A family favourite recipe and a twist on the classic. This Vegan Lentil Bolognese pasta recipe is super delicious, filling and easy to make. A recipe for vegan pasta that is a staple at our place. Made with 10 ingredients and ready in just 30 minutes. The perfect kid-approved weeknight meal.
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A cheap pantry recipe
This recipe for vegan pasta is actually a husband original, lol. Way back before we were parents or vegan, this lentil bolognese was a recipe my husband would make for us every week. As broke graduate students, this was the perfect easy and cheap recipe for us! Mostly because it relied on pantry items. Back then we used canned everything so this was the easiest lazy cheap meal of all time!
But, over the years this lentil with pasta recipe developed into more of a vegan lentil bolognese sauce! Meaning it has way more flavour now despite still using pantry items! It has matured into a super easy, vegan, protein-rich sauce. Perfect over a bowl of yummy noodles or even rice.
Family-friendly recipe for vegan pasta
This recipe for vegan pasta has come a long way from the broke grad student days. And while the recipe is still super simple we have learned a lot about how to add flavour and make it more family-friendly.
But what kid doesn’t like pasta right. Well actually my middle guy! He HATES pasta but he does like this lentil with pasta recipe! We add a bit of coconut sugar and use olive oil which I believe helps make this a more taste bud friendly recipe.
Regardless, this is a great recipe to make when you are busy, lazy or if you need a cheap meal to feed a large family. And because it used mostly canned items it is a good recipe to make while camping or traveling!
Just 10 ingredients
Yup, that is right! This recipe for vegan pasta only has 10 ingredients in it! Making it an easy meal to prepare. Over the years and through our food and health journey one thing I learned is that simple meals are key. Maintaining a healthy way of eating and being able to cook when you are a busy parent, student, or person relies on having some great simple recipes in your back pocket!
To help our family stay on track and continue cooking healthy recipes having easy ingredients we can fall back on is super helpful!
What you need
While most of the ingredients are canned, I do encourage you to try and use fresh when possible. Cooking the lentils from dry is not only cheaper but yummier. You can avoid that tin-y taste and add salt and garlic to the cooking process. It makes a huge difference. The same goes for the fresh versus canned whole tomatoes. Chopping up fresh tomatoes and cooking them down is key!
To make this recipe all you need is:
- olive oil
- onion
- garlic
- Italian seasoning
- coconut sugar
- smoked paprika
- salt
- tomatoes
- canned crushed tomatoes
- lentils
- nutritional yeast
And that is all folk. I hope you enjoyed this recipe for vegan pasta! And if you are looking for more easy vegan family meals make sure to check out these:
- Kid-approved vegan chicken fingers
- 14 vegan toddler meals and what he eats in a typical day
- The best eggplant meatballs
- Finger licking good stick orange sesame tofu
- Saucey sesame tofu
- Meal prep high protein spaghetti and meatballs
Did you make this recipe? Comment down below or connect with me over on Instagram (@at.my.table). I would love to share your creations!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp salt
- 5 vine or beefstake tomatoes (or sub for canned diced tomatoes)
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 1 can cooked lentils drained and rinsed or cook your own
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat saute the onions in the olive oil (for an oil-free version use water). Once the onions are soft add in the garlic, sugar and all the spices and cook until fragrant (roughly 2 min).
- Next, add in the fresh and canned tomatoes, and the lentils reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue to cook for another 15 ish minutes.
- Finally, sprinkle in the nutrional yeast and remove from the heat. Serve over your favorite pasta, we love using either rice pasta or for an extra protein-rich meal we use a red lentil fusili
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My son is intollerent to lentils. What bean could I substitute the lentils for that would give a similar taste?
Is he OK with mock meets or TVP? You could try that. This sauce is good without it, we make it all the time that way as well. White beans are nice as well if he can eat those.
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