This post may contain affiliate links
This luxurious, hearty and oh-SO-delicious vegan roasted cauliflower and mushroom bolognese is my meat-free take on the traditional bolognese. If you’re looking for a crowd-pleasing main meal to make your vegan and non-vegan loved ones, look no further. Trust me when I tell you, this will become your new favourite comfort meal.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Delicious – this vegan bolognese will blow your socks off! It’s comforting, yummy and addicting.
Easy – the meat-free bolognese is made using one pan (obvs not including the pot used to boil the pasta).
Healthyish – packed with one whole head of cauliflower, onions, garlic, mushrooms, spices, and a healthy homemade vegan parm.
What you’ll need to make this Roasted Cauliflower and Mushroom Bolognese
Mushrooms – for this recipe, I used white closed cup mushrooms, but any mushroom of your choice should work. The mushrooms give a meaty texture to this meat-free bolognese and it’s probably my favourite way to cook with them atm.
Cauliflower – one whole head! yes, this recipe has A LOT of cauliflower but trust me when I tell you, it works! We all know that cauliflower doesn’t have a distinct taste, which in this case is perfect. The cauliflower is pan-roasted with olive oil, salt, garlic granules, black pepper and chilli powder. It’s then mixed with the rest of the bolognese sauce and something magical happens!
Olive oil – use a good quality olive oil
Garlic cloves – there’s 6 of them in this recipe, you can either chop them up finely or grate them. Keep in mind, grating them will make the garlic taste stronger (which I personally love!).
Onions – white onions work best in this recipe.
Chilli powder, salt, black pepper, dried oregano + chilli flakes – simple right? If you’re not a fan of spicy food dial down the amount of chilli powder and chilli flakes used.
Tomato puree – aka tomato paste for my American readers!
Pasta – you can use whatever pasta shape you prefer, I love using tangleteli in this recipe!
What you’ll need to make the vegan parmasan
Walnuts – if you are allergic to walnuts, or simply don’t like them, feel free to use any nut of your choice. The taste won’t be 100% the same as all nuts have their own unique flavour.
Nutritional yeast – this is the SECRET to having your vegan meals taste cheesy, but without any cheese. Here’s the one I like to use.
Garlic salt – or garlic granules and salt.
All about the meat-free ‘meat’…
Start with cutting the cauliflower into florets, it honestly doesn’t matter what size as it’s going to be crushed into small bits to add to the meat-free ‘meaty’ texture.
Once that’s done, heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat, add in the cauliflower, salt, garlic granules, black pepper and chilli powder. Give it a good mix, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5-8 minutes. Lift the lid, give it a good mix, cover and cook for another 5-8 minutes. Continue doing this until the cauliflower is charred.
While the cauliflower is cooking, start prepping the mushrooms. Clean them, then roughly chop them up and place them into a food processor. Pulse a couple of times until it looks like it’s finely chopped. You’ll need to scrape the sides of the food processor in between pulses. I did this step in small batches as the food processor that I used wasn’t big enough to do in one go. Set aside until needed.
TIP: If at any point the cauliflower starts to stick to the pan, splash a little water into the pan to deglaze.
Once the cauliflower is done, using a wooden spoon/spatula, break up the cauliflower into small bits. Transfer cauliflower into a bowl, scraping out all of the cauliflower with a spatula.
Making the Roasted Cauliflower and Mushroom Bolognese…
In the same pan, add olive oil and heat over medium-high heat.
Add in the mushrooms, and cook for 7-9 minutes. At first, the mushrooms will lose all the moisture, and then they’ll start to brown. Once the mushrooms take on some colour, add in the onions along with a little more olive oil. Cook until the onions become golden, this should take around 5-6 minutes. Stirring often.
Add in grated garlic, oregano, salt, black pepper and chilli flakes. Cook for a few seconds.
Now, add in the tomato puree, and cook until the colour darkens, this will take 2-3 minutes. You want to make sure you constantly stirring to prevent the mixture from burning. Once the tomato puree is cooked, turn the heat to the lowest temperature, just enough to keep the mixture warm while you boil the pasta.
