This 3 Ingredient pasta sauce is all you need for lazy, healthy, comfort food nights. For recipes like this one, I became in love with the simplicity of Italian food.
When you plan to eat your way through Italy you can't leave Appetizers like Eggplant Parmesan, Italian Eggplant Stew, and Eggplant Involtinis behind! There are so many eggplant widely known dishes, but these are the must-haves.
It's all about the right ingredients in Italy. Less is more, the Italian mantra for pasta sauces and preparations—a couple of them in the blog, such as the Lemony Spaghetti and the famous Pasta Alla Puttanesca.
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🧾 Ingredients
This 3-ingredient pasta sauce will not make you stroll the supermarket corridors. It can't be simpler. And it is one of my favorite WFPB 3-ingredient pasta recipes.
- Eggplants
- Garlic
- Olive oil
See quantities and complete instructions in the recipe card.
🔪 Instructions
Get nice and firm Eggplants. The Eggplant is the Queen of the Recipe. Get the best ones!
Your three ingredients for this excellent spaghetti sauce are eggplant (Aubergine), garlic, and tomato sauce.
The 3 ingredient pasta sauce: an easy pasta sauce from scratch
- Cut the eggplant into medium-sized dice.
- Put the eggplant cubes into the skillet and the grated garlic on medium-low heat and let it roast a little.
- Sautée the eggplant cubes until they are all roughly roasted and soft.
- Add the tomato sauce.
- While it cooks, boil your pasta using the pack’s directions.
- Turn the fire off, add the olive oil and basil leaves if you choose to add them, and adjust the salt and pepper.
You might add some olive oil and/or basil leaves, which I recommend but is unnecessary. This one is truly the tastiest pasta sauce we have had, with only three ingredients. How?
💡Top tips
- Be patient - let the sauce cook on low heat.
- Pick either the best organic tomatoes or a good quality organic Passata.
You can top it with our Homemade Vegan Parmesan.
If you are looking for an easy spaghetti recipe, you have come to the right place! We crowned this recipe as the best homemade spaghetti sauce! Both for their simplicity and flavor!
Although we are using rigati pasta here, it works perfectly with spaghetti or any other dry or fresh pasta.
If you feel like trying a very simple eggplant traditional Italian appetizer, check the Melanzane in Potacchio recipe! It is DE-LI-CIOUS, and you just need 4 ingredients!
🥡 Storage
Storing the sauce is easy and works for many other recipes. It is easy to thaw and add to a bowl of boiled pasta.
Simply put it on medium-low in a saucepan for 10 mins.
In the fridge, you can also ley in thaw for a couple of hours.
🤔 The sauce idea
Strolling Rome's Streets and Learning from Roman Chefs
We came to make this three-ingredient pasta sauce as we were strolling Rome's streets on the last day before the Holiday's lockdown. Our final walk and the last restaurant supper before closing everything down until the day after Epiphany.
We needed to decide whether to walk as much as possible or enjoy the last of the restaurant's open days. So, of course, we did both and arrived at a Trattoria recommended by a local Roman friend.
How do we come into this three-ingredient tomato sauce?
Our Chef in Da Tonino - Trattoria Bassetti, suggested the best spaghetti sauce: Pasta Alla Melanzane (Eggplant Sauce Pasta). We both love eggplants, so it was a yes, but we were curious about what they would do to make a simple Italian tomato sauce memorable.
I asked, and he just answered, believe me, it's going to be good, it's our signature dish, and we have been making it for years. So that was it for us!
And right he was—what a great dish! I took a picture and committed to re-creating it for you guys and, of course, to add it to my lazy dinner repertoire.
Remember: the key is on the ingredients, ensuring you either have an excellent passata or blend your tomatoes and have a beautiful bright eggplant.
If you feel like sprinkling some extra Parmesan, you should take a look at our 5 minutes Homemade Vegan Parmesan Cheese.
📖 Variations
In Italy, this same sauce is called Pasta alla Norma when adding about 9 oz of ricotta cheese. If you want to go for a Vegan Norma Sauce, we recommend adding a serving of our 5-minute Vegan Ricotta Cheese recipe, see the creamy eggplant with tomato ricotta.
Use it with your favorite pasta.
Read on: how to make your own fresh vegan pasta dough and homemade noodles!
accompany it than a slightly rich and mellow red wine.
🍷 Wine pairing
- Italy - Red - Lacryma Christi (Campania)
- Spain - Red - Grenache (Sierra de Gredos)
- United States - Red - Pinot Noir (Santa Barbara)
🍝 More Easy Pasta Recipes
- Cacio e Pepe Spaghetti (with Wine Pairing Suggestions)
- Lemony Spaghetti (with Wine Pairing Suggestions)
- 5 minute Vegan Pesto
If you fancy more Italian Inspiration, have a check at our
In love with Eggplants? 9 Vegan Eggplant Recipes
- No-fry Eggplant Parmesan (Parmigiana di Melanzane)
- Vegan Eggplant Involtini (with Wine Pairing suggestions)
- Mom's Pickled Eggplants
- Catalonian Escalivada (with Wine Pairing Suggestions)
⭐ If you try this recipe, let us know! 💬 Leave a comment, rate it, and don't forget to tag us @ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!
📋 Recipe
3 Ingredients Pasta Sauce (Vegan Pasta alla Norma)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant large and diced (medium dices)
- 24 ounces tomato puree no additives such as Italian passata, or 3 lbs of ripe tomatoes blended
- 2 cloves garlic grated or minced
- 1 tablespoon salt
- black pepper to taste
Optional:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin, organic (skip if you are on a low-fat diet or WFPB diet)
- 10 basil fresh leaves are highly recommended
- 1 lb pasta short, (like a Bran Rigati)
Directions
- Cut the eggplant into medium-sized dices.
- Pour the eggplant cubes into the skillet along with the grated garlic on medium-low heat and allow it to roast a little, get some golden colors without fully burning it. Garlic won't burn much, the eggplant has a lot of water, just keep stirring. Optionally you can add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Sauté the eggplant cubes until they are all roughly roasted and soft. It should take about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce and lower the heat to medium-low, or low if it splatters too much. Put a lid on it and stir it every 5 minutes.
- Put the salted water to boil your pasta.
- Let the sauce cook for about 20 minutes. If your stove has a weak fire it might take 30 minutes. The idea is to reduce a third of the liquid and end up with a thick sauce with prominent chunks of eggplant.
- While it cooks, boil your pasta using the pack’s directions.
- Turn the fire off, add the olive oil and basil leaves if you chose to add them, and adjust the salt and pepper.
- Drain your pasta and mix with some of the sauce and reserve some sauce to pour it on top.
Notes
You can freeze it in portions and have the portions ready to defrost in minutes for quick pasta meals.
You can add it to other preparations just like Grilled Tofu and have a full protein meal. If you like Parmesan Cheese, try to sprinkle with our 5 mins Vegan Parmesan "Cheese" Wine Pairing by our Sommelier Ramón Barreiro @pejo_barreiro
- Italy - Red - Lacryma Christi (Campania)
- Spain - Red - Grenache (Sierra de Gredos)
- United States - Red - Pinot Noir (Santa Barbara)
Nutrition Facts
🌡️ Food safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking points to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.
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Cara says
Love everything about this dish, but especially that it's only three ingredients! Thank you!
Joaco says
Thank you so much for your review Cara! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the simplicity of this dish. It's my favorite part about it too, how easy it is to put together and enjoy.
Kathryn says
We make this sauce all the time especially since it's so easy! The eggplant in this recipe is delicious. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Gus says
Thanks for your review, Kathryn! this eggplant sauce is also a favorite in the house!