Name: Vegetarian Bolognese Sauce
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 8
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 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

This Vegetarian Bolognese Recipe is so delicious you won’t even miss the meat! It is packed 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!

Find the full recipe & instructions at the bottom of this post.

wooden spoon in a pot of vegetarian bolognese sauce

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. Mix 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. Simmer and 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” -reader review

mushrooms ground up in the food processor

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 it 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!

bowl of spaghetti topped with vegetarian bolognese sauce and parmesan cheese

fork taking a bite of spaghetti with vegetarian bolognese

More Vegetarian Favorites

Easy Meatless Spaghetti Sauce
Vegetarian Meatloaf
Million Dollar Baked Ziti
Vegetarian Enchiladas
Creamy Vegetable Soup
Veggie Lover’s Baked Rigatoni
Easy Crockpot Baked Ziti

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