Easy Lentil Ragu (Vegan)
This lentil ragu is a hearty, delicious vegan pasta sauce featuring tender, nutty lentils and simple vegetables cooked in a rich tomato sauce. It’s nutritious, easy to make using canned lentils and comes together in 40 minutes!
Servings 5 servings
Calories 153kcal
Equipment
- 1 Large non-stick pan
Ingredients
- 1 can brown lentils or green, 14.11oz, drained, rinsed
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 1 celery rib finely chopped
- 1 carrot sm./med., peeled, coarsely grated
- ½ red bell pepper deseeded, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 8.11 ounces white mushrooms chopped into small pieces, approx. 8 mushrooms
- 2 cups tomato passata
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Italian herbs
- 5 tablespoons vegan white wine
- ⅔ cup vegetable stock or more, use 1 stock cube or 1-2 tsp bouillon powder
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 tablespoon plant butter
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown mushrooms: In a non-stick pan heat a tablespoon of oil, add the mushrooms and cook for 4-5 minutes over a fairly high heat until the mushrooms reduce in volume and begin to brown (try not to stir too much). Add the soy sauce and cook for another minute or so until the mushrooms start to become a little sticky, stirring often. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Cook vegetables: Using the same pan melt the butter with 1 tablespoon of oil, add the onion, celery, carrot and red pepper and cook gently for about 10 minutes, until softened, stirring often. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Add the wine, increase the heat and cook for another minute or so.TIP: At this point start cooking the pasta (al dente, according to packet instructions).
- Cook sauce: Add the passata, tomato paste, stock, herbs and pepper to taste. Stir, cover, bring to a simmer then cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add lentils and mushrooms: Stir in the lentils and mushrooms, cover and bring to a simmer again then cook gently for 5 minutes.
- Serve: Remove from the heat, add more stock or salt and pepper, if needed, and serve your tomato lentil sauce over pasta. See *Notes for serving ideas.
Notes
- Drain and rinse the lentils, set aside in a strainer then start preparing the sauce.
- To save time you can brown the mushrooms and cook the vegetables simultaneously in separate pans.
- Boil the pasta while the sauce is bubbling away. Save some of the pasta water to add later, if needed.
- This sauce will thicken as it cools so to loosen the consistency add a drop of pasta water, stock or plant milk/cream.
- Best served hot over pasta. I used linguine but spaghetti or larger pasta shapes will work, too.
- Refrigerate leftover lentil tomato pasta sauce covered, for up to 4 days. Reheat in a saucepan or microwave.
- Freeze for up to 3 months. For best results defrost overnight in the fridge.
- *Serve with vegan cheese, chopped sundried tomatoes, capers, extra virgin olive oil and/or red pepper flakes.
- Nutritional information is calculated for the ragu sauce only (without the pasta).
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 153kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 345mg | Potassium: 746mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 3154IU | Vitamin C: 30mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 3mg