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This Slow Cooker Mushroom Ragu with Vegan Ricotta combines simple ingredients to create a rich and flavorful vegan sauce with minimal effort. Serve over pasta for an easy weeknight dinner!

 This Slow Cooker Mushroom Ragu with Vegan Ricotta combines simple ingredients to create a rich and flavorful vegan sauce with minimal effort. Serve over pasta for an easy weeknight dinner! | ThisSavoryVegan.com

We’re kicking off the week with the best kind of recipe…

…an easy one!

Because there is nothing easier than throwing a few simple ingredients into a slow cooker and walking away for 4 hours.

And while this recipe is super simple to make, the rich flavors and textures make this a 5 star dinner.

This recipe is really all about layers.

The base of this sauce comes from the usual suspects:

garlic

onions

tomatoes

mushrooms

broth

This Slow Cooker Mushroom Ragu with Vegan Ricotta combines simple ingredients to create a rich and flavorful vegan sauce with minimal effort. Serve over pasta for an easy weeknight dinner! | ThisSavoryVegan.com

This Slow Cooker Mushroom Ragu with Vegan Ricotta combines simple ingredients to create a rich and flavorful vegan sauce with minimal effort. Serve over pasta for an easy weeknight dinner! | ThisSavoryVegan.com

TSV TIP: For the broth, I used my old standby – Better Than Bouillon No Chicken. You can find this at Whole Foods or online here. If you don’t have it, feel free to swap it out for your favorite veggie broth or another veggie “chicken” broth brand.

What makes this sauce extra special is the addition of red wine, fresh herbs and a dollop of vegan butter. Yep, the final step of this recipe is melting some delicious vegan butter right into the sauce. You could skip it if you really want to, but it adds such a good flavor and texture that I would leave it in.

The final layer is going to come from vegan ricotta.

TSV TIP: I love Kite Hill ricotta – it is crazy how close the taste and texture is to real ricotta. I get mine at Whole Foods, but I have been seeing their products pop up more and more in regular grocery stores.

This Slow Cooker Mushroom Ragu with Vegan Ricotta combines simple ingredients to create a rich and flavorful vegan sauce with minimal effort. Serve over pasta for an easy weeknight dinner! | ThisSavoryVegan.com

Rather than melt the ricotta into the sauce, I prefer to serve each bowl of pasta with a healthy dollop of ricotta right on top. That way each person can have as little, or as much, as they want AND you can incorporate the flavor into each bite.

I swear that stuff is heaven.

This sauce is great anytime of the week. Make it on Sunday morning for an easy end of the weekend meal. Or whip it up on a work day. You literally need 10 minutes to get this recipe going. Then let the slow cooker do the rest.

Let me know what you think about slow cooker recipes. Do you love em, hate em? Or maybe you have a slow cooker that is collecting dust that is screaming to come out and play.

More of a visual person? Check out the video:

Slow Cooker Mushroom Ragu with Vegan Ricotta

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours 40 minutes
This Slow Cooker Mushroom Ragu with Vegan Ricotta combines simple ingredients to create a rich and flavorful vegan sauce with minimal effort. Serve over pasta for an easy weeknight dinner!
5 from 3 ratings

Ingredients

Instructions
 

  • Add onion, garlic, carrot, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, broth and red wine to a slow cooker. Stir to combine. Place bay leaf, rosemary and thyme on top and close the lid. Cook on high for 4 hours (or on low for 8 hours).
  • Combine corn starch and 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl. Whisk together. 
  • Open slow cooker and remove bay leaf, rosemary and thyme with a fork. Add corn starch slurry, replace lid and cook on high for an additional 30 minutes. 
  • Remove lid and using an immersion blender***, blend sauce until desired consistency is reached. Add vegan butter and stir until it is melted. Taste sauce and add salt & pepper as needed. 
  • When ready to eat, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add pasta. Cook according to package instructions. Drain and set aside. 
  • To each plate add pasta, mushroom ragu, 2 tablespoons of vegan ricotta (or more to taste), vegan parmesan and fresh basil. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

*I used crimini mushrooms, but use your favorite or a combination of different mushrooms. 
**I use Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base for my broth.
***Don't have an immersion blender? No problem. Add 1/2-3/4 of the sauce to a standing blender and pulse until desired consistency is reached (being sure not to overcrowd the blender). Return sauce to the slow cooker and follow remaining instructions. 
Did you make this recipe?Leave a review below or take a photo and share it on Instagram @thissavoryvegan with #thissavoryvegan.

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This Slow Cooker Mushroom Ragu with Vegan Ricotta combines simple ingredients to create a rich and flavorful vegan sauce with minimal effort. Serve over pasta for an easy weeknight dinner! | ThisSavoryVegan.com