Bolognese Sauce is an Italian ragu sauce that gets its name from Bologna, Italy. This meat based sauce is cooked low and slow resulting in a rich, luxurious sauce full of flavour.
Bolognese Sauce
Typically a dish we prefer to consume during the cooler months of winter, a good hearty bolognese sauce can hit the spot anytime of the year.
The process of cooking the sauce low and slow, even an hour or two at times is what makes this dish so delicious. We’ve lightened up the dish to suit our busy lifestyle and let it cook for about an hour. This sauce would be great made in a slow cooker.
Meat Sauces
Spaghetti sauce is a meal requested regularly in this house. It’s a quick, easy North American meat sauce made using using ground beef or sausage simmered with tomato sauce, a few herbs and other seasonings. It’s not traditionally Italian.
A true bolognese sauce should be cooked low and slow made with beef and pork, milk and wine. Traditionally Italian.
Ragu is another meat sauce common in Italy and often made with one of these proteins; veal, beef, lamb, pork or poultry.
The Pasta
My Italian friends tell me this sauce should be served with a thick, long broad noodle like a tagliatelle or papperdelle. This ensures the sauce can stick to the noodles offering flavour in every bite.
The rule of thumb is for thicker sauces, you use thicker pasta. For example, thinner sauces, use thinner pasta shapes. Makes sense right?
However I’ve never been one to strictly follow tradition. We’ve tried a variety of noodles with this dish and while we agree, a broader noodle works well, I’m going out on a ledge here to say penne, calamarata, rigatoni, and ziti also capture the sauce in every bite.
Looking for more pasta recipes to try, check these out!
- Chicken Pesto Pasta
- Mushroom Ham and Carrot Linguine
- Baked Ziti
- Spaghetti with Italian Sausages
- Acorn Squash, Roasted Garlic and Kale Pasta
- Taco Pasta
If you made this recipe tag Wanda Baker on Instagram and hashtag it #bakersbeans or #wandabaker
Ingredients
- 3 slices bacon chopped
- 2 tsp oregano dried
- 1 medium onion chopped small
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped small
- 2 celery diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 2 28oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil
- extra virgin olive oil optional
Instructions
- Add bacon to a sauce pan and cook over medium heat. After bacon has been cooking a few minutes add oregano and continue to cook bacon until lightly browned.
- Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic and stir to combine. Cook until vegetables have softened.
- Add ground beef and pork, crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir in a good pinch of salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer for approximately 1 hour stirring occasionally.
- At about the hour mark remove lid and simmer an additional 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the sauce so it does not dry out (add water if you need to). Remove from heat and mix in parmesan.
- Serve with chopped or torn basil sprinkled on top along with fresh ground black pepper, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and more parmsan.
Holy yum! We are a pasta family and this hit all the notes!
I’ve got to make this soon. Bolognese is one of our favourite sauces and pasta to eat! Thanks for sharing.
We tried this recipe using pappardelle pasta and it turn out magnificent. Thanks.
This sounds really good. I love pasta!
I added more Parmesan cheese. It was very tasty!
So much flavour in the sauce. A great recipe!
This is such a hearty and comforting bowl – perfect for cooler nights!
One of my favourite sauce recipe to try at home. This looks so flavorful. Thanks for sharing.
This is such a classic and delicious sauce!! We tossed it with some penne and served it with a side salad and it was the perfect Sunday dinner for our family!
heaven. simply heaven. i loved this and will be making it all the time – it’s perfect!
This looks so delicious, love a good bolognese