This thick, richly flavored Bolognese sauce is easy to make for a delicious Italian meal at home. A bowl full of hearty Pasta Bolognese is the ultimate comfort food!
If you love classic Italian fare, you’ll absolutely love my Baked Rigatoni with Meat Sauce and Baked Eggplant Parmesan.
Table of contents
Easy Homemade Pasta Bolognese
This easy version of classic Bolognese is a fabulous way to satisfy your craving for Italian food at home with ingredients you can find at your local store. A low and slow stovetop method creates a rich and meaty sauce with the correct flavor balance.
There’s no rushing perfection in the case of Bolognese. Although the prep is pretty quick, This flavorful sauce should simmer for at least one hour or more to allow time for the flavors to develop. I promise it’s worth the wait.
If you don’t have the time, check out my Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce for a quick, absolutely delicious pasta sauce for a busy day.
Ingredients for Bolognese Sauce
- Meat – This easy Bolognese recipe calls for 80%- to 85% lean ground beef and ground pork.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Vegetables – Diced yellow onion, peeled and diced carrot, and diced celery make up the “soffritto”.
- Minced garlic
- Seasoning – Dried thyme, dried oregano, ground nutmeg, salt, and freshly ground pepper, to taste.
- Red wine – An Italian red wine is a great choice but any good hearty red like Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, or a blend will work well.
- Tomato paste
- Canned whole San Marzano tomatoes – These authentic Italian tomatoes make a world of difference in the flavor and quality of a homemade pasta sauce. They are a little more pricey than regular canned tomatoes but so worth the cost. Check your local big box store – our Costco has started carrying them for a great price.
- Low sodium beef broth
- Whole milk – You don’t want to substitute reduced fat milk in this recipe. Whole milk is a vital component to creating the correct balance for this tomato based meat sauce.
- Italian parsley
- For serving – The dry cooked pasta of your choice. See the FAQ section below for my recommendations. And, freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
A soffritto is a mixture of finely chopped or minced onion, carrot, and celery that is slowly cooked in butter or olive oil until lightly browned. This mixture is used as the base for Italian pasta sauces like Bolognese.
How to Make Pasta Bolognese
This is a quick overview of how to make this recipe. You’ll find detailed instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Cook and crumble the ground beef and pork in a heavy bottomed Dutch oven until cooked through. Transfer the cooked meat to a plate and drain the grease from the pot.
- Next, add olive oil to the pot and add the finely chopped onion, carrots, and celery. Once they’ve cooked down and softened bit, add the parsley and garlic and season the mixture with salt.
- Return the cooked beef and pork to the cooked vegetables and season the mixture with the dried seasoning.
- Add the wine and stir until well combined.
- Stir the tomato paste into the meat mixture.
- Then, add the can of San Marzano tomatoes. Use your spoon to press the tomatoes against the side of the pot to lightly crush them. They will soften as they cook and you will have ample opportunity to stir and crush the tomatoes throughout the cooking process.
- Next, add the beef broth and milk, stir well, and bring almost to a boil.
- Turn heat down to the lowest setting you have on your stove and simmer, uncovered.
Allow the sauce to simmer for at least an hour or up to 3 hours. Stir (and taste!) occasionally. Your house will smell amazing and you will be asked repeatedly when dinner will be ready.
- Your finished sauce with be thick and rich and ready to serve.
- Stir the Bolognese sauce into any cooked pasta you love. I used spaghetti here but honestly, any pasta you love will work. See the FAQ section below for more ideas.
You can easily get a couple of meals out of a batch of this sauce so enjoy it on the weekend and store the rest in the fridge for a meal later in the week. It can also be halved, if desired. See my storage tips below.
Tips for the Best Bolognese Sauce
- Tomatoes – Italian tomatoes all the way! I can’t stress enough how much of a difference it makes to use San Marzano tomatoes when making pasta sauce. They are sweeter and less acidic than regular canned tomatoes.
- Dairy – Whole milk is necessary to create the correct flavor balance. For an even richer result, try using heavy cream.
- Simmer – Simmer your Bolognese for at least one hour or up to three hours with the lid off. Leaving the lid off will allow some of the moisture to cook off which results in the sauce cooking down into rich, meaty deliciousness.
- Serving – In order to fully coat the pasta with the sauce, it’s best to mix the sauce into a pot of warm cooked pasta and toss it well before serving. If the sauce has thickened more than you’d like, toss in a little pasta water to loosen it up a bit and serve with plenty of Parmesan cheese.
FAQ
Bolognese is the term used to describe an Italian ragù (Italian meat sauce) that originated in Bologna, Italy. An authentic Bolognese sauce recipe includes a variety of different ground meats, finely diced vegetables, tomatoes, wine, and whole milk that cook over low heat for a long time to create great depth of flavor. The sauce is tossed with cooked pasta to create Pasta Bolognese.
Bolognese sauce recipes have a more complex list of ingredients and a different method of preparation than typical American spaghetti sauce recipes. Bolognese includes at least two different types of meat, finely chopped vegetables, tomatoes, wine, and dairy and it requires a long simmer time. Most spaghetti sauce recipes call for ground beef or Italian sausage, have a much saucier consistency, and cook more quickly than Bolognese.
Traditionally, this rich, meaty sauce is served with a substantial pasta like fettuccine, tagliatelle, or rigatoni. It’s also a good choice for baked pasta dishes like ziti or lasagna. Although it’s common to find spaghetti Bolognese on Italian-American restaurant menus (and we love it!) it’s not typically served with spaghetti in Italy.
