Sausage and Vegetable Bolognese

This nourishing and comforting homemade pasta sauce is loaded with fiber and minerals for an easy meal prep dinner idea. The only thing you have to do to serve, is reheat and add pasta. Oh, and a generous amount of grated cheese.

This bolognese recipe transforms a classic comfort into a light and healthy weeknight dinner idea. You get a super satisfying and nutritious meal, that’s not only perfect for dinner, but also as left overs for a healthy work lunch the next day. It’s a clean-out-the-fridge kind of recipe, to use up left over vegetables you might have on hand.

This recipe is especially easy because you can make a big batch to freeze for future meals, that only requires reheating and tossing with pasta to serve. And topped with grated cheese, and maybe an extra drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil.

What Are the Best Canned Tomatoes?

I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to start using canned San Marzano tomatoes, but now I can never go back. They truly make such a difference. San Marzano tomatoes are much less acidic, have less seeds and are sweeter than traditional canned tomatoes. They make a more flavorful, thicker, richer tomato sauce. There are ‘fake’ San Marzano canned tomatoes out there, which lack the quality of authentic, so look for those that are D.O.P certified, like Cento brand.

Best vegetables to add to bolognese

Adding vegetables to a tomato sauce is a great way to add fiber to a comfort meal. This recipe is loaded with veggies, but really you can add as much as you prefer. It can be a great kid friendly meal too, as a way to sneak in vegetables. My go-to vegetables for this bolognese recipe are cauliflower, mushrooms, greens (kale or spinach), basil, onion and garlic. You can add carrots and zucchini too. I haven’t experimented with others, but I could see peppers working well.

Recipe for ‘Sausage and Vegetable Bolognese’

Cook Time: 2 hours

Yields: About 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound (organic) spicy Italian sausage (You can add 1 pound for even more flavor, but I went light to keep it vegetable forward!)

• 1-2 cups of bone broth or stock

• 1 28oz can of tomatoes (I used certified San Marzano for the low acidity and sweetness)

• 1 large yellow onion, chopped

• 8-12 cloves of garlic, chopped or sliced

• 6-8 cups of chopped vegetables

  • 1/2 head of cauliflower

  • ~2 cups mushrooms (I used oyster)

  • 2 cups kale and spinach

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• A handful of chopped fresh basil

• 1+ tsp sea salt to taste

• *optional: 1/2 tsp oil from jarred calabrian chilis, or red pepper flakes for extra heat

• Extra virgin olive oil and grated cheese to serve

Directions

1. Prep all the ingredients and chop all of the vegetables in small pieces, to match the size of broken up cooked sausage. For the mushrooms, I find the texture to be best if they’re roasted prior to adding to the sauce, so I chop them, toss them with a drizzle of olive oil and sea salt, and roast on a sheet pan at 375F for 20ish minutes.

2. Start the sauce by heating a pot to medium heat and sautéing and breaking up the sausage as it cooks. It takes about 15 minutes to cook through and render some fat. If it has rendered a lot of fat (this varies!) you can discard some with tongs holding a scrunched paper towel if you want to lighten up the calories a bit. Leave some fat for flavor though!

3. Add the garlic, onion, oregano and salt, sauté until the onion starts to appear translucent. About 5 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes, if using whole peeled tomatoes, break into chunks with your hand. Add 1 cup of broth.

5. Add the chopped veggies, except for the greens (these get added at the end so they don’t overcook) and stir. You can add the basil at this stage also.

6. Add the calabrian chili oil or red pepper flakes if you’re adding it.

7. Cover and simmer on low heat for about an hour. You want the veggies to really soften. Stir every 10 minutes or so and add more broth if it get’s too thick.

8. Once the vegetables have reduced and softened, you can turn off the heat and stir in the greens. Taste for seasoning, add more salt if needed.

9. Serve by tossing with a portion of pasta (I like using lentil pasta, but any pasta will work). I top it with grated cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil!