Vegetarian Bolognese

By Ali Slagle

Vegetarian Bolognese
Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Susan Spungen.
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(1,599)
Notes
Read community notes

Unlike a traditional Bolognese sauce, this riff on the classic has no meat and isn’t simmered for hours, but the results are still rich, buttery and sweet. Mild cauliflower and soffrito — the carrot, celery and onion mix that is the traditional base of the the sauce — become the bulk. Tomato paste and soy sauce are toasted to build umami. Then, everything is braised with whole milk, which softens the vegetables and adds silkiness. Swap the cauliflower for broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, eggplant, or even green lentils, chickpeas or crumbled tempeh. To make it vegan, swap 2 tablespoons oil for butter in Step 1, use nondairy milk, and swap 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast for Parmesan.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 3tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1large yellow onion, roughly chopped into ¼-inch pieces
  • 2medium carrots, roughly chopped into ¼-inch pieces
  • 1medium (1 to 1½-pound) cauliflower, stem and head coarsely chopped into pieces no bigger than ½ inch
  • ¼cup tomato paste
  • 2tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 4garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
  • ¾cup whole milk
  • 1fresh bay leaf or thyme sprig
  • 1pound rigatoni or another ridged dried pasta, or fresh pappardelle or tagliatelle
  • ½cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

748 calories; 24 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 107 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams dietary fiber; 13 grams sugars; 28 grams protein; 1020 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter with the olive oil over medium-high. When foaming, add the onion, carrots and cauliflower, season with 1 teaspoon salt and a few pepper grinds. Cook, stirring just once or twice, until browned and juicy, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomato paste, soy sauce and garlic and cook, stirring and smashing the vegetables, until the tomato paste is a shade darker and sticks to the bottom of the pot, 2 to 3 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Add the milk and bay leaf, season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to low, and stir to combine, scraping up browned bits from the pot. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the milk has thickened slightly and the vegetables are very soft, 15 to 20 minutes. (At first the pan will look dry, then the vegetable liquid will thin the sauce and it will thicken slightly).

  3. Step 3

    Halfway through cooking the sauce, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta water and drain. If the sauce is ready before the pasta, remove sauce from heat and keep covered.

  4. Step 4

    Remove the bay leaf from the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high. Add the pasta, ½ cup pasta water, the Parmesan and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Stir vigorously until the pasta is well coated, adding more pasta water as needed until the sauce is glossy. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve with more grated Parmesan on top.

Ratings

4 out of 5
1,599 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Patrick

May I recommend the Marcella hazan Bolognese recipe but substitute beyond meat crumble and only simmering for an hour at the end. Almost indistinguishable from the meat recipe.

Roni

delicious! doubled the garlic, added rosemary and red pepper flakes, and deglazed with a little white wine after cooking the vegetables in step 1

Kara H.

This was very good and I loved that it was so vegetable dense. If I made it again, these are the few modifications I would make - I would chop the carrots and cauliflower smaller than the instructions say. I also ended up using twice the amount of tomato paste (1 8oz can) and threw in a smidge of the red wine I was drinking after I added the paste. Next time I'd pour myself a glass of wine and I'd pour a healthy glass for the sauce. Otherwise, this is delicious and makes 4 generous portions.

LK

I used vegetable broth for the milk and more olive oil instead of butter. I'm know that substantially changes the recipe- but it was delicious. Really, really good.

Susanne

Beautiful flavor, a nice alternative to my other version with chopped mushrooms (chop the mushroom and spread them on a baking sheet and let them ferment for one hour)

Stephanie

Great flavor and heartiness! I appreciate another way to use veggies in pasta. I have a feeling tempeh would be great in this.

Joe

I don't see celery in the ingredients list. Isn't that an ingredient in soffritto?

Richard

As the recipe suggests, I substituted green lentils for cauliflower. Results were delicious, but I thought I would share that it took much more liquid to get the lentils to cook thoroughly than it would have had I cooked them alone. Specifically, I started by using 2/3 cup of lentils and in step 2 I added 2 cups of milk, but as the sauce cooked down, I had to add about 2 more cups.

MishaX

I made it per recipe. Very tasty, nice sweetness but not meat-like at all. That may be a positive for some. I will make it again.

Suzanne

Made the vegan version but with regular sodium soy sauce and no nutritional yeast. For a heartier meal, I added meatballs for the carnivores and Impossible meatballs for the vegans, plus a green salad. I used the whole cup of pasta water for the sauce. It was a hit: Robust and umami-rich.

nicole

Unfortunately not a favorite. Normally we could suggest ways to tweak this, but we will probably try other recipes instead. It might be too “veggie” for us.

Jane S

I combined elements of this recipe with other vegetarian Bolognese recipes. Substituted 16oz baby Bella mushrooms finely chopped for the carrots. Used a 12oz bag of rice cauliflower. Added 1/4 cup finely chopped rosemary and a teaspoon of chili flakes with double the garlic and 6oz tomato paste. Added a cup of water with the milk. I would definitely repeat all these additions next time and really liked the depth of flavor produced from the mushrooms, chili and rosemary.

J9CK

I used a can of whole tomatoes instead of paste, omitted the soy sauce, and used an immersion blender to make it smooth. It was delicious.

Malcolm

This was OK. Not interesting enough to put in the regular rotation.

MJ

Try substituting the cauliflower with mushrooms for a even more delicious twist - 5*

Frances

Use frozen cauliflower rice, double the tomato paste

dona

@Richard- I've read that the acid in tomatoes hinder the usually quick cooking time of lentils. It might be better to precook them seperately and just finish in the sauce...

Erin

This exceeded my expectations. I made it as written. It’s wonderful as is. I will absolutely make it again.

brenda from mpls

This was so good! I did a few different things - added rosemary like other comments suggested and 1/2 cup of half and half.

Anne

For a faster, finer soffrito, I love to grate carrots on the large holes of a box grater.

Excellent Vegetarian Option

Really tasty. Don’t miss the meat at all. I recommend adding extra soy sauce for more umami flavor. As suggested in other comments, rice cauliflower is much easier and less messy!

Lucy

Prepared this recipe exactly as written. Excellent!!! Can't wait do bake leftovers "au gratin".

coni

Excellent

Liz

This is just too good for words! Flavor is perfect. Texture is perfect. Used Tagliatelle pasta. Yummy.

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