Quick and easy vegetable spaghetti that tastes so good, you won’t even realize it’s loaded with nutritious veggies. This vegetarian pasta recipe has over 1 ½ pounds of vegetables. This spaghetti is so good, we could eat it every day.
Watch the Video
My favorite thing about this vegetarian pasta sauce is that it’s made 100% from scratch, so you know every ingredient that goes into the pan.
Our veggie spaghetti recipe is wonderfully adaptable, so you can use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge. I like to think of this recipe as a great way to use up any veggie scraps left in the produce drawer. We also love this Easy Vegetable Lasagna!
If you are looking for a low-carb pasta recipe, try our Garlic Zucchini Noodles. We swap pasta with noodles made from zucchini. See how we do it using a spiralizer or if you don’t have one, see our tips for using a mandoline or vegetable peeler.
What You Need to Make Vegetable Spaghetti
Let’s go through the ingredients really quickly:
- Pasta — Any shape of pasta will do and you can swap in your favorite gluten-free or whole grain pasta if you’d like to. I used spaghetti in our photos and video.
- Vegetables — The type of veggies are up to you, but we love zucchini, yellow squash, jarred roasted red peppers, leafy greens, peas, corn, and cabbage. Options are endless, here.
- Onion, garlic, and tomato paste — These provide a base flavor for the simple sauce.
- Canned whole tomatoes — You can use diced or crushed tomatoes, but we love the texture of whole tomatoes for this recipe. Just after adding them to the pot, we crush them a little with a spoon so they fall apart into a chunky sauce. You can also use blanched, peeled fresh tomatoes — tips for peeling fresh tomatoes are found in our Homemade Red Pasta Sauce Recipe.
- Herbs and spices — When we have it in the kitchen, we add fresh basil. Other herbs work, too (parsley and mint add a different flavor, but are excellent). Dried herbs like oregano, crushed red pepper flakes also make the sauce delicious.
- Mushroom powder — Okay, now this one is optional, but for the best, most flavorful vegetarian pasta, we highly recommend using mushroom powder. It adds a rich umami flavor to the sauce and is our secret weapon when making meatless recipes. We’ve used it before in our recipes (see: Gravy Recipe, Easy Mushroom Pasta, Spaghetti and Meat Sauce). You can make it yourself (here are the instructions) or buy it. Trader Joe’s has even started to sell their own version. We have provided a few alternatives in the notes section below.
Making this pasta loaded with vegetables is simple, better yet, it’s fast!
How to Make Veggie Spaghetti
Here are the basic steps you’ll need to follow (the full recipe is below):
- Soften chopped onions in olive oil over medium heat.
- Stir in garlic, spices, and tomato paste.
- Throw in your vegetables and cook until tender.
- Add canned whole tomatoes and break them up a bit with a spoon. You want the sauce to be chunky.
- Season and then simmer the sauce until it’s reduced slightly — somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes.
- While the sauce simmers, cook your pasta.
- Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve.
I love serving the spaghetti with a generous amount of parmesan cheese, but if you are vegan, try sprinkling a bit of nutritional yeast on top instead.
More Veggie Packed Recipes
If you love this easy vegetable pasta recipe, you should take a look at some of our other vegetable heavy recipes:
- These Veggie Lasagna Rollups are delicious.
- Our Meatless Baked Pasta will please vegetarians and meat lovers alike.
- With only 15 minutes of hands-on time, our Easy Baked Ziti with spinach, artichokes, and a creamy pesto layer is perfect for busy nights.
- We love veggies around here and set out to create the best vegetable packed veggie burger! These delicious Veggie Burgers are high in fiber (5 grams) and come in at just over 200 calories for one patty.
- Another healthy dinner recipe, these Easy Roasted Veggie Tacos are packed full of spice-roasted vegetables and black beans for a bit of protein.
- We love this creamy, and flavorful Coconut Ginger Vegetable Curry.
