gimmesomeoven.com
Bolognese Sauce
My all-time favorite Bolognese sauce recipe is slow-simmered with a rich tomato base, a delicious blend of beef and pork, and the coziest blend of garlicky seasonings. This recipe makes enough sauce to be paired with approximately 1 pound of uncooked pasta (see notes below).
Prep
30 min
Cook
2h
Total
2h 30m
Serves
8
Instructions
- 01
Cook the pancetta (or bacon). Add the pancetta to a large stockpot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly crispy. There should be about 1 to 2 tablespoons of grease that has rendered in the stockpot, but if not, add in a drizzle of olive oil to supplement.
- 02
Sauté the veggies. Add the onion, carrot and celery to the stockpot and stir to combine. Sauté for about 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are softened. Add the garlic, anchovy filets and crushed red pepper flakes and stir to combine. Sauté for 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant.
- 03
Brown the meat. Add the ground beef and Italian sausage and toss to combine with the veggies. Cook until the meat is completely browned, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks and flipping it only occasionally so that it can get a bit browned and crispy on the bottom.
- 04
Deglaze the pan. Add the wine and use the wooden spoon to thoroughly scrape up any browned bits that are stuck to the bottom or sides of the pan.
- 05
Simmer. Add the San Marzano tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf and stir to thoroughly combine. Continue cooking until the sauce just barely reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to low, cover the stockpot with a lid, and simmer anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. (I recommend at least a 2-hour simmer for optimum flavor.) Be sure to check on the sauce and give it a stir every 30 minutes or so to be sure that the bottom does not burn.
- 06
Season. Remove and discard the thyme/rosemary sprigs and bay leaf. Add the milk and stir until combined. Give the sauce a taste and season with however much additional salt and pepper you believe it needs. (I typically add in at least a few teaspoons of salt and some generous cracks of black pepper.) If the sauce seems too thick, you can add in a bit of water (starchy pasta* water works best) to thin it out.
- 07
Serve. Serve warm with pasta, gnocchi, roasted eggplant, or whatever sounds good (see notes below) and garnish with lots and lots of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Variations & swaps
Possible Bolognese Recipe Variations:
- As I mentioned above, there are endless ways that people have adapted and customized the classic bolognese recipe over the years. So feel free to get creative with yours, if you would like! For example, you could also…
- Add more herbs: Some fresh basil, sage or oregano would also be absolutely delicious simmered in this sauce or sprinkled on top.
- Make it spicy: Feel free to also add in more crushed red pepper flakes if you would like the sauce to have more of a kick.
- Make it gluten-free: This bolognese sauce is already naturally gluten-free. But feel free to serve it with your favorite variety of gluten-free pasta to make GF pasta bolognese.
- Use heavy cream: As I mentioned above, feel free to also swap heavy cream or half and half in place of the milk. (I recommend starting with 1/2 cup, and then you can add more if you’d like.)
- Use homemade pasta: And of course, if you really want to go all out with this Bolognese sauce, you can make a batch of homemade pasta to serve with it.
- <img decoding="async" data-pin-url="https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/bolognese-sauce/?tp_image_id=75501" class="tbf-dpdo aligncenter wp-image-75501 size-full" title="This amazing Bolognese sauce recipe is slow-simmered with a rich tomato base, a delicious blend of beef and pork, and the coziest blend of garlicky herb seasonings. Serve with pasta, gnocchi, or roasted eggplant and enjoy! | gimmesome…
Free · No ads
Save this recipe to your own library.
iCook.ing is a free recipe library. Create an account in 10 seconds to save this recipe, plan your week, and head to the store with one shopping list.
Save from anywhere
Paste a link from a recipe blog, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or Pinterest — we pull the ingredients, steps, and photo.
Plan your week
Drag recipes onto a weekly plan, scale for the number of people you're feeding, and never wonder what's for dinner.
One shopping list
Your plan rolls up into a single, de-duplicated shopping list — sorted by aisle so the store run is faster.
Cook, don't scroll
Big, screen-stays-awake cook mode with built-in timers. No ads. No life story above the recipe.