Minced roasted chickpeas and mushrooms form the “meaty” base of this simple vegan bolognese sauce. The rich sauce is easy to make and can be customized with your own signature bolognese ingredients to become the perfect meatless bolognese for your family.

This recipe was published in May 2019, but refreshed with a few tweaks to the method and brand new photos in March 2025.

Let me show you my favorite way to make a “meaty” vegetarian bolognese…

This is one of three bolognese recipes on my site, and I don’t play favorites, but this one is super special. It uses my signature homemade meatless “meat” and it’s like nothing you have tried before.

We roast a pan of mushrooms and chickpeas, then pulse them in a food processor so they resemble the texture of ground / minced meat, which is then fried with some vegetables and turned into a tasty, rich and nicely textured bolognese sauce.

This method of making vegetarian “ground beef” is very simple, but that extra step does make it more of a project than a quick and easy dinner. The fact we’re opening a bottle of red wine to make this sauce helps to soften the blow. (But if you need something more straightforward, my Green Lentil Bolognese recipe could be a better choice.)

Why roast the chickpeas and mushrooms first?

This step does add in quite a bit of time, so I feel like I should explain myself here.

Pre-roasting the chickpeas and mushrooms makes them sturdier, so they hold up better in the sauce and can be fried. If you didn’t pre-roast them, the mushrooms would leach so much liquid into the pan the chickpeas would turn to mush while you tried to fry the mixture.

It also makes the mince a lot richer, because it has oil infused into it, and so it brings its own fattiness like meat would have.

This is a basic, but very customizable recipe

My aim for this recipe is to give you a tasty texture and flavor base, while leaving space for you to customize it to your own family’s tastes if you want to. So if you have any family favorite bolognese hacks up your sleeve, you can let them loose here!

Some ideas for tasty additions: vegan (fish free) Worcestershire sauce, crushed fennel seeds, roasted red peppers, chili, sundried tomato paste.

If you like this roasted chickpea and mushroom “meat”…

You may like some of these ideas too:

Mushroom & Chickpea Bolognese

Minced roasted chickpeas and mushrooms form the "meaty" base of this simple vegan bolognese sauce. The rich sauce is easy to make and can be customized with your own signature bolognese ingredients to become the perfect meatless bolognese for your family.
4 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
4.60 from 15 ratings
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Ingredients

  • 300 g (11 oz) dried pasta

For the chickpea mince

  • 400 g (14 oz) canned chickpeas, drained
  • 250 g (9 oz) portobello mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 Tbsp mixed Italian herbs
  • 4 Tbsp olive oil

For the bolognese sauce

  • 1 small red or white onion, finely diced
  • ½ carrot, finely diced
  • 5 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 250 g (9 oz) additional mushrooms (any kind), chopped
  • 4 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 180 ml (¾ cup) red wine
  • 400 g (14 oz) canned tomatoes
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions 

  • Heat the oven to 200C / 400F.
  • Toss the drained chickpeas and sliced portobello mushrooms in a large bowl with the olive oil, Italian herbs and lots of salt and pepper. Scatter on a baking tray and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
    400 g canned chickpeas, 250 g portobello mushrooms, 1 Tbsp mixed Italian herbs, 4 Tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper
  • The chickpeas and mushrooms are ready when the chickpeas are crisp and golden and the mushrooms are brown and have a robust "meaty" texture.
    Remove from the oven and set the pan aside, allowing the chickpeas and mushrooms a little time to cool while you start cooking the sauce.
  • In a large saucepan, saute your onions and carrots until they are starting to soften.
    1 small red or white onion, 1/2 carrot
  • Add the chopped mushrooms and garlic. Cook until the mushrooms are reduced and all of the liquid has left the pan.
    Remove from the heat while you get back to the chickpea and mushroom "meat".
    250 g additional mushrooms (any kind), 5 cloves garlic
  • The roasted chickpeas and mushrooms will have cooled down by now. Add them to a food processor or mini chopper and pulse until the mushrooms are finely minced. Some of the chickpeas will be broken down but some may still be whole and that is fine.
  • Now put the sauce pan back on the heat and add the chickpea mushroom mixture. Fry for a few minutes until everything is heated up, and some little crispy bits may be forming.
  • Now push everything to the sides of the pan, add the tomato paste to the middle and another little pour of olive oil. Fry the tomato paste for a few moments until it's incorporated with the oil.
    4 Tbsp tomato paste
  • Mix the tomato paste in with the rest of the pan and continue to fry all of the ingredients until the bright red color of the tomato paste has darkened a little.
  • Add the wine and let it bubble away for a few minutes until the harsh alcohol smell subsides and the sauce thickens up.
    180 ml red wine
  • Finally, stir in the canned tomatoes and mix through. Add salt and pepper to taste, then simmer the sauce, covered, over a low heat for 15 minutes or longer while you cook your pasta.
    400 g canned tomatoes
  • Cook your pasta according to package instructions and reserve a little bit of the cooking water before draining.
    300 g dried pasta
  • Toss the pasta with the sauce, adding a splash or two of the cooking water as needed to thin out the sauce and give it a silky texture.
    Serve!
Cuisine: Italian
Course: Pasta
Author: Christine Melanson
Serving: 1g, Calories: 624kcal, Carbohydrates: 91g, Protein: 21g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 11g, Trans Fat: 0.003g, Sodium: 559mg, Potassium: 1346mg, Fiber: 12g, Sugar: 13g, Vitamin A: 1771IU, Vitamin C: 18mg, Calcium: 134mg, Iron: 5mg