Cauliflower Bolognese
Updated April 09, 2020
Cauliflower Bolognese-this hearty and healthy bolognese is made with cauliflower and lentils. Even meat lovers will enjoy this rich and delicious bolognese sauce.
Utah has been getting pounded with snow this winter. Josh is loving the snow because he has had some pretty epic ski days on the mountain, but I am kind of over it. I enjoyed the first few snow storms, but I am ready for the snow to go! I do want to thank the snow for my comfort food cravings. The snow MADE me make this amazing Cauliflower Bolognese Sauce. I was craving a big old bowl of pasta and this cauliflower bolognese was the perfect sauce to top off my spaghetti.
On one of our many snow days, I turned on the fireplace and snuggled up with Emilie’s cookbook, The Clever Cookbook. I was flipping through the book and spotted a Cauliflower Bolognese recipe and knew I had to make it for dinner. I was already craving pasta and I LOVE cauliflower so I was sold. It sounded so good!
If you are a traditionalist and are thinking, cauliflower in my bolognese, what??? Think cauliflower in my bolognese, YES! It is SO good! There are also lentils in the sauce which make it super hearty and give the sauce a nice protein boost. The cauliflower is chopped really small so you don’t even know it is there. The cauliflower and lentils give the sauce a nice, meaty texture without any meat. I changed the recipe a bit by adding balsamic vinegar, some herbs and spices, and a pinch of sugar to cut the acidity.
I served the Cauliflower Bolognese over whole wheat spaghetti and added fresh basil and Parmesan cheese.
Oh my goodness, this sauce is life changing, seriously! My meat loving boys even loved it. They had no clue it was made with cauliflower and lentils and I wasn’t about to tell them:) Shhh, that is our little secret:) Maxwell loved it so much he was yelling bolognYAYse…ha!
The bolognese sauce has SO much flavor. The addition of balsamic vinegar really made the sauce rich and delicious. Don’t skip it! This bolognese would also be good with zoodles, spaghetti squash, quinoa, rice, on toast, or with roasted vegetables, chicken…just about everything!
I put some sauce in the freezer, it will come in handy if we keep having these cold, snowy days. Cauliflower Bolognese is the perfect healthy comfort food, you’ve gotta try it.
Cauliflower Bolognese
Ingredients
- 1 small head cauliflower
- 2 tablespoons butter (olive oil for vegan)
- 1 cup chopped yellow onions
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 28 oz cans whole plum tomatoes in thick puree
- 1/2 cup red lentils
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- Dash of crushed red pepper
- Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 lb spaghetti or other pasta (can use gluten-free pasta, zoodles, or spaghetti squash)
- Chopped fresh basil and grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (omit cheese for vegan)
Instructions
- Slice the cauliflower in half, removing the thick center core. Cut into large chunks.
- Using a food processor, break up the cauliflower into florets. Do this in batches to create uniform pieces. Pulse the cauliflower two times until it looks crumbly with a few small florets. Put cauliflower in a bowl and repeat. If you don't have a food processor, you can finely chop the cauliflower into pieces.
- In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat the butter or olive oil over low heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the cauliflower to the pot. Increase the heat to medium and continue to cook stirring occasionally until the cauliflower begins to lose its shape and takes on a light golden color, about 10-12 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Pour in the tomatoes, red lentils, balsamic vinegar, sugar, thyme, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined.
- Place the lid on top and bring the sauce to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft and lentils are broken down. The sauce should be thick. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Serve pasta with cauliflower bolognese sauce. Garnish with fresh basil and Parmesan cheese, if desired. Serve warm.
- Note-If you don't have whole plum tomatoes, you can use diced or crushed tomatoes. The cauliflower bolognese will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week. It will freeze in a freezer container for up to 2 months. Make sure the sauce is completely cooled before freezing. This sauce is also great with zucchini noodles, rice, or quinoa.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
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I need to get on this cauliflower craze– your bolognese looks like a delicious place to start!
Yes you do:) It’s such a great vegetable.
As a vegetarian, I think this looks absolutely incredible and is so clever! I already have most of the ingredients in my house right now, so I’ll definitely be making this asap! Thanks so much for sharing and for the great idea!
You are welcome. Enjoy!
You are a genius Maria!! I am SO making this for my daughter who doesn’t eat meat!!
I think she will love it. It is so good!
My kids are allergic to lentils but this recipe looks amazing. Is there another bean or vegetarian protein you could recommend instead of lentils that would work great in this recipe? I have been vegetarian for 20+ years and love to come to your site for ideas!
Hmmm, I have only tried it with lentils. They are small and hearty and hold up nicely in the sauce. You can try white beans, but they might get a little mushy. Chickpeas might work too, but they will be bigger and have a different texture. Let me know if you try it!
