4 Healthy Sauce Recipes

Adding sauces to your meals is a great way to add in color, enhance flavor, and pack in nutrients. Newcomers to a diet of whole foods often think that healthy food must be flavor-deprived, but that is not the case if you know how to add the right spices and flavor to a dish! An easy way to do that is making sauces. 

Lots of sauces you find at the store contain unhealthy ingredients like inflammatory oils, artificial additives, and high amounts of added sugar.

Here are four sauces we love that are super easy to make and pack in healthy fats, fiber and are low in sugar. 

We tested it out, and you can make all four of these sauces in just over an hour. So pick a day to make them and stock up your refrigerator with these sauces to enhance any recipe throughout the week! 

The Recipes 

Zingy Ginger Dressing

This is so delicious on salads, grain bowls, meat, seafood… pretty much anything! 

Makes 1 ½ cups

Prep Time: 10 minutes

From Melissa Joulwan/Well Fed Cookbook 

Ingredients: (all organic) 

• ½ cup light tasting olive oil
• ¼ cup rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tamari 
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• ¼ medium yellow onion, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 inch piece fresh ginger, grated (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 medium clove garlic, peeled and smashed
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Steps: 

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to reach desired consistency.
2. Allow the flavors to meld about 10 minutes before eating. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Tahini Dressing

We love this on salads, grain bowls and veggies prepared any way - raw, steamed, roasted and grilled!

Makes 1 cup  

Prep Time: 10 minutes

From Melissa Joulwan/Well Fed Cookbook 

 

Ingredients: (all organic) 

• ½ cup tahini
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
• About 4-5 tablespoons of juice from a lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Steps: 

1. Blend together until smooth. 

Detox Pesto

Our favorite ways to use this one are over seafood and meats, in pasta, and on sandwiches and eggs! 

 

Yield: 10 

Prep Time: 15 minutes

From Germaine Benoit/Nourished + Empowered

 

Ingredients: (all organic) 

• ½ bunch fresh cilantro, washed with ends chopped off
• ½ bunch fresh parsley, washed with ends chopped off
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• ⅓ cup pine nuts, toasted
• ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

Steps:

1. Place all ingredients into a blender except the salt and blend until it reaches a nice thick consistency
2. Add salt to taste

No-Tomato Red Sauce

Serve this no-tomato red sauce over pasta, polenta, or pizza. You can use it as the base for Bolognese Sauce as a way to pack in the veggies!

Makes 2 cups

Prep and Cook Time: 40 minutes

From Casa De Luz Cookbook 

Ingredients (all organic) 

• 1 medium onion
• 1 small beet
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 clove garlic
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs (thyme, basil, oregano, or rosemary)
• 1 cup of filtered water
• 1 tablespoon of barley or sweet white miso
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon of ume vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

Steps: 

1. Coarsely chop onions, beets, carrots, celery, and garlic
2. Crush herbs to bring out flavor
3. Place vegetables and herbs in pressure cooker with water and a pinch of sea salt
4. Bring to pressure
5. Cook for 20 minutes (or put in a pot on the stove covered for 25 minutes)
6. Remove heat and let pressure come down
7. Place cooked vegetables and cooking water in blender and puree to sauce consistency (make sure the vegetables are cooled if you are using a plastic blender)
8. Flavor with miso (white for sweet flavor, barley for more body), lemon juice, syrup, ume, and apple cider vinegar

A Few More Tips 

We hope you like trying these nutritious sauces and make a colorful plate this week! Here are few more tips from us:

• Remember to safely wash your produce (you can do this with Branch Basics!) 
• Find more nutrient dense snacks through the Branch Basics guide.
• To get started with Branch Basics products and to learn more about all natural, human safe cleaning products, start here.
• Check out the Branch Basics Premium Starter Kit to clean your home without harsh chemicals, or try the Trial Kit to test it out.
• For more healthy living and nontoxic cleaning tips, be sure to “Like” us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, “Like” our Pinterest page, and follow us on Twitter!