Recipe inspiration can come from anywhere.
I like to think this excuses my aimless wandering in Whole Foods.
This particular meandering trip paid off! It resulted in a copycat Pumpkin Tomato Sauce recipe that’s a lot less expensive and *almost* as easy as the jarred version at Whole Paycheck.
What had happened was… I wandered down the tomato sauce aisle and a bright orange jar caught my eye. It was pumpkin tomato sauce! I immediately put it in my cart… then remembered to look at the price. For $9.99 I could certainly make it myself, and I had nearly all of the ingredients at home.
I took a quick picture of the back of the label and scurried off to execute.
Normally I’m too lazy to actually follow through with a sauce idea. For some reason using a saucepan seems like a lot of effort. It’s really not.
You could use any winter squash for this one. A sweet potato would even work. I happened to have half a kabocha (Asia’s “pumpkin”) pre-roasted in my fridge so that’s what I used. Don’t skip the carrot or the cinnamon – they sound strange, but they’re fantastic adds to any tomato sauce. The carrot adds a bit of sweetness to balance the acid in tomatoes, and the cinnamon adds just a bit of hmmmmm…
It’s just the right amount of sweet and savory for a entree, and I love the kick at the end from the cayenne. The squash makes the sauce smooth and velvety, like a rich cream sauce.
I am enjoying this pumpkin-tomato creation on everything. To take these lovely iPhone shots, I poured it over zucchini noodles and roasted swordfish, and then I did it again over soy bean noodles and pan-seared scallops from Sizzlefish.
[Tweet “Copycat Whole Foods Pumpkin Tomato Sauce #recipe – you must try this at home!”]
Pumpkin Tomato Sauce
- 1 shallot, minced (~1/3 C)
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (14.5 oz) fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1/3 C unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1.5 C pumpkin, roasted and cubed (or 1 C pumpkin puree)
- 1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/4 C fresh sage, chopped
- 1/4 C fresh basil, chopped
- 1/4-1/2 C water, as needed to thin sauce
Heat large saucepan and lightly coat with oil. Add shallot and carrots; sauté until it becomes tender and translucent. Add tomatoes, garlic, black pepper, and cinnamon to pan; bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for 7-8 mins to reduce liquid and allow flavors to combine.
Transfer to blender or food processor. Add remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust spices and liquid as needed.
Makes 3.5 cups.
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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One day closer to achieving that orange glow.
Do you pre-roast squashes and/or sweet potatoes for meal prep? Such a time-saver!
What would you put this sauce on?
That looks delicious and I don’t even really like pumpkin but I”m totally intrigued by this. I can imagine that it adds a whole other layer of flavor to a regular tomato sauce.
Thanks! It’s definitely a good balance – and a fun departure from “regular” pasta sauce.
I cannot wait to see how well you whore out the pumpkin this season.
Pumpkin cereal. Do it. I always pre prep squash- got no time to waste doing it daily/hourly. wait, what.
Sauces and blondies. Pumpkin does bring out the slut in me.
So normally I’m not a huge savory pumpkin gal, BUT this looks amazing! I’ve been obsessed with tomatoes lately (which is awesome because I used to hate them) so I may just have to try this out!
Thanks! I really liked how different it was!
Yes!!! That would be perfect on everything! 😉
That’s genius! Take that $9.99 bottle of sauce!
YUM! I love using pumpkin in savory dishes! This sounds great!
Confession: I don’t get the pumpkin hype. $9.99 for a jar of sauce is crazy!
But this is different pumpkin!
mmm PUMPKIN! I wonder if I could do it with no tomato… dang food sensitivities….
You could! Or red pepper would be delish!
oh my gosh.. need this with my scallops! you are so genius! Love you bro!
I’m with Lindsay in the scallops. I’m in love with this sauce!
Thanks ladies!!! All the things with scallops. 🙂
Now that it’s October I’m totally into pumpkin recipes and this is by far the most original and interesting one I’ve seen so far, yum!
