Vegan Lentil Bolognese
Do you also love inviting your friends over for dinner? I think there's nothing better than gathering lots of people around a big table and forgetting the dreary everyday routine together with plenty of good food, lively conversation, and lots of laughter!
- For the Bolognese sauce:
- 2 onions
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 carrots
- 2 small celery stalks
- 250 g mushrooms
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 500g passata (strained tomatoes)
- 500g diced tomatoes
- 500 ml vegetable broth
- 250g red lentils
- 4 tsp Italian herbs
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- 20g dark chocolate, 100% cocoa solids
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil for frying
- Salt
- Pfeffer
- Aside from that:
- 500g (gluten-free) spaghetti
- 100 g vegan Parmesan or yeast flakes
- fresh herbs
- For the Bolognese sauce, peel and finely chop the onion and garlic, and dice the carrots, celery, and mushrooms.
- Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan, add diced onion and garlic, and sauté until translucent. Stir in tomato paste and cook for a few more seconds. Add diced carrots, celery, and mushrooms, and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in the crushed and diced tomatoes and vegetable stock. Finally, add red lentils, Italian herbs, maple syrup, chocolate, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer the Bolognese for another 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.
- Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions, reserving 100 ml of the pasta water when draining. Stir this reserved water into the Bolognese sauce and serve the cooked spaghetti with the sauce. Garnish with vegan Parmesan or nutritional yeast and fresh herbs.
When I ask in my group chat who can eat what, I usually get a colorful mix of answers: no meat, no dairy, no soy, no gluten... The more people there are, the longer the list gets each time, making it the perfect basis for finally cooking a really hearty and flavorful lentil bolognese! It's packed with delicious vegetables, all the ingredients are easy to find at the supermarket, and the lentils give it that classic bolognese consistency, all without any meat substitutes or soy products. This dish will easily make everyone happy and full, and you'll hardly spend any time in the kitchen yourself. It practically cooks itself and can even be prepared a day in advance – it tastes even better that way!
And don't worry: it cooks super quickly despite the lentils, because we're using red lentils here. They only take a maximum of 20 minutes to cook. The piece of dark chocolate gives it a special touch. It makes the sauce wonderfully rich and gives it more depth. And then there's plenty of spaghetti to go with it, which you can easily buy gluten-free if you like.
