Vegan Courgette and Mushroom Involtini is a classic Italian dish made suitable for those following a plant based diet. Made with fresh vegetables and a tofu and mushroom filling its full of flavour. Get the recipe below.
Involtini is perhaps a less well-known Italian dish. I think of it like cannelloni but instead of stuffing pasta cylinders, you're stuffing rolled up courgette or in some cases aubergines and other vegetables. (Traditionally meat is also used but that's not for us!)
It's really delicious dish that is packed full of veggies and made filling by the protein packed tofu and mushroom filling.
If you grow your own courgettes like we do it's a great way of using up a glut. And if your courgettes grow too big it's not a problem, you just have bigger rolls! If you need more courgette inspiration try one of these recipes:
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Ingredients
Get a pen and paper ready, here's your shopping list for my Vegan Courgette and Mushroom Involtini:
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Carrot
- Celery
- Garlic
- Passata
- Courgettes
- Salt
- Pepper
- Mushrooms
- Tofu
- Oregano
- Lemon juice
Step-by-step instructions
Let's break this recipe down into a couple of stages: (1) making the sauce, (2) preparing the courgettes, (3) making the filling, (4) assembling and baking:
Making the sauce
- Step 1: begin by heating a little olive oil in a pan then frying the onion, carrot and celery until soft.
- Step 2: add the remaining sauce ingredients and simmer until slightly thickened.
To prepare the courgettes
- Step 1: pre-heat the oven and line two baking sheets with baking paper
- Step 2: cut the stems off of the courgettes and then cut into long strips roughly 0.25 inches thick
- Step 3: lay the courgettes on to the baking sheets and drizzle with olive oil before seasoning with salt and pepper
- Step 4: bake until they are soft enough to roll up easily
For the filling
- Step 1: fry the mushrooms and garlic until the moisture from the mushrooms has evaporated
- Step 2: crumble up the tofu and add to a food processor with the other filling ingredients and blitz until it comes together
To assemble and bake
- Step 1: take a spoon of the filling, place at one end of a slice of courgette and roll up, place into an oven dish filled with the tomato sauce
- Step 2: place in the centre of the oven and bake until the sauce is bubbling and the courgettes are golden brown
Hint: Don't cut the courgette too thin or they will break up and the filling will poke through as you roll.
Substitutions
There are a few substitutions you can make if you've not been able to get the exact ingredients. They are:
- Tomatoes: instead of passata you could use tinned chopped tomatoes. Or even tinned tomatoes that you crush yourself!
- Herbs: instead of oregano you could use dried basil or even just a dried Italian mixed herb mix. Alternatively use fresh herbs.
Variations
If you want to try a different twist on this recipe try some of these alternatives:
- Spicy: add chilli powder, chilli flakes or fresh red chilli to the sauce for an extra kick
- Cheesy: top with vegan cheese sauce or vegan mozzarella
- Aubergine: you could swap the courgette for aubergine
- Extra veg: put even more veg in the sauce, how about red peppers? Or pack the filling with spinach!
Equipment
You don't need any specialist equipment for this recipe just:
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Two saucepans (one for the sauce, one for the mushrooms)
- Mixing bowl
- Baking trays
- Oven dish
Storage
This recipe is great for reheating if you have leftovers. Be sure to store it in the fridge but for no more than a day.
You could also freeze it for up to a month. Just make sure the filling is piping hot before serving.
Top tip
If you only have small courgettes then you can overlap a couple of strips to make a bigger roll.
The recipe
Vegan Courgette and Mushroom Involtini
Equipment
- 1 knife
- 1 chopping board
- 1 Mixing bowl
- 2 saucepans
- 1 Spatula
- 1 oven dish
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 carrot finely diced
- 4 sticks celery finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic mincs
- 500 ml passata
For the filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 250 g mushrooms roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon juice only
- 250 g extra-firm tofu
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
To wrap around the filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large courgettes or 4 small courgettes
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
To make the sauce
- Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions, carrot and celery and sauté until the onions are translucent and the carrot and celery is beginning to soften.
- Add all remaining sauce ingredients and leave to simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened.
To prepare the courgettes
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Trim the stem end of each courgette, stand them vertically, and cut them into long strips roughly 0.25 inches thick.
- Arrange the slices on the prepared baking trays and drizzle them with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Transfer to oven and roast for 20 minutes, flipping half way. Once done the courgette should be cooked enough to easily roll. Remove pan from oven and set aside.
To make the filling
- While the courgette is in the oven and the sauce is cooking, fry the mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil until the moisture has evaporated from the mushrooms.
- Crumble the tofu into a bowl.
- Remove the mushrooms from the heat and add to the tofu along with the rest of the filling ingredients.
- Add to a food processor and pulse until the mix comes together.
To assemble
- Pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of an oven dish.
- Place a spoonful of filling at one end of each of the courgette slices then roll the slice into a tight coil and place it seam-side down in the dish of tomato sauce.
- Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 25 minutes until the sauce has reduced slightly and is bubbling, and the courgette rolls are lightly golden on top.
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