This is a delicious whole food, vegan bolognese over zucchini noodles but you can and should serve it over pasta, rice, quinoa. A definite addition to a Mediterranean style diet and is perfect for #MeatlessMonday.

The mushrooms give a nice meaty texture and the nutritional yeast lends a cheesy flavor so you won’t miss the parmesan cheese. The sauce is loaded with flavorful vegetables and herbs. For more protein add legumes or nuts to your sauce.

I was traipsing around my old food blog, Whatsfordinnerdoc and found my version of vegetarian bolognese and decided to make it vegan. The original recipe had marscapone cheese but I wanted to see if nutritional yeast would give this vegan version a cheesy boost of flavor. I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted as if I’d added parmesan cheese.

 

The zoodles are low in calories and carbohydrates with a pasta mouth feel but you can eat this over any wheat, brown rice or quinoa pasta. I bring a spirilized with me to Baja because I haven’t seen one to purchase. I love Trader Joe’s quinoa spaghetti when I want pasta and it has 5 grams of protein per serving if you aren’t watching your carbohydrates. I have used this spirilizer for 4 years and it still works great and is easy to clean.

Vegan Bolognese and Zoodles

Vegan bolognese is low calories and loaded with nutritious vegetables for an easy Mediterranean meal. Make it low carb over zoodles or serve it with pasta.

Ingredients: 2 medium zucchini, spirilized

2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 fennel bulb, coarsely chopped

1 stalk celery

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups any combination of mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dry red wine, may substitute vegetable broth

14 oz can diced, no salt tomatoes

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Wash and chop all vegetables except the zucchini. Spirilize the zucchini. Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add carrots, fennel, celery and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add herbs, mushrooms, tomato, salt and pepper. Simmer 45 minutes. Add zoodles and stir gently for 5 minutes. You want the zucchini to be warm but maintain its texture. Stir in yeast just before serving.

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