Main Dishes
Dwayne Johnson Pasta Bolognese
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
20 minutes
Yield
3
One of Dwayne Johnson's fav cheat meals - pasta bolognese but make it vegetarian! A comforting dish that is completely versatile.
Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock has gone viral in the past for his infamous cheat meals. One of his go-to’s has been pasta bolognese served with two whole bagels. Inspired by his comforting cheat meal, I created my own vegetarian version of the bolognese sauce.
Why you’ll love this pasta bolognese:
- Quick: This pasta bolognese is a really quick and easy meal you can whip up on a busy night. It’ll only take 30-minutes
- Versatile: The nice part of a bolognese recipe is that you can personalize it how you like. Take out or add in other veggies, or toss in any ground meat (or meat substitute)
- Delicious: This recipe is the ultimate comfort food that’ll please your whole family (even the picky eaters)
Ingredient Notes:
Spaghettini: The difference between spaghetti and spaghettini is the thickness of the noodle. Both are thin and long but spaghettini is thinner.
Walnuts: I used walnuts in my bolognese sauce as a substitute for ground meat that you usually find in pasta bolognese. You can always remove the walnuts and some of the mushrooms to replace it with ground meat, but personally I think this is a yummy spin. Walnuts are also really good for you!
How to make pasta bolognese:
- Melt the butter in a large pan over medium-high heat.
- Once it begins to bubble, add the mushrooms.
- Cook for 6 – 8 minutes until golden brown and fragrant.
- Add the chopped onion, celery, carrot, and minced garlic.
- Cook for another 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the walnuts, tomato passata, vegetable stock paste, and all of the spices.
- Stir to combine and cook for 10 – 15 minutes. This will allow the sauce to thicken and the spices to all combine. Make sure the sauce remains the right pasta sauce consistency, adding a small amount of water if needed.
- Prior to making the sauce or during, prepare the Spaghettini pasta according to the instructions on the package in a large pot.
- Rinse and strain.
- Add the grated mozzarella into the Bolognese sauce and stir to melt.
- Transfer the pasta into the large pan with the sauce, mixing thoroughly to combine.
- Pour the pasta into a serving dish and stir in all of the fresh basil.
- Separate the pasta into individual dishes and add extra red chili flakes or mozzarella to serve!
- Serve this Dwayne Johnson style with toasted bagels and enjoy!
Expert Tips & FAQ:
Butter: If you have an herb or ghee butter, use it! It’ll be delicious.
How can I make vegan bolognese? You can substitute the mozzarella and butter in this recipe for your favorite vegan options- along with the vegan mozzarella, add extra nutritional yeast to bring out that cheesy flavor!
Protein: Customize this pasta like Dwayne Johnson and add your preferred protein option to the dish! Swap the Spaghettini for spaghetti or your preferred pasta shape OR use gluten-free pasta!
Storage: Store the pasta in the fridge for 4 – 5 days, and reheat to serve!
Other pasta recipes you’ll love:
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Dwayne Johnson Pasta Bolognese
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 2 cups assorted mushrooms finely chopped
- 1 celery stalk finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot finely chopped
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- ½ cup walnuts chopped
- 680 ml jar tomato passata
- 2 tsp. vegetable stock paste
- 1 small bay leaf
- 1 tbsp. basil
- 1 ½ tsp. parsley
- ¾ tsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp. onion powder
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. cloves
- ¼ tsp. red chili flakes
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese grated
- 3 cups Spaghettini
- 2/3 – 1 cup fresh basil
Instructions
- Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pan over medium-high heat.
- Once it begins to bubble, add the mushrooms.
- Cook for 6 – 8 minutes until golden brown and fragrant.
- Add the chopped onion, celery, carrot, and minced garlic.
- Cook for another 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the walnuts, tomato passata, vegetable stock paste, and all of the spices.
- Stir to combine and cook for 10 – 15 minutes. This will allow the sauce to thicken and the spices to all combine. Make sure the sauce remains the right pasta sauce consistency, adding a small amount of water if needed.
- Prior to making the sauce or during, prepare the Spaghettini pasta according to the instructions on the package in a large pot.
- Rinse and strain.
- Add the grated mozzarella into the Bolognese sauce and stir to melt.
- Transfer the pasta into the large pan with the sauce, mixing thoroughly to combine.
- Pour the pasta into a serving dish and stir in all of the fresh basil.
- Separate the pasta into individual dishes and add extra red chili flakes or mozzarella to serve!
- Serve this Dwayne Johnson style with toasted bagels and enjoy!
Video
Notes
You can substitute the mozzarella and butter in this recipe for your favorite vegan options- along with the vegan mozzarella, add extra nutritional yeast to bring out that cheesy flavor!
Customize this pasta like Dwayne Johnson and add your preferred protein option to the dish!
Swap the Spaghettini for spaghetti or your preferred pasta shape OR use gluten-free pasta!
Store the pasta in the fridge for 4 – 5 days, and reheat to serve!
This recipe was delicious. I used a can of crushed tomatoes instead of Passata because its what I had on hand and turned on great. Would like to try passata next time. The cinnamon adds something special to this!
isn’t the cinnamon just so good?!