Lentil Zucchini Pasta Bolognese
Fun-not-so-important fact about me! I tried to be a zucchini pasta lover for YEARS. When I experimented with eating a mainly raw diet, I got sick of eating 5 bananas a day, so I needed to branch out. I tried raw zucchini noodles with "alfredo sauce" that consisted of cauliflower and garlic. It tasted as great as you would think it to be.
That experience scarred me, so I stayed away from veggies claiming to be pasta for a while.
Once upon a time, I used to be a lover of all things Italian cuisine. One of my favorite dishes my mama would make growing up was baked spaghetti, and I always asked for Italian when we would eat out for birthday dinners. Many diet changes later, I rarely get to love yummy cream sauces with carb-heavy pasta anymore.
This dish was the cause of wanting pasta, not having pasta, and having a more restricted diet these days. I had been on a zucchini kick, and had lots of the squash laying around my fridge needing to be used up.
I spiraled the noddles and went with a bolognese sauce that I made from scratch without the traditional heavy oils and crumbled beef.
This dish is so great, in my humble opinion. Especially for something that just came together last minute with many ingredients dumped into a pot hoping it would turn out. It's light enough for lunch, but comforting and warm for a rainy day.
I love it topped with nutritional yeast and garlic salt, which is reminiscent of parmesan cheese. I strongly suggest you do the same.
Lentil Zucchini Pasta Bolognese
Ingredients
Noodles
-3 large zucchinis, spiralized (which you can buy inexpensviely here)
-1 tsp coconut oil
-Cayenne, salt, & pepper to taste
Bolognese Sauce
-1 cup red and green lentils, mixed
-1/2 onion, chopped finely
-3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
-1 can tomato paste
-1/4 cup of veggie broth
-1/2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
-2 tablespoons of coconut aminos (a soy free alternative to soy sauce, feel free to use whatever you have on hand!)
-1/2 teaspoon coriander
-1/2 teaspoon ground mustard powder
-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
-1 teaspoon chili powder
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/2 teaspoon cayanne pepper
-salt & pepper to taste
To make the bolognese sauce:
In a small pot, bring the lentils to a boil in water. Once they reach a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Then let them simmer for 20 minutes. They'll reach a softer texture, which is perfect for adding to our sauce. After 20 minutes, just drain in a colander and set aside.
In a large sauce pan, heat up a teaspoon of coconut or olive oil over medium heat. While the oil heats, chop your onion and garlic, then add to the pot.
Let the onion and garlic cook for 5-7 minutes until fragrant.
Add the tomato paste, and stir until it thins out from the heat of the pan and is coating the vegetables in the pot.
Now add the veggie stock slowly and whisk with a spoon so that the tomato paste can thin out even more.
Add your apple cider vinegar, coconut aminos, and spices, and mix well with that spoon of yours.
Add in the cooked lentils that you have set aside and mix well again to coat them in your tomato sauce.
Cover the pot with a lid and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. This allows the flavors to meld and cook together.
After you've let the sauce cook down a little bit, remove from heat and pour over your veggie noodles.
To make the noodles: This is really simple. Just spiralize your zucchinis and toss them in a little bit of coconut oil on a skillet over medium heat. You can season them with salt and pepper to soften the noodles faster. I find this gives them more of a pasta-like texture, versus that crunchy vegetable texture.
Once they start to release a little liquid, just remove from heat and plate.
You can then add nutritional yeast, garlic salt, chopped cherry tomatoes, or whatever your pasta loving heart likes on noodles.
This is really easy to keep in the fridge for several days and pull out for lunch. I recommend storing the zucchini separately so it doesn't absorb the liquid from the sauce.
