Vegan Tagliatelle Bolognese with Mushrooms

These vegan tagliatelle Bolognese with mushrooms are incredibly easy to whip up on a busy weeknight. This easy vegan pasta with mushrooms recipe is likely to impress even meat-eaters.

Since the last time I posted on the blog, I’ve cooked a lot, I’ve photographed a lot, and I wish there were more hours in a day so I can catch up with posting.

But the good news this week is that Skinny Spatula has been included in the Top 100 UK Food Blogs by Feedspot, which was kinda unexpected, but very exciting nonetheless.

But back to the recipe 🙂

A meat-free, rich Bolognese-inspired ragu with shiitake and porcini mushrooms is the vegan recipe you never knew you needed on a weeknight when you simply can’t be bothered to cook anything sophisticated.

The vegan Bolognese sauce takes inspiration from the traditional Bolognese ragu, but instead of using mince, it is enriched with a combination of different types of mushrooms.

I prefer to make this recipe with shiitake and porcini mushrooms, but it also works well with chestnut mushrooms or portobello mushrooms.

You can also try it in a combination of baby button or champignon mushrooms, but my advice is to never skip the porcini mushrooms because they give a special flavor to these tagliatelle pasta Bolognese sauce.

What do you need to make this vegan Bolognese recipe?

To make these tagliatelle Bolognese, you need a combination of mushrooms, a couple of other veggies that enrich the flavor of the vegan ragu, and some spices, some of them optional, but highly recommended if you want your tagliatelle bolognese ragu to pack a punch.

So here’s what you need for this tagliatelle bolognese recipe:

• Porcini mushrooms — you can use fresh porcini mushrooms if they are in season, but otherwise, dry porcini mushrooms would be great too.
• Shiitake mushrooms — you can substitute these with chestnut or portobello mushrooms, or any other type of mushroom you can get your hands on.
• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots, grated
• Celery, finely diced
• Chopped tomatoes
• Fresh tagliatelle pasta — I prefer to use the fresh kind, but dry tagliatelle would also work just fine.
• Olive oil
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Star anise
• Celery salt
• Onion salt
• Salt and pepper

A soy-free vegan Bolognese sauce

Many recipes for vegan tagliatelle Bolognese require soy mince as a substitute for the real thing, but I don’t find it necessary unless you are a soy mince fan.

This recipe for vegan Bolognese is chock full of vegetables and thanks to the addition of spices, including star anise, you are unlikely to feel the need for any meat substitute.

If you feel that this recipe doesn’t have enough meat-like texture, you can add a tin of lentils together with the other vegetables.

Does this recipe for vegan tagliatelle Bolognese with mushrooms contain alcohol?

Real Bolognese ragu often contains red wine, but I decided to skip it for this recipe because it tastes great without it. If you want to use half a cup of red wine to enrich the Bolognese sauce, you can add it after you add all the spices to the sauce.

Many vegan Bolognese sauce recipes take hours to make, rather mimicking the amount of time it takes to make the real version with meat. However, this soy-free vegan Bolognese pasta only takes a bit over one hour to make without compromising on taste.

When are porcini mushrooms in season?

You can only find fresh porcini mushrooms between September and November and again for a brief period in spring, in Marc or April. Outside these periods, your best bet are dried porcini mushrooms.

Are porcini mushrooms the same as shiitake?

Porcini mushrooms are often confused with shiitake, but they are not the same. Both of them are sold dried to use in sauces or broths, but porcini have a more earthy, pronounced flavour. Shiitake are a bit meatier and they are also less expensive than porcini.

If you liked these vegan tagliatelle Bolognese with mushrooms, check out my other vegan recipes.

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