No, this isn’t some kind of joke, and you don’t have to be a vegetarian to love what’s going on here. Chopped-up cauliflower and mushrooms provide comparable richness and texture to what you usually get from the classic long-cooked ground meat sauce.
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What you’ll need
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Food Processor
$63 At Amazon
Dutch Oven
$133 $80 At Amazon
Slotted Spoon
$11 At Amazon
Microplane
$18 At Amazon
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Ingredients
6 servings
12
1
¼
4
1
6
1
1
⅓
1
2
3
½
Preparation
Step 1
Pulse mushrooms in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a small bowl. Wipe out food processor bowl.
Step 2
Working in 3 batches, pulse cauliflower in food processor until pieces are about the size of a grain of rice (some smaller and some larger ones are fine), transferring to a medium bowl as you go.
Step 3
Heat ¼ cup oil and 2 Tbsp. butter in a Dutch oven or other large heavy pot over medium-high. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 4–6 minutes. Add onion and 2 Tbsp. oil to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is very soft and golden brown, 6–8 minutes. Add garlic, chile, and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is softened and mixture is very fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until paste is slightly darkened, about 2 minutes. Add cauliflower and cook, yes, still stirring occasionally, until cauliflower is cooked down slightly and begins to stick to bottom of pot, 6–8 minutes. Season with salt, then keep warm over low heat.
Step 4
Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until almost al dente, about 1 minute less than package directions.
Step 5
Using a slotted spoon, transfer pasta to pot with sauce. Add 1 cup Parmesan, remaining 2 Tbsp. butter, and 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente and sauce is clinging to pasta, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt (it'll probably need another pinch or two). Finely zest lemon over pasta and toss once more.
Step 6
Divide pasta among bowls. Top with more Parmesan, then drizzle with oil.
Leave a Review
Reviews (187)
Back to TopThis is a great recipe, I didn’t change it except by adding extra garlic. Fantastic result, freezes well if you have leftovers, which I did. Leftovers were just as good if not better!
Squirrel bait
Kalamazoo, MI
11/14/2023
Once I realized that this is basically spaghetti pasta which substitutes riced cauliflower for meat, the recipe became superfluous. However, I will still make some recommendations. 1--Abandon the food processor and rice the cauliflower with a standard hand ricer. It only takes two minutes, and all of the cauliflower will be uniform. That is harder to accomplish with a processor. 2--Add shiitake mushrooms. They provide a bit of a smokey taste. You can still use regular mushrooms in addition to the shiitake ones. 3--I used whole tomatoes for the tomato sauce. It takes about 40 minutes or so for the sauce to reduce. I did use a food processor for that part. But I didn't blanche the tomatoes. Just threw them into the processor, and let er rip. There are plenty of recipes online for a tomato sauce. 4--I lightly "fried" the cauliflower before adding it to the sauce. It gave the riced cauliflower a bit more firmness. 5--I put this over homemade egg noodle pasta (Fettuccini sized) 6--NEVER use store purchased grated parmesan cheese. They add ground paper and tree bark as a filler. (It is noted on the label as cellulose). Buy blocks of parmesan cheese and run that through your processor until it is finely grated.
TedEJr
Pooler, Ga
6/27/2023
I made the recipe as directed. We thought it was too bland and certainly not worth the effort. There are several changes I'd make if I prepared it again, but due to the time involved, I won't be preparing it again. If anyone is interested, my thoughts for changes are: finely dice the mushrooms instead of putting them through the food processor, double the tomato paste, and double the rosemary.
Zoe21
Minneapolis, MN
4/12/2023
I love this recipe. I've made at least a handful or more times and can't get enough. The double tomato paste concentrate (or doubling up on regular tomato paste) along with spices and garlic pull it together. Fresh parm, lemon zest, a sprinkling of salt and drizzling of olive oil just makes it feel even fancier.
Victoooria
Seattle, WA
1/8/2023
Followed the recipe precisely, only change is I cut the cauliflower/mushrooms smaller. It was a bit blend and mushy, not much character. Worth a try but will not make again.
