Lentil Bolognese

Name: Lentil Bolognese
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 250 g Puy or small green lentils; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 large (about 200 g) onion, finely diced; 2 carrots, finely diced; 2 sticks celery, finely diced; 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 2 tbsp tomato purée; 150 ml red wine; 800 g tinned chopped tomatoes; 400 ml vegetable stock; 2 sprigs rosemary; 280 g spaghetti

Puy lentils cooked down with a proper soffritto, red wine and a long simmer until the sauce clings to the pasta. Nothing here pretends to be mince.

VeganMeal prepFreezer friendly

A deep bowl of spaghetti coated in a dark, thick lentil ragù with visible carrot and celery, a wooden spoon resting in it and a heavy pan of more sauce behind it.

Servings: 4
Total time: 1 h
Hands-on: 20 min

What you need

Heavy-based pan or casserole
Large pot for the pasta

Ingredients

250 gPuy or small green lentils— weighed dry; they hold their shape
3 tbspolive oil
1 large (about 200 g)onion, finely diced
2carrots, finely diced
2 stickscelery, finely diced
3 clovesgarlic, finely chopped
2 tbsptomato purée
150 mlred wine— or an extra 150 ml of stock
800 gtinned chopped tomatoes
400 mlvegetable stock
2 sprigsrosemary
280 gspaghetti— weighed dry, 70 g per portion

How to make it

Dice the onion, carrot and celery as small as your patience allows and cook them in the olive oil over medium-low heat for a full 12 minutes, until they are soft and sweet and have no colour. This is the base of the whole sauce; rushed, it tastes of raw carrot all evening.
Add the garlic for a minute, then the tomato purée. Let the purée fry in the oil for 2 minutes until it darkens from red to brick — that step removes its tinny edge and is why the sauce tastes deep rather than sharp.
Pour in the wine and let it bubble away almost completely, scraping the bottom of the pan.
Add the lentils, tomatoes, stock and rosemary. Bring to a simmer, then turn it right down and cook uncovered for 35–40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the lentils are tender and the sauce no longer runs when you pull a spoon through it.
Fish out the rosemary stalks and season hard — salt, pepper and a splash of red wine vinegar. Lentils need more salt than you expect, and the vinegar is what stops an hour-long tomato sauce tasting flat.
Cook the spaghetti one minute short of the packet time, then finish it in the sauce with a ladle of its cooking water for 60 seconds so the sauce actually coats the pasta instead of sitting on it.

Per serving, roughly

Energy: ~610 kcal
Protein: ~27 g
Carbs: ~88 g
Fat: ~11 g

These are estimates calculated from standard ingredient values. Your numbers will shift with the exact products you buy and with how generously you fill the plate — oil, sauces and cheese move them the most.

Variations

Mushroom depth

Soak 20 g of dried porcini in hot water, chop them and add them with the lentils, straining the soaking liquid in as part of the stock. It adds about 15 kcal per portion and a savoury depth that is hard to place and hard to stop eating.

Higher protein

Serve with 30 g of grated Parmesan per portion, or 150 g of ricotta stirred through. About 120 kcal and 10 g more protein per portion — and no longer a plant-based dish.

Coach's tip

A full plant-based main at 27 g of protein and 88 g of carbohydrate — the shape of meal that fits the evening after a hard leg session. It freezes in portions, so cook the sauce double and you have the next two training days handled.

More recipes

Other recipes worth a place in your week.

MealsChili sin CarneTwo kinds of bean, charred peppers and a spice base of smoked paprika and cumin. Half an hour of simmering that tastes like a whole afternoon.MealsMinestrone with White BeansA long-cooked soffritto, two tins of cannellini with half of them crushed to thicken the broth, and small pasta cooked in the soup itself. One pot.MealsOven-Roasted Tomato Pasta with BurrataCherry tomatoes roasted until they burst and caramelise, crushed into a sauce with garlic and tossed through pasta with torn burrata. Ten minutes of work.

General information only, not medical or nutritional advice. If you have a health condition, an allergy, or specific dietary needs, talk to a qualified professional.

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