This easy, quick vegan recipe for spaghetti with lentil bolognese are one of the absolute go-tos in our kitchen. We usually have pasta, lentils and tomatoes on hand. As a meat replacement I really like ready to use brown lentils. But of course you can use dried ones and cook them yourself. This dish is ready in 25 minutes and a satisfying crowd pleaser.
This pasta recipe is already super tasty, but with added aromatic browned pine nuts and chopped rocket salad with its nutty spiciness they turn into a sensation!
For the lentil bolognese you only need:
- onions and garlic
- canned tomatoes and tomato paste
- cooked brown lentils
- Italian herbs
- nutritional yeast
- a little red wine


LENTIL BOLOGNESE
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 1 can tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Italian dried herb mix
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
- 1/2 can cooked brown lentils
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- a little red wine optional
- 300 g Spaghetti 10 oz.
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon pine nuts
- 1 handful of rocket salad
- a dash of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- First, gather all your ingredients and prepare them in the right amounts. That makes it so much easier and more fun and you're less likely to forget anything.
- Heat salted water in a big pot for the pasta.
- Sauté onions in a medium pot in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, lentils, salt, sugar, nutritional yeast and optional red wine. Stir well, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and simmer with the lid on.
- When the water is boiling, add pasta and cook for one minute less than instructions suggest.
- Drain and add to the simmering sauce immediately. It's fine if a little cooking water gets into the sauce, it will only make it better. Stir well.
- Brown the pine nuts in a small pan, dry or with a little olive oil. Careful, they burn quickly.
- Serve the pasta with 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast sprinkled over the top as parmesan replacement, with the rocket salad and the pine nuts.
If you liked this recipe, you might also like my other 5 quick and easy noodle dishes.