This thick & saucy gluten-free vegetable bolognese is a favourite because it’s rich, hearty and satisfying, while also being a big dose of veggies! And it couldn’t be further from a watery sauce – in fact it’s so thick and luscious we had to water it down to make lasagne. Make this recipe throughout spring, summer and autumn when these veggies are plentiful, cheap and at their best, loading up the freezer to get you through winter or whenever you need a quick meal. Heat up a container, cook some pasta and you’ve got the ultimate bowl food, faster than you could order Uber Eats.
Thick & Saucy Gluten-Free Vegetable Bolognese
This sauce is such a favourite of mine because it’s rich, hearty and satisfying, while also being a big dose of veggies! And it couldn’t be further from a watery sauce – in fact it’s so thick and luscious we had to water it down to make lasagne.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 brown onions thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves diced
- 2 carrots finely diced
- 2 celery sticks finely diced
- 1 eggplant diced
- 400 g Swiss brown mushrooms diced
- 200 g pitted Kalamata olives diced
- 500 g ripe tomatoes diced
- ½ cup gluten-free red miso paste*
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 gluten-free chicken-style stock cubes or 1 tablespoon gluten-free faux-chicken stock powder
- 3 teaspoons ground sweet paprika
- 700 g passata
- 1 potato peeled and grated
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large frypan over medium heat. Once hot, add onion and saute for 5–10 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and continue cooking for a couple of minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.
- In this order, add carrot, celery, eggplant, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, miso paste, maple syrup, stock cubes or stock powder, paprika and passata to slow cooker. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
4 OR 8 HOURS LATER
- Add grated potato, fold through, incorporating well. Cover and cook for a further 30 minutes on high, and your Bolognese is ready to serve! My favourite option is to ladle the sauce over penne or rigatoni and garnish with a sprinkling of cheese and fresh greens (pictured). This sauce is also great as a shepherd’s pie base, a pie filling, pasta bake sauce, served over creamy polenta, stuffed in capsicums or inside a jacket potato.
Notes
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