Meatless Spaghetti Sauce

My family and I are what I like to call mostly-pescatarian. We (mainly my husband and Mckenzie) eat meat occasionally, but for the most part we live a plant based diet (woot woot it’s been a little over a year – my husband was doubtful I’d stick with this because of how much I love bacon, guess I proved him wrong HA!)

Anyways, when I first started making spaghetti, which seemed super simple, I noticed how much the ground beef in the sauce made a difference in the flavor. I didn’t want to give in and use ground beef or try any other “beef substitutes” so I went for veggies and voila!  the idea to use mushrooms came up. Here’s how I make my meatless spaghetti sauce with mushrooms to taste almost identical to your traditional sauce.

*Note this recipe is just for the spaghetti sauce, I figured making the noodles for spaghetti was pretty self explanatory. However, a quick tip : use salt in your water rather than oil to keep your noodles from sticking. It allows for the sauce to actually penetrate the noodles instead of sliding off.

Feeds 4-6

Ingredients:

1-2 Jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce : I use Prego Chunky Garden + Prego Three Cheese

1-2 Green Peppers (you’ll need about a cup)

1 Small/Medium Yellow Onion

6-8 oz of brown mushrooms : I use portobello, you can use whatever you prefer + as many as you’d like.

Cumin

Season-All

Salt + Pepper

Beef stock (optional)

Garlic Powder

Basil (fresh or dried)

Directions: 

In a sauce pan add both jar of spaghetti sauce and put on medium heat to simmer. Add about 1 tablespoon of basil leaves (dried or fresh double) and about 1-2 tsps of garlic ( start with 1 and adjust as needed based on sauce purchased). Stir frequently.

In 1 frying pan set on medium heat, add a few drops of olive oil. Once oil is heated, add diced onion and diced green peppers. Toss/stir frequently to avoid burning.

In separate pan, set on medium heat. Add a few drops of olive oil and allow to get hot.  Add diced mushrooms and saute for about 1 min to allow mushrooms to sweat. Add 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp of season-all, pinch of salt, pinch pepper, and stir. Continue to saute mushrooms until cooked or desired firmness. (Warning, cooking mushrooms too long will result in them turning to mush. You want them to have some firmness, they’re replacing the meat in your recipe so they should have a little bit of a bite.  For additional beefy classic spaghetti flavor, add 1/4 cup of beef stock to mushrooms with seasonings and allow mushrooms to absorb. 

Once mushrooms are done cooking, add to pan with green peppers and onions. Mix and toss over heat for about 1-2 minutes.

Add mushrooms, onions, and peppers to sauce. Stir and let simmer for about 3 – 5 minutes to allow flavors to marry together and voila! You can top spaghetti with parmesan cheese or enjoy as is 🙂

Do you have your own version or recipe to upgrade your jar spaghetti sauce? Did this stand up to the classic spaghetti sauce?  I wanna know! Leave a comment below and share.

#spaghettisauce #vegetarian #vegetarianrecipe #mushroomspaghettisauce #spaghetti #yum #vegetarianspaghetti #meatlessspaghetti #quickmeals #dinnerrecipe #meatlessmushroomspaghetti #easymeals #easydinner #easyeats