Mushroom ragu is a bold, rich, flavor-packed sauce recipe for your favorite pasta, polenta, gnocchi, or lasagna.
Our recipe is perfect for everyday family dinners. It’s ready in about 30 minutes, and you can make it with simple ingredients.
The combination of mushrooms, tomato paste, and balsamic vinegar creates a savory, earthy, and irresistible flavor.
What is mushroom ragu?
Remember our earthy lentil bolognese, spicy penne arrabbiata, protein-packed tofu pasta, easy pasta pomodoro, and creamy pasta e fagioli?
Well, we developed this mushroom ragu recipe based on your feedback and what we learned from these other 40+ meatless pasta recipes.
For example, we use balsamic vinegar instead of soy sauce to add flavor while reducing sodium. It’s such a cool trick!
Here, the simplest ingredients come together to create the most flavorful vegan bolognese sauce, making this recipe a tasty and healthy meatless alternative to a classic bolognese.
So, if you are craving a comforting, satisfying Italian pasta dinner without the usual heavy cream, butter, beef, or pork, this mushroom bolognese is the recipe for you!
Plus, it packs over 20 grams of protein per serving, and it’s so satisfying you won’t believe it’s without beef.
Ingredients for mushroom bolognese
Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
Mushrooms
We use a mix of white button mushrooms and brown mushrooms.
You can also use cremini mushrooms, portobello, and baby bella mushrooms.
For extra flavor, you can add a few fresh shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, wild mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, or portobello mushrooms. But that’s optional.
Olive oil
Use extra virgin olive oil to make a soffritto, a simple and effective flavor base to build taste from the ground up.
Onion, celery, carrot, and garlic
Onion, celery, carrot, and garlic are essential to infuse the vegan bolognese with plenty of flavor.
You can use white, yellow, or red onion.
Tomato paste
Our mushroom bolognese uses tomato paste—the thick dark-red paste that comes in a tube or small 6 oz can—to add a deep and rich savory flavor, also known as umami.
Don’t mistake this with canned tomatoes or tomato puree. They are not the same.
Tomato paste is made by cooking tomatoes for several hours until most of the liquid evaporates, leaving a flavorful, rich, and thick tomato concentrate.
Herbs
We recommend sturdy herbs such as rosemary and bay leaves.
You can substitute sage or thyme for rosemary and bay leaves.
We also recommend serving the mushroom ragu with fresh basil or parsley.
Salt and black pepper
Season the sauce with sea salt or kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
If you like, you can add red pepper flakes to taste.
Balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegar is an optional ingredient, but we recommend it because it adds sweet, sour, and savory notes to the sauce.
It’s a flavor booster, and a tablespoon or two enhances the overall flavor of this meatless ragu while keeping it low in sodium.
If you have thick, aged balsamic vinegar, it’s even more flavorful.
You can substitute soy sauce or tamari for balsamic vinegar.
Pasta
Like traditional bolognese sauce, mushroom bolognese is delicious with tagliatelle, pappardelle, fettuccine, spaghetti, and linguine.
It also goes well with gnocchi, polenta, rigatoni, penne, and other short pasta types. Here, we use tagliatelle.
Parmesan cheese
If you serve mushroom bolognese with polenta, gnocchi, or pasta, add grated or shaved parmesan cheese—we recommend Italian Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano.
For our vegan readers, you can omit the cheese or replace it with a non-dairy alternative.
How to make mushroom ragu
1. Prepare the vegetables
Coarsely chop the mushrooms with a knife or in a food processor.
If you use a food processor, pulse in 3 or 4 batches to prevent the mushrooms at the bottom from getting mushy and overprocessed. Set aside in a bowl.
Finely chop celery, carrot, and onion.
You can do so with a chef’s knife on a cutting board or pulse them in a food processor.
2. Make the flavor base
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Add the chopped vegetables and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring often.
Now, add tomato paste, grated garlic, rosemary, and bay leaves, and sauté for 3 more minutes until the tomato paste turns a shade or red darker.
Add the mushrooms
Add the chopped mushrooms, season with salt and black pepper, and cook on medium-high heat for about 20 minutes, or until all water from the mushrooms has evaporated.