LOVE this substitution! I love bolognese sauce, but I don’t eat beef. This is perfect 😀
It is SO good! I am obsessed.
I can’t believe you posted this today. I was just looking in the fridge thinking I don’t have meat on hand but I have cauliflower and pasta. Ugh. Did not want pasta and marinara with steamed cauliflower. Thanks so much. I will make this tonight! I just restocked our lentils this week too but they are green…
Talk about perfect timing, enjoy!
Made it. My three kids 9, 6, 4 all gobbled it up quite happily. My 6 yr old whispered to me, “I know what you put in this sauce” but she smiled like it was our secret and kept eating. My husband liked it but hopes meat returns next time. Haha. I loved it and was filled up and my tummy thanked me too. Yes I could taste some lentils but they are not overpowering at all just kind of in the background and since I enjoy them I was seeking out their texture. If it was mushrooms I would have endeavored to ignore them. Haha
Ha! I love your secret:) Glad you all enjoyed it!
What a nice, light, healty and tasty bolognese!
This is so so cool! I much prefer cauliflower and lentils to meat, so I will definitely be trying this. Thanks so much for sharing, Maria, and congrats on the gorgeous photos!
Thank you!
This sauce looks incredible! I need to try this next week!
Paige Flamm
The Happy Flammily
http://bit.ly/2jEd6V2
That bread that is with your cauliflower Bolognese, do you have that recipe? It looks really good. Also can you taste the lentils? Not my favorite. Thanks so much for your recipes.
The lentils give the sauce a hearty texture. I like them in the sauce and don’t think they are that noticeable. The bread is from Smith’s bakery, a Kroger store. It is a whole grain loaf.
I’m not sure I’m ready for cauliflower in my pasta but it does look good and the sauce ingredients sound like a good mix. I’m going to give it a try – once I talk the rest of the family into it:)
I hope you like it!
Hey girl- this looks amazing!
I am dying to try this! I love the addition of balsamic, yum!
It’s so good!
This was really good, we liked the texture of the lentils and cauliflower in the sauce.
This looks delicious!! I love the cauliflower addition!
Currently making this now. I have jarred strained tomatoes – can I use this in place of the plum tomatoes in can?
I am sure they would still be tasty.
I have been craving vegan bolognese that acutally resembles real bolognese and this hit it!! Incredible!! Thank you so much!
You are welcome! It is my new favorite!
oh my gosh… i never thought to use cauliflower in my bolognese!
It’s life changing!
what a delicious and healthy way to eat Bolognese! Loving it!
I’ve been loving all of the creative ways people have been transforming cauliflower – this one especially looks amazing!
Your recipes never disappoint! I made this dish last night and it was a hit with my carnivores, we are having the leftovers for tonight’s supper. Win win! Thank you for the inspiration.
Can I substitute green lentils?p for red in your Cauliflower Bologonese recipe?
I am sure they will be fine. You might see them more in the sauce, but if you don’t mind, they will work!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was divine! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Glad you liked it!
This stuff. Amazing.
I usually don’t comment on recipes but this is a life-changing recipe for me. I have a love-hate relationship with traditional bolognese. I love the flavors but I don’t like an overly meaty dish and I can’t eat too much of it. This sauce is. The. Bomb. The texture is perfect, flavors are on point, and it’s pretty easy to make. This was my first experience with lentils and I would say a definite success. Never buying a red sauce again!
Yay! I am so happy you liked the recipe!
I can’t wait to try this but was wondering if the lentils need to be soaked first?
Hi, this looks fantastic. Question – the recipe calls for whole tomatoes. Do they break down as they cook? The sauce doesn’t look like it has big pieces of tomatoes. Can I use crushed tomatoes? Thanks!
I use whole plum tomatoes and they do break down. If you don’t have them you can use diced or crushed tomatoes. Enjoy!
Thanks! I made it with one can of plum tomatoes and one can of crushed tomatoes. The sauce was amazing! I think next time I will use 2 cans of crushed as they seemed to cook better.
Interesting, mine has been at a fast simmer for 5 1/2 hours and my lentils are still crunchy 🙁 Also after a taste test I had to double up on all added seasonings (and I added some bouillon for an enhancement)
The lentils should soften while cooking, ours didn’t take that long. If you are having trouble you can always cook the lentils first, but again, I just added them in and they softened just fine.
Silly question- do you use cooked lentils or let them cook in the tomato sauce?
I let them cook in the sauce, but you can add cooked lentils too!
This looks outstanding but I have never cooked with lentils before. Do the red lentils require pre-cooking or soaking?
I don’t cook them before, but you could always cook them and add them in if you want.
