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An incredible Vegetable Ragu that’s so rich in flavour you’d never know it’s meat-free! Made with beautiful and simple vegetables, fresh herbs and garlic. Toss with your favourite pasta and top with plenty of parmesan cheese!
This ragu is so rich in flavour and has the most beautiful texture you’d never know it’s meat-free. In fact, when Nathan first made this I was positive he had added a spoonful of N’duja or a little pancetta to the sauce. The fact is, it’s completely veggie and utterly delicious!
It does take some time (around 1 hour) to simmer away but that’s where it develops all the amazing flavour and compared to a traditional meat ragu it’s so much quicker.
Serve it with your favourite pasta, lashings of parmesan cheese and some crusty bread for moping up all of the sauce!
Ingredients – what you need
- The vegetables – onion, carrot, celery and red bell pepper.
- Herbs – rosemary, thyme, sage and bay leaf.
- Dried porcini mushrooms – soaked in a little hot water for a few minutes these add a ton of incredible flavour!
- Garlic – fresh garlic is a must, don’t use ground!
- Stock – good quality vegetable stock (you can also use chicken stock if not vegetarian).
- White wine – you can use either white or red wine.
- Tomato paste – a small amount of concentrated tomato paste (puree in the UK) helps add a richer tomato flavour.
- Butter – this is a super important ingredient it makes the ragu, rich, creamy and so delicious.
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Pin ItHow to make Vegetable Ragu – step by step
Prepare the vegetable stock and add the dried porcini mushrooms to the stock to rehydrate, set aside.
Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and the butter to a large deep-sided pan on a medium-low heat. Once hot add the chopped carrot, celery, onion, bell pepper and all the chopped herbs and saute for 10-15 minutes until softened but not browned (photo 1 & 2).
Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the cherry tomatoes and the white wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes until reduced slightly (photo 3).
Scoop out the porcini mushrooms from the stock and roughly chop then add to the vegetables. Add the vegetable stock, bay leaf and tomato paste (concentrate), stir to combine (photo 4).
Cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes, uncover and simmer for another 20 minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly and the vegetables are tender (photo 5).
Serve the ragu with your favourite pasta or store for later (photo 6).
Top tips and recipe FAQs
- Cutting the vegetables – make sure to cut the vegetables as finely as possible, chunky vegetables will take longer to cook. You can use a food processor but be careful to not blitz the vegetables too much.
- Dried porcini mushrooms – these should be easy to find in most supermarkets and they add a huge amount of umami flavour to sauces. They need to be rehydrated in hot water so first quickly rinse any grit that may be on them then simply add them to the hot stock for at least 10 minutes. Remove them to roughly chop then add them to the vegetables along with the stock.
- Butter – the butter helps give this ragu a beautiful richness so try to not skip it.
- Herbs – I recommend using fresh herbs for best results but don’t worry if you don’t have all 3 you can use just one!
This sauce is perfect served with pasta. Any shape or size will do but I love to serve it with pappardelle pasta and some crusty bread.
To make the sauce alcohol free simply replace the white wine with extra stock.
Yes, this sauce freezes really well just store it in sealed containers or freezer bags then thaw completely before reheating.
More Italian vegetarian recipes you might like
- Lentil Ragu Lasagne
- Penne Pomodoro (Tomato Basil Pasta)
- Spaghetti Aglio e Olio: Garlic & Oil Pasta
- Ricotta Pasta Sauce: 2 Ways
- Cavatelli and Broccoli Pasta
If you’ve tried this Vegetable Ragu or any other recipe on the blog please let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.
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Vegetable Ragu with Pappardelle Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 large carrot, or 2 small, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 stick celery, finely chopped
- 1 large large onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped (seeds and stalk removed)
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 cup fresh cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, roughly chopped
- 3-4 sage leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup white wine, (125ml)
- 2 cups vegetable stock, (500ml)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste, (tomato puree UK)
- 2 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter, (30g)
- salt and pepper, to season
For serving
- 14 oz pappardelle pasta or pasta of choice, (400g)
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetable stock and add the dried porcini mushrooms to the stock to rehydrate, set aside.
- Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and the butter to a large deep-sided pan on a medium-low heat. Once hot add the chopped carrot, celery, onion, bell pepper and all the chopped herbs and saute for 10-15 minutes until softened but not browned.
- Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the cherry tomatoes and the white wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes until reduced slightly.
- Scoop out the porcini mushrooms from the stock and roughly chop then add to the vegetables. Add the vegetable stock, bay leaf and tomato paste (concentrate), stir to combine.
- Cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes, uncover and simmer for another 20 minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly and the vegetables are tender.
- Prepare your pasta until al dente (around 8-10 minutes check packet instructions) and toss with the ragu, serve with grated parmesan.
Video
Notes
- Cutting the vegetables – make sure to cut the vegetables as finely as possible, chunky vegetables will take longer to cook. You can use a food processor but be careful to not blitz the vegetables too much.
- Dried porcini mushrooms – these should be easy to find in most supermarkets and they add a huge amount of umami flavour to sauces. They need to be rehydrated in hot water so first quickly rinse any grit that may be on them then simply add them to the hot stock for at least 10 minutes. Remove them to roughly chop then add them to the vegetables along with the stock.
- Butter – the butter helps give this ragu a beautiful richness so try to not skip it.
- Herbs – I recommend using fresh herbs for best results but don’t worry if you don’t have all 3 you can use just one!
- Storage – leftover ragu will keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days or can be frozen.
- Nutritional information is for the sauce alone and does not include the pasta.
Helpful Info for All Recipes
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise
- When I use canned or jarred tomatoes of any kind I always use Cirio or Mutti brands for the best results and flavour.
- All vegetables are medium sized unless stated otherwise
- All recipes are tested and developed using a fan (convection) oven
- Find out more about how nutrition is calculated.
- Check out our must have Italian Pantry Staples.
- You can also find all our Essential Kitchen Tools for Italian Cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a great sauce. I didn’t have any bell peppers so I subbed in some fresh garden eggplant and used my home grown tomatoes. I accidentally added too much broth *my fault* and the sauce got very thin. To thicken it up I added some panko bread crumbs and used the immersion blender and it came out perfect. No one missed the meat.
This was really rich and delicious. I added pecorino and Worcestershire sauce to add a little bit more depth, and was super tasty. I’ve made it before without mushrooms, and I think the mushrooms add a lovely umami taste, that is much more delicious than meat. I also subbed bell pepper for courgette and turned out great. Great recipe.
Was yummy. But could fresh mushrooms & finely chopped spinach also be used?
Yes, that would be delicious! Happy you enjoyed it 🙂
I made this dish for myself and some friends (who are vegetarians) and it was delicious. I was true to the recipe except I couldn’t find porcini, so I used dry shiitake, and I used dry herbs. I didn’t miss meat at all, there was a lot of flavor to it, and the umami from the mushrooms really came out once the dish had simmered and reduced.
Great idea to use dried shiitake mushrooms they have such a delicious flavour, so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
This is so, so good. Making it for the second time. We top the dish with burrata and it’s like heaven.
Thank you so much. Yummm, I’ll need to add burrata next time!
This came out so yummy! We browned some beyond meat and added it into the ragú as well.
Is there a certain white wine you recommend for this recipe?
Hi Brian, any dry white wine will do!
Thank you. Really enjoying eating my way through your blog!!!!!
Aw so happy you’re enjoying the recipes!