Adding whole milk to Bolognese softens the acidity of the tomatoes and also helps to tenderize the meat. After the sauce cooks down, it’s hard to tell that it’s there but it creates a richer, better flavored sauce.
Storage Tips
- Refrigerator – Transfer leftovers to a covered container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. When storing tomato-based sauces, it’s best to use glass or ceramic containers as they will likely stain plastic containers.
- Freezer – Transfer any unused Bolognese sauce to a freezer-safe zippered plastic storage bag, press out as much air as possible, seal the bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw safely in the refrigerator before reheating.
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Pasta Bolognese
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional, as needed
- 1 pound 80% to 85% lean ground beef
- 1 pound 80% lean ground pork, not Italian Sausage
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1 cup peeled and diced carrot
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- ¼ cup finely chopped Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1 cup red wine, (an Italian red or a full-bodied wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, or a blend)
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 56 ounces canned whole San Marzano tomatoes , 2 (28 ounce) cans
- 1 cup low sodium beef broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- dry pasta of your choice, (rigatoni, penne, spaghetti, and linguine are all great choices)
- grated Parmesan cheese, for topping
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a Dutch oven with a little olive oil and place over MEDIUM heat. Add the ground beef and pork. Crush and stir with a large spoon to break up until fully cooked, about 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked meat to a dish and set aside. Drain the grease from the Dutch oven.
- Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the empty Dutch oven and return it to MEDIUM heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook , stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened but not browned. Add the parsley, garlic and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir well.
- Add the cooked and drained meat to the Dutch oven with the vegetable mixture. Season the mixture with the thyme, oregano, nutmeg, the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt, and a generous amount of black pepper. Add the wine, increase the heat to MEDIUM-HIGH, and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and stir it into the meat mixture. Add both cans of whole tomatoes, breaking the tomatoes up a little with the back of a spoon as you stir them into the meat mixture (they'll soften and be easier to break up later). Add the beef broth and milk and bring the mixture almost to a boil then turn down the heat to LOW. Cook, uncovered, for 1 to 3 hours. The sauce will be richer and thicker if it cooks longer. Check and stir occasionally, breaking up the tomatoes as they soften.
- When ready to serve, boil the pasta according to the package directions. Drain the pasta (reserve a little pasta water) and return it to the hot, empty pan. Add the desired amount of the Bolognese and toss to combine. If the sauce has thickened more than you'd like, add a splash or two of pasta water to loosen it up a bit. Sprinkle in some grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.
- Transfer to bowls and serve with additional Parmesan.
Notes
- Tomatoes – Italian tomatoes all the way! I can’t stress enough how much of a difference it makes to use San Marzano tomatoes when making pasta sauce. They are sweeter and less acidic than regular canned tomatoes.
- Dairy – Whole milk is necessary to create the correct flavor balance. For an even richer result, try using heavy cream.
- Simmer – Simmer your Bolognese for at least one hour or up to three hours with the lid off. Leaving the lid off will allow some of the moisture to cook off which results in the sauce cooking down into rich, meaty deliciousness.
- Serving – In order to fully coat the pasta with the sauce, it’s best to mix the sauce into a pot of warm cooked pasta and toss it well before serving. If the sauce has thickened more than you’d like, toss in a little pasta water to loosen it up a bit. Serve it with plenty of Parmesan cheese.
- Refrigerator – Transfer leftovers to a covered container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. When storing tomato-based sauces, it’s best to use glass or ceramic containers as they will likely stain plastic containers.
- Freezer – Transfer any unused Bolognese sauce to a freezer-safe zippered plastic storage bag, press out as much air as possible, seal the bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw safely in the refrigerator before reheating.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
This post was originally published on November 3, 2011. It has been updated with new text and images.
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Just made this! Followed your excellent directions to the letter. It’s simmering away now about 2 hours in. My house smells so good! Thank you! Also made your Cabbage Roll Soup…fabulous!
Happy to hear you’re enjoying both recipes! Thanks, KP. 🙂
I always make a double batch of this hearty Bolognese sauce, it’s one of the BEST I’ve ever tasted. When my husband gets a craving for pasta and sauce, I always have back up in the freezer. I will be sharing this recipe with a bottle of “sweetish” red wine to friends and family for Valentine’s Day. This is a MUST MAKE!!!
So good to hear you are loving the sauce! Thanks, Celeste 🙂
This looks so good!!
Your recipe sounds very good but my husband is allergic to milk. He can eat cheese but not drink or use fresh milk, is there something I can substitute for it?
Hi Tena 🙂 Traditional bolognese calls for milk but you can definitely make a meat sauce that does not contain dairy. You can just leave it out altogether or add a little more beef broth or other non-dairy liquid to compensate.
Made this bolognese sauce today. It was delicious – the family really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the wonderful feedback Chris. I’m so happy to hear your family enjoyed it 🙂 It’s a favorite around here.
Looking forward to making this for the family.
I made this last night at it was DELISH! Great depth in flavor. I followed it exactly but I did add a little extra milk at the end (approx 1/4 cup) because I like my Bolognese creamy. Family loved it! Excellent recipe.
I would love to smell that all afternoon! There is nothing like the anticipation of great food! It’s almost as much fun as actually eating great food…
This looks so delicious and comforting, great dish!
This looks so good. Love pasta.
Looks fantastic. Totally agree on the milk. A classic sauce needs the classic ingredients.