I have never commented although I have made many of your recipes…and they were all good. I have been trying to cook more vegetarian meals and so many of them are a lot alike. When I made this recipe, I didn’t dare tell my family what it was…ha! It was incredibly good and not a one of them realized it wasn’t made with meat. Awesome job Maria!
I made this and it is delicious, thank you for sharing. Im making again and will serve over spaghetti squash.
So glad you liked it!
Great recipe! Thanks! And the best is- you can make it vegan so easy! Instead of parmesan use nutritional yeast. I also added half of a carrot, mushrooms and celery breaking it up in food processor, and a pinch of smoked paprika. DELICIOUS <3
I will try mushrooms next time. Yum! Glad you liked it!
Do you know how to figure out weight watchesr points for your recipes?
Thanks Debbie
I am not familiar with how WW points work, sorry!
Mmmmmm…..yum. This looks totally amazing. I’m just starring at the screen looking at how delicious they look.
Fantastic! I’ve been searching for more plant-based recipes for my family. This was excellent and hearty. I added a can of tomato paste with the garlic and also about a cup of red wine. Served it over spaghetti squash with roasted veggies on the side and garlic bread. My whole family loved it.
Glad the entire family liked the recipe!
Am I starting with with dried lentils? Do they need to be soaked overnight first?
I’d love to cut down prep time even more by using pre-riced cauliflower. Do you think it would work, and about how much do you think a small cauliflower would yield? Thanks!
I googled this. I also wanted to use pre-riced cauliflower and was curious. Two different sources said that 1 head of cauliflower is equivalent to about 4 cups riced. Since this recipe calls for a small head, maybe 3-4 cups??
3-4 cups sounds right…start with 3 and maybe add to it if you need to!
This recipe is fabulous!! My husband refuses to eat cauliflower – except when he doesn’t realize that he IS eating it – ha! So this recipe is even more perfect just for that!
I’m a no-added-fat vegan so didn’t add the oil, and of course the recipe was even more health-licious! I found that for some reason my red lentils took much longer than an hour to cook which is very strange, so will just allow for extra time next time.
I followed the recipe today and it was very bland. Any suggestions to get more flavor?
Can you use the rices frozen cauliflower?
We added red wine, fresh fennel and a chili powder reduction. So good!
Glad you liked it!
I love this recipe, but wondering how to get the lentils to not be so crunchy? Thanks
Adding the salt after cooking will help
If I want to use rices cauliflower how many cups would that be
Do you have nutritional information?
Can I use rices cauliflower? If so how many cups do you think I would need ?
Yes, that should work. I will have to try it to get exact measurements, my guess would be about 3 cups.
I am eating this as I type my review…. amazing!! My mom (who isn’t vegetarian and sometimes grossed out by my weird recipes ) even loves it! Flavor is so good. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Oh my gosh this looks so good! I am over here drooling over this dish right now. I am all over this. I can’t even stop starring !!
I made this today and was shocked by how good it was. I had my doubts but thought I would just try. I served it over a mix of spiralled carrots and normal pasta. My kids just got all their veggies and wanted seconds! Thanks for the lovely recipe.
Looks delicious! I am not a big fan of chunks of tomato.
Could you use tomato sauce or puree instead? If so how much?
Thanks!
Hi, I haven’t made this yet butI was wondering if you could make this a little more spicy and if so what should I add??
Thank you,
Tania
This is a great recipe! I’m going to use my Instant Pot tonight to make it again. After sauté the onions, then cauliflower, garlic, I’ll try high pressure for 10 minutes. Have you done this in the IP?
I was wondering if I could buy riced cauliflower ? I wasn’t sure that it would create the heavier texture that maybe this recipe needs.
I am sure that would work just fine.
Hi sorry just found this recipie and I’m a cooking newbie is it half a cup of dried lentils?
yes!
Im doing this right now! Looks so good but I have a question… doesn’t it seem to over cook the cauliflower? Softening it first and then let it simmer for half an hour with all the rest seems to me a bit too much, like all he good stuff will be gone by over cooking. Can this happen? Thx!
I made and did not find that the cauliflower was over cooked.
Any idea how to adapt this to the Instant Pot?
This is fantastic. Thank you! I’ll definitely make this regularly.
Younger son tried only a minuscule taste. Older son reluctantly tried it and then dipped the remainder of his pasta in it. That’s success in my book. 😉
I made this and was very impressed. The appearance and the texture say “meat sauce.” I served it to my MIL, and she totally thought there was meat in the sauce. My lentils softened with no issue (although this did sit on the stove for a time while I nursed the baby). I added about 1/2 cup of tomato paste to dial up the tomato flavour (personal preference and also hid the cauliflower a bit more). I also dialed up the spices slightly.
