Ragu alla Bolognese – Famously known as Bolognese sauce is probably one of the most famous Italian food available. It is delicious. It is versatile. It only requires you a few ingredients and some patience to make a good pot of Bolognese sauce.
You might be wondering, if there are so many Bolognese sauce recipes (authentic or not), why am I still making this blog post? Bolognese sauce is one of the first few European dishes I’ve cooked. I have had tried many Bolognese sauce recipes before. However, I have never found a recipe, which I really like. One day, my mother-in-law made this dish. I was very impressed. It was the best Spaghetti Bolognese I have ever tasted. Naturally, I asked her for her recipe and tried making it many times with a personal twist because I have a different cooking style. In the end, my recipe turned out to be slightly different from hers.
Everyone in Germany seems to love this dish, which I can totally understand why. Whenever I have guests coming over and if I know that they are picky eaters (or I have no idea what I should cook), a simple Bolognese sauce with Spaghetti topped with some Parmesan cheese and a delicious crunchy carrot salad as side dish always save the day. The last thing I want is my guests not enjoying my meal.
This Bolognese sauce recipe has in fact become one of my specialities and I want to share it with you. I will also share some amazing alternatives to wines, if you (for some reasons, such as due to health reason) cannot consume or do not want to use alcohol in your food. It is easy to make. However, it does require some patience to make a good pot of sauce. It is totally worth it.
Tips on making Bolognese Sauce Recipe
Butter: Whenever a recipe calls for onions, I often opt to use butter instead of oil because it just brings out the best (in my opinion) of onions and bacon, in this case. Olive oil is commonly used in Bolognese sauce recipes as well.
Vegetables: Traditionally, onions, celery and carrots are used in making Ragu alla Bolognese. I usually leave stalk celery out, due to its distinct flavour. My family prefers it this way. I like to hand cut my vegetables into tiny cubes, this way it adds a nice texture to the sauce.
Tomato Paste: My family prefers our Bolognese sauce to be thicker and less watery. This is why I prefer using tomato paste to tomato purée. Not only does tomato paste add a rich flavour to the sauce, it gives the sauce its beautiful red colour. If you like using tomato purée, then you should use tomato purée.
Ground meat: Ground beef or equal parts of ground beef/pork work well. Some people use only ground beef, while other recipes call for ground beef/pork. I do use them interchangeably. There is a minimal difference in taste, when it comes to the end product.
Red wine: Again, some recipes call for red wine, while others call for white. I guess both would do the job well. I personally use red wine because it tastes stronger and enhances the colour of the sauce. Ever since I have a toddler at home, I started using alcohol-free red wine (not sponsored). Yap, that’s right! Alcohol-free wine. I did not know that they existed until someone told me. It is an amazing substitute for wines and an absolutely must-have in my kitchen.
Tip: Other than alcohol-free wines, another great substitute for red wine in this Bolognese sauce recipe would be apple juice. The end result tastes the same. If you are pregnant and/or have small children at home and do not want to use alcohol in your Bolognese sauce, you might want to consider these alternatives.
Beef broth: Red wine evaporates rather quickly. Therefore, it is important to add some additional fluid into the sauce. Homemade beef broth or instant beef broth are excellent in this case. It adds an intense flavour to this Bolognese sauce recipe. If you are using tomato purée, you might want to skip the beef broth or reduce the amount of it.
Herbs: In summer, when I have some fresh herbs in the garden, I would put some Rosemary and Thyme to the sauce. A little goes a long way, too many herbs will cover the taste of the sauce. When there are no fresh herbs available, dried Italian herbs mix would work as well.
Heavy Cream: As weird as some might say, as common as others might say, heavy cream or milk is actually an important ingredient in this Bolognese sauce recipe. Adding milk/ cream to Ragu alla Bolognese is common in Italy, as milk/ cream neutralizes the acidity of the tomato and gives the sauce a nice consistency. I prefer using heavy cream. However, you can free feel to use milk as well.
How to make Bolognese Sauce Recipe
Start off dicing the vegetables (onions, (celery) and carrots). To prevent the butter from burning, melt butter on medium heat in a medium size pot and add in bacon cubes.
Sauté bacon for several minutes, until they turn brown. Thereafter, add onion dices into the pot.
Once the onion cubes turn translucent, add in the ground meat. Break up the ground meat into tiny pieces with a wood spoon and cook them until all turn brown. You can spread some flour over the meat during this step, in order to thicken the sauce. However, I do not need this step, since we like the consistency of the Bolognese sauce, when it is done.
Add diced carrots to the meat and let them cooked for another few minutes.
After which, add tomato paste and red wine to the pot. In order to evaporate some of the wine, close the lid of the pot for a few minutes.
Pour beef broth into the sauce and season it with salt, ground pepper and herbs according to taste.
Cover the pot with a lid, turn the heat to low and simmer the sauce for roughly 30 minutes. Stir the sauce occasionally to prevent sticking. The red wine should be evaporated by now. Cook your favourite pasta according to packaging, while the Bolognese sauce is cooking.
Shortly before turning off the heat, finish up the sauce with some heavy cream. Serve the sauce with your favourite pasta and some grated Parmesan cheese.
What to serve with this Bolognese Sauce Recipe
According to my research, Bolognese sauce is never served with Spaghetti in Italy. In my personal opinion, you could serve your sauce with any pasta because this Bolognese sauce recipe is so versatile. You can serve this sauce with any short or long cut pasta and with Lasagne, even though I still prefer using it with Spaghetti.
How to store Bolognese Sauce
When kept properly in an airtight container, this sauce lasts in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. I usually just keep the leftover sauce in a pot with lid covered because we always finish the sauce within 2 days. This sauce can also be frozen for several months.
I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as my family does. This is one of my favourite western food. Show me and tag me #chenguins on social media, so that I can see your recreation as well.
What is your favourite pasta sauce? Tell me in the comment section below!
Until next time & guten Appetit!
Greetings from the Black Forest,
Pia
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Easy Bolognese Sauce Recipe
Ingredients you need
- 50 g Butter
- 50 g Bacon diced
- 1 Onion
- 500 g Ground meat
- 2 Carrots
- 1 Stalk Celery optional
- 3 tbsp Tomato paste
- 200 ml Red wine
- 200 ml Beef broth
- 1.5 tsp Salt
- 1.5 tsp Ground pepper
- 1.5 tsp Dried Italian herbs mix or fresh Rosemary and Thyme
- 85 ml Heavy Cream
Directions
- Dice onions, (celery) and carrots.
- To prevent butter from burning, melt butter and add diced bacon on medium heat in a medium size pot.
- Sauté diced bacons for several minutes, until they turn brown. Thereafter, add onion dices into the pot.
- Once the onions turn translucent, add ground meat. Break up the ground meat into tiny pieces with a wood spoon and cook them until all turn brown.
- After which, add tomato paste and red wine to the pot. Close the lid of the pot for a few minutes, in order to evaporate some of the wine.
- Pour beef broth into the sauce and season it with salt, ground pepper and herbs. Dried Italian herbs or fresh Rosemary and Thyme would be great.
- Cover the pot with a lid, turn the heat to low and simmer the sauce for roughly 30 minutes. Stir the sauce occasionally to prevent sticking.
- Shortly before turning off the heat, finish up the sauce with some heavy cream.
- Serve the sauce with your favourite pasta and some Parmesan cheese.
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