How to Make Oil-Free Vegan Tomato Sauce

This oil-free vegan tomato sauce is quick and easy to make and super tasty.

Since I started eating WFPB (whole foods plant based) and gave up cooking with olive oil, I’ve learned how to cook without oil but also with no loss in flavour. Or at least to my taste buds.

Because to be honest, it takes a little time to adjust to new habits and new flavours.

The taste is slightly different to an oil-based version, but not less tasty, just different.

And that difference is what I’ve come to love. It’s funny to think how much I loved olive oil, yet how quickly I’ve become hooked on a WFPBNO way of cooking.

This oil free tomato sauce can also be used for making vegan lasagne.

How to Transition to Oil-free Cooking

The first time I experimented with WFPBNO, it was for a month’s challenge. But even then, I didn’t really get it – the trick of frying without olive oil, that it.

I mean I’d spent 30 years of cooking based on the wonderful flavours of fried onion and garlic in extra virgin olive oil and that didn’t just vanish on the first trial.

Then, at the end of 2021, I decided to give it a go again.

And this time something really clicked. I found myself cooking just as before, using the ‘fried’ base but with no oil. I’d already fallen in love with oil free cooking in the air fryer, so this was just the next step.

And somehow it looked, smelt, felt so right. Almost as though I’d always cooked that way since first starting a vegan lifestyle.

Now my perspective on oil has changed. I still think a young and spicy extra virgin olive oil is a delicious thing to drizzle on toast (maybe) – but I don’t want it to form part of my daily intake.

I felt so at ease with this new way of cooking that I decided to write an easy guide to a whole foods plant based diet to share my experience. And prior to going oil free, a lot of my favourite sauces were already, naturally oil free.

If you’re just starting out, here are a few tips and lifestyle hacks for first going vegan. And if an oil-free kitchen appeals to you, the first step is to master the trick of frying with water.

Give it time and be patient. Play around with the flavours of oil free food and see what works for you. For example you won’t even notice the difference in some dishes, like this creamy mushroom pasta sauce for example.

In others, like roast potatoes for example, the difference is clear and it may be harder to make the switch.

Steps for How to Make this Oil-Free Vegan Tomato Sauce

This recipe is a simple one without too many ingredients.

As always, which ingredients you include really is a matter of personal choice depending on what you have to hand on the day.

Here is one possible group of ingredients for making this tomato sauce. Add whatever you like.

Ingredients for Making this Oil-Free Vegan Tomato Sauce

You’ll need a red onion cut into half moons (or half a leek), a few cloves of garlic, finely sliced, some tinned tomatoes, half a red pepper and a few sliced mushrooms.

Fresh parsley or fresh basil go well with this sauce.

You can also add a few sliced sun-dried tomatoes for an extra punchy tomato kick.

If you like chilli, feel free to add that too for a bit of spice.

Oh, and I like to add some cubed tofu for added protein. (Plus I’m a tofu freak – freaking love the stuff!)

Method for Cooking this Oil-Free Vegan Tomato Sauce.

Heat a dry non-stick wok or frying pan over a medium heat until the pan is hot.

Add the garlic and stir for a moment before adding the chopped onion or sliced leek and fresh parsley if using. Sprinkle with salt and stir fry.

You’ll see the onion becoming translucent and then brown. Allow to cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring regularly to stop it burning onto the bottom of the pan.

If it begins to stick too much, add the sliced mushrooms and sprinkle with salt as this will cause the mushrooms to release a bit of juice into the pan and help with the frying.

After about 5 minutes, when the onions are beginning to look ‘fried’ and have become translucent, add the sliced red pepper (and mushrooms if not already added). These juicy veggies help with the frying process.

Should I Add Water to the Pan?

If in doubt you can always add a tablespoon of water to the pan but keep this for using only when absolutely necessary.

When all the veggies have been dry-frying for about 10 minutes, then you can add a little water (1/2 a measuring cup) to the pan and let it steam-off.

Next, pour in a little gluten-free kecap manis (or Tamari) and fry for a couple of minutes more.

At this point, taste one of the pieces of onion to check the seasoning and also how well cooked it is. If it’s still too crunchy, cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat down to low for about 5 minutes.

Pour in 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and the sliced sun-dried tomato, and stir. Rinse out the tins with a little water and add to the pan.

Heat through until fully cooked, then turn off the heat and cover the sauce with a lid.

When you’re ready to re-heat the sauce, remove the lid and re-heat. It will have collected a bit too much liquid but you can reduce that while re-heating, to get back the proper sauce consistency.

How to Serve this Oil-Free Vegan Tomato Sauce

• Eat on top of gluten free toast or homemade lentil flatbreads with avocado for breakfast as one of many yummy vegan gluten free breakfast ideas

• Serve with gluten free pasta

• Use as the tomato sauce in a vegan gluten free lasagne

• Make a delicious eggplant parmesan style casserole

• Add extra spice, reduce the liquid, and serve on the side of your potato and carrot mash

• Use it to cook in a zucchini lasagne

Oil-free vegan tomato sauce on gluten free spaghetti.