A cozy and familiar flavor without any animals or overprocessed ingredients.

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I’ll be the first to say that beyond meat and other vegan meat alternatives are insanely delicious and super convenient. I used to make my bolognese and my lasagna with beyond meat, but after making this I think I will permanently stick to lentils. There’s super easy to make and literally a fraction of the cost for more pricey and processed meat alternatives.

Ingredient details:

• Lentils – I used dried green lentils for the base of the meat. I think red or brown lentils would work as well, but I can’t ever seem to find them in my grocery store.
• Italian Seasoning – I like using italian seasoning to make things a bit easier on measurements. If you’d rather use fresh herbs (which I LOVE) or measure out the ingredients yourself, be my guest.
• Fennel – I really love the flavor of fennel and love the meat/sausage flavor it adds to my meat substitutions.
• Vegan Worcestershire – Make sure your worcestershire is free of anchovies. Kroger brand is naturally vegan because they do not put any anchovies.
• Olive oil – The olive oil is used for the meat base and adds some fat to create a bit of a “fried” texture to the meat once cooked.
• Yellow onion – I like using yellow onion, mostly because I get spared from crying while cutting them. White onions would also work well.
• Garlic – I like to use plenty of garlic and always mince and roast it with my onions.
• Crushed tomatoes – I just use crushed tomatoes for this recipe. I’ve also roasted tomatoes and pureed them, but like the simplicty of the canned tomatoes so my focus can be on making the meat.
• Spaghetti – I just used kroger brand packaged spaghetti.

Recipe List

Ingredients:

1 cup lentils

2 cups water

2 tsp salt

2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp fennel

1/2 tsp vegan Worcestershire

1 tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion

6 cloves garlic

32oz crushed tomatoes

16oz spaghetti

Instructions:

1. In small pan, cook lentils and water on medium-low until water has evaporated and lentils are cooked through.
2. Add lentils, olive oil, seasonings, and worcestershire into a food processor and pulse 3-4 times until you can no longer see the lentil shape. Set aside.
3. Dice onion and mince garlic.
4. In medium pan, cook onion and garlic on medium heat until onion is translucent.
5. Add lentil mixture and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
6. Add crushed tomoatoes and mix well in pan. Add additional seasonings if desired.
7. In seperate pot, cook spaghetti according to instructions.
8. Serve and enjoy!

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