Vegan Cauliflower & Mushroom Bolognese
This flavorful and filling vegan cauliflower and mushroom bolognese is an easy way to sneak in more veggies at dinner.
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EASY, ONE POT VEGAN RECIPES
If I have one mission for this website and my cooking/health coaching career, it is to give you recipes that are creative, healthy, delicious and EASY. I'm always looking at recipes from other sites and one thing I notice the most is the novel ingredient list that most recipes have.
This vegan cauliflower and mushroom bolognese is an effortless sauce that you can serve with zoodles, pasta, in lasagna or just on sliced baguettes.
HOW TO MAKE A VEGAN BOLOGNESE
Making a vegan bolognese can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. You could go crazy and add:
- Lentils or crumbled tempeh for added texture
- Red wine to increase the flavor
- A mirepoix of carrots, celery and onion for more bulk.
Regardless of how much you want to add to this, make sure you do the following.
- Use a ceramic heavy bottomed pot - never a stainless steel pot. The tomatoes and the metal do not mix well and can mess up your flavors.
- Use a food processor if you have one to get your cauliflower and mushrooms very finely chopped.
- Add fresh parsley (and even basil) at the end to really ramp up the flavors.
You can make a big batch of this to freeze for up to 6 months, or keep it in the fridge for 3-4 days, using it how you want.
THE RECIPE
Enjoy this easy, delicious and oh so healthy vegan bolognese, and feel free to add what you want to it to increase the bulk and flavor. No matter what, this is always going to be a one pot winner!
Vegan Cauliflower & Mushroom Bolognese
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 16 oz sliced white mushrooms
- 1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 1/4 C olive oil
- 2 TBS butter I like the plant based butter from Miyokos
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
- 56 oz crushed San Marzano tomatoes (2 28oz cans)
- 2 TBS tomato paste
- 2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
- 1 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Add the mushrooms, cauliflower and bell pepper to a food processor and pulse to a very fine dice. Set aside.
- Heat a heavy bottomed, ceramic pot with the oil and butter over medium-high. Once the butter melts, add the garlic, onion and a pinch of salt. After the onions have softened and become translucent, stir in the mushrooms and cauliflower.
- Once added, then stir in the tomato paste, cooking until the paste turns a dark brick red.
- Carefully pour in the tomatoes, salt and the red pepper flakes if you're using them and stir well to combine. Turn the heat down to low to let everything simmer together for at least 30 minutes - 1 hour.
- Season with salt to taste and stir in the parsley. Serve with pasta, zucchini noodles, on fresh slices of bread, into lasagna or however you want to use this bolognese sauce.
Notes
- 1 cup of cooked black lentils
- 1 C crumbled tempeh
- 1/4 C red wine for a deeper flavor
- A mirepoix of finely chopped carrots, celery and onion
