Emmer wheat does the same job in this bolognese that mince normally does: it provides the bite, the texture in the mouth and the feeling that something substantial is sitting on top of the spaghetti. We have been cooking this version as our standard meat-free bolognese for years and barely notice a difference from the classic mince version once the sauce has cooked for 20 minutes.
The key point is how you prepare the grain. Emmer wheat (Grünkern) is harvested unripe and then kiln-dried at high heat. This kiln-drying gives the grain a slightly smoky, nutty flavour that mince lacks and that makes this bolognese stand on its own. In the Thermomix® we chop the 150 g of emmer wheat only coarsely into a cracked grain, not into flour, and it is exactly this coarse texture that is the trick.
Emmer Wheat Bolognese with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 16 ✓
- 60 g Parmesan
- 150 g emmer wheat (Grünkern)
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 20 g sunflower oil
- 150 g celery stalks
- 200 g carrot
- 60 g tomato puree
- 400 g chopped tomatoes
- 2 tsp dried Italian herbs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 250 g vegetable stock
- 100 g red wine
- 500 g spaghetti
- 1/2 bunch chives
Instructions 0 / 8
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1
Chop the Parmesan.
Add Parmesan in pieces to the mixing bowl, chop for 10 seconds / speed 10 and set aside.
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2
Mill the emmer wheat.
Add the emmer wheat to the mixing bowl, chop for 15 seconds / speed 8 and set aside.
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3
Sweat the aromatics.
Peel onion and garlic, halve them, add to the mixing bowl, chop for 5 seconds / speed 5 and push down with the spatula. Add the oil and steam for 3 minutes / Varoma / speed 1.
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4
Chop the vegetables.
Meanwhile wash and trim the celery stalks and carrots, cut into pieces, add to the mixing bowl and chop for 4 seconds / speed 5.
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5
Cook the sauce.
Add the emmer wheat, tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, herbs, salt, chilli flakes, vegetable stock and red wine and cook for 20 minutes / 95°C / reverse direction / speed 2.5.
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6
Cook the spaghetti.
Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water according to the packet instructions.
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7
Cut the chives.
Wash the chives and cut into rings.
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8
Serve the emmer wheat bolognese.
Season the emmer wheat bolognese to taste, spoon over the pasta and serve garnished with Parmesan and chive rings.
Tip: You can of course replace the red wine with vegetable stock if you are cooking for children.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why emmer wheat works as a mince substitute
Emmer wheat swells to a mince-like texture. Once the cracked grain comes into contact with the 250 g of vegetable stock, 100 g of red wine and 400 g of chopped tomatoes, it absorbs the liquid and delivers the same grainy resistance on the tongue as cooked beef mince. The coarseness of the grind is decisive: ground too fine and the sauce becomes floury and binds too early. Too coarse and individual grains stay hard.
The kiln-drying provides the roasted aroma that mince gets from searing. In a classic bolognese, mince is seared over high heat so that the Maillard reaction runs and the typical roasted notes develop. Emmer wheat brings this kiln-dried, slightly smoky aroma along already uncooked, because the grain is dried over open heat after harvesting. We skip the searing step entirely and still get a deeply flavoured sauce.
Cracked grain rather than flour is the most important adjustment. We add the 150 g of emmer wheat to the mixing bowl and chop for 15 seconds at speed 8. This gives a consistency between coarse couscous and fine bulgur, meaning visible grains with no dusty flour fraction. If we go to speed 10 or mill for longer than 20 seconds, the sauce later turns mushy. Better to mill for less time and check.
The liquid calculation: twice as much as for mince
Anyone who has made a classic mince bolognese in the Thermomix® knows the ratios. With 500 g of mince, 400 g of tomatoes and a splash of stock are often enough. With emmer wheat we recalibrate completely. The 150 g of cracked grain absorbs liquid during the 20 minutes of cooking time, so we work with 250 g of vegetable stock plus 100 g of red wine plus 400 g of chopped tomatoes. That is roughly 750 g of liquid, about twice as much as a classic mince bolognese sauce.
The sauce looks watery straight after mixing. That is intentional. During the 20 minutes at 95°C, reverse direction, speed 2.5, the cracked emmer wheat absorbs the liquid and the sauce comes to the consistency we want on the spaghetti. Anyone who plans too little stock here will end up with an almost dry mass that sticks to the bottom of the bowl after 15 minutes.
