Homemade Red Lentil Bolognese (With Fresh Tomatoes!)

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Take those fresh tomatoes from your garden and make this homemade tomato sauce! This Red Lentil Bolognese dish has protein and made with simple ingredients.

We LOVE tomatoes here at Vegan With Curves! Every thing to making homemade tomato paste, plum tomato sauce, and even vegan fried green tomatoes!

Even though this recipe is made with fresh tomatoes, there is no need for food mills, straining, or peeling. Making this a super easy and simple recipe!

Plus this Red Lentil Bolognese has over 19 grams of protein which is perfect for vegan weight gain!

Why Add Red Lentils to Homemade Tomato Sauce?

Adding red lentils to your homemade tomato sauce has 3 benefits:

• It gives the tomato sauce plant based protein.
• It makes the tomato sauce filling and hearty.
• Red lentils gives you the added benefit of fiber!

To learn more about red lentils check out What Are Lentils article.

How to Make Red lentil Bolognese?

*Please read detailed and printable recipe card below for full ingredients and instructions.

1. Add onions, garlic, salt, pepper, tomato paste, and red wine to a pot. Stir and cook until well combined. (Photos 1 & 2)
2. Add fresh tomatoes, basil, oregano, and organic cane sugar to the pot with your red wine sauce. Stir until combined and blend sauce until it becomes a sauce. (Photos 3 & 4)
3. Add red lentils to your sauce and simmer until tender. Serve over cooked spaghetti pasta. (Photos 5 & 6)

Substitution, Cook, & Storage Tips

• I used red lentils because they cook faster than traditional brown lentils. But if all you have is brown lentils, feel free to use those.
• Although fresh tomatoes is highly recommended, canned tomatoes can be substituted.
• You can serve this sauce over penne pasta, rotini pasta or even zucchini pasta!
• This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for about 4 to 5 days and it can be frozen for up to 1 month.

How Does This Recipe Help With Vegan Weight Gain?

Lentils contain good amount of complex carbs and protein. One serving of this sauce alone (not including the pasta) will give you 10 grams of protein and 33 grams of carbs.

More Lentil Recipes You’ll Love

• vegan lentil meatballs
• vegan lentil meatloaf
• lentil shepherds pie
• coconut lentil curry

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Homemade Red lentil Bolognese (With Fresh Tomatoes!)

Take those fresh tomatoes from your garden and make this homemade tomato sauce! This Red Lentil Bolognese dish has protein and made with simple ingredients.

4.80 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Vegan

Keyword: red lenti spaghetti, red lentil pasta sauce, red lentil sauce

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings: 5 servings (5 cups of Sauce)

Calories: 366kcal

Author: Gina Marie

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vegan butter
• ▢ 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• ▢ ½ large onion, chopped
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ ¼ cup tomato paste
• ▢ ½ cup red cooking wine note 1
• ▢ 7-8 medium tomatoes, chopped (should equal about 5 cups of tomatoes chopped) note 2
• ▢ 1 cup Vegan Bone Broth note 3
• ▢ handful fresh basil, chopped
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon organic cane sugar
• ▢ ¾ cup dried red lentils note 4
• ▢ additional fresh basil for garnish optional
• ▢ store bought Vegan Parmesan Cheese optional

US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Cooking Pot

Immersion Blender or Potato Masher

Instructions

• Place pot over medium high heat and add oil and butter allowing the oil and butter to get hot and melt. Next add your garlic paste and onions and saute' for 2 to 3 minutes until onions start to soften.
• Next add salt, pepper, tomato paste, and red cooking wine to your pot and stir until tomato paste is well combined with the wine, onions, and garlic for about 20 to 40 seconds. It should look like a sauce.
• Then you will add your fresh tomatoes and stir until it fully combines with the red wine sauce for about 30 to 60 seconds.
• To your fresh tomatoes you are going to add Vegan Bone Broth, fresh basil, dried oregano, and organic cane sugar. Stir until seasonings are fully combined for about a minute. Turn down heat to low and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes uncovered.
• Next take you're Immersion (Handheld) Blender and blend your tomato sauce until it is smooth. I you don't have an Immersion Blender, use a potato masher to get it as smooth as you possibly can. Or you could or carefully add your sauce to a blender, blend until smooth and add it back to your pot.
• Once sauce is smooth, add your dried red lentils and stir them into your sauce. On low heat, simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes uncovered until lentils are tender and thoroughly cooked through. Do NOT over cook your red lentils are they will become too mushy. (Unless you like them that way).
• Once lentils become tender, turn off heat and serve your red lentil spaghetti sauce over spaghetti pasta. Garnish with additional basil if you like and some vegan Parmesan cheese. This goes really well with vegan garlic bread or a fresh salad!
• This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for about 4 to 5 days and it can be frozen for up to 1 month.

Video

Notes

1. RED COOKING WINE: If you prefer not to use red wine in your sauce you can omit it and replace with an equal amount of vegan broth.
2. FRESH TOMATOES: Although fresh tomatoes is highly recommended, canned tomatoes can be substituted. Just make sure the canned tomatoes aren't seasoned as it might throw off the flavor of the sauce. I have only personally made this recipe with fresh tomatoes.
3.  VEGAN BONE BROTH: For this recipe I used my homemade Slow Cooker Vegan Bone Broth but you can substitute with whatever vegetable broth you desire. 
4. RED LENTILS: I used red lentils because they cook faster than traditional brown lentils. But if all you have is brown lentils, feel free to use those. You will just need to adjust to a longer cooking time. I have only tried this recipe with red lentils. You could also omit the lentils all together for a plan tomato sauce and store it for later. When you are ready to use, you could add your choice of vegan crumbles, mushrooms, walnuts, etc.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Homemade Red lentil Bolognese (With Fresh Tomatoes!)

Amount Per Serving (1 cup)

Calories 366 Calories from Fat 63

% Daily Value*

Fat 7g11%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Monounsaturated Fat 2g

Sodium 439mg19%

Potassium 876mg25%

Carbohydrates 53g18%

Fiber 16g67%

Sugar 15g17%

Protein 19g38%

Vitamin A 1869IU37%

Vitamin C 30mg36%

Calcium 62mg6%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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© Gina Marie Hoskins. Vegan With Curves. All Rights Reserved. Unless noted otherwise, all images, recipes, & content are copyright protected and registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. My images and written content are NOT to be used without prior permission. Read full Copyright Disclosure.

© Gina Marie Hoskins. Vegan With Curves. All Rights Reserved. Unless noted otherwise, all images, recipes, & content are copyright protected and registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. My images and written content are NOT to be used without prior permission. Read full Copyright Disclosure.