Vegan Bolognese Sauce

Coming from an Italian family, I've always been a huge lover of Italian food and pasta has been a staple in our household for as long as I can remember. 

Knowing the importance of eating lots of veggies with each meal, pasta is no exception. This version of bolognese is meat free and packs in a great variety of veggies to help you meet your daily vegetable quota. 

Something I love about this sauce is it’s versatility;  most of the ingredients can be swapped for others, or left out altogether. Another ingredient I love to add in is peas, or even handful of chopped kale. Not to mention delicious herbs like basil or parsley. Theres really no rules with this one, you can be as creative as you like.

Vegan Bolognese Sauce

Serves 4

Vegan | Gluten Free

Ingredients

• 1 large carrot

• 1 medium zucchini

• 2 mushrooms

• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 clove of garlic, diced

• 1 small brown onion, diced

• 1 can of diced tomatoes

• 1 can of lentils, drained and rinsed

• Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Method

1. Start by adding the carrot, zucchini and mushrooms to your food processor and pulsing until they are small pieces.

2. In a medium saucepan, on low-medium heat, add the olive oil and onion and until the onion begins to go transparent.

3. Add the garlic and continue to sauté until both are golden.

4. Once golden, add in the diced tomatoes, lentils, carrot, zucchini and mushrooms. Add in some salt and pepper to flavour, then mix it all together well.

5. Leave the sauce to cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Remove from the heat and serve with your choice of pasta. 

When choosing a pasta, my advice would be to go with a buckwheat, brown rice pasta or legume pasta. There are a whole heap of gluten free, nutritious pastas on the market these days that I’d encourage you to try. However if you do want to go for a classic wheat pasta I recommend you go with the wholemeal version. 

In the photographed recipe, I’ve used pulse spaghetti and sprinkled over some nutritional yeast flakes for that vegan cheesy flavour.

This vegan bolognese sauce is one of my favourite go to meals and makes a regular appearance on my menu. I know it’ll become one of yours too… When you make it, be sure to take a photo and tag me on instagram @projectnourish. I can’t wait to see.