Vegan Lentil Bolognese

Hey friends,

Today I’m finally sharing a recipe I have been perfecting for maybe a year or so. And am finally ready to share the result with you: It is the recipe of this delicious Vegan Lentil Bolognese. This is one of my favorite comfort foods! In my opinion this is the best vegan bolognese recipe out there! So authentic! It uses 4 different kinds of herbs and red wine to imitate the traditional bolognese taste!

In addition to that all ingredients are natural and unprocessed, you could maybe even say it is a paleo vegan lentil bolognese recipe. No meat substitute, no tofu, no soy, no instant vegetable stock. Just using red lentils to create a very authentic meat taste and texture.

For the lentils I highly suggest making sure to thoroughly wash and soak your lentils. Not only does it cut down the cooking time by a lot, but also gets rid of the substances in lentils that can make you bloated.

In my opinion the longer you cook the sauce, the better the taste. Of course you have to make sure there is still enough liquid in the pot. I like to let it simmer for about 20-30min.

Also as a tip: If you don’t  use celery as much in your everyday cooking like me, I suggest pre-cutting your celery and freezing the rest. This way you won’t have to worry it going bad and can use the celery slowly as you need.

So let’s get on to my legendary bolognese recipe 🙂

serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 150g dried red lentils
• 1 large carrot
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves or garlic
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 150ml dry red wine
• 400g canned diced tomatoes
• 300ml water
• 1 tsp salt
• pepper
• 80ml plant based milk
• 500g spaghetti pasta

Instructions

1. Wash and then soak the red lentils in a bowl of water.
2. Cut the onion, carrot and celery into small fine cubes. (0.25-0.5cm) Mince the garlic.
3. Heat a large pot on medium high heat and add a generous amount of olive oil. Add the onion and the garlic fry until the onion becomes translucent. Then add the carrot and the celery. Fry for a minute or two before adding the dried herbs. Let the herbs become fragrant in the pot for a few minutes before de-glazing with the red wine.
4. Let the wine reduce to about half. Add the canned tomatoes, water and drained lentils. Season with the salt. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pot with a lid. Let The sauce simmer for about 20-30min.
5. When the lentils are cooked, add the milk for creaminess and season with pepper. Now the bolognese sauce is ready.
6. Cook the pasta according to package instructions and when done, toss with the sauce to combine. Serve with some fresh basil and/or nutritional yeast for some cheesiness.

Enjoy!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. This may be one of my favorite recipes I’ve shared. I’d love it, if you give it a like if you do and share it with a fellow pasta lover.

Love,

Silvia