Over the last few years I’ve had Impossible burgers a couple of times, and I generally wasn’t impressed - while it did taste like a real burger, it tasted like a low quality one, yet it cost like 3 times as much (at least at Cornell’s dining halls).

A few months back I was surprised to discover that Impossible meat was basically indistinguishable from ground beef when used for meat sauces, so I started substituting it every time I made pasta.

My recipe for bolognese isn’t particularly authentic, but it is quite flexible and it makes for a very tasty meat sauce.

Impossible Bolognese: #

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: ~90 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4) #

• 1 pack of Impossible meat (16oz)
• 24oz canned tomato sauce
• 8oz canned tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups of milk (preferably whole milk)
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1 cup each of diced carrots, celery, onion
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• dried basil
• dried thyme

The ingredients here are pretty flexible. The diced veggies can be substituted for frozen mirepoix mix if you don’t have the fresh version available. The carrots and celery can even be omitted entirely if you want just meat sauce. The ratio of tomato sauce to tomato paste can be adjusted, with more tomato paste requiring more spices. The white wine is optional, I use it for deglazing and find that it has minimal impact on the final taste. If you don’t have a lot of time to make the sauce, reduce the amount of broth & milk.

Directions #

1. Season the Impossible meat with salt, pepper, and garlic.
2. In a large pan, fry the Impossible meat on medium-high heat with olive oil and onions until it’s browned.
3. Add white wine to deglaze the pan.
4. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, vegetable broth, and dried spices. Stir until mixed.
5. Add milk. Stir until mixed.
6. Once sauce begins to bubble, turn the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered to thicken the sauce, stirring frequently.
7. If necessary, reduce the heat to low to avoid burning the sauce. If the sauce gets too dry, feel free to add additional broth.
8. Once the sauce reduces to the desired consistency (thicker than regular spaghetti sauce), it is done. This can take 30 mins to 1 hour depending on how much liquid you added and the temperature of your stove.
9. Serve with your favorite pasta.