| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- One 3- to 4-pound spaghetti squash
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for the pot and drizzling
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 large carrot, cut into chunks
- 1 celery stalk, cut into chunks
- 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, quartered
- 1 large zucchini, trimmed and cut into chunks
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3/4 cup red wine, such as pinot noir
- One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn, plus more for serving
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- One 2- to 3-ounce piece Parmesan rind plus freshly grated Parmesan, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the spaghetti squash in half from top to bottom. Scoop out and discard the seeds. Place the squash on the prepared baking sheet cut-side up. Drizzle each half with about 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil and season with a generous pinch of salt and black pepper. Turn the squash cut-side down and bake until a fork easily pulls the “spaghetti” strands away from the squash, about 40 minutes.
- In the meantime, start the sauce. Heat a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat and add enough olive oil to coat the base of the pot, about 2 tablespoons. Add the garlic, carrot, celery and onion to a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse the vegetables until finely chopped. Add the vegetables to the heated pot and season with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Sauté the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until they soften, about 5 minutes. Re-attach the food processor bowl and add the mushrooms and zucchini. Pulse the vegetables until finely chopped but still with some texture. Add them to the pot with the other vegetables. Season with another 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and their natural liquid has mostly evaporated, 7 to 10 minutes.
- Add the milk and cook, stirring occasionally, until the milk is mostly evaporated, about 5 minutes. Next, add the red wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until the wine is mostly evaporated, about 7 minutes.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, red pepper flakes, cheese rind and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring the sauce up to a low boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and let the sauce simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the cheese rind and discard. Season the sauce to taste.
- To serve, add spaghetti squash to individual bowls and top with a big ladle of sauce, freshly grated Parmesan and torn basil.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 313 |
| Total Fat | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 35 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 8 g |
| Sugar | 17 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 11 mg |
| Sodium | 1505 mg |
Reviews
Loved the sauce. You don’t miss the meat at all. My only criticism was that it was too salty. Next time, I’ll cut that back.
Perfect… It came out wonderful… It tasted like I meat .. the Cremini mushrooms were the ticket in this Bolognese sauce… so nutritious and so easy.l Thank you so much, Valerie.. I miei nonni approverebbe…
This was an excellent bolognese and it is vegetarian! Love bolognese but even my non-vegetarian friends loved it and say it is the one they will make from now on.
I made this and of course, I had to add Italian sausage… it was delish! Next time I will do vegetarian. It makes a lot, so great to freeze for a quick meal later.
This was so good and favorable. I’ve been eating vegetarian now for four years and this is now in my recipe collection. The only change I made was substituting non-dairy milk instead of regular. Made no difference to me in taste. This is a keeper. Thank you, Valarie. In response to a question asked by another review, yes you can freeze. I did. No potatoes in this to become grainy. Love this!
This was so flavorful and filling. I made according to recipe but didn’t have celery so used an extra carrot and didn’t have a rind so used a small hunk of parmesan instead. I love spicy and this had heat with just a 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes. If you don’t like spicy, I’d recommend using less. Love that you can serve over pasta rather than squash if you want (we used squash this time tho).
Very good flavor and so healthy! We served the sauce over regular pasta. It made a lot (for two people) so we are going to use the leftover sauce for Eggplant Parmesan later in the week.
We will make this again!
Delicious!!! The only reason my daughter new it wasn’t meat is that I was eating it!! (she liked it until then!)
This is a very good sauce. Wondering if you can freeze it ? Also, how long does it keep in the fridge?
This is very good! Fooled the meat lovers in the family had no clue and they loved it