Stir in the balsamic vinegar, then turn the heat off, taste, and adjust for salt.
Aim for a savory, rich, thick, and almost creamy mushroom ragu.
How to serve mushroom ragu?
We recommend serving this sauce with a long pasta such as tagliatelle, fettuccine, spaghetti, bucatini, or linguine.
To do that, cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water as per package instructions.
When the pasta is al dente (cooked but with a bite), reserve one cup of pasta cooking water and drain the pasta.
Add the pasta to the pan with the ragu, add a ladleful of pasta water, and toss on medium heat for a few seconds until the pasta and the sauce are well combined.
Serve with a handful of basil leaves, a drizzle of olive oil, and grated or shaved parmesan cheese.
Storage
Refrigerator: Store leftovers in an airtight container for four days. If mixed with pasta, store for 24 hours.
Freezer: You can freeze mushroom bolognese in freezer bags or an airtight container for up to three months.
Thaw: When ready to use, remove it from the freezer and warm it in a pot with a dash of water until hot. You can also reheat it in a microwave.
More pasta recipes
You’ll love our pasta recipes because they are easy, healthy, and nutritious.
WARM PASTA DISHES: broccoli pasta, mushroom alfredo, lemon ricotta pasta, hummus pasta, roasted red pepper pasta, pasta alla norma, vegan mushroom pasta, paccheri pasta, and casarecce pasta.
COLD PASTA SALADS: creamy pasta salad, chickpea pasta salad, vegan pasta salad, orzo salad, macaroni salad, pesto pasta salad.
For even more delicious pasta recipes, check out our compilation of 40 easy pasta recipes.
Mushroom Ragu
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 large stalk celery
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon rosemary
- 3 bay leaves
- ½ cup tomato paste the thick one that you can find in a tube or small can
- 2 pounds mushrooms 1 pound white, 1 pound brown
- 1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or more to taste
- 10 leaves fresh basil
- 12 ounces pasta we use fettuccine + parmesan cheese optional
Instructions
- PREPARE THE VEGETABLES: Coarsely chop 2 pounds mushrooms with a knife or in a food processor.If you use a food processor, pulse mushrooms in 3 or 4 batches. Set aside in a bowl.Coarsely chop 1 large onion, 2 medium carrots, and 1 large stalk celery with a knife or pulse them in a food processor.
- MAKE THE FLAVOR BASE: Heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Add the chopped vegetables and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring often.Now, add 3 cloves garlic (grated), ½ teaspoon rosemary, 3 bay leaves, and ½ cup tomato pasteSauté for 3 more minutes until the tomato paste turns darker.
- ADD THE MUSHROOMS: Add the chopped mushrooms, season with 1 teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon black pepperCook on medium-high heat for about 20 minutes, or until all water from the mushrooms has evaporated.Stir in 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, then turn the heat off, taste, and adjust for salt.Aim for a savory, rich, thick, and almost creamy mushroom ragu.
- SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Cook 12 ounces pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water as per package instructions.When the pasta is al dente (cooked but with a bite), reserve one cup of pasta cooking water and drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the pan with the ragu, add ¼ cup of pasta water.Toss on medium heat for a few seconds until the pasta and the sauce are well combined.Serve with 10 leaves fresh basil, a drizzle of olive oil, and grated or shaved parmesan cheese.
Absolutely delicious!!! We have recently gone to a plant based diet and this dish is a great meatless meal!! We do not like rosemary, so we substituted oregano, basil and a little garlic powder.
One of the best recipes I’ve ever tried. I make this once a week. Since I am a single person the 2 carrots/1 stalk of celery/tomato paste can get tricky. So I diced up a whole pound of carrots, whole bundle of celery and a couple of onions and froze them in portioned baggies. Also, T scoops of tomato paste frozen for each use. This prep work makes this meal EASY to make and no waste.
Fantastic, K.C., I’m happy that you enjoy the prep and the flavor of this bolognese 🎉
Thanks so much for taking time to leave a message here, we appreciate you!
Tasted restaurant-quality. Definitely making this regularly from here on out.
