Slow Cooker Lentil Bolognese
You all know I love feel-good comfort food, but what I don’t enjoy is standing over a hot stove for an hour at a time. That’s why I love a good slow cooker recipe! This rich lentil bolognese practically cooks itself – just add all the uncooked ingredients to the slow cooker, and come back a few hours later to find a thick, tasty lentil stew that’s full of flavour and full of goodness.
The best part is that this vegetarian spag bol also freezes beautifully – so you can cook up a big batch, and have it ready whenever you need a quick home-cooked meal (just the sort of thing I always feel like after a busy day!).
🍝 What’s in this Vegan Lentil Bolognese?
Obviously, the lentils are the main focal point of this recipe, but I also added plenty of veggies, which bring heaps of nutrients to the dish, and also infuse the sauce with their wonderful flavours.
Then there’s my secret ingredient – some chopped walnuts! They soften as they cook, so they don’t end up super crunchy in the final dish, but they just bring enough texture to give the bolognese a lovely hearty mouthfeel.
Aside from the main ingredients, this is very much the kind of recipe that you can make your own. Whenever I’m making this kind of vegan stew, I often find myself adding a little splash of whatever I can find in the kitchen cupboards. It wouldn’t be unheard of for me to add a splash of red wine, some soy sauce, or even a squeeze of ketchup – it will all blend together to make the most wonderfully rich tomato sauce.
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🥗 Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to make this lentil bolognese. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.
- green lentils – I used dried lentils, which can be added straight to the slow cooker – no soaking or pre-cooking required.
- passata – which is basically just a smooth tomato sauce (the ingredients list consists of 100% sieved tomatoes). If you can’t find passata, any favourite tomato pasta sauce will work well.
- vegetables – I used carrot, mushrooms, and red onion. You could also add whatever other vegetables you like, e.g. zucchini (courgette), leek, bell peppers, etc.
- walnuts – to add a wonderful texture to the final dish.
- vegetable stock – I used a stock cube and water, but you could also use a liquid or jelly stock, if that’s what you have.
- tomato paste
- dried thyme (dried oregano or dried basil would also be lovely)
- garlic – I used lazy garlic from a jar because it saves so much time.
Becca’s Top Tip
If you’d like the vegetables to ‘disappear’ into the sauce like mine did, chop them nice and fine (you can grate harder vegetables like carrot). Or, if you’d prefer a chunkier bolognese, leave the veggies in larger pieces.
🔪 Equipment
This vegan bolognese recipe requires a slow cooker. I use a digital Crock-Pot with a 4.7 litre (~ 5 quart) capacity. If your slow cooker is a significantly different size to mine, you may need to adjust the cooking time of this recipe slightly (and possibly double it up, if you have a particularly large pot!).
I’ve had my slow cooker since 2014 (!), and it’s never failed me. I would highly recommend it. You can get it on Amazon UK, or there’s a similar one from the same brand on Amazon US.
🖨️ Printable Instructions
Slow Cooker Lentil Bolognese
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 red onion
- 150 g mushrooms (~ 5 medium mushrooms)
- 65 g (~ 2/3 cup) walnuts
- 300 g (~ 1 1/2 cups) dried green lentils
- 500 g (~ 2 cups) passata (or tomato pasta sauce)
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 500 ml (~ 2 cups) vegetable stock
Instructions
- Peel and grate the carrot. Finely chop the red onion, mushrooms and walnuts. Add all of these to the slow cooker.
- Add the remaining ingredients (lentils through veggie stock). Mix well to combine.
- Cook on high for about 4 1/2 hours, or until cooked to your liking. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve with spaghetti, if desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Yes – just transfer any leftovers to an air-tight, freezer-safe container, and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost and reheat thoroughly before serving. I would recommend freezing the bolognese on its own, without any pasta, which can be cooked up fresh when you’re ready to serve.
The easiest way to reheat leftovers is in the microwave, but you can also use a saucepan on the stovetop. You may need to add a splash of water to rehydrate the mixture if it’s dried out a little.
I like to serve bolognese with spaghetti (it’s a classic for a reason!), but it’s also great served with gnocchi. The leftovers are even amazing in a toasted cheese sandwich!
How long would I cook it for on low? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it on low but I guess I’d check it after 5 hours and decide from there how much extra time it needs :)
i cooked this for 6 hours on low in my slow cooker, 1/2 hour on the stove and 2 more hours on high in the slowe cooker. The lentils remian inedible. Please revise the recipe to saay ” cook lentils before hand”.
Hi Amy, thanks for the feedback. My lentils were fully cooked after 4 1/2 hours on high, as written in the recipe. If you’re not going to follow the recipe as written then I can’t really advise – perhaps cooking them on low, as you did, isn’t quite enough. However I am baffled that 8 1/2 hours of cooking, regardless of temperature, still gave you ‘inedible’ lentils, as they certainly shouldn’t take longer than that to soften!! Usually an hour of simmering on the stovetop is more than enough to cook green lentils fully.
A delicious vegetarian sauce that has the “meatiness” of a sauce made with ground beef due to the tasty addition of lentils and chopped walnuts. A hearty, flavorful sauce that is simple to make in the slow cooker.
Thanks Julie!
Hi, this recipe sounds so easy and yummy. I don’t own a slow cooker- would this work in a pressure cooker?
I imagine it would but I haven’t tried it in a pressure cooker and I don’t have much experience with them so wouldn’t like to advise on specific timings. Please do let me know how it goes if you try it though :)
What if I use canned lentils, could I just cook it on the stove or how long in the crock pot?
Absolutely, I’d just cook it in a pan on the stovetop for 20-30 minutes or so – until it’s cooked down nice and thick and rich :)