Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe With Pasta Sauce

Everyone needs a great everyday Spaghetti Bolognese recipe, and this is mine! The Bolognese Sauce is rich, thick and has beautiful depth of flavour. It’s perfect for a quick midweek meal but even better if you can simmer it for a couple of hours! Serve it over pasta, stuff into jacket potatoes, make an epic Lasagna or Baked Spaghetti Pie!

And here she is – my Spag Bol. Rich, thick, incredible flavour in the sauce even if you only have time for a quick 20 minute simmer. Though if you can slow cook for a couple of hours, it really takes it to another level!

I’ve been loyal to this Meat Sauce recipe since I first learned to cook when I was a teenager.There are 3 little things in this recipe that might be a bit different to Bolognese recipes you’ve seen around:

Spicy Spaghetti Bolognese

1. Worcestershire sauce: it just adds that little extra something-something. I get antsy if I get caught in a situation where I have to do without;

2. Beef bouillon cubes (beef stock cubes) for extra depth of flavour in the sauce, to compensate for this being an everyday midweek version rather than a traditional slow cooked

3. Sugar, if needed: just a little bit goes a long way to transform the sauce if you happen not to be using high quality, sweet Italian canned tomatoes. Supermarket canned tomatoes here in Australia are notoriously sour. Especially the Australian ones – it pains me so much to say that, but it’s true.

Marion's Spaghetti Bolognese

Different name for the same thing! You’ll find Bolognese made all sorts of ways all across Italy and all around the world, but essentially mince meat (usually beef, sometimes combined with pork or veal) in a tomato based sauce flavoured with herbs.

As with all my pasta recipes, I include a step to toss the pasta IN the sauce, rather than just placing pasta in bowls and spooning over sauce.

This makes the Bolognese sauce emulsify, so it thickens, becomes glossy and clings to the spaghetti. No morewatery sauce at the bottom of your pasta bowl! This is how chefs and Italians make pasta. Try it once, you will be converted!

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

For a super quick side salad option, make thisRocket Parmesan Salad with Balsamic Dressing.Probably my most made side salad because it’s literally a 2 minute effortless-no-chop salad!

This recipe is the way I have been making Spaghetti Bolognese for decades (gosh it’s scary saying that!!). I really love it, and I think the sauce is rich and loadedwith flavour, especially for a 30 minute Bolognese recipe.

Though if you have the time, slow cook it for a couple of hours. The flavour develops and the meat becomes so luxuriously tender.

The Best Slow Cooked Bolognese Sauce Recipe

This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!

Recipe video above. My everyday Bolognese recipe I make over and over again. This Meat Sauce has terrific depth of flavour for such a quick recipe – though if you have the time, it's stellar cooked slowly for a couple of hours. My 3 secret tips are: Worcestershire Sauce, Beef Bouillon Cubes and a touch of sugar.

1. Meat – Some traditional slow cooked Bolognese Sauce are made with a mixture of beef and pork mince. Beef for flavour, pork for juiciness. I typically do not use this for midweek.

The Best Vegan Bolognese Sauce

2. Beef stock cubes – I use Oxo Beef Cubes (Woolies & Coles). Use any beef bouillon / stock cube or in powder form (called “granulated beef bouillon” in some countries).

3. Canned tomato – Mid range canned tomato can be notoriously sour. A touch of sugar makes an incredible difference. The amount required will depend on how sweet / sour the tomatoes and tomato paste is – go by taste. Typically, the better the quality, the less sour they are so the less sugar you will need.

4. Tossing pasta sauce – See commentary in post about emulsifying the pasta sauce. This is the “proper” Italian way to cook pastas, and the way pasta is served in restaurants.

Hearty Bolognese Style Meat Sauce For Pasta Recipe

5. Slow simmer option –this is how you take a great bolognese to an incredible one that would make your Italian Nonna proud. The key here is ultra low heat – after bringing to simmer, lower heat so the surface is just gently rippling, with a few bubbles here and there. Once the lid has been on for a while, take a peek to check – because it gets hotter with the lid on. I use my smallest burner on the lowest setting.

