This roasted carrot pasta sauce gives us a fun, hearty dinner idea that combines affordable fresh produce and pantry staples. It's both adult and kid-friendly, and there are some hidden veggies in the carrot sauce too!
Much like my red pepper pasta, this recipe makes the most of some humble veggies and turns them into a delicious flavorful sauce! Roasting the carrots brings out their natural sweetness, which we make even more tasty with herbs and spice.
For more ideas, have a peek at my round-up of tomato free pasta sauce recipes!
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🥕 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Carrots - we roast the carrots so they are tender and have a little sweetness.
- Zucchini - for some variety and to make a hidden veggie pasta sauce without tomatoes! Slice and roast for lots of flavor.
- Mascarpone cheese - this gives us a creamy carrot pasta sauce, adds a little protein and helps thicken the sauce too.
- Vegetable stock - used to make the sauce, you may like to see my low histamine veggie stock recipe!
🔪 How to Make Carrot Pasta Sauce
It's very easy to make this pasta with carrot sauce as a cozy family dinner with simple ingredients you may already have to hand!
All the instructions are in the recipe card below, but these step by step photos should help guide you.
Step 1: Roast the vegetables
Add your diced carrots and zucchini to a lined baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle over the herbs and spice. Toss to coat the veggies and spread out in an even layer. Roast the carrots and zucchini until fork tender (image 1).
Step 2: Cook onion and garlic
Drizzle olive oil in your skillet or pan and cook the diced onion until softened. Add the minced garlic, and cook for a further minute or so (image 2).
Cook your pasta to package instructions, reserving half a cup of pasta water.
Step 3: Blend the pasta sauce
Spoon the roasted carrots and zucchini, and onion mix into your blender. Pour in the vegetable stock and add the mascarpone cheese. Season to taste. Blend the sauce until it is smooth. Adjust with more stock if too thick (image 3).
Step 4: Assemble the pasta
Tip your cooked pasta into the skillet, and pour in the carrot sauce. Stir together, adding spoonfuls of the reserved pasta water, as needed, to get the sauce consistency you like. Warm through, as required, and season to taste (image 4).
💭 Recipe Tips and Notes
- Dice the carrots and zucchini into rounds of a roughly similar size for an even cook time.
- Make sure the carrots are fork tender before blending, as that will give you a creamy sauce. Cook for a little longer, if needed.
- Don't forget to reserve the pasta water! The starch from it helps give us a smooth creamy sauce that coats the pasta.
📋 Frequently Asked Questions
You can use any type of pasta that works best for you, including regular pasta, spelt pasta or an alternative such as brown rice pasta.
We roast the carrots to bring out their sweetness, but this is a creamy savory sauce with a little fragrant hum of spice from the sweet paprika.
You can freeze this carrot pasta, but I do suggest to make fresh for a better flavor and texture.
🍝 More Pasta Recipes
It's a dinner option that's always on rotation in our home, so choose from lots of pasta recipes here including my vegetable gnocchi soup, and these recent ideas:
I'm always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And I love to hear from you, so please do leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐ and comment if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Carrot Pasta Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 medium carrots peeled, diced into rounds
- 1 medium zucchini diced into rounds
- 2 tablespoon olive oil divided
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
- 8 ounces pasta fusilli, penne or other
- ½ onion
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ cup mascarpone cheese
- ¾ cup vegetable stock
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper optional
Instructions
- Peel and dice the carrots into rounds, about ½ inch thick. Dice the zucchini into rounds, about ½ inch thick thick. Scatter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle on 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and sprinkle on the dried thyme, rosemary and sweet paprika. Toss to coat the veggies in the oil, herbs and spice. Roast at 390F / 200C for 25 minutes, or until the carrots are fork tender.
- While the carrots are in the oven, cook the pasta according to package instructions in salted water. Reserve half a cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta.
- Drizzle olive oil in your skillet and cook the diced onion for 4-5 minutes, then add in the garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant.
- Spoon the roasted carrots and zucchini into your blender, along with the cooked onion. Pour in the vegetable stock and spoon in the mascarpone cheese. Add a pinch of salt (and black pepper, if using). Blend until smooth.
- Pour the carrot sauce into the skillet, and tip in the pasta. On a low heat, stir the sauce to coat the pasta, adding the reserved pasta water in a tablespoon at a time until you have the sauce consistency you enjoy. Season again, if required, and heat until warmed through.
Notes
- Dice the carrots and zucchini into pieces of a similar size for an even cook time.
- Check the veggies are fork tender and give them a few more minutes, if needed.
- Nutritional information is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- pasta (wheat), scores 1 with a ? as a liberator. Alternative pastas such as brown rice pasta can be used, if tolerated.
- onion, which scores 1. White onion scores 0.
- garlic, which scores 1.
- stock isn't rated. I suggest to use a homemade vegetable stock using suitable ingredients, if better tolerated.
- black pepper, which scores 2. It is optional.
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