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.
Really enjoyed it!
Easy to follow, just tweaked it a bit with some spices, and omitted the pork !
It’s delicious, thank you for sharing.
this recipe was delicious and was easy to follow.
made this and was amazing some tweaks had some family try it they all love it but now they want me to make a bigger batch for our family get together. my question is should I just double everything to get a bigger batch
Hello Rebecca. Yes just double all the ingredients. You may also need a bigger pot!
Delicious! I made this for my wife and I for dinner tonight and it was fantastic. Added some balsamic vinegar while making the sauce it brought it up a notch. After plating with pappardelle pasta, I topped it all off with “Staccietella”, burratta filling and then some chopped fresh basil and parsley! Thank goodness there is plenty left, but my waistline isn’t going to be happy! LOL
This, unfortunately and I really wanted to like, was not very good. I think that 1 1/2 cup of wine turned out to be way too much. It looked beautiful but lacked flavour and the wine – despite being cooked for 10-12 minutes – was overly dominant.
Excellent recipe. Made it with all beef and very pleased with the results. Similar but easier and saucier than Marcella Hazan’s famous Bolognese recipe!
Is there a dairy free milk substitute
Hi Meira, other readers have replaced the whole milk with broth but it won’t be as creamy. You should be able to use a dairy free milk substitute in this recipe though.
This may be obvious but how much pasta does the recipe call for? 16 ozs??
This recipe is just for the pasta sauce. You can make any pasta you prefer to serve with it. The average serving is 2 ounces, so I would make 12-16 ounces of pasta depending on how large you want your servings to be.
Good recipe. Came out great. Used spicy Italian sausage for the pork.
Delish! And so simple. I had no beef broth so I used a combo of red wine and chicken broth. Perfetto!
Great recipe. We don’t eat pork so I use more beef and I always add some fresh basil from my garden. Makes fantastic lasagna.
Like it
I fell in love Pappardelle at what is now my go to restaurant (Storico Forza in Atlanta) for Italian pasta. So i wanted to try asking at home because the hubs love it as well, and I must say it was a hit. Sub Italian sausage and heavy cream, the hubs is already saying we don’t have to go back to Storico Forza because this one is better. Thanks thanks for this, now if i can make the focaccia he loves they will lose a customer.
I am making this tonight. My only question is can I make this and then throw it in the crockpot for the rest of the day or should I leave it in the Dutch oven to simmer?
With our schedule at home, sometimes easier to start dinner earlier in a day.
Thank you for sharing.
The steps of reducing the wine/milk should be done on the stovetop. If you are looking for a slow cooker meat sauce, I would suggest this one.
Very, very tasty. I chose to use a sweet red wine. Did not need to use any pasta water. Consistency was perfect without it. The prep time (for me) was much longer than 20 minutes though. Will definitely make this again.
The first time I made this the response was resounding meh, but I tried again… replacing the pork with sweet Italian sausage. we have a winner!
This is so delicious! We were recently in Italy and wanted to learn how to make this. It did not disappoint! Only change was not to drain the fat, as it’s full of flavor. I have made it several times, and it’s always a hit!
Delicious. Increased the salt (and we don’t usually cook with a lot of salt) added 1tsp of nutmeg and crushed chilis for a bit of a kick. Will make again.
I had a pack of impossible meat, a can of san marzano tomatoes, and a near empty refrigerator. This recipe kept me from going out to eat and tastes amazing. Thank you again!