It's a fresh year and we're substituting fresh ingredients for pantry favorites. Harvest fresh herbs and tomatoes from your Rise Garden and you'll have homemade pasta sauce full of flavor in as little as 35 minutes. It's great on pasta noodles or vegetable noodles. According to the USDA, fresh herbs can contain significantly higher concentrations of antioxidants and volatile aromatic compounds compared to their dried counterparts, and hydroponically grown produce can contain up to 50% more vitamins than store-bought equivalents — making your garden-fresh ingredients a genuine nutritional upgrade.
Zoodles with a Homemade Pasta Sauce
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 35 mins
Serves: 4p
Ingredients
Pasta Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup grated yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups cherry tomatoes
- ½ tsp fresh oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade (a cutting technique — thin ribbon-like strips made by stacking, rolling, and slicing fresh leaves)
Zoodles
- 4 small zucchinis, spiralized
- 1/4 tsp salt
Directions
- Step One: Spiralize four zucchinis. Let the spirals sit on paper towels with salt sprinkled over it to draw out some moisture. Set aside.
- Step Two: In a saucepan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute for about 5 minutes until translucent and soft. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
- Step Three: Add the remaining sauce ingredients minus the basil. Reduce heat, cover and let it simmer on medium high heat for 20 minutes. Stirring occasionally to help break up the tomatoes. The sauce is done when it has only a few chunks of tomatoes. Remove bay leaf. Taste and add additional salt and pepper, if desired.
- Step Four: Remove from the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend the sauce a bit to smooth it out. Add in the chopped basil.
- Step Five: Add the zucchini to a bowl and top with sauce, grate some fresh parmesan and serve!
Frequently Asked Questions
What herbs from a Rise Garden are best in homemade pasta sauce?
Fresh basil is the quintessential pasta sauce herb, but a Rise Garden gives you access to a wider range of flavor-building herbs including oregano, thyme, rosemary, and Italian parsley that all significantly elevate a homemade tomato sauce. Fresh herbs added in the last few minutes of cooking rather than at the beginning preserve their bright flavor and color beautifully. Having these herbs growing on your counter means you can add them to any sauce on a whim, without a special grocery trip.
How do fresh herbs change the flavor of pasta sauce compared to dried?
Fresh herbs contain volatile aromatic compounds that are largely destroyed by the drying process, meaning fresh and dried herbs deliver genuinely different flavor profiles. Fresh basil in a pasta sauce adds a bright, sweet, slightly peppery freshness that dried basil simply cannot replicate. As a general rule, use three times the amount of fresh herbs compared to dried when substituting in a recipe, as fresh herbs are more delicate in flavor intensity but far superior in aroma and complexity.
Can you grow tomatoes in a Rise Garden for pasta sauce?
Yes — cherry tomato varieties like Tiny Tim and Red Robin are compact enough to grow successfully in the Rise Gardens system, and their intensely sweet, concentrated flavor makes them outstanding for homemade sauces. Indoor basil typically reaches harvest maturity in 21–28 days, and cherry tomatoes grown hydroponically are similarly fast to produce, meaning your sauce ingredients are never far away. A few handfuls of freshly harvested Rise Garden cherry tomatoes — started easily from seed pods — combined with garden-fresh basil, garlic, and olive oil is all you need for one of the most delicious pasta sauces you will ever taste. For larger batches, supplement your homegrown tomatoes with high-quality canned San Marzanos.
What is the easiest homemade pasta sauce for beginners?
A simple aglio e olio pasta sauce is one of the easiest to make and showcases fresh herbs beautifully: saute sliced garlic in generous olive oil, add red pepper flakes, toss with pasta and a splash of pasta water, then finish with a generous handful of freshly chopped parsley and basil from your Rise Garden. Fresh tomato sauce requires only quality tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, and time, all enhanced dramatically by using just-harvested garden herbs. Both sauces come together in under 20 minutes and taste exponentially better with fresh homegrown herbs. Research from Cornell University's Controlled Environment Agriculture program notes that hydroponic systems use up to 95% less water than traditional soil gardening, making your indoor herb and tomato garden an efficient and sustainable choice year-round.
