Creamy Dairy-Free Tomato Sauce

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Who got a new kitchen gadget for the holidays? Or, just for fun recently? While I’m excited about the new Instant Pot I received for Christmas and all the delicious recipes to come, my favorite kitchen tool for the past couple of years has been my immersion blender, especially when it comes to making creamy recipes like this dairy-free tomato sauce.


I use this in a variety of recipes for several reasons:

1. It’s safer than transferring hot liquid/food to a standing blender.
2. It can be used with hot liquid batch recipes like soups or for single serve cold recipes like smoothies.
3. Dairy-free recipes can be made creamy with a variety of ingredients.
4. It doesn’t take up much space.
5. Clean-up is faster than with any other kitchen tool.

Dairy-Free Sauces, Soups & More!

Before I started to get more creative, my go-to dairy free creamy recipe was the cashew tomato pasta sauce I’m sharing in this post. Since then, my immersion blender has helped me use not only cashews, but also white beans to give recipes the creamy texture many desire without the dairy.

And, sometimes, using the immersion blender is not about the omission of dairy, but just getting a delicious texture in a soup, chili, or homemade tomato sauce {like this butternut squash and leek soup , red lentil and red pepper chili, or this easy homemade tomato marinara sauce}

Health Benefits of Dairy-Free Tomato Sauce

Now, whether you need to be dairy-free or not doesn’t really matter – variety is not only the spice of life, but is also important to ensure you’re getting a variety of nutrients into your body. The mono-unsaturated fats in nuts like cashews and the fiber you get from white beans are things many Americans are lacking in their regular eating patterns.

While some people like to ignore GI responses to dairy, especially from creams that are used in many of the recipes I reference (lactose intolerance affects up to 2/3 of people!), when it comes to fitness nutrition, most people want to avoid any unpleasant symptoms. Maybe you’ll enjoy a good ole’ classic fettuccine alfredo here and there, but it’s likely something you’d avoid on a regular basis if you know it will impact your workout routine or tomorrow’s race. Plus, the healthy fats here can help balance the body’s inflammation when you eat more of them on a regular basis.

And, as many of you know, while I can’t have dairy, I have a cheese lover in the house who confirms the deliciousness of any recipes before they’re shared on this blog! On the regular, we enjoy sauces like this with bean pastas from brands like Explore, Tolerant and Banza, since they boost protein, fiber and satiety, but sometimes it’s great just to have the traditional version, too.

What’s your favorite kitchen gadget? Share in the comments so that I can cater recipes to you in the future 🙂
Interested in what other cool kitchen gadgets are out there, or have some sitting in the cabinet because you don’t know what to do with them? Click on the Recipe Redux link at the bottom of this post to see what my fellow-bloggers love to make with their favorite kitchen tools!

Creamy Dairy-Free Tomato Sauce

With help from cashews, this creamy dairy-free tomato sauce offers the textures and flavors you crave, plus a dose of healthy mono-unsaturated fats.

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Ingredients

  

• Easy Homemade Marinara recipe, or your favorite 20-24 ounce jar of tomato sauce
• 1 cup cashews
• 1.5 cups water

Instructions

 

• Ahead of time, soak cashews in the water for a minimum of 2 hours, by dumping them in a small bowl and filling with water just to cover. An overnight soak is best – the longer you soak, the less time you’ll spend blending and the more creamy the sauce will be.
• Add your sauce to a medium sized pot over low-medium heat. After about 3-5 minutes, stir in the drained cashews and cook an additional 3-5 minutes.
• Submerge the bottom of your immersion blender into the sauce and pulse on low for roughly 10-15 seconds. Increase speed to medium and blend an additional 30-60 seconds, until you reach a creamy consistency to your liking.
• Serve with your favorite pasta, vegetable and protein, or a bean based pasta to cross both the pasta and protein off the list at once.

Keyword dairy-free tomato sauce, vegan creamy tomato sauce

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