ZP
Doylestown PA
10/30/2022
I was pleasantly surprised to see this recipe as I grew up in an Italian American home in the 50’s and 60’s where we ate cauliflower with pasta all the time. My mother always made it with the red sauce that was similar in texture to this Bolognese. As I began cooking for my own family I made my own twists and used chickpeas and garlic and oil instead of a red sauce and mixed in some goat cheese instead of the Parmesan. My mother used to call this peasant food. We ate pasta every evening with many combinations in my house growing up. My aunts, grandmother, older cousins made many types of vegetables with pasta. When I see these recipes they bring back wonderful family memories and always bring a smile to my face. This was the type of food Italian Americans ate at home all the time.
Anonymous
poughkeepsie NY
9/29/2022
This is one of my favorite BA recipes. So satisfying. Also a great meal to make ahead and freeze. My go-to for camping.
Anonymous
Portland, OR
6/10/2022
Always will be people that have a "better way". But don't have the guts to do their own recipes. Just sit back and criticize... This recipe, iffollowedas stated, is really good. Hearty, healthy and tasty. Just try it and decide for yourself. Liked it a lot.
Baxnnex
Pasadena, Ca
4/29/2022
I was reading the recipe carefully and although I didn't make it yet, it seems this recipe is something I would like. I would not chop the mushrooms very small because they are supposed to sub the meat in vegetarian dishes and I really like them. Another thing is I always cook the mushrooms and the onions together... it seems it's time wasting to cook vegetables separately, if they have the approximate cooking time. Another thing is the addition of 1 cup of pasta water to the dish. I understand adding a few tablespoons to adjust the liquid in a recipe, but make the sauce with a whole cup of pasta water seems strange to me. Maybe I would add chicken or vegetable broth instead? I would give it a chance, but I would make this recipe less time consuming, by cooking some of the vegetables together and using broth instead of pasta water.
S Edgar
North Carolina, US
4/2/2022
Followed recipe exactly. A lot of effort with bland results.
Cara
Charlottesville, Va
2/25/2022
I DON'T understand people who leave a negative review after subbing out most of the recipe...I followed the recipe as written except used a mix of mushrooms, which was what was available in my grocery store. I DO NOT like mushrooms, but I gave this a go since we are trying to eat some plant-based meals once in awhile. It was really good. It had the texture of bolgnese, and a good depth of flavor. By chopping up the mushrooms I really couldn't tell they were in there. I will make this again., and will also pass it along to friends who are vegetarian.
Linda
New Jersey
2/4/2022
Great recipe. Going to make it again this week.
PW
Haddon Heights, NJ
1/9/2022
Ignore the negative reviews left by those who went off-script!! This was so good and satisfying. You really don’t miss the meat just like Andy said. :) Followed the recipe to a T, except I was a little short on cremini mushrooms and added mushroom powder to help make up the difference. Used the food processor to also chop the onion. Opted for the chili flakes rather than a fresh pepper. If you follow the recipe as written, I can’t imagine how this comes out as poorly as others described.
kk
Seattle
1/4/2022
I made this with 'nomato' sauce, and it still turned out great!
Meenakshi
India
12/28/2021
Super surprised that people say it didn't turn out like the picture, as I felt like this was one of the easiest recipes I've ever made to get looking like the "styled" photo. I used fresh shiitakes and got them nice and browned before moving on, same deal with every ingredient, and followed the recipe exactly. I would imagine adding a bunch of extra veggies (like carrots/celery even though they're "traditional") would water down the sauce, as would using chanterelles instead of the recommended shiitakes (chanterelles are probably 2-3 times as "wet" as shiitakes), so that could be peoples' issue? Also, using "double concentrated" tomato paste (the kind that comes in a tube) per recipe instructions is essential: if you're just using the normal canned stuff you're skimping on a lot of potential umami. I'm not a vegetarian and have had "real" bolognese countless times, and while not an exact copy, this is a very good dish in its own right. A tip to help beef up the flavor and texture might be to use as little water and as much salt as possible when cooking your pasta to really up the starchy broth factor, and only add to the sauce a quarter cup at a time, stirring vigorously until it reaches a velvety consistency. I wonder to myself about people who start by changing a bunch about the recipe and then comment how it didn't work for them...
Anonymous
Seattle, WA
10/28/2021