We just finished eating and I have to say this was an awesome meal. It is something I would expect to order in a high-end restaurant. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
Fantastic, Gary!! I’m delighted to hear, what a compliment 🎉
Thank you so much for taking time to leave a review here, it means a lot to us.
I have made this recipe several times in the past few weeks. It’s my favorite!! It’s so rich and flavorful. I used pappardelle which made it extra fancy. It’s also a pretty quick meal to put together and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. Also it’s healthy and filling. All your recipes are a hit. Thank you
Hi folks, great job! You can be proud, I can’t remember cooking recipes 1:1 EVER. Okay, except baking. Normally I take the idea and then I do it my way. But With yours it is different. At least the first time I prepare them (almost) 1:1 and normally I only change them slightly to my gusto.
Next time I will fry the mushrooms first to get more taste. But this is more due to my poor possibilities buying good mushrooms. I am living far off.
Greetings
Hi Bernardo,
Thanks for your feedback, I’m delighted that you enjoyed this vegetarian ragu 🙂
I’m happy you feel like cooking the recipe again, it’s always a positive sign. Have a great rest of your day!
Kindest, Louise
Love this recipe! We just made it tonight and felt compelled to leave a note. You need to like mushrooms, but if that’s the case then definitely make this! We added fresh rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, and parsley, a lot of garlic, and added a whole small can of tomato paste plus diced up 1-2 fresh Roma tomatoes. I did add extra water to ensure it didn’t burn but it evaporated perfectly as we prepared other things. My husband eats meat and his favorite Italian dish is spaghetti with meatballs, extra sauce and extra meatballs. He LOVED it! This is not a substitute and not supposed to taste like a meat version, but is a beautiful, gourmet style dish that is ultimately very simple to make and easy on the budget. Yet I would order this at a restaurant and gladly pay $20+ for it if I didn’t know how to make it – it was amazing!!!! So glad we have leftovers and looking forward to trying more recipes here!
Hi Whitney, that’s great news. I’m very happy that you and your husband enjoyed this pasta dish.
Thank you for your kind feedback, and for leaving a rating here, that means a lot to us 🙂
All the best, Louise
Was rather labor intensive & was very good – until the tomato paste. Then it just tasted like tomato paste. Disappointing, but I’m glad I tried it,
I made this for dinner last night and my family loved it, so delicious and easy to make. Thank you
How do you get 22g protein per serving from this recipe? I know you said nutrition information is approximate, but there’s nothing in this recipe that is high in protein to account for this number.
Hi Chris,
It’s quite accurate, actually it’s probably a little more protein in reality as the calculator is conservative in that respect.
Most protein is from the pasta, mushrooms, and parmesan.
Here’s the data for the calculation.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil: Calories: 248kcal | Fat: 28g
1 large onion: Carbohydrates: 14g | Fat: 0.1g | Protein: 2g
1 large carrot: Carbohydrates: 7g | Fat: 0.2g | Protein: 1g
1 large stalk celery: Carbohydrates: 2g | Fat: 0.1g | Protein: 0.4g
2 cloves garlic: Calories: 9kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Fat: 0.03g | Protein: 0.4g
1 sprig rosemary: Calories: 0.1kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.02g | Fat: 0.01g
2 bay leaves: Calories: 1kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.1g | Fat: 0.02g | Protein: 0.02g
⅓ cup tomato paste: Calories: 72kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Fat: 0.4g | Protein: 4g
2 pounds mushrooms: Calories: 200kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Fat: 3g | Protein: 28g
1 pound pasta: Calories: 1,683kcal | Carbohydrates: 339g | Fat: 7g | Protein: 59g
½ cup parmesan cheese: Calories: 211kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Fat: 14g | Protein: 15g
1 handful flat-leaf parsley: Calories: 1kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.3g | Fat: 0.03g | Protein: 0.1g
I hope this helps 🙂
Nico
Do you know the sodium content?
Hi Debra,
Yes. It depends on how much salt and cheese you put in. It’s between 500mg per portion and 1000mg
I hope this helps.
Nico
Just made this tonight and loved it. Tasted so good, but really hope the leftovers taste as good. I did leave out the cheese as I don’t like it. But it tasted wonderful.