Five Non-Pasta Recipes To Use Leftover Jarred Tomato Sauce (5 ingredients or less)

*Setting the scene* You open a jar of tomato sauce for your spaghetti. You use half of it and put it back in the fridge. You know you have it and need to use it, but you’re not in the mood for pasta until a couple weeks later. By that time, it’s gone bad. This is the 3rd time that this has happened in the past 3 months. You think to yourself that you can’t be this wasteful and it won’t happen again but here you are. Personally, this happens more times than I’d like to admit so I’ve developed five recipes to use the rest of that half jar of tomato sauce when I’m just not feeling like eating pasta. Or perhaps you can use these if you love tomato sauce and are looking for a low carb recipe. All are five ingredients or less**

** the tomato sauce, oil, salt and pepper don’t count towards that five.

All these recipes are for about half a jar of sauce but scale up or down depending on what you have

1. Cabbage rolls

Upgrading this recipe from what I was fed as a child took some doing. I didn’t like cabbage rolls as a child, (mostly because my mom boiled the meat and never really seasoned the meat). I found that the keys to making it taste a better were not boiling the meat (probably should’ve never been done to begin with) and using dried onion soup mix.

Ingredients

• Half Jar Pasta sauce (~12-14oz)
• 3/4 pound ground beef
• 1 packet (2oz) dried onion soup mix (I use Lipton brand but there are others)
• 8 cabbage leaves
• Water for steaming
  

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚
2. Lightly steam the cabbage leaves so that they are more bendable without breaking.
3. Mix the onion soup mix thoroughly into the ground beef.
4. Form the ground beef into eight balls.
5. Wrap the cabbage leaves around the balls and place in a large oven safe casserole dish, seam side down.
6. Pour the pasta sauce over the rolls and bake for about 15 minutes at 350 F or until the hamburger is done.

Tips

• Some people prefer 80/20 ground beef, but I find that 93/7 works fine and is much healthier
• If you are using home grown cabbage for the first time, you may find the mustard oil in it rather strong. However, cooking reduces the amount of the oil greatly. It may be necessary to steam really fresh cabbage a bit longer than store bought.

2. Eggplant Parmesan

To be honest there are much better eggplant parmesan recipes out there, but we’re all about fast and easy so here’s ours. We also share a hack to make sure the eggplant is crunchy and not soggy when you eat it.

Ingredients

• Half jar of pasta sauce (~12-14oz)
• 6 slices of eggplant (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (normally I’d advise against thing but this article is all about short cuts)
• 1/3 pound of mozzarella cheese (definitely add more cheese though if that’s your thing)
• 1 cup neutral oil (corn, vegetable, canola, peanut)
• Parmesan (optional for our recipe)

Instructions

1. Beat the eggs
2. Dip the eggplant into egg then, the flour, then breadcrumbs, Repeat dipping the eggplant in the flour and breadcrumbs until the slice is covered
3. Do this for all slices
4. Heat oil to 350 F
5. Deep fry the eggplant slices until golden brown
6. (This is a big secret of ours, most people put the eggplant after it’s been fried in the oven with tomato sauce but this makes the breading soggy) While the eggplants are cooking, pour the tomato sauce in an oven baking dish on top followed by the cheese
7. Put this an oven until the cheese melts (about 400F for 10-15mins)
8. When the eggplant slices are done and you’re ready to eat. Just scoop the tomato and cheese combination on top the eggplant.

Tips

• Sometimes if I already have zucchini in my fridge I’ll just use that instead of eggplants. Not a perfect substitution but a substitution nonetheless.

3. Tomato Rice

I’m not even sure what to compare this recipe to. It’s kind of a mix of some Italian, Mexican and Indian rice dishes. It’s just a dish that I like to use when I have left over rice I need to use. It fills me up, it’s quick, and fulfills all the food groups. This recipe can be halved or doubled as needed and the seasonings changed so that flavors are different as desired. For additional veggie power, other vegetables can be added. Leftovers make great lunches.

Ingredients

• Half jar of pasta sauce (~12-14oz)
• Half pound grass fed 80/20 ground beef
• One small onion, diced
• Four cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• Two cups prepared rice, brown rice preferred ( I also just like to use leftover rice)
• Two tablespoons of olive oil
• Seasonings to taste, I like to add a bit of red chili flakes

Instructions

1. Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil until garlic is fragrant.
2. Add the ground beef and cook until done.
3. Drain some of the pan so that there is less fat in the finished dish.
4. Add all other ingredients, except the tomato sauce
5. Slowly add the tomato sauce until it looks something like the picture below. But really it’s up to you depending on how tomato-y you want the rice to taste

Tips

• This is very much a “freestyle” recipe. It’s originally just a dish I made up when I was hungry, wanted something quick and needed to use leftover rice and tomato sauce. there really is no wrong way to make this recipe

4. Chicken parmesan sliders

Some people might be frowning down upon this recipe that we’re just using frozen chicken patties. But hey we’re all about quick, fast meals that taste good. It can be made with frozen chicken nuggets If that’s all you have.

Ingredients

• About 6 chicken patties (can be subbed with chicken nuggets or tender if needed
• 1 pack of twelve rolls, Hawaiian being recommended
• 12 slices of cheese, mozzarella and provolone are recommended
• Half jar of pasta sauce (~12-14oz)
• Seasonings to taste, fresh minced basil being recommended
• Olive oil spray oil

Instructions

Cut patties in half. Pan fry the patties, bake it or fry it. Whatever method of cooking the patties are most convenient for you
While the chicken is cooking, cut the unseparated rolls in half horizontally.
Place one half of the buns on a lightly oiled 13 x 19 baking dish.
Pre heat the oven at 400 F
When the chicken patties are done, place each half patty on top the bottom buns, spoon about 2tbs of pasta sauce on each patty followed by a slice of cheese, and then the top portion of the buns
Put in the preheated oven at 400 F for about 5-10 mins (just until the cheese melts)

Tips

Look for patties or nuggets that use whole pieces of chicken rather than the ground up stuff.

5. Poor Man’s Shakshuka

This is a simple dish that s best served with a warm pita but can really be used for anything. By no means is this an authentic shakshuka recipe. To be honest there are much better shakshuka recipes, but these is the one I make with limited ingredients.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 jar of pasta sauce, zesty being recommended
• Half of one large onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic or a teaspoon of minced jarred garlic
• 1/2 tsp each of paprika, cumin & red pepper flakes (adjust seasonings as needed
• 2 tomatoes chopped (or just a about half of a can of chopped tomatoes)
• Olive oil

Instructions

1. Sauté the onion and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil until fragrant.
2. Add the pasta sauce and the seasonings and bring to a simmer. Taste the sauce and adjust to your liking.
3. Crack the eggs one at a time and drop them into the skillet so they can poach in the sauce.