Building the soffritto in the Thermomix®
A bolognese lives on the flavour base of onion, garlic, celery and carrot, the classic soffritto. We build it in two stages. First 1 onion and 2 garlic cloves go into the mixing bowl, chop for 5 seconds at speed 5, then sweat with 20 g of sunflower oil for 3 minutes at Varoma, speed 1. Only then do 150 g of celery stalks and 200 g of carrots go in, chop for 4 seconds at speed 5.
This order matters because onion and garlic need longer to lose their sharpness. If we chop everything together in one go, fine garlic particles swim through the celery and never become fully soft later. The two steps take 30 seconds of extra effort and make the sauce noticeably rounder.
The most common pitfalls
Emmer wheat turns to flour instead of cracked grain
If we mill for too long by mistake, the grain is too fine and the sauce becomes floury and pasty rather than grainy. Our solution: Start with 12 seconds at speed 8 and check. It should look like coarse couscous. If whole grains are still visible, mill for a further 3 to 5 seconds. Better to mill twice briefly than once for too long.
Sauce becomes too dry
Emmer wheat absorbs more than expected. Anyone who cooks the spaghetti later than planned and keeps the sauce warm for 30 minutes will suddenly have an almost paste-like consistency. Our solution: Before serving, stir in a splash of vegetable stock or pasta water. 50 to 100 g is enough to make the sauce smooth again. Pasta water is actually better, because the starch in it additionally binds the sauce to the pasta.
Bolognese tastes flat
Without the umami boost from meat, the sauce can seem thin. Our solution: When seasoning, stir in a tablespoon of soy sauce or a dash of Worcestershire sauce. This lifts the depth immediately, without tasting of Asian food or burgers. A splash of balsamic vinegar at the end also rounds off the acidity of the tomatoes.
With mushrooms, lentils or as a lasagne sauce
Combined with lentils. 75 g of emmer wheat plus 75 g of red lentils instead of the full 150 g of emmer wheat. The lentils break down during cooking and lay a creamy layer around the cracked grain. The sauce becomes richer and does not need Parmesan to bind it.
Vegan without Parmesan. We leave out the Parmesan entirely and replace it when serving with nutritional yeast flakes or grated cashew nuts. Anyone who wants a cheesy note can blend 60 g of cashews with 1 tsp of nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt for 10 seconds at speed 10 and sprinkle the mixture over the pasta.
Smokier with a pancetta substitute. Anyone who misses the smoky note from bacon can add 1 tsp of smoked paprika and a pinch of cumin to the soffritto. This gives the sauce a ham-like note without any animal products.
Boosted with mushrooms. 200 g of chestnut mushrooms or porcini finely chopped and sweated with the soffritto. Mushrooms add extra umami and the meat-like bite that some people miss with a pure emmer wheat bolognese.
What we serve alongside
The bolognese classically goes on top of 500 g of spaghetti. Anyone who does not want to make their own pasta should buy a good bronze-extruded variety, as sauce clings to it better. Anyone who fancies home-made pasta can find our classic Spaghetti Bolognese recipe with mince as a comparison. Our pizza dough recipe also works well with a leftover portion: use the sauce as a topping, add a few drops of olive oil, and it is ready.
As a second vegetarian pasta option, we love Spaghetti aglio e olio with the Thermomix® when we need something quick. Anyone who wants to try emmer wheat in another form should take a look at Emmer Wheat Soup with the Thermomix®. The grain shows a completely different side there and tastes almost like chicken soup. We grate the Parmesan ourselves beforehand; how that works in the mixing bowl is explained in our guide to grating cheese in the Thermomix®.
3 days in the fridge, frozen for 3 months
The sauce keeps in the fridge in a sealed jar for 3 to 4 days. It develops noticeably overnight and often tastes better on the second day because the flavours have melded. Before reheating, add 50 to 100 g of water or stock, as the emmer wheat will have continued to absorb liquid.
Goes well with: Spaghetti, tagliatelle and Parmesan.
Freezing works without any trouble in portion containers for up to 3 months. Unlike a mince bolognese, the texture barely changes on thawing because the grain does not fall apart. We often freeze double the quantity straight away, this is our emergency dinner for days when we do not want to cook any more.
More meat-free main courses and matching pasta classics:
- Spaghetti Bolognese with the Thermomix®
- Emmer Wheat Soup with the Thermomix®
- Spaghetti aglio e olio with the Thermomix®
- Pizza Dough with the Thermomix®
- Grating Cheese in the Thermomix®
