Bolognese is an easy-to-make meat sauce that is perfect for any type of pasta!
This zesty sauce has ground meat, onion, and garlic, simmered until thick and rich.
This recipe freezes and reheats well, making it the perfect weeknight meal!
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
Bolognese differs from typical spaghetti sauce with the addition of celery and carrot plus a little bit of milk. While it may sound unusual, these ingredients add a distinct flavor, a bit of richness, and some sweetness.
- Flavor: This thick pasta sauce is zesty and full of flavor.
- Technique: Let the milk and wine simmer until almost evaporated. If you’re using a smaller pot, this can take a bit longer.
- Prep note: This recipe freezes well so feel free to double it—cook once, eat twice!
- Budget tip: You can use any ground meat for this recipe; buy what’s on sale.
- Swaps: I highly recommend wine in this recipe but if you don’t have wine, beef broth is a suitable replacement.
- Serving suggestions: This sauce is excellent over pasta—pappardelle is my favorite. You can also use it for homemade lasagna or baked ziti!
Ingredient Tips for Bolognese
- Vegetables: Onions, carrots, and celery are known as mirepoix, and they add flavor to bolognese. If you’d like other veggies, chop them finely and add them in.
- Meat: I use a combination of ground beef and pork because I love the flavor—feel free to use all beef if it’s what you have on hand. Ground veal or Italian sausage are also delicious additions.
- Tomatoes: Canned whole tomatoes have a thicker consistency compared to diced tomatoes so I prefer them in this recipe. If possible, San Marzano tomatoes are the best choice for flavor. Canned diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes can be used, but may change the consistency slightly.
- Wine: Any dry red wine is great, but honestly any red will do. I usually use cabernet or merlot. Wine adds a lot of depth to this sauce so I highly recommend adding it.
- Milk: An unusual but traditional ingredient in an authentic bolognese sauce.
How To Make Bolognese Sauce
This bolognese sauce takes time to make but it really is easy! Once the prep work is done this recipe just simmers away until thickened.
- Cook Veggies & Meat: Brown the chopped veggies and the meat, then drain off any fat.
- Add Wine/Milk: Add the wine and let it simmer away. Next, add the milk and allow that to simmer away too.
- Simmer: Add remaining ingredients (per recipe below) and allow it to simmer until thick.
While the sauce simmers, cook pasta according to the directions. Add salt and pepper and parmesan, serve and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
I like to serve this bolognese over long pasta such as pappardelle or tagliatelle. Serve this dish with the sides you’d add to spaghetti and meatballs.
- SALAD Round the meal with an easy tossed salad or Italian Salad for a perfect Italian feast any night of the week!
- BREAD homemade garlic bread is a must.
Storing Leftover Bolognese Sauce
Bolognese is a great sauce to make ahead since, like chili recipe, the flavors “meld and marry” and just get better.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Freeze for up to 3 months in a sealed container, leaving about an inch for expansion. A tightly sealed zippered freezer bag works as well. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
- Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave, stirring occasionally until hot.
More Italian Inspiration
Did you enjoy this Homemade Bolognese Sauce? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 carrot finely diced
- 1 rib celery finely diced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ pound lean ground pork
- 1 ¼ cups red wine or beef broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 can whole tomatoes with juices, 28 ounces each
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon salt more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- pappardelle or long pasta, for serving
Instructions
- In a large pot, cook onion in oil over medium heat until softened, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add garlic, carrot, and celery, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add beef and pork. Break it up with a wooden spoon, until no pink remains. Drain fat.
- Add the wine and simmer uncovered until evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add milk and simmer uncovered until evaporated, about 8 minutes.
- Stir in tomatoes with juice, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and bay leaf. Break tomatoes up with a spoon. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 ½ cups of pasta water and drain the pasta well.
- Toss pasta with sauce, adding pasta water to thin it out if needed.
- Serve hot with parmesan cheese.
Video
Notes
- Fridge – store in an airtight container or cover with plastic wrap for up to 4 days.
