Vegetarian Bolognese Sauce
on Jul 13, 2024
This Vegetarian Bolognese Recipe is so delicious you won’t even miss the meat! It’s full of veggies and oh so flavorful. Serve over your favorite pasta for a tasty veggie packed dinner!
As a vegetarian (and just a carb lover in general), pasta is one of my favorite meals. This vegetarian bolognese recipe was created as a way to both enjoy my pasta and sneak in some extra veggies at the same time!
It’s a great way to get lots of veggies, pasta, and protein for a well rounded meal.
This vegetarian bolognese recipe is a great meatless substitute for “meat sauce.” It is super satisfying, packed full of good for you ingredients, and tastes amazing!
Best sauce ever and I am not a vegetarian…at all. I don’t even like veggies…but this recipe is ahhhmaaazing! It’s the best sauce I’ve ever made. I’m eating it straight from the pot, who needs pasta!
-Reader Liz
Find the full recipe & instructions at the bottom of this post.
Ingredients you’ll need
- baby bella and golden oak shitake mushrooms: these really give the bolognese that “meaty” taste
- celery
- carrots
- garlic
- onion: you can use yellow or white onion for this recipe
- diced fire roasted tomatoes: the depth of flavor from fire roasted tomatoes is so important to this recipe, don’t skip this!
- dried basil and oregano: or you can use italian seasoning
- sugar: just a touch to offset the acidity of the tomatoes
- nutritional yeast
How to make vegetarian bolognese sauce
Step 1: Add the baby bella and shitake mushrooms to a food processor and either pulse or shred them.
Process the mushrooms up until they are in minced like texture like the picture below.
Step 2: Transfer the mushrooms to a skillet, and add the celery, carrots, garlic, and onion to the food processor. Mit all up in the food processor until it is in tiny pieces like the mushrooms.
Once it’s all processed it will look like this picture below.
Step 3: It’s time to let the veggies sweat and cook the liquid out.
Cook the minced mushroom, garlic, onion, carrots, and celery with the salt and pepper in a large skillet for around 25 – 30 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables have reduced in volume.
Step 4: Next, puree the fire roasted tomatoes in the food processor until smooth. The fire roasted tomatoes add a great depth of flavor, and the spices help round it all out.
The flavor is key to nailing the perfect vegetarian bolognese sauce! I have had a few people tell me that they cannot find fire roasted tomatoes.
I buy mine in the same aisle as the other canned tomatoes. If you are unable to find them, just substitute regular canned diced tomatoes, and adjust the spice amounts as necessary.
Step 5: Add the tomatoes, basil, oregano, nutritional yeast, and sugar to the vegetables. Stir until hot and it is ready to serve!
The texture of the vegetable bolognese is so meaty. I was genuinely surprised that it felt to me that I was eating meat sauce!
Made this today and LOVED it, thank you so much, it’s such a great idea! I make normal bolognese all the time and even my kids didn’t notice anything different about it.
Top with fresh chopped parsley if you want for more added flavor. I like to do this for that little extra garnish and flavor.
I totally love this recipe! It’s so delicious and my 2 years old picky eater devoured it. Yay happy mom over here
Serving
If you’re vegetarian and not vegan (like me), parmesan cheese is a great topping for this recipe. Freshly grated is best!
Otherwise, this bolognese sauce is vegan as written. You could also top with vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast to keep it dairy free.
It’s honestly so delicious and so filling. You won’t miss the meat at all! For more yummy inspiration, be sure to read our 25 best vegetarian recipes.
This recipe makes a huge batch of sauce so it is great to feed a lot of people!
More Vegetarian Favorites
Vegetarian Bolognese Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms, rinsed and patted dry
- 5 oz golden oak shitake mushrooms, rinsed and patted dry
- 3 celery stalks, ends cut off and cut into 3 pieces each
- 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 3 sections each
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium onion, quartered
- 4 14.5 oz each cans of diced fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- Spaghetti, for serving
Instructions
- Add the baby bella and shitake mushrooms to a food processor and either pulse or shred, until minced
- Transfer the mushrooms to a large skillet or dutch oven
- Add the celery chunks, carrot chunks, garlic cloves, and onion pieces to the food processor and pulse/shred
- Add the celery/carrot/garlic/onion mixture to the mushrooms in the pan
- Add 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper to the vegetables
- Turn the burner on medium high heat and sautee vegetables for 25-30 minutes, stirring often, until vegetables cook down and most of the liquid evaporates
- Puree the diced fire roasted tomatoes in the food processor until smooth
- Add the pureed tomatoes to the vegetables along with the basil, oregano, nutritional yeast, and sugar
- Taste and add any seasonings if necessary (if it tastes too acidic, add a little more sugar as necessary)
- Heat the bolognese sauce until hot throughout, then serve
- Serve over spaghetti or pasta of choice and top with parmesan cheese, if desired
Can you freeze this at all?
I haven’t tried it so I am not sure how it would do thawing
Best sauce ever and I am not a vegetarian…at all. I don’t even like veggies…but this recipe is ahhhmaaazing! It’s the best sauce I’ve ever made. I’m eating it straight from the pot, who needs pasta!
I love this! So glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Is the nutritional yeast used in place of milk that usually goes in Bolognese sauce?
This was so good! I didn’t even miss the ground beef.
This recipe is amazing! I’m planning to make it again next week. Thank you so much!
I’m going more and more plant-based this fall and love the effects. I’ve been craving a good Bolognese like it’s nobody’s business. So I’m ready to give this a try. What size food processor are you using? I don’t currently own one so I have no concept of size. However Black Friday sales are beckoning, and I know I can get a lot of use out of it. Any tips? I generally cook for four.
It depends on what you’ll be using it for, but a 6-8+ cup might be the best choice in your case!