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Best Bolognese Sauce Recipe - 10 Cozy Dinner Ideas
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Best Bolognese Sauce

This is the absolute best Bolognese sauce recipe! It's rich and flavorful and perfect for making restaurant-quality pasta bolognese at home. The best Bolognese sauce is an Italian meat sauce made with ground beef & pork, pancetta, red wine & tomatoes, which simmers for hours until tender.
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Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours
Makes: 12 cups sauce

Ingredients

Bolognese Sauce

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 6 oz pancetta, diced small
  • 1 lb ground sirloin (90/10)
  • 1 lb ground Italian sausage
  • 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 2 celery ribs, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
  • 1 - 28 oz can high-quality crushed tomatoes
  • 1 1/2 cups medium-bodied red wine
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 parmesan rind
  • Kosher salt
  • freshly cracked pepper

Pasta Bolognese

  • 10 oz dried pasta, like pappardelle or paccheri
  • 3 cups bolognese sauce
  • 1 cup reserved pasta water
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Instructions

Bolognese Sauce

  • Crisp up the pancetta. Melt the butter and olive oil in a dutch oven over medium low heat. Add the pancetta, and cook while occasionally stirring, until crispy. This process takes about 10-12 minutes, don't rush. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pancetta from the pot and transfer to a small bowl.
  • Finely mince the veggies. While the pancetta cooks, Add all the veggies and garlic to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until everything is finely minced. This saves tons of time!
  • Cook the beef and sausage. Add the ground beef and Italian sausage to the pot and keep the heat low. Cook while stirring often until the meat is cooked through and really finely broken up. Don't brown the meat, just cook low and slow until it's cooked through.
  • Add the veggies. Increase the heat to medium and add the finely chopped veggies to the pot. Cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft. Add the tomato paste to the pot and really mix it in. Cook until it's darkened in color, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the remaining ingredients. Add the wine to the pot and use it to help scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the milk, tomatoes, bay leaves, crispy pancetta, and parmesan rind to the pot. Season with salt and pepper and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot.
  • Simmer. Simmer on low for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, stirring every hour or so. The sauce should be thick and deep red in color. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove the bay leaves.

Pasta Bolognese

  • Cook your pasta in a large pot of salted water to al dente (according to package directions). I love serving bolognese sauce with pappardelle, but you can use any pasta (long or short) you love most. I am obsessed with this Paccheri pasta--so perfect for the bolognese sauce!
  • Warm some of the sauce in a large skillet. I always make enough bolognese to freeze half of it and I always make it ahead of time because the sauce gets better as it sits. Rewarm 3 cups of the sauce in a large nonstick skillet.
  • Reserve 1 cup of the starchy pasta water, then carefully drain the pasta. Resist the temptation of rinsing your pasta with water once it’s drained. Doing so rinses away the starches on its surface, preventing it from properly adhering to the bolognese sauce.
  • Toss! Add the hot pasta straight into the skillet with the bolognese sauce, tossing to combine well. Use your judgment & adjust pasta bolognese as needed (a splash of the reserved pasta water will help loosen up the pasta bolognese; a handful of extra parmesan will tighten it up a bit, etc.). Add the cream and stir everything.
  • Simmer: Let the pasta bolognese simmer for 1-2 minutes, allowing the pasta to absorb some of the bolognese sauce as it finishes cooking. Season to taste, as needed
  • Serve! At last, the best part! Portion into individual bowls & serve immediately. Top with a mound of freshly grated parmesan.

Notes

This recipe makes A LOT of sauce! I tend to freeze half of it for later use unless I'm feeding a huge crowd. Follow the instructions in the blog post for storage and freezing.
The bulk of this recipe is about making the Bolognese sauce. For in-depth instructions on making Pasta Bolognese, read the above blog post. 
Bolognese sauce only gets better as it sits. I always make my sauce a day before I plan to serve. 
The pasta Bolognese recipe as written feeds 4 or so. However, it makes much more sauce than needed.