6. Other notes: * Scaling recipe up (use auto recipe scaler) – If you double the recipe (or more!), then brown the beef in batches. If you try to cook it in one batch, you will end up stewing it rather than browning! * Slow cooker: This is really fantastic made in a slow cooker! The meat becomes so tender and the sauce has incredible flavour. At step 3, cook until the wine liquid disappears completely, then transfer it into the slow cooker at step 4 and cook for low for 6 hours. * Variations: Here are some ideas for ways to take this up a notch, if you are so inclined! – Finely chop 1 carrot + celery and saute that with the onion to make a softrito. Cook on medium low heat for 10 minutes for extra amazingness! – Add finely chopped bacon (smokey is the ultimate!) or pancetta, cook with the onion – 1 tbsp soy sauce (my mother did this, I sometimes do! I’ve seen it in some chef recipes) – Fresh or dried red chilli – Bolognese gets better the longer it is cooked, and it’s even better the next day!

Serving: 396 g Calories: 510 cal (26%) Carbohydrates: 53.2 g (18%) Protein: 40.9 g (82%) Fat: 12.6 g (19%) Saturated Fat: 3.3 g (21%) Cholesterol: 143 mg (48%) Sodium: 368 mg (16%) Potassium: 1046 mg (30%) Fiber: 2.7 g (11%) Sugar: 8.4 g (9%) Vitamin A: 1450 IU (29%) Vitamin C: 34.7 mg (42%) Calcium: 40 mg (4%) Iron: 22.1 mg (123%)

Best Spaghetti Bolognese (quick And Easy 30 Minute Weeknight Meal)

Originally published August 2016. Updated with new commentary, new photos and most importantly, recipe video! No change to recipe – I wouldn’t dare! Too many readers love it as it is. 🙂

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!This is hands down the BEST Spaghetti Bolognese recipe you will ever make! Forget about any other recipes out there... this is the ONLY one you will ever need!

Don't rush this baby.....the longer you let the sauce simmer, the more the flavours develop into the best 'spag bol' you've ever eaten!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce With Ground Beef Recipe

In our house, we eat a pasta dish for dinner at least once a week. Whether it's a yummy lasagne, a simple ragu and pasta or meatballs and sauce, these Italian-inspired dinners are some of our very favourites!

But this spaghetti bolognese is the BEST OF THE BEST! It's my son's number 1 favourite meal and I always make sure I've got lots of batches in the freezer ready to be reheated for a quick and easy meal during the week.

And while this recipe makes a BIG batch that tastes just as delicious when reheated, the initial process of cooking it cannot be rushed! Make sure you have a few spare hours at home when you plan on cooking my spaghetti bolognese. The longer the sauce simmers, the more AMAZING it will be!

Easy Spaghetti With Meat Sauce Recipe

Promise me that you won't rush it!? I'm talking an absolute minimum of 1 hour, but 2-3 hours is the best. Once you try it, I promise you'll agree!

Thick chunks of pancetta are going to give you the very best result. However, if you can't buy pancetta, you can use diced bacon instead.

Technically... yes. But I most definitely DO NOT recommend omitting the wine. The alcohol in the wine cooks out as the sauce cooks, making it perfectly fine for the whole family to eat (including young kids). You can use either white or red wine (personally I prefer white) in this recipe. If you choose to omit it, you can substitute it with extra chicken stock liquid, however, the flavour of the sauce will most definitely not be as delicious.

Easy One Pot Homemade Bolognese Sauce

If you only have 1 hour, then that will be absolutely fine. But if time allows, cooking the sauce for 2-3 hours allows the flavours to more fully develop, giving you the most robust, full-flavoured bolognese sauce.

You can choose to use any type of pasta you like - such as spaghetti, fettuccine, spirals, penne, rigatoni etc. When serving, ensure you stir a large scoop of bolognese through the pasta so that all of the pasta has been completely coated in the sauce. Then add as much extra bolognese sauce on top as you like.

Bolognese sauce freezes, defrosts and reheats perfectly, making it a great option for a quick, midweek freezer dinner. Freeze bolognese sauce in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost

Healthy Spaghetti Bolognese