Spaghetti Bolognese

4.82 from 37 votes

Spaghetti Bolognese

Ground beef slowly braised in aromatic tomato sauce with onions, garlic, carrots and celery this bolognese sauce is what you want to serve with your pasta!

Prep Time15

Cook Time3

Total Time3 15

Course: Main

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: bolognese sauce, spaghetti bolognese, traditional spaghetti bolognese

Servings:

Author: Julia Frey of Vikalinka

Ingredients

1 tbsp This is an affiliate link.Olive oil
1 Onion diced
2 Carrots diced
2 Celery stalks diced
2-3 cloves Garlic
5-6 leaves Fresh Basil or 2 tsp dried basil
400g/14oz Canned Diced Tomatoes
500g/17oz This is an affiliate link.Tomato Passata/Crushed Tomatoes
250ml/1 cup water
2 tsp Dried Oregano
450g/1 lbs Ground Beef extra lean
Salt and pepper to taste
450g/1 lbs This is an affiliate link.Spaghetti

Instructions

In a large and deep frying pan or a Dutch Oven heat 1 tbsp of olive oil, then add diced onions, carrots, celery, minced garlic and cook on low heat for 10 minutes without colouring the vegetables. Then add ground beef and brown it until the beef is no longer pink inside while stirring the whole time and making sure to break up the beef. Pour in both types of canned tomatoes and water with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Sprinkle in some dried oregano and torn basil leaves (reserve a few small ones), bring everything to a boil. Then turn the heat down and let it simmer with a lid ajar for for 2.5-3 hours stirring it once in a while.
When your Bolognese is nearly done boil a large pot of water and cook spaghetti according to package directions. (I usually cook 2 min less than the package recommends, your pasta continues cooking when you combine it with sauce and you really don't want it overcooked!)
Drain your spaghetti and add your pasta to the sauce, stir gently and take off the heat. Top with reserved basil leaves. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Video

Notes

Using a This is an affiliate link.food processor for chopping up all vegetables saves a lot of time! Processing your vegetables this way also makes for a smoother sauce. Same flavour, less effort plus if you have picky eaters they will have no idea how many vitamins are hidden in that spaghetti sauce.
Spaghetti is often chosen when we make Bolognese sauce, but lots of pasta shapes will work. Long pasta like tagliatelle, fettuccine or pappardelle are ideal for this hearty sauce as well as more traditional.
Although the recipe calls for using ground beef, I also love to use a mixture of beef and pork. Pork is more affordable than beef, and using the two together brings extra flavour and a better texture.
This recipe scales very easily. If you like batch cooking this is one you want to have on rotation. Use what you need and freeze the rest.
Bolognese can also be made in a slow cooker. It actually works very well because using a crock pot gives more time for the flavours to develop and meld together. If this is for you, try my slow cooker beef bolognese sauce.

Nutrition