Spaghetti bolognese is one of my favorite weeknight dishes to make. When I think of comfort food I think of spaghetti bolognese. It is warm, inviting, and great for meal-prepping throughout the week!
The simmering tomato sauce combined with the sweet and savory wisps of sautéing onions and garlic brings me right back to my childhood kitchen. Growing up, spaghetti bolognese was a staple in our household, the only problem was that it took several hours of simmering and a watchful eye before it was ready to eat.
Now that I am an adult I do not have the time (or the patience) during the week to be stewing up tomato sauce all day. Therefore, I wanted to come up with a way to get all of the yummy bolognese flavors without the long cook time that a traditional bolognese sauce has. So that’s what I did! I came up with a recipe that encompasses all of the rich and delicious flavors of traditional bolognese spaghetti, without the exorbitant cook time. It’s a win, win situation that I love and I know you will too! So let’s dive in!
Tips for Making Spaghetti Bolognese:
- Use pork and beef: Using both pork and beef in your bolognese sauce will not only add a lot of flavor from the different fats but also give a more tender texture overall to your sauce.
- Best beef percentage to use: I always recommend using 85/15 beef. This percentage of 85% protein to 15% fat ratio is going to have a bit more fat in it than say a 95/5 ratio and give your sauce a lot of rich flavor that you want in a traditional bolognese sauce.
- Caramelize: By slightly caramelizing your sofrito (the veggies), it provides a nice flavor and also gives a sweetness to the sauce to offset the acidity of the tomatoes.
What Is the Difference Between Spaghetti Bolognese and Spaghetti Sauce?
This is a great question! Traditionally spaghetti bolognese is made with ground beef, ground pork, pancetta, wine, chicken broth, and milk, along with the traditional tomato sauce ingredients (aka tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc.) as well as different herbs.
On the contrary, spaghetti sauce is typically just the sofrito (carrots, celery, onions, and garlic) and tomatoes. Traditional spaghetti sauce does not have any meat, dairy products, chicken broth, or wine added to the sauce.
Both bolognese sauce and spaghetti sauce are great options but pretty different in terms of richness and flavors. Traditional spaghetti sauce will be a little bit more acidic due to the tomatoes and lack of fat, whereas, bolognese sauce will be a bit more rich due to fat added to the sauce via the ground meat and milk.
Best Noodles to Use for Bolognese Sauce:
Traditionally, in Italy, bolognese sauce is accompanied by a flatter, wider noodle such as tagliatelle, pappardelle, or fettuccini. It is often times made as the base for lasagna as well. The theory is that the sauce is thicker, and therefore requires a wider noodle to be able to hold the sauce and do it justice.
However, if you do not have access to any of these specialty noodles, no worries, you can always pair it with spaghetti (that’s typically what I use), or rigatoni works great as well!
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Ingredients:
- Olive oil
- Pancetta
- Ground pork
- Ground beef (85/15)
- Medium sweet onion
- Medium carrots
- Medium celery stalks
- Small fennel bulb
- Garlic
- Tomato paste
- White wine
- Canned crushed tomatoes
- Whole milk
- Chicken bone broth
- Salt
- Balsamic vinegar
Materials Used:
- Stockpot
- Chef’s knife
- Cutting board
- Food Processor
- Sheet pan
- Liquid measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Wooden spoon
How To Make Spaghetti Bolognese:
Preheat the oven to 450° F.
On a sheet pan add the ground beef and ground pork and spread it out into a thin, even layer. This will help it bake in the oven quickly and evenly.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. The meat should shrink in size and be fully cooked through.
Allow the meat to rest and soak up all of the juices released.
Once the meat is fully cooled, use your hands and begin breaking up the meat into tiny bits. Be sure to get all of the fat released onto the pan incorporated into the meat. This adds a lot of flavor to the sauce.
While the meat is cooking, set your stove to medium heat and heat the stock pot.
Add 2 Tbsp. of 4 oz. pancetta to the pan and sauté until golden brown.
