Bolognese is traditionally an Italian meat based sauce, customarily used to dress tagliatelle al ragù or to prepare lasagne. Personally, I grew up preparing bolognese to toss my spaghetti noodles in! Nothing fancy, just a delicious and quick meal.
This bolognese is plant based, hearty and incredibly FILLING. The use of vegetables and lentils replace meat and makes this dish so flavourful and nutrient dense! Chunky carrots, celery, mushrooms and onions give a meaty texture to the sauce and I promise you won’t miss the traditional meat based sauce at all! If you are looking to eat more vegetables (or a way to hide them in meals so that your kids will eat it) and want a hearty and nourishing meal tonight, this bolognese is for you!
recipe notes:
- use sugar or molasses instead of honey to make this dish vegan
- The trick is to quickly blitz them in your blender or food processor. This combines and unites the ingredients and flavours, and also saves you prep time so you don’t have to cut the ingredients super small! I bold this in the recipe instructions, but it is important to note that you should not blend the ingredients to the point that they are pureed. You want them to be slightly chunky so that it resembles a meaty texture. (Reference photo below to see how the texture should be after processing)
Plant Based Veggie & Lentil Bolognese
- April 27, 2020
- 2 1/2 L
- 45 min
- Print this
Ingredients
- 1/4 C olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, small diced
- 2 celery ribs, small dice
- 1 carrot, small diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 C mushrooms, small diced
- 1 tsp thyme, dried
- 2 tsp marjoram
- 1/4 tsp chili flakes
- 2 tbsp basil, fresh, chopped
- 1 can tomato paste (156ml)
- 1 can diced or crushed tomatoes (796ml)
- 1 can lentils (540ml), drained and rinsed
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- pepper to taste
- optional garnishes:
- chopped parsley
- parmesan
- basil
Directions
- Step 1
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery. carrot mushrooms and garlic. Sweat vegetables for about 10 minutes, then add thyme, marjoram, chili flakes and basil. Stir spices into vegetables and cook for 5 minutes.
- Step 2
- Remove vegetables from stock pot and quickly blitz in a food processor. DO NOT PUREE. Only pulse the food processor or blender until the vegetables are very small and chunky (reference photo in description to see how it should look after blitzing). Transfer vegetables back into the same pot and add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, honey, salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and allow ingredients to cook together for 10-15 minutes.
- Step 3
- After 15 minutes, add lentils and stir into the sauce. Cook for 5 more minutes, then adjust seasoning if desired before serving over fresh pasta or use this sauce to prepare a delicious plant based lasagne!
