This easy green tomato sauce for pasta is a surprisingly delicious green tomato recipe perfect for the end of the season.
This green tomato sauce for pasta is a great green tomato recipe to have in your repertoire if you happen to grow tomatoes in your garden.
There were only three tomato plants in my garden this year, yet at the end of the season, I was able to pick more green tomatoes off the plants than I did ripe ones all summer... So, I could almost say I am growing tomatoes for the green tomatoes ready to be picked in autumn.
But it is not that bad, actually, green tomatoes are incredibly good. You can buy ripe tomatoes at any given time, but as you cannot buy green ones better to enjoy those you have as much as possible. And if you have even more green tomatoes than I did this year, how about canning green tomatoes whole or some green tomato salsa? Or grill green tomatoes! You could also try Green Tomato Soup or Green Tomato Bread.
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What do you need to make this sauce?
Green tomatoes:
- Of any size you happen to have, I had a mixture of regular large and tiny and some cherry tomatoes.
- If a few in between are slightly red, you can use those as well.
- I used everything I was able to pick for this recipe, almost 1 kg/ 2.2 lbs.
- This makes enough sauce for two generous portions (each serving 4 people), so I only served about half of it with pasta and freeze the rest.
Other ingredients:
- lots of garlic
- basil
- olive oil
- Parmesan
- vegetable stock
- sugar
- milk
- red chili flakes
How to make green tomato sauce?
- Wash and roughly chop the tomatoes.
- Blend in a food processor; not too fine, and they should not become puree. If you have a lot of tomatoes, process them in several batches.
- Chop the garlic and cook it gently in the olive oil for only about 30 seconds. Stir continuously; the garlic should not become dark. (1)
- Add the green tomatoes and a little vegetable stock. Water and some vegetable stock paste or powder are fine.
- Add sugar, salt, red chili flakes, and the roughly chopped or torn basil leaves. Stir well.
- Add milk; it will make the sauce less acidic and milder. (2)
- Simmer on low heat, covered, for about 20-25 minutes, stirring often.
- I find that the green tomato sauce tends to set on the bottom of the pan much quicker than regular tomato sauce, so make sure that you are stirring every few minutes or so.
- If the sauce becomes too thick during the cooking time, add a splash of more water or milk. (3)
- Finish the sauce by stirring in the grated Parmesan, grated garlic, olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, and red chili flakes to taste. (4)
How to serve?
Serve with pasta, spaghetti, or any other pasta shapes. Reserve about ⅓ of the pasta's cooking water to thin the sauce, if necessary.
The sauce can be served immediately, or it can be reheated.
How to keep?
The green tomato sauce for pasta keeps well in the fridge for about 2 days.
If you have a lot of green tomatoes and make a large batch, freeze the sauce in air-tight containers, it will keep for at least 3 months.
More pasta with garden vegetables
Recipe
Green Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 450 g/ 1 lb green tomatoes Note 1
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 50 ml/ 1.7 fl.oz/ ¼ cup vegetable broth Note 2
- 50 ml/ 1.7 fl.oz/ ¼ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes more to taste
- good pinch of fine sea salt and ground black pepper
- 5 basil leaves
- To finish the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon Parmesan
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- red chili flakes to taste
- 2-3 basil leaves
- fine sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 450 g/ 1 lb spaghetti
Instructions
- Clean the green tomatoes, chop them roughly and place them in a food processor. Blend roughly, it should not become a puree. If you are making more sauce, blend the tomatoes in batches.
- Chop the garlic. Heat the oil in a large nonstick saucepan. Add the garlic and stir continuously for 30 seconds, it should not darken.
- Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth, milk, sugar, chili, torn basil leaves, salt, and pepper. Stir well. Stir and simmer on low heat, covered, for 20-25 minutes until the tomatoes are soft. Stir often, as the sauce tends to stick at the bottom of the pan. Add a splash of extra water or milk if it thickens too much.
- Finish the sauce by adding the grated Parmesan, grated garlic clove, olive oil, chili flakes, basil, salt, and pepper.
- Cook the pasta according to the packet's instructions. Drain and reserve about ⅓ cup of the cooking water.
- Add about ¼ – ⅓ cup of the reserved pasta cooking water to the sauce if it is too thick. Mix with pasta and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you have more green tomatoes you can scale the recipe and freeze the leftover sauce. I've made a double batch with all the tomatoes I had in the garden.
- Made from a stock cube is absolutely fine.
Lisa says
This sauce was delicious, thank you! I sauteed 1/2 a vidalia onion with the garlic to start, used chicken bone broth instead of veggie (it's what I had), and added some Italian seasoning. I made homemade linguini, and added some sauteed shrimp at the end. My husband said this is his new favorite pasta dish.
Adina says
I am so happy to hear it, Lisa. Thank you for the feedback and the rating.
Helena A says
My 14 year old son said it was the best pasta sauce he’s ever had. Traditional red sauce is not his favorite, so this recipe is definitely getting added to our dinner repertoire. The rest of the family enjoyed it as well.
Adina says
Hi Helena. Thank you for the feedback and the rating. I am so happy your son enjoyed the recipe so much.
Roo says
I just made a similar recipe and liked it but it had so much oil. I was thinking about next time using broth to cook the tomatoes. Found your recipe and will try this version next. Thanks for sharing.
Debbie McCann says
Thank you. This is a delicious sauce. I’m so glad there is a way to use the last of the tomatoes.
Adina says
Thank you, Debbie. It's great being able to use everything, I have way too many green tomatoes each fall, it would be a shame to throw them away.
mjskitchen says
Well this is a wonderful idea. I have a big bag of green tomatoes in the a paper sack in the pantry. Many of them still haven't started turning so it would be fun to give this sauce a try. Thanks for sharing Adina!