One of my favorite things about summer is all of the colorful vegetables. I pack my plate with as many vegetables as I can this time of year because I know that six months from now they won’t be nearly as delicious or inexpensive. Simmering a medley of vegetables in a simple jar of pasta sauce makes a really quick, filling, and inexpensive meal that you can spoon over a bowl of polenta, a plate of pasta, or even a hearty piece of toast. Simple and delicious!
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
What Vegetables to Use
Whenever I make a recipe with multiple vegetables, I always try to make sure to get a variety of colors. So today I used eggplant (dark/purple), zucchini (green), red bell pepper (red), and yellow onion (white). But here are some other vegetables that would also work well in this recipe:
- Carrots
- Yellow squash
- Green bell pepper
- Spinach or kale
- Mushrooms
- Asparagus
Red Sauce Options
To keep this recipe extra simple, I just used a jar of store-bought pasta sauce, but just about any red pasta sauce will work here. If you prefer to make your own instead of buying pre-made sauce, you can try my quick weeknight pasta sauce, or a deeper slow cooker pasta sauce.
What to Serve with Vegetables in Red Sauce
I whipped up a quick Parmesan polenta to serve as the base for these vegetables and sauce, but they would be equally good over pasta, mashed potatoes, or even a sturdy piece of toast.
Summer Vegetables in Red Sauce
Servings 6 1 cup vegetables eachIngredients
Vegetables in Red Sauce
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 eggplant ($1.49)
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp pepper ($0.03)
- 1 red bell pepper ($1.50)
- 1 zucchini ($1.47)
- 1 24oz. jar pasta sauce ($1.50)
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional garnish) ($0.10)
Parmesan Cornmeal (optional)
- 5 cups water ($0.00)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal ($0.40)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.22)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan ($0.36)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and olive oil to a large pot. Sauté over medium heat until the onions have softened.
- While the onion and garlic are cooking, dice the eggplant into ½-inch pieces. Add the eggplant to the pot with the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper, and continue to sauté over medium heat.
- Dice the red bell pepper. Once the eggplant has softened, add the diced bell pepper to the pot and continue to sauté.
- Slice the zucchini into ¼-inch thick quarter-rounds, then add them to the pot. Continue to sauté just a couple minutes more, or until the zucchini just begin to soften.
- Add the red sauce and 1/4 cup water to the pot and stir to combine. Let the vegetables simmer in the sauce for 5-10 minutes, or until they reach your desired level of tenderness.
- While the vegetables are simmering, bring a separate pot of water to a boil.
- Once boiling, stir in the salt, then pour in the cornmeal while whisking. Continue to cook and whisk until the cornmeal thickens (this should happen quickly).
- Once the cornmeal has thickened, stir in the butter until melted, then add the grated Parmesan. Stir to combine, then taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
- To serve, spoon ⅔ cup cornmeal into a bowl then top with one cup of the vegetables and red sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
How to Make Summer Vegetables in Red Sauce – Step by Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion and mince four cloves of garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a large pot along with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté over medium heat until the onions have softened.
While the onion and garlic are cooking, dice an eggplant into ½-inch pieces. Add them to the pot with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, and continue to sauté until the eggplant have softened.
Dice one red bell pepper, add it to the pot, and continue to sauté.
Slice one zucchini into 1/4-inch thick quarter-rounds. Add the zucchini to the pot and sauté just until the zucchini begins to soften.
Add one 24oz. jar (3 cups) red sauce and 1/4 cup water to the pot and stir to combine.
Let the vegetables simmer in the red sauce for about 10 more minutes. Taste and season with salt to taste.
If you’d like to serve the vegetables over polenta, bring 5 cups of water up to a boil. Once boiling, stir in one teaspoon salt, then add one cup of cornmeal while whisking. Continue to cook and whisk until it thickens (this only takes a minute or two).
Stir two tablespoons of butter into the thickened cornmeal.
Finally, Stir in ¼ cup grated Parmesan. Taste the cornmeal and adjust the seasonings to your liking.
Add about ⅔ cup of the cornmeal to a bowl and top with 1 cup of the vegetables in red sauce. Top with a little more Parmesan and some chopped fresh parsley. Enjoy!
Delicious! This is a great recipe to use fresh veg picked from my garden. Love that it is an easy recipe as well! The only alteration I made was that I used dairy-free butter and dairy-free mozzarella since my daughter is allergic to dairy. It turned out great!
Vegetables came out super tasty, but not sure if I used the right corn meal. I bought regular corn meal and one cup to 5 cups of water did not work. I had to dump in extra cornmeal to get it the right consistency and boil for about 15 minutes. It came out very bland even with extra butter and parmesan. Want to make this again though, will just try to half the amount of water and use chicken stock for more flavor.