Boiling the pasta…
Start by bringing a pot of water to a boil. To speed this process up I fill up my kettle with water and once the water has boiled, I pour it into the pot. I repeat this step until I have enough water needed to cook the pasta.
Add a generous amount of salt into the water, along with the pasta. Read the instructions at the back of your pasta, and cook the pasta one minute less than al dente. The reason for this is because we’re going to cook the pasta with the vegan bolognese sauce!
Making the vegan parm..
This step is super simple, so I like to do it while the pasta boils. Just add walnuts, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic granules into a food processor. Pulse a couple of times until it resembles parm. Set aside until needed.
The final touches…
Turn the heat back up on the vegan bolognese sauce and using a slotted spoon, add in the pasta, along with 1-3 cups of pasta water, half of the vegan parm and the cauliflower bits. Mix and cook until the sauce clings onto the pasta. This should take around 3-5 minutes.
That’s it! Serve warm with more vegan parm and freshly chopped parsley. Your home will smell divine, and your tastebuds will dance! Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use gluten free pasta? I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free pasta, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t!
How do I store the pasta? Refrigerate in an air-tight container or bowl for 3-4 days.
What do I serve with this pasta? Either my pull apart garlic bread , parsley and garlic babka or a simple green salad.
I can’t wait for you to try this recipe!
Please leave a star rating on this recipe, along with what you thought of it! I loving hearing your experience with my recipes, and I try my best to respond to you all. Also, don’t forget to tag me over on Instagram.
More vegan recipes you’ll love
- Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Bake
- Sheet Pan Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos
- Easy 15-Minute Garlic Mushrooms
- One-pan Pesto Pasta with Asparagus
Ingredients
Pan Roasted Cauliflower
- 1 head of cauliflower (medium)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt + black pepper
- 1/2–1 tsp garlic granules
- 1 tsp chilli powder (optional)
Mushroom Bolognese
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 350 g white closed cup mushrooms
- 2 onions (diced)
- 6 garlic cloves (grated)
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
- salt + black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup tomato paste/puree
- 1–2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley (plus more to garnish )
- 450 g pasta
Vegan Parmesan
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp garlic salt (or half of each)
Instructions
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan, over medium-high heat, add in the roughly chopped cauliflower (even add in the tiny little bits!) Cover the pan with a lid, cook for around 20 minutes or until charred. Mixing often, and deglazing the pan with a splash of water when needed.
- While the cauliflower cooks, prep the mushrooms. Remove the stalk, and give it a rough chop. In small-ish batches, add into a food processor and pulse until it's finely chopped – the size of a grain is what you're looking for.
- Once the cauliflower is charred, using a wooden spoon break up the cauliflower into little bits. Transfer into a bowl. In the same pan, add 2 tbsp olive oil and mushrooms. Cook mushrooms for 7-9 mins over high heat. The mushrooms are done once the colour darkens and all the excess water has evaporated. *see blog post for visuals*
- Add in the onions, 2tbsp olive oil and cook for 5-6 minutes or until golden. Add in garlic, dried oregano. chilli flakes, salt, black pepper, and cook for a few seconds. Finally, add in the tomato puree and cook for 2-3 minutes, while constantly stirring! Turn the heat down to the lowest temperature while boiling the pasta. Make sure you give it a quick mix every 1-3 minutes.
- Add water into a kettle, pour into a pot. Repeat until you have enough water to cook your pasta in. Add in a generous amount of salt, and boil the pasta for 1 minute less than al dente – read the packaging of the pasta!
- While the pasta boils, make the vegan parmesan by pulsing together walnuts, nutritional yeast and garlic salt. Set aside until needed.
- Turn the heat back up to high on the sauce, add in the almost al dente pasta using a slotted spoon. Add in half of the vegan parmesan, parsley, cauliflower bits and 1 cup of pasta water. Mix together, and add in another 1 cup of pasta water. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce clings onto the pasta. If you want to make the pasta saucier add in more water – I added 3 cups of pasta water.
- Enjoy warm with a sprinkle of more vegan parmesan (it's a MUST) and freshly chopped parsley. Happy mushroom bolognese making & eating!
Nutrition
- Calories: 471
