Legit Nomato Sauce (AIP, Whole30)

Published:03/24/22Updated:03/24/22

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This AIP, vegan-friendly, and nightshade-free Legit Nomato Sauce look and tastes like real tomato sauce. It’s easy to make using the Instant Pot and perfect for making nightshade-free marinara, ketchup, and bbq sauce too!

jar with red tomato sauce made with nightshade free vegetables and topped with herbs

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1 Why This is THE BEST Nomato Sauce

2 Ingredients for Tomato Free Tomato Sauce

3 Step by Step Homemade Nomato Sauce

4 Tips, Tricks and Recommendations for AIP Nomato Sauce

5 Notamto FAQ’s

6 You May Also Like…

7 Legit Nomato Sauce (AIP, Whole30)

close up of a glass bottle mouth filled with thick red nomato sauce

Why This is THE BEST Nomato Sauce

The first is because of my secret ingredients which other recipes miss: fish sauce. Why fish sauce? UMAMI. Did you know? Tomatoes are one of the best plant-based sources of umami flavor. In fact, their sweet-yet-savory flavor comes from their high glutamic acid content. Fish sauce is also high in glutamic acid and umami flavor!

Color! A good AIP Nomato Sauce will look like the real deal in your recipes. With this nomato sauce recipe, I wanted the color to be PERFECT. The flavor is not too tangy, and with a tiny bit of sweetness to truly mimic what homemade tomato sauce would taste like. This AIP Nomato sauce comes together quickly and easily and is perfect to use in any recipe or even make AIP BBQ or AIP Ketchup!

a glass marinara bottle filled with aip nomato sauce on a white counter next to a window

Ingredients for Tomato Free Tomato Sauce

It might seem strange to find that there are no tomatoes in sight. However, for those with nightshade intolerances or allergies, a good nomato sauce is a kitchen staple. Here is what you will need to make this AIP tomato sauce.

a pink platter filled with ingredients for aip nomato sauce like beets, sweet potato, carrots and celery all labeled

Don’t freak out about that big beet. You’re doing to peel it, and trim the ends. The sauce does not taste like beet at all. This helps get a nice color, you need it.
Just a little sweet potato, this helps add a little sweetness without adding sugar or dates.
Carrots, celery and onoin because a mirpoix is the foundation of flavor for all things!
Fish sauce for salty umami which tomatoes have in spades.
Apple cider vinegar for tangy acidic flavor.
Copious amounts of garlic powder and Italian Herb seasoning for that Italian flavor!
Not pictured, a cup of bone broth (or water) as the base.

aip nomato ingredients all diced and measured on a big platter

Step by Step Homemade Nomato Sauce

This AIP marinara and tomato base sauce comes together very easily. Dice, saute, cook and blend. Here are simple steps to nightshade-free cooking bliss.

chopped veggies for nomato sauce in a pressure cooker being cooked and blended for AIP marinara

Dice all your veggies, and heat the olive oil then add in the onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Saute until tender. Mix in the seasoings.
Add in the apple cider vinegar to delgaze the pot. Add in the root veggies.
Mix well and pour in the fish sauce and bone broth.

pressure cooking vegetables with broth then blending to reveal perfectly red nomato sauce

Close the lid and pressure cook on medium for 8 minutes. Once done open the lid.
Carefully transfer all of the vegetables and liquid to a blender.
Puree until smooth.
Taste and add more salt, vinegar or fish sauce as needed or to taste. If you’re not AIP you can also add in some black pepper.

glass bottle of aip nomato sauce on white table

Tips, Tricks and Recommendations for AIP Nomato Sauce

What I love about this sauce is that it’s really easy and you can use it for many different recipes like chili, soups, pasta, and more.

Make it AIP BBQ Sauce: blend 1/2 cup Legit Nomato Sauce with 2 tablespoons honey, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, a tiny pinch of ground clove.
Make it AIP Pizza Sauce: blend 1 cup Legit Nomato Sauce with 2 teaspoons Italian herb seasoning, and 1/4 teaspoon ground oregnago, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Make it AIP Ketchup: reduce the broth or water by 1/4 cup, add 1 tablespoon honey or 1 date when blending and up the salt by 1/2 teaspoon or to taste.
Make it less sweet: Omit the sweet potato.
Make it more tangy: Add more lemon juice, up to 1/4 cup.
Never run out: Make a double batch and freeze it in ice cube trays! Just pop a cube or two in any recipe calling for tomato sauce.

a jar of aip notmato sauce with a spoon drizzling some in

Notamto FAQ’s

Can I omit the fish sauce?

Yes, but I would replace it with 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast.

Can I omit the beet?

I don’t recommend it if you make this sauce only with carrots and sweet potato it will be too sweet and too orange. Don’t worry, you CAN’T taste it.

Can I omit the vinegar?

Yes, and replace it with only lemon juice.