Vegetarian Bolognese Sauce

4.60 from 106 votes

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!

bowl of spaghetti topped with vegetarian bolognese sauce
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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
wooden spoon in a pot of vegetarian bolognese sauce

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
ingredients needed to make vegetarian bolognese sauce

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.

wooden spoon in a pot of vegetarian bolognese sauce

I totally love this recipe! It’s so delicious and my 2 years old picky eater devoured it. Yay happy mom over here

wooden spoon adding bolognese sauce to a bowl of spaghetti noodles

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.

bowl of spaghetti topped with vegetarian bolognese sauce and parmesan cheese

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.

fork taking a bite of spaghetti with vegetarian bolognese

This recipe makes a huge batch of sauce so it is great to feed a lot of people!

bowl of spaghetti topped with vegetarian bolognese sauce and parmesan cheese
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bowl of spaghetti topped with vegetarian bolognese sauce
4.60 from 106 votes

Vegetarian Bolognese Sauce

This vegetable bolognese sauce recipe is made with mushrooms, carrots, celery, garlic, and onion. A delicious meatless vegetarian "meat" sauce recipe.
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 50 minutes
Servings: 8 servings

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
  • 1/4 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 1/2 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

Video

Notes

Please note that the recipe nutritional information is for the sauce only, and does not include the pasta. The serving size is for 1/8th of the recipe

Nutrition

Serving: 1g, Calories: 49kcal, Carbohydrates: 10g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 0.3g, Saturated Fat: 0.05g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g, Sodium: 29mg, Potassium: 377mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 5122IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 37mg, Iron: 1mg
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47 Comments

  1. The perfect veggie bolognese. I often find with vegetarian meals that something feels like it is missing, but this one lacks nothing!! It is so satisfying and easy. Definitely a staple in my rotation.

  2. Oh my God! Such an easy and tasty recipe!!!
    One of these recipes that remind you why you are so happy to be a vegetarian!
    Thank you so much!!

  3. Thatโ€™s THE veggi dinner. We put A lot of parmesan cheese on top. So yummy. Thank you for sharing this recipe. My family loved it.

  4. Could I do this without the nutritional yeast? I’m not a vegan and not sure how I feel about it. Should I substitute Parmesan or additional seasoning instead? It seems it’s really just for flavor right? This seems pretty flavorful as is! Thanks!

    1. I have not tried it without nutritional yeast. You could use powdered parmesan I think, although the flavor will not be the same. Hope you enjoy the recipe!

  5. 5 stars
    Made this for dinner. It didnโ€™t smell great, initially. However, it was so much better than expected. This is going into regular rotation.

  6. Can you use a NutriBullet in place of a food processor? I think it would work for the mushrooms, but unsure about other ingredients. This looks amazing and I would love to try it!

    1. Hi Stephanie,

      I am not sure this would work, as the nutribullet may try to blend it to liquid which isn’t what we want here. I hope you are able to try the recipe!

  7. 4 stars
    Really tasty, best vegetarian bolognaise sauce i have tasted! Thank you! I did free style a bit and added some extra veg, like peppers and courgette as i would have with a beef bolognaise and it was great.