OK so bolognese is traditionally made with minced meat – I know, I know! We call this mushroom bolognese, so I am keeping that name here. This is our vegan mushroom bolognese made with sweet potatoes and passata (or tomato sauce). Be warned though, it is incredibly delicious!

But we don’t eat meat here, so this is our delicious vegan alternative. It’s really just a mushroom & sweet potato sauce with Italian spices and serves well with spaghetti, noodles, pasta, rice, quinoa, and especially (my fave) jacket baked potatoes.

I was looking for something just like this to post up on my blog when my mam made it for me. I loved it so much that I thought I’d just post my mam’s version. It’s easy and the herbs are swap-able with whatever you have available – which is really handy if you don’t happen to have the exact same ones.

What goes in this vegan mushroom bolognese?

Instead of minced bits of meat, you get small, delightful bits of mushrooms, onion, and sweet potato. Cut them up as small or as chunky as you like.

My mam puts quite a bit of black or white pepper in this. I love it! The pepper gives it a gorgeous spicy kick, without the need for hot, hot, hot chili. Play with the amount of pepper to suit your own taste (but don’t be shy, because it really adds to this combination beautifully).

In the UK, I normally use passata, which is essentially sieved or strained tomatoes. Today we used a tin of what is called ‘tomato sauce’ here in the USA (different from ketchup). It did have a couple of things added, but try to get it plain if you can. You can also find sieved or strained tomatoes in the health food store in North America too. In the UK just go for a jar of passata.

If you have an abundance of fresh herbs, then go wild and crazy with them. We used lots of fresh flat-leaved parsley and oregano and sage for our recipe here. You can also substitute with dried, mixed Italian herbs or spices instead.

We use some dried herbs too for a bit of ‘pow’. But just use what you have available.

Ok, let’s make this!

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This recipe appears in my new cookbook “The Kind Earth Cookbook”  please consider getting yourself a copy… 

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Mushroom and Sweet Potato Vegan "Bolognese"

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

A delicious vegan alternative to bolognese sauce, using mushrooms & sweet potatoes instead of meat. Serves well with spaghetti, pasta, potatoes, quinoa or rice.

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Ingredients

• 1 onion (medium)
• 4 cloves garlic
• Drizzle coconut oil (or olive oil)
• 1 stick celery
• 1 small sweet potato
• Large handful mushrooms (any sort)
• 400ml passata (or one tin tomato sauce/sieved/crush tomatoes if in the US)
• Large handful parsley (fresh)
• Large spring of fresh oregano
• 5 sage leaves
• Sea salt (approx 1/2 teaspoon or to taste)
• Black pepper (approx 1/2 teaspoon or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed dried italian spices/herbs
• 2 teaspoons coconut sugar

Instructions

1. Chop onions roughly.
2. Crush garlic.
3. Sautee onion and garlic in oil for a few minutes.
4. Chop celery into small pieces and add to pan.
5. Chop sweet potato into small pieces and add to pan. Keep stirring contents regularly.
6. Add passata (tomato sauce or seived/crushed tomatoes)
7. Chop mushrooms and add to pan.
8. Chop parsley, oregano, sage leaves and add to pan.
9. Add salt and pepper.
10. Mix the contents of the pan. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes (or until the sweet potato is easily pierced with a fork and starting to fall apart).

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