Red lentils get mushy while green lentils remain crunchy 😉
Made this and added grated carrot ……not sure if mushrooms would work as well…but the carrots were fine.
Made this last night and it was absolutely delicious! I used a blender instead of a food processor for the cauliflower and it turned out fine. I added extra garlic and a little vegetable stock to make the sauce a little more runny. Fresh thyme was substituted with dried thyme and I added extra of all the herbs for more flavour. I used dry chilli flakes instead of the crushed red pepper. Highly recommend this recipe.
Yay!
What is the nutrition contents for this receipe? I am trying to figure out the Weight Watcher’s points for this.
I have just cooked this and I love it I always put a bit of spice in my food. Anyway, I live in Thailand, and my wife said everyone would like this. So I cooked for 4 adults and teenagers total in 10. After cooking the sauce I took my serving and they added pork mince after frying it in garlic and then added pork to remaining sauce. Everything got eaten and could have served more so this recipe is a winner and I will continue to use it. Thanks
Hi y’all I made this recipe yesterday for my wife and I we are both WFPB and all I can say is Yum – O it is really good , ty for the recipe 😀
Glad you liked it!
I didn’t have enough canned tomatoes for some reason, so I just used two jars of prepared Bertolli Tomato and Basil spaghetti sauce and added cauliflower and lentils as instructed. I skipped other seasons but did add balsamic vinegar. It was very flavorful!
As a meat-lover that’s Been cutting meat drastically lately i can Totally recommend this recipe. Did’nt miss the mest at all and a classic Bolognese is one of my all time pasta favorites. Thanks to the two peas for making it easy to choose vegetarian dishes!
Can you make this in the instant pot or crock pot?
My daughter got me onto this recipe. OMG it is so delicious it is crazy. My youngest 16 who’s favourite meal is meaty bolognese hates trying new thing and was scared to try it, she took one bite and said this is so delicious and since it’s healthy we should have it every day. I put wine in mine just like I do my meaty one. I used the traders Joe’s rice cauliflower I did not mearure (bad habit of mine) I put the whole bag in but I think next time i will put more tomatoes or less rice cauliflower. I did not use oil and instead of sugar I used maple syrup.I served it with GF pasta and topped it with yeast to replace the cheese. My husband loved it too. Thank you so much I will definetly be following you for more yummy meals. I am wondering if I can make a lasagnia with it, I could try the white sauce with almond milk since we are now wfpb.
This is an awesome recipe. I’ve made it several times as my family loves it.
I’m making this right now and was wondering … do I need to put the 2 cans of tomatoes in a food processor??
Yumm so great!
I was very generous with the seasoning and ended up cooking the sauce for 1.5 hours on low heat… but the result was superb. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
You are welcome! Glad you liked it!
I LOVED this! I’ve never cooked with lentils before but I’m trying to eat less meat and was pleased with the result. Like another commenter, I used jarred marinara but still added in the balsamic, garlic, onions, etc. I used Crimson lentils and they were a tad crunchy but I didn’t mind the texture at all. This was seriously delicious. I don’t usually like leftovers of cauliflower dishes, so I’m hoping this reheats well.
I am glad you enjoyed the recipe. I like the leftovers.
The leftovers were delicious! I’m making this again for a friend who just had surgery. Thanks for this delicious meatless recipe!
Where has this been all my life? This was really delicious. Satisfied my carnivore and pasta-loving husband – he couldn’t even finish the portion I gave him. It was surprisingly hearty. Daughter hates squash and cauliflower and she said it was really good. Freezing two containers of leftovers for another night. This was a winner!
This was an amazing recipe. I was missing a couple of ingredients. Substituted the balsamic with red wine and the lentil with mushrooms and added nutritional yeast. Yummy!!!
Glad you liked it!
I love this recipe. It takes likes really nice, meaty Bolognese sauce. It’s my go-to pasta and I never use mince anymore. The cauliflower takes a while to soften but it’s worth the wait. I add red wine. Highly recommend!
I am so happy you love this bolognese!
Amazing recipe!! I didn’t have balsamic so I just added some red wine and sugar for that and I’m a sucker for mushrooms which I also added. Paired it with some fettuccine. Mmmm, happy happy tummy.
YUM! Glad you liked the recipe!
I followed the recipe as is, except I didn’t have lentils so I substituted canned pink beans in the last 15 minutes. I found it remarkably flavorful and filling! It is going in my recipe binder, and I will definitely be making it again!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. One of our favorites!
Absolutely amazing recipe! Think I can say that I prefer this over normal bolognese! The recipe was super easy to make and turned out absolutely fantastic. Super fresh and deliceous, the perfect recipe for the whole family, vegetarian and non-vegetarians.
What’s your go to balsamic vinegar for the cauliflower bolognese