Pot to “saute” and heat the olive oil. Once hot, add the onions, carrots, and celery and saute until they’ve started to soften, about 5-10 minutes. Next add in the beets, garlic, fresh herbs, salt, dried oregano, and pepper and stir to fully coat. Turn off the “saute” function and pour in the  bone broth, water, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. Toss everything one more time to combine, lock the lid, and turn the vent to “sealing”. Press the “manual” function and set the time to 30 minutes.

You can either allow the pressure to release naturally or you can release manually by turning the vent to “venting” and wait until the metal circle goes down. Blend the sauce really well with an immersion blender or in batches in a high powered blender. Serve it up with some AIP-compliant pasta, skillet meal, or AIP pizza!