Vegan Bolognese Sauce – Best Recipe Close to Italian Classic

Universal Vegan Bolognese recipe great for spaghetti, lasagna and other pasta types.

Vegan Bolognese

Recipe by VegnFitCourse: Lunch, DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cook time

1

hour 

Total time

1

hour 

5

minutes

Soy mince and spices used make this sauce so close to the original version.

Ingredients

• 3 medium carrots

• 1 big onion

• 3 garlic cloves

• 2 cans of good quality chopped tomatoes or passata

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 1.5 cup soy mince

• 2 tsp meat seasoning (beef seasoning – I used spices for souvlaki)

• 3 tbsp tomato paste

• 1/2 cup red dry wine

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 tsp dry thyme

• 2 cubes of veg stock dissolved in 600ml hot water

• 1tbsp soy sauce

• salt and black pepper

Directions

• Peel onion, carrots and garlic. Grate carrots and finely chop the other two.
  
• In a medium pot fry onions with bay leaves until they become translucent. Add carrot and garlic, 1 tsp salt. Cover the pot and sauté everything for around 5 minutes.
• Add soy mince and your ‘meat spice’ – mix everything well.
  In this step the mince will get nice flavors from spices and juices from veggies. Keep it covered on medium heat for around 5 minutes.
  
• After soy mince absorbs all the liquid, add wine and vegetable stock. Cook for the next 10 minutes.
• Add rest of ingredients and cook for at least next 40 minutes. Depending on the tomatoes you used watch how watery your sauce is. If you find it too watery remove the cover and cook until excessive liquid evaporates.
  
• Taste your Bolognese sauce and adjust seasoning using salt and pepper.
  Serve with the pasta of your choice. Check below for detailed serving suggestions.

Notes

• Wine not only adds a bit acidity, but also enhances and brings all flavors together. If you’re not happy about adding wine you can substitute it with more broth and 1 tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar.

Serving suggestions

What’s so great about this recipe is that it will work perfectly well with all types of pasta. I tried it with spaghetti and penne already. It is fantastic in

Vegan Lasagna Bolognese

How to serve pasta?

There are two ways to serve any pasta dish with any sauce. You can place cooked pasta on a plate and pour the sauce on top. This solution looks quite nice, but the sauce doesn’t have a chance to cover the pasta.

What I like to do, is to place my sauce and pasta together with 1 tbsp of water from cooking pasta on a frying pan. On a medium heat I toss and mix everything well waiting for excess water to evaporate. This way all the flavors mix together and the dish becomes perfectly creamy and complete.

When I first veganize classic recipe I study couple of different versions and take what I find best in them! What I though was important in this recipe is to obtain the original taste, but also the meaty structure. While I love both lentils and mushrooms (often found in other vegan Bolognese recipes) I don’t think they provide this ‘meaty’ texture that soy mince does.

Additional info about key ingredients of Vegan Bolognese Sauce:

TOMATOES – you can use canned chopped tomatoes or the same amount of passata. Make sure they are of good quality, as cheap watery tomatoes may ruin your sauce.

WINE – any decent quality medium dry or dry red wine will do (provided it is not very acidy). I used regular so called ‘table wine’ usually served here in Cyprus together with dinner.

Are you in a mood for hearty, filling dish? Check also this delicious Vegan Chili – Chili Sin Carne.

Let me know what you think about this Vegan Bolognese recipe!

Other posts that may interest you

The Easiest Instant Pot Risotto with Peas and Mushrooms

May 24, 2023 No Comments

Creamy and fragrant Instant Pot Risotto that always turns out delicious. No need to watch…

Read More

Parsley Smoothie for Energy Boost

April 23, 2023 6 Comments

Nutritious, refreshing and creamy Parsley Smoothie is delicious way to boost your energy. Sweet banana,…

Read More