Hands down the best bolognese recipe you'll ever make! A hearty Italian style meat sauce made with vegetables, wine, ground beef and pancetta.
If you've never tasted bolognese, it is a very rich meat sauce that has a lot of ingredients. Things that make this bolognese a step above the rest is that I use fresh bay leaves, a good amount of tomato paste and white wine.
The difference between bolognese and marinara is that in a bolognese sauce the meat is the star, in a marinara sauce the tomatoes are the star.
I had the best bolognese of my life at a restaurant in Ontario, Canada and the chef was nice enough to share her secrets with me. This delicious recipe is a reflection of that!
What Pasta To Use
The options are endless when it comes to which pasta to select for your bolognese. Realistically any type of pasta will work.
A few of the most popular will be spaghetti, tagliatelle, pappardelle, rigatoni and penne.
Spaghetti Bolognese Meat Sauce
Hands down the best bolognese recipe you'll ever make! A hearty Italian style meat sauce made with vegetables, wine, ground beef and pancetta.
Ingredients
- 6 oz pancetta
- 2 carrots, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 celery stalks, chopped (about ½ c)
- ½ onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 28 oz organic Italian whole canned tomatoes
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 c water
- 1 tsp chicken better than bouillon
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 5 fresh bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ c red or white wine
- 5 large fresh basil leaves, chopped
Instructions
- Heat a large dutch oven pot over medium/low heat. Cook the proscuitto. Add in the carrots, celery and onion. Saute until soft (10-20 minutes).
- Pour out everything in the pot into a food processor. Add the can of whole tomatoes. Process until everything is minced.
- Cook the ground beef in the pot with some olive oil. Drain any grease.
- Pour the contents of the food processor into the pot. Add the water, chicken bouillon, tomato paste, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper and wine.
- Cover and simmer on low for 6 hours. Checking occasionally (every 30 minutes) to make sure it's not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- When the sauce is done, remove the bay leaves and add the chopped basil.
- Serve with pasta.
Notes
Try your 6 hour simmer with the rind from a block of parmigianno reggiano cheese to add depth of flavor.
*2/7/26 After years of making this recipe and tweaking I've updated it to best reflect how I make it currently and what tastes the best.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 246Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 6gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 421mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 15g
This information comes from online calculators. Although moderncrumb.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Amy Andersen
I’m not sure if it was just the brand of crushed tomatoes I used but this ended up very acidic at the end and didn’t have enough richness even with the bacon, but that’s also my fault for not checking the sauce before serving and messing around with it to combat the acidity.
Tara Moore
Hi Amy! It can 100% have to do with the tomatoes chosen to use. Or it needed to simmer longer to continue to cook out the acidity. I've been doing a 4 hour simmer with much luck for all my tomato based stews this last year so I'll update this to reflect that. (Also - I like the sprouts brand organic Italian style whole canned tomatoes).
Amy Andersen
Thank you, I’m excited to try it with your updates!
Jan
I have made this several times. We love it! I always double the recipe to put extra in the freezer. 🥰
Tara Moore
Yum, great idea! It reheats nicely.
Barbara Jane
For Italian food lovers! This dish is superbly delicious 🙂
Tara Moore
Thank you Barbara!