spaghetti bolognese

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spaghetti bolognese

Why make bolognese from scratch when you can get it pretty cheap and easy from a bottle? That’s what I thought anyway until I didn’t have any in the cupboard and decided to make it myself. I have never gone back to the store bought bottled pasta sauce.

This makes a very rich, tasty bolognese. And it’s not that much harder or more time consuming than the bottled variety. It is a foundation recipe, though. You can add anything you like: olives, sun dried tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, corn, kidney beans, extra garlic, fresh herbs, spices… endless possibilities. Or you could remove ingredients that you don’t like or don’t have on hand like the capsicum or mushrooms. A tasty variation is adding a couple of crushed cloves to the sauce. It adds a subtle but lovely aroma to your bolognese.

Of course, instead of serving this over spaghetti, you could make a simple white sauce, layer with a few sheets of pasta, grate some cheese over the top and have lasagne instead.

Yield: 4 serves

Spaghetti Bolognese

spaghetti bolognese

A basic bolognese sauce can be made in large batches ahead of time and frozen for super-easy mid-week meals.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 500g mince
  • 1 onion diced
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • a handful of mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 capsicum, diced
  • 2 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 400g tin crushed tomatoes
  • splash of wine (optional)
  • 1 tsp dried oregano or basil (or a mix)
  • 1 tsp sugar (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Brown mince over medium heat, breaking up lumps with a spoon. Remove and drain in a colander.
  2. Sauté onion until soft, add in the capsicum and garlic and cook for a couple more minutes then the mushrooms and cook for a minute more.
  3. Add in the tomato paste and herbs and cook for half a minute or so to caramelise the paste a little, then add in the mince, stirring.
  4. Add the tomatoes, wine if using (use the wine to rinse out the tomato tin), sugar, salt and pepper.
  5. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 – 20 minutes while the pasta cooks so that the sauce reduces, thickens and the flavours intensify.
  6. Serve over pasta with a generous scattering of freshly grated parmesan.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 407Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 111mgSodium: 383mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 4gSugar: 8gProtein: 37g

Nutritional information is calculated automatically using the Nutritionix database. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, serving size or the source of nutrition data. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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