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BEST EVER Bolognese Sauce

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BEST Bolognese Sauce Recipe  Look no further for the richest, tastiest, most flavorful bolognese sauce EVER!  Layers and layers of FLAVOR mingle together to create a depth that will make your taste buds sing!

bolognese sauce recipe best homemade authentic traditional

The Ultimate Homemade Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese is one of the most popular Italian dishes worldwide and for good reason – it’s delicious and makes for some of the best comfort food ever!

Traditionally bolognese sauce uses three meats (beef, veal and pork) and pancetta (or bacon) to achieve