- Freezer – store in an airtight container, leaving about an inch for expansion, or in a zippered freezer bag for 2 – 3 months.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Pasta, Sauce
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Hello, I have made several of your recipes and really enjoyed them. Can I leave the milk out of this? I am a bit nervous about that, never have added that to bologna sauce .What does the milk bring? Thank you
Some readers have left out the milk with good results. We like using it, as it adds a richer finish to the sauce, helps to tenderize the meat, and mellows the acidity from the wine and tomatoes. I would love to hear what you think of it!
Great straight-forward bolognese recipe. Worked well with half the milk amount, and some extra red pepper flakes at the seasoning/spice stage (maybe half a teaspon, not enough to make it hot, just enough to add that flavor).
Truly outstanding bolognese sauce! Thank you for sharing!
Just a question: My grown children and all of my grandkids much prefer Hot Italian sausage in this type of dish. ( Me, not so much.) I like a ground beef and turkey sausage, casings off, combo.
For the all sausage combo for them, would you still use the wine, as directed. OR might that be too salty ?
I would still use the wine as directed.
The best recipe !!! Love it !! 🥰
I followed every instruction perfectly, using all of the right ingredients and following every time it told me to cook for, the pasta tasted sour and bland and nothing like the ratings say. The wine and the tomatoes may have been the problem but that’s a problem with the recipe not the cooking.
Hi Martha, I have made this recipe many times and never had it turn out sour. Did you check the wine before cooking with it to make sure it was okay? The carrot balances the tartness of the tomatoes but if you want them too tart you can always add a pinch of sugar. I hope this helps.
I am going to make this recipe today but I have a question. The ingredient list says: 1 can whole tomatoes with juices, 28 ounces each. The “each” part makes me wonder if there is supposed to be 2 cans?
Sorry for the confusion Janet. That note is in case people are doubling the recipe we want to ensure each can is 28 ounces. I hope this helps.
Love this dish most most
Made with beef broth and 1% lactose free milk. Turned out amazing. I did have to take the cover off and simmer another 15min at the end to reduce the liquid. Was a hit. Feel better doing this for an hour rather than using those sugar laced jarred sauces.
Followed this recipe and it was divine. My only substitute was coconut milk instead of whole (eczema reasons) you can’t tell the difference in dreamy consistency!
I was craving a meat sauce tonight and this did not disappoint! I made it a little bit my own; pork, veal and beef, cinnamon sticks for a Greek twist, garlic powder, onion powder, and a mix of whole peeled and crushed tomatoes. I may now call this magic sauce though because BOTH of my no sauce kids tried a bite and enjoyed it!
Just made this last night. Turned out great! Love the consistency of the sauce, and the meatiness and hardiness.
This is one of the best meals I’ve ever made! Thanks for sharing!
how many servings does this recipe serve?
This recipe makes approximately 6 one cup servings. Enjoy!
I don’t know if I’m missing something here, but I am currently eating this and it’s OK but is extremely bland. Maybe it’s because I’ve been to so many great Italian restaurants and had really good bolognese but this is really missing a lot.
Thanks for trying our recipe, Gichi. Sorry to hear it wasn’t quite what you expected. You can definitely adjust the seasoning for a more bold flavor.
Delicious! I used rigatoni pasta which held the sauce pretty well. The sauce was nice and thick, almost like chili. The flavor was just superb. I think I’ll try using fresh herbs in it next time.
This recipe was amazing. Very tasty and had just the right amount of liquid after simmering. I added only a strip of cubed bacon and a quarter of cubed yellow pepper. Otherwise exactly as the recipe called for. The time cooking was the reason I chose this recipe the great taste and consistency will be why I use it many more times.
Thank you so much for your recipe
The milk did not evaporate fully.
Hi Jen, you may need to increase the simmering time to ensure it fully evaporates before moving on.
This was delicious! I had to use beef broth instead of wine and only had petite diced tomatoes but it still turned out great! I will definitely be making it again and use the recommended ingredients because I do think whole tomatoes would’ve been better, but in a pinch the diced ones did the trick. Never knew milk was in bolognese either but I trusted the process and am so glad I did, thank you!
This turned out very nice. It is more prep intensive than a marinara sauce but not as acidic so it’s easier on the stomach. Very flavorful. I used merlot and the only change I made was to add a bit more Italian seasoning. It could be the brand spice I used wasn’t as flavorful as my usual brand. I added a wee bit of red pepper flakes as well. But overall will definitely make this again. Our guests loved it.