While pancetta is cooking, begin making the sofrito for your sauce. To make the sofrito cut 1 sweet or red onion, 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots, 6 cloves of garlic, and 1 fennel bulb.
Place the veggies into the food processor and pulse until all the veggies are broken down into small pieces.
Add the veggies into the stock pot with the browned pancetta. Keep all of the fat that has been released from the pancetta in the pan. This will add a lot of additional flavor.
Once the sofrito has cooked down (about 7-8 minutes), add the tomato paste. Cook down for about 1 minute. Stirring continually to avoid burning.
Add the white wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Stir to release the bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook down until the wine is about half as much as when you poured it in.
Add canned tomato.
Begin to simmer then add whole milk, ground meat, and chicken bone broth, and 2 pinches of salt
Bake with the lid partially on in the oven at 300° F for 1 hour.
After one hour take the lid off of the stock pot and bump up the oven temperature to 325° F and cook for an additional 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and skim some of the extra fat off the top if there is an exorbitant amount. Do not remove it all though. The fat adds a lot of richness to the sauce so you want to keep some of it in there and mix it into the sauce.
Add 1 bunch of parsley, 2 Tbsp. of balsamic vinegar, and remaining salt to taste.
Scoop the sauce onto your spaghetti, or noodle of choice and top with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
FAQ:
- Can I use red wine instead of white wine? Yes! Traditional spaghetti bolognese is made with red wine. The red wine leaves the sauce with a little bit richer flavor.
- Can I use gluten-free noodles instead? Definitely! I recommend using the Barilla Gluten-Free noodles. In my opinion, these are the best gluten-free noodles.
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Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 4 oz. pancetta
- 1.5 lbs. ground pork
- 1.5 lbs. ground beef (85/15)
- 1 medium sweet onion
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 medium celery stalks
- 1 small fennel bulb
- 6 cloves garlic
- 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1.5 cup chicken bone broth
- 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 2 pinches salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450° F.
- On a sheet pan, add the ground beef and ground pork and spread it out into a thin, even layer. This will help it bake in the oven quickly and evenly.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Allow the meat to rest and soak up all of the juices released.
- Once the meat is fully cooled, use your hands and begin breaking up the meat into tiny bits. Be sure to get all of the fat released onto the pan incorporated into the meat. This adds a lot of flavor to the sauce.
- While the meat is cooking, set your stove to medium heat and heat the stock pot.
- Add 3 Tbsp. of olive oil and 4 oz. of pancetta to the pan and sauté until golden brown
- Cut the sweet, celery stalks, carrots, cloves of garlic, and the fennel bulb.
- Place the veggies into the food processor and pulse until all the veggies are broken down into small pieces.
- Add the veggies into the stock pot with the browned pancetta. Keep all of the fat that has been released from the pancetta in the pan. This will add a lot of additional flavor.
- Once the sofrito has cooked down (about 7-8 minutes), add the tomato paste. Cook down for about 1 minute. Stirring continually to avoid burning.
- Add the white wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Stir to release the bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook down until the wine is about half as much as when you poured it in.
- Add canned tomato.
- Bring to a simmer, then add whole milk, ground meat, chicken bone broth, and a couple pinches of salt to the pot.
- Bake with the lid partially on in the oven at 300° F for 1 hour.
- After one hour take the lid off of the stock pot and turn up the oven temperature to 325° F and cook for an additional 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and skim some of the extra fat off the top if there is an exorbitant amount. Do not remove it all though. The fat adds a lot of richness to the sauce so you want to keep some of it in there and mix it into the sauce.
- Add 1 bunch of parsley, 2 Tbsp. of balsamic vinegar, and the remaining one teaspoon of salt.
- Scoop the sauce onto your spaghetti, or noodle of choice and top with parmesan cheese.
Notes
- To freeze, allow the sauce to cool completely. Portion the sauce into individual freezer bags and lay flat in the freezer. This will help them freeze quickly and evenly.
- To reheat, remove the sauce from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. Once fully thawed, add the sauce to a saucepan over medium heat and bring the sauce to up to heat. Add a tablespoon or two of water if the sauce is super thick.