Thank you so much! And thank you, Whole Paycheck. 😉
Looks pretty tasty to me. I like making sauces – I guess I’m a saucy girl 😉 I have actually taken a pumpkin soup and used it as a sauce similar to this rather than thin it out for leftover soup again (it always seems to get super thick).
I preroast squash, but I need to get better at preroasting sweet potatoes – I always end up just tossing them in the microwave when I want one, which isn’t nearly as satisfying.
This looks ways better than a 10 dollar bottle of sauce!
How delicious does that sauce sound?!?! SUPER DELICIOUS!! 🙂 Who needs a $9.99 bottle of sauce when you can make your own? Happy Friday!
If I don’t pre-roast I get so impatient I usually take the undercooked squash out early and attempt to eat it in a furious protest, sometimes using the microwave to finish the job… So yep, I definitely try to roast ahead when I’m not hangry/squash deprived!
MMMMM…. I had pumpkin ravioli once topped with tomato sauce and it was odd but totally worked. This sauce would be great over gnnochi maybe. I always roast my sweet potatoes for the week in advance and it saves so much time!
Totally! I think they did something pumpkin-like on the gnocchi in La Tavola once, come to think of it…
Pumpkin tomato sauce sounds awesome!!
Glad to know I’m not the only one who takes pictures of ingredient lists at the grocery. I went grocery shopping with a friend this week and my phone was dead, so I made him take the picture for me lol
p.s. this sounds amazing; pinning!
Hahaha – was he like “what is WRONG with you?” Or did he demand the resulting recipe? 😉
I’m not the only one who forgets to look at the price?
Good save this time, sister. Looks so good? I’d probably end up eating it like soup. (0:
Straight out of the pan.
You totally could eat it as soup! And it funny… I normally forget to look, but I happened to run into my sister at the grocery store and she commented on the cost because she’s a broke student. LOL!
I almost bought that sauce on a trip to Whole Foods recently! I’ll have to give your version a shot. Very nice!
Thanks!! Let me know if you do!
This sounds so tasty! I feel like it would be tasty on its own, on chicken or on rice.
Totally! Or with quinoa!
That squash prep is one of the few things I do ahead of time now – saves so much time. And this sauce looks FANTASTIC. Might be one of my favorite recipes you have posted – I love these flavors. [And I actually remembered to link up!]
Wow… thanks Heather! That’s high praise. 🙂
What the heck, 9.99 for a glas of sauce?? I wouldn’t have bought it either, but I think I wouldn’t have recreated the sauce myself – too lazy. This sounds really nice though! I can imagine the smooth, creamy texture from the pumpkin!!
I had to go home and do it immediately before I lost the motivation! 🙂
This is definitely a unique and interesting twist to regular tomato sauce. 😛 It looks delish and I’m impressed you had the energy to mimic it at home, lol – I would’ve paid the ten bucks because laziness wins with me erry’time. Have a great weekend Laura! -Iva
Thanks! I’m kind of surprised I did it… but I was feeling particularly creative that day. 🙂
This is actually a pumpkin recipe I would try. I know, shocking but true, even if you did use another type of squash to create it.
I accidently bought an $8.50 beer yesterday. Oops; it was closer to forty ounces, but still….damn.
In Asia they call kabocha pumpkin! 😛
Share some of that beer over here…
oooo good find and recreation! totally making this next week.
Thank you! Let me know what you think! 🙂
I currently have three pumpkins sitting in my kitchen just waiting to be used. I think some pumpkin tomato sauce is in order soon!!
Thanks Allie! Let me know if you try it – it would be delish with cornbread!
OMG! I did this at the grocery the other day. Picked up the sauce, put it in my cart, looked at the price, put it back on the shelf and said “I can try making my own at home for that price!”. So I scurried off and looked online for some suggestions for how to make this intriguing sauce, and stumbled upon your post…which read much like my own experience! I am going to try this soon…thanks for working out the details for me 🙂
I’m so glad you stopped by and commented – thank you! I’d love to hear what you think if you try this!