048 / 75 · Plant Meals with a Proper Center

Red Lentil Walnut Bolognese with Rigatoni

Name: Red Lentil Walnut Bolognese with Rigatoni
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4 large rigatoni bowls
Ingredients: 10 1/2 oz dry rigatoni (300 g); 1/2 cup walnut halves (60 g); 2 tablespoons olive oil (30 ml/28 g); 1 medium onion (180 g), finely diced; 1 large carrot (120 g), finely diced; 2 celery stalks (100 g), finely diced; 3 garlic cloves (9 g), minced; 2 tablespoons tomato paste (32 g); 1 cup dry red lentils (190 g), rinsed; 1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz/794 g); 2 cups water (480 ml/480 g); 1 teaspoon dried oregano (1 g); 1 teaspoon fine salt (6 g); 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (1 g); 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (15 ml/16 g)

4 large rigatoni bowls · Active 30 min · Cook 40 min · Total 1 hr

Print recipe · PDF

Red lentils and walnuts give this tomato sauce two different textures: soft lentils bind the sauce while finely chopped toasted walnuts keep a little bite. The result belongs inside the ridges and hollow centers of rigatoni, not in a smooth purée poured over it. This is a full plant-based pasta dinner with a measured four-serving yield. It does not need to imitate meat to be useful; careful browning, simmering and pasta handling give it a character of its own.

Jump to ingredients

Rigatoni coated in red lentil and toasted walnut tomato sauce.

Toast, then chop

Walnuts brown quickly and can turn bitter if left in a hot pan after the heat is off. Stir them in a dry skillet until fragrant and a shade darker, transfer to a board and chop them finely by hand. Large pieces make the sauce feel like pasta with scattered nuts. A mixture of small crumbs and a few slightly larger pieces integrates better with the softened lentils.

Keep a little lentil texture

Rinse red lentils before they go into the tomatoes, but do not cook them separately and drain away their starch. They thicken the sauce as they simmer. Check after fifteen minutes and stir gently, allowing some lentils to soften fully while others remain discernible. Add water gradually if needed. A sauce that is thick before the lentils are tender will catch at the bottom instead of developing a useful texture.

Finish the pasta in the sauce

Rigatoni should be just shy of fully tender when it leaves its cooking water. A final minute in the sauce lets the ridges take on flavor, and a little starchy pasta water brings the two together. Add that water in small splashes, tossing between additions. The aim is a sauce that moves with the pasta and lodges inside the tubes, not a watery layer left at the bottom of the bowl.

Ingredients

10 1/2 oz dry rigatoni (300 g)
1/2 cup walnut halves (60 g)
2 tablespoons olive oil (30 ml/28 g)
1 medium onion (180 g), finely diced
1 large carrot (120 g), finely diced
2 celery stalks (100 g), finely diced
3 garlic cloves (9 g), minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste (32 g)
1 cup dry red lentils (190 g), rinsed
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz/794 g)
2 cups water (480 ml/480 g)
1 teaspoon dried oregano (1 g)
1 teaspoon fine salt (6 g)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (1 g)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (15 ml/16 g)

Set out

Large pasta pot, 12-inch/30 cm deep skillet, Fine-mesh sieve, Knife and board, Ladle

Allergens

Wheat, Walnut. Check labels and substitutions.

Make it

Toast walnuts in the dry skillet over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, stirring until fragrant. Transfer to a board and chop finely.
Heat oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, carrot and celery for 8 minutes, stirring, until softened. Add garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minute.
Stir in lentils, crushed tomatoes, measured water, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook partly covered for 20–25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender but the sauce still has some texture. Add a little hot water if the pan becomes dry before the lentils soften.
While the sauce simmers, cook rigatoni in boiling water until 1 minute short of the package al dente time. Reserve 1 cup/240 ml cooking water and drain pasta.
Stir chopped walnuts and balsamic vinegar into the sauce. Add pasta and toss over low heat for 1–2 minutes, adding reserved water a little at a time until sauce coats the tubes. Divide the entire batch into four equal bowls.

Freeze the sauce when texture matters most

If you want freshly cooked pasta later, freeze half the finished sauce before combining it with pasta and cook only half the rigatoni now. Keep the ingredient and portion division explicit: half the sauce plus half the dry pasta makes two of the four stated servings.

A useful detail

Pasta water is used only to adjust consistency and adds no new ingredient beyond the pasta already counted. Do not add cheese unless treating it as a separate addition to the base recipe.

Another way

Replace walnuts with 60 g hulled pumpkin seeds, toasted and finely chopped, for a nut-free version; check cross-contact needs and recalculate nutrition.
Use 300 g dry whole-wheat rigatoni for a firmer bite, adjusting cooking time to its package.

Keep it well

Refrigerate shallow portions at 40°F/4°C or below within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F/32°C. Keep up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 months. Reheat covered with a little water to 165°F/74°C, stirring midway. The pasta softens after freezing, but the sauce retains its texture. Pack cold with two cold sources.