As a vegetarian, and planning to one day be a vegan, I have had to come up with some other options to add to my spaghetti sauce other than meat. I am particularly fond of a thick spaghetti sauce and so for me it wasn’t just about adding nutrition although that was something that I certainly was thinking about as well. I can’t imagine that plain old sauce can give you all that much nutrition. Here are some of the different foods that I have found to be tasty, nutritious and good food choices to use in your spaghetti sauce.
There are a few different vegetarian and vegan food products that are made to taste similar to ground beef as well as products that are made to taste like meatballs. I have tried both the Quorn brand Meatless Meatballs and Grounds and the Gardenburger brand Mama Mia Meatballs. In addition to trying out different kinds of meatless meatballs I have tried both the Morningstar Farms Crumbles, which is a ground beef tasting item, and Boca Ground Burger which is also a ground beef alternative. It makes sense using things that are made to taste like ground beef when that is what you are replacing. The Gardenburger meatballs and Quorn meatballs and grounds are only vegetarian while the other food products mentioned are vegan.
If you are less concerned about getting something that taste like ground beef into your spaghetti sauce you have several options that you can use. Two things that will add a good amount of protein to your spaghetti sauce are lentils and tofu. Soft tofu is great if you want the tofu to simply thicken the sauce and are not wanting tofu chunks. When unseasoned tofu is very bland it will not add unwanted flavor to your sauce and is an option for both vegans and vegetarians. If you also have a soy free diet or at least try to limit the amount of soy that you consume adding tofu to your spaghetti sauce wouldn’t work for you and lentils would be a better alternative. There is a variety of lentils and I find that so far I like red ones in my sauce the best. Although not something that you are going to get as much protein out of that you would have gotten out of tofu or lentils, a variety of diced veggies in spaghetti sauce is certainly good for you and thickens your sauce as well. When you don’t want to dice veggies you can use a bag of frozen mixed vegetables.
After reviewing your options you can see that you have many different choices on how you want to thicken your spaghetti sauce or add protein to it when you are a vegan or vegetarian. You may like just one of the examples above or like to try a couple different ones. For now I am most happy with organic lentils in my spaghetti.
