Veggie Ragu is a healthy comfort meal, packed full of veggies and nutrients. Ready in 20 minutes. Meat eaters love this recipe and it's kid friendly. The ragu texture is hearty and textured so you won't be missing the traditional meat in this recipe.
Table of contents
Why Make This Veggie Ragu
It is packed full of veggies, so you know you are getting nutrients in your meal.
This recipe is allergy friendly, can be made vegan, dairy free, and gluten-free if you use gluten-free noodles.
This veggie ragu is easy to meal prep for the week and a great way to use up leftover veggies in the fridge. I love the meaty texture it has, without the added fat from meat. Your family won't notice the difference. With a little melted mozzarella into it, it is a sure crowd pleasure. But you can skip the cheese!
Ingredients Needed
Veggies. In particular, carrots, celery, mushrooms. They offer a perfect chunky consistency and they blend together nicely.
Pasta Sauce. You can certainly make your own, which is awesome! But I like to save some time and energy by adding in a nice organic jar of my favorite pasta sauce. The added seasonings will make it taste homemade, trust me.
Pasta. Any shape and size works. I just love Rigatoni, it is my favorite!
How To Make This Recipe
Step one. Roughly chop all the veggies, carrots, celery, mushrooms. Give the carrots a little more chop than everything else and add to a food processor or blender. The carrots tend to have a rough time chopping in the blender or food processor so you may need to chop a few by hand. Use the pulse option on your appliance.
Step two. Add oil to a skillet. Add in blender veggies. Mix in spices, seasonings and sauté until everything it tender, test with a fork.
Step three. Add in the pasta sauce. Simmer for about 3 minutes and add in noodles. I like to add in 1/4 cup of water or veggie broth here, it thins the sauce a bit so it spreads out more evenly. This is optional
Step four. Let it all simmer together for another 3 minutes. Then add in cheese if you are using. Otherwise serve! Or separate it into meal prep containers and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
FAQ's And Expert Tips.
If you don't have a food processor or high speed blender, just finely chop the veggies. It will still turn out fantastic. I just like to save time where I can.
You can use red peppers in place of the carrots if you want!
Add a little pinch of red wine for extra flavor.
If you want to add meat, this recipe would be wonderful with ground beef or ground turkey. You would want to brown it for a few minutes before adding in the veggies to sauté.
Related Recipes.
If you loved this recipe let me know! Also, follow me on Instagram & Pinterest for even more fun recipes to make you feel good from the inside out. Thanks for being here!
Veggie Ragu
Ingredients
- 1½ cup carrots chopped *
- 1 cup celery chopped *
- 3 cups mushrooms chopped *
- 1 tbsp garlic 2 -3 cloves
- ¼ cup onion chopped
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbs oregano
- 1 tsp rosemary
- 4 cups pasta sauce
- 6 cups pasta cooked!
- ¼ cup pasta water the cloudy water leftover from cooking your pasta
Instructions
- Roughly chop all the veggies, carrots, celery, mushrooms, garlic. Give the carrots a little more chop than everything else and add to a food processor or blender. The carrots tend to have a rough time chopping in the blender or food processor so you may need to chop a few by hand. Use the pulse option on your appliance. If you don't have the above appliences, chop by hand into little bite sized pieces to resemble a meaty texture
- Add oil to a skillet. Add in chopped veggies. Mix in spices, seasonings and sauté until everything it tender, test with a fork.
- Add in the pasta sauce. Simmer for about 3 minutes and add in noodles. I like to add in 1/4 cup of pasta water or veggie broth here, it thins the sauce a bit so it spreads out more evenly. This is optional.
- Let it all simmer together for another 3 minutes, add more salt and pepper as needed. Then add in cheese if you are using. Otherwise serve! Or separate it into meal prep containers and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Chris Adams
Loved this recipe. My meat eater boyfriend even enjoyed it, which surprised me with the carrots being in it. Great recipe.
Barbra
Really good!
Erin
The best ragu I ever made was when I was sick once and threw every vegetable I had left in the house into a pot. This is super similar and now I'm so psyched to make it again - thanks for the reminder! x
Bailey
Love hearing that!!! And thanks for coming back to let me know you enjoyed the recipe. Makes me so happy!