Red Lentil Pasta Sauce
on Aug 12, 2020, Updated Sep 03, 2024
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This vegan red lentil pasta sauce is easy to make in under 30 minutes with healthy, everyday ingredients. Bonus: it’s high in protein and fiber!
About the Recipe
This recipe is for an easy sauce you can use with any pasta for quick, nutritious meal. You’ll need just a few simple ingredients and the recipe vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, soy-free and nut-free! It can be made in advance and makes great leftovers too.
Lentils are full of nutrition adding 14 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber per serving to the recipe. You could boost the protein even further by pairing the sauce with a high-protein pasta like chickpea pasta, adding plant-based sausage or topping with Vegan Parmesan Cheese.
For more easy pasta meals, this Vegan Pumpkin Pasta, Vegan One Pot Pasta, Creamy Spinach and Tomato Pasta and Creamy Tomato Orzo with Spinach are all made in less than 30 minutes too.
Ingredients
- Red Lentil: The recipe is best with red lentils for their soft texture. You could use green if you like but they’ll be firmer and take a bit longer to cook so just follow package instructions.
- Tomato Sauce: Any store-bought, homemade tomato sauce or pre-mixed pasta sauce works, I love a good arrabiatta sauce like Rao’s.
- Bell Peppers: Any any colour you have on hand.
- Spinach: You could substitute finely chopped kale.
This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1. Cook the lentils by bringing 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan then adding the lentils, reducing to a light simmer, covering and cooking for 15 minutes until tender.
Step 2. While the lentils are cooking, chop up the veggies then add them to a skillet with the tomato sauce. If you’re adding red pepper flakes for spicy sauce, add those now as well. If you’re serving the sauce over pasta, start cooking the pasta according to package instructions now.
Step 3. Stir in the cooked red lentils and the spinach. If you’re adding nutritional yeast, stir that in now as well.
Mix everything up, heat through, then serve over pasta topped with fresh basil and vegan parmesan!
Storage
- Fridge: Let cool then store in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Let cool then store in a sealed container for up to 2 months.
- Reheating: If frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave or in a saucepan stovetop until warmed to your preference.
More Vegan Pasta
- Vegan Bolognese
- Vegan Carbonara
- Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
- Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
- Lemon Garlic Orzo with Roasted Vegetables
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to comment section below to leave your star rating and review.
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Red Lentil Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry red lentils
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups tomato pasta sauce, arrabbiata, marinara, etc.
- 2 bell peppers, any colour, diced
- 1 white onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, optional for cheesy flavour
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, optional for spicy sauce
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To make the lentils, bring the water to a boil in a pot then add the lentils, cover and reduce to a light simmer. Cook until the water is absorbed and the lentils are tender, approximately 15 minutes. These can be made in advance if needed.
- If you're serving over pasta, cook that now according to package instructions. The sauce also works well over zucchini noodles.
- Add the peppers, garlic, onion and tomato sauce to a large skillet and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring often over medium heat. If you're using red pepper flakes for spicy sauce, add those now. Stir in the spinach and cooked lentils. If you're adding nutritional yeast, add that now as well. Cook for a couple more minutes, stirring every so often, then turn off the heat. Season with salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve over your favourite pasta or zucchini noodles, topped with more nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan cheese, fresh cracked black pepper and chopped fresh basil, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on July 9, 2018.
This sauce was so good! I couldn’t eat dairy while breastfeeding my daughter and I wanted a kind of cheesy, healthy sauce. This was amazing and I would definitely make again!
That’s awesome! So glad you liked it.
Made this tonight and it was delicious! It came together quickly and it was a hearty and comforting meal! This recipe will definitely be a regular in our meal rotation!
Perfect!! So happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know!
I made this with ingredients I had on hand. I did not have a pasta sauce. I used a low salt can of tomato sauce , which I added a little dry basil and orang. Came out great. I had it on spaghetti squash but would prefer zucchini noodles. Yum!
Loved it. Used what was on hand so I opted for frozen spinach. Still a “keeper”. Thanks!
Made this for dinner last night and was not disappointed! My man is a meat-eater and graciously indulges my plant-based cooking at home and we BOTH loved this meal. We had it with WW spaghetti and it was delicious and filling. I used garden-fresh oregano and parsley while cooking and topped with fresh basil. The chili flakes gave the perfect amount of spice and I really liked the addition of the nutritional yeast. I added mushrooms and used both red and green bell peppers.