You can also find more of our popular pasta recipes here!
Easy Veggie Spaghetti
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Quick and easy vegetable spaghetti with lots of veggies and a simple tomato sauce made completely from scratch. For vegan spaghetti, skip the cheese and serve with a little nutritional yeast scattered on top. The sauce can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
12 ounces spaghetti or pasta of choice
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup (140 grams) chopped onion
2 medium zucchini, chopped (1/2 pound)
2 medium yellow squash, chopped (1/2 pound)
3 garlic cloves, minced (1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
One (12-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 heaping cup)
2 to 3 teaspoons mushroom powder, optional, see notes
5 cups (1/2 pound) spinach leaves
Handful fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast for serving
Directions
- Make Sauce
1Heat olive oil in a wide skillet with sides over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until translucent; 3 to 5 minutes.
2Add zucchini, yellow squash, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and a generous pinch of salt then cook, stirring occasionally until softened but still with some crunch; 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook another minute. (When making this sauce, we usually end up using between 1 and 1 1/2 teaspoons of fine sea salt.)
3Add the roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and mushroom powder. Bring to a low simmer and cook until the liquid has thickened and reduced by half; about 10 minutes. As the sauce cooks, use a spoon to break up the whole tomatoes into smaller pieces for a chunky sauce.
- Cook Pasta
1While the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil then cook pasta according to package directions.
- To Finish
1Take the sauce off of the heat, and then stir in the spinach and basil. Taste then adjust with additional salt if needed. Toss in the cooked pasta, and then leave for a minute so that the pasta absorbs some of the sauce and the spinach wilts. Toss again, and then serve with parmesan or nutritional yeast sprinkled on top.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Mushroom Powder: You can buy it online or make it yourself–here’s our mushroom powder recipe!
- Alternatives to mushroom powder: Mushroom powder adds a rich umami flavor to the sauce. If you do not have any and the pasta sauce seems like it needs a little extra “something, something,” try a dash of soy sauce. If you are open to it, fish sauce is also an excellent flavor enhancer. You can also chop mushrooms and add them to the pan along with the onions.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
I’m going to try this recipe right now and I can’t wait to try it!! I going to make a pineapple coleslaw and Texas 5 cheese garlic bread to go with it!! yummy! I don’t have mushroom powder so I’m going to use soy sauce but I will be going to trader Joe’s to get some soon because they have the best and ONLY sweet and spicy jalapenos!! to die for!! thanks for recipe!! I can’t wait to take a pic and hashtag it for you all!!
That’s so exciting! I’m also so happy you plan to try out mushroom powder soon. So tasty!
5 STARS. Delicious and easy. Have made several times and highly recommend!
Amazing!! It’s always wonderful to hear when recipes become go-to dishes. Thanks for your support!
Another winner. I wasn’t happy with my previous veggie spaghetti recipe and wanted to try something new. Well, my previous recipe is now in the bin. This was absolutely delicious and will now be my go-to spaghetti dinner.
Stuck to the recipe pretty closely but used more squash since the ones I bought were large. Used 1 ½ jars of peppers since I increased the squash. Doubled the red pepper flakes & garlic because I like spicy and it was just the perfect amount for me. Skipped the mushroom power since nobody carries it in the smaller town I live in. But still was wonderful. I think buy some mushrooms just dehydrate them myself since I have a convection oven which should do the job I think.
This was delicious. Just a perfect combo of fresh veggies and flavors. Won’t change anything next time I make this
Wonderful! Thanks for coming back and sharing.
This was so fresh, delicious and satisfying. Will definitely be making again and again
That’s what we love to hear, Karla!
I’ve made this recipe many times. It continues to get better each time I make it. Sweet potatoes is an awesome addition.
This is truly an easy and delicious dish. I have made it many times and it always tastes great. My husband, who is reluctantly eating plant based, also loves this dish.
Hi Cindy, Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review. We are so happy that your family loves the recipe 🙂