Quick and Easy Eggplant Marinara Sauce for Pasta, Rice, or Quinoa

This is no ordinary tasting marinara sauce. 

Cooked eggplant in a simple sauce brings it to a whole new level. Do you ever feel like you want to find more ways to use eggplant?

This thick and rich eggplant sauce is quick and easy to make and tastes hearty and delicious. Perfect over your favorite pasta (I use GF chickpea pasta), rice, quinoa or any kind of grain. Or I've even used it as a cold dip with chips!

 

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The recipe is so fast and easy to make, I hesitate to call it an actual recipe because I use every shortcut I can (jar of organic salsa instead of chopping onions, tomatoes, and peppers, a jar of organic marinara sauce instead of making my own)

 

I simply buy a large eggplant, peel it, and chop it into large bite-size pieces and set aside. I then add a 24 ounce jar of marinara sauce (I use 365 brand from Whole Foods Fat Free Marinara Sauce), 1 cup of any chunky mild salsa ( I use organic 365 brand from Whole Foods), 3 cups of water, and the chopped eggplant to a 3 quart sauce pan. After cooking for about 20 minutes, everything blends together and makes a thick delicious sauce.

This sauce is similar to an eggplant recipe that I posted in back in May of 2017. However, that sauce required a little more chopping. I call this new sauce my quick and easy version. 

I found that I was doing so much cooking during the lockdowns that I needed to find shortcuts. Now, I figure, why not continue to use the shortcuts.

Ingredients: 

1 large eggplant, peeled and cubed

1 cup of organic chunky salsa (I use 365 Brand)

1 25 ounce jar of marinara sauce ( I use 365 Brand Fat Free)

1 25 ounce jar of water 

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Directions: 

Add the salsa, marinara sauce water, garlic powder, and eggplant to a 4 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer or cook on medium until eggplant is soft, stirring to prevent burning. When eggplant cubes are soft, remove from heat and serve over pasta, quinoa, or rice.

My other eggplant recipes that you might enjoy

• Polenta and Eggplant 
• Homemade Baba Ganooj 
• Eggplant, Mushrooms, tomatoes, and Peppers
• Roasted Persian Eggplant Soup

Since 2020 all of my recipes are vegan (as opposed to vegetarian) and oil-free.  All of my recipes have always been gluten-free since the beginning of my blog in 2010. 

Notes: 

1. This recipe or my original recipe could be used for the Passover holiday. It would taste great over zucchini noodles or Quinoa! 

2. Mushrooms would taste good added to this sauce too. Imagine- eggplant and mushrooms ! Yum