Homemade Bolognese Sauce
Calories: 465kcal
Adjust Servings Here: 8 servings
Description
This bolognese sauce is so much more than a meat sauce. Made with ground beef and pork, lots of tomatoes, and a splash of wine this one gets ready in just 45 minutes. Served over your favorite pasta and bread for a complete meal.
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 1 lb (500 g) Ground beef (20% fat)
- 4 oz (100 g) Ground pork or pancetta
- 2 cans (30 oz) Tomatoes (15 x 2 oz or 4 cups) crushed
- 4 tablespoon Tomato paste
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil
- ½ cup Onions finely chopped
- ¼ cup Celery finely chopped
- ¼ cup Carrots finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Garlic thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 Bay leaves
- ½ cup (120 ml) Water
- ½ cup (120 ml) Wine red or white
- 2 tablespoon Thyme fresh
- 2 tablespoon Basil fresh
- 4 tablespoon Parmesan grated
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- ½ cup (120 ml) Milk Optional
For the pasta
- 1 lb (500 g) Pasta spaghetti, pappardelle, tagliatelle, rigatoni
Instructions
Bolognese sauce
- In a Dutch oven or heavy bottom saute pan, add olive oil.
- Saute garlic, carrots, celery, and onions until translucent.
- Then, add the ground beef and pork. Break apart the beef into smaller pieces.
- Saute until you see no more pink meat.
- Add the Italian seasoning and bay leaves - continue to cook and breaking the meat apart.
- Then, add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Followed by the wine - cook on high for 2 minutes.
- Then, add the water, fresh thyme, and basil.
- Cover and cook for an hour on low stirring every 15 minutes. Adding a little water if necessary to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Taste and adjust seasoning.
- If using milk, add the milk now add turn the heat off. Give it a good stir until you are ready for the pasta.
Pasta
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil with salt.
- Add the pasta. Today I am making spaghetti bolognese and cook for 10 minutes or until al dente (read directions on package)
- Remove the spaghetti/pasta from the water and into the sauce.
- Alternatively, you can serve the sauce topped over the pasta.
Recipe Notes
Tips for cooking a good meat sauce
- Use a Dutch oven or deep soup pot when making tomato-based sauces as tomato spatters while cooking
- Don't make haste, give every step the time it needs to saute, sweat, and stew.
- Cook the carrots, celery, and onions until they are soft and translucent so later they will almost disappear in an effort to thicken the sauce.
- The fat in the meat will render out and add an additional depth of flavor so try combining meats like beef and pork. If you don't have pork, use bacon or pancetta. Slice them fine and saute them with the onions
- Let the meat brown on medium-high stirring of. The caramelization adds depth of flavor to the sauce.
- Use a variety of tomatoes - different types of tomatoes bring different flavors and sweetness
- If you use fresh tomatoes - cook the sauce for 2 to 3 hours.
- Undercook the pasta if you plan to keep it for a while before servings. It will cook further while it sits in the hot sauce.
- Make extra sauce but don't drown the pasta in the sauce. Remove some and save for later.
- Extra sauce is amazing over pizza!!
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Did you make this recipe? Share it with me.Tag @veenaazmanov on instagram or #hashtag it #veenaazmanov