Description
Introducing this phenomenal vegan ragu recipe! You’ll ditch store-bought pasta sauces after you make this.
Ingredients
Scale
Ragu Sauce
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 package Lightlife original tempeh, finely minced
- 2 carrots, finely minced
- 2 stalks celery, finely minced
- ½ medium onion, finely minced
- 5 garlic cloves, finely minced
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp coconut sugar (optional)
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)
- 1 can (28 oz) San Marzano tomatoes, blended or crushed
- 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves chopped finely
- 4 thyme sprigs, leaves minced finely
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Remaining Ingredients
- 1 serving tagliatelle pasta, cooked (reserve 3 tbsp pasta water)
- Finely minced fresh parsley, for garnish
- Vegan parmesan, for garnish
Instructions
- Start by prepping the tempeh, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Quick little tip, to get a super fine mince, I pop the veggies into my vitamix and blitz them quickly (so much better than chopping them by hand).
- Heat the olive oil on medium-high heat in a large pan or pot. Once shimmering, add in the minced tempeh, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Season with a pinch of salt. Stir to mix and partially cover the pan. Turn the heat down to medium and let the sofrito mixture cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sofrito mixture will drastically reduce in volume once 30 minutes is up.
- Next, add in the lemon juice (this will help deglaze the pan), tomato paste, soy sauce, coconut sugar, cumin, coriander, dried basil, dried oregano, and cinnamon or nutmeg. Stir the sofrito mixture and fry for an additional 5 minutes. This is super important as it’ll cook out the “raw” tomato paste flavor and bloom the spices.
- Finally, add in the crushed or blended tomatoes, thyme and oregano. Stir and season the ragu with salt and black pepper to taste. Let the sauce simmer on medium-low for 15-20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. At this point the sauce is ready to be used, but I highly recommend letting it simmer for 3 hours on low. For best flavor, let the sauce simmer and then sit in the fridge overnight to allow the flavors to meld. Because the sauce tastes better the following day, I recommend treating this as a meal-prep recipe for the week!
- To serve with pasta, spoon a generous amount of the ragu (I like using 1 cup) onto your cooked pasta of choice (tagliatelle tastes best), followed by 2-3 tablespoons of reserved pasta water. Toss the pasta and sauce together on medium heat until the sauce is clinging to the pasta. Serve with minced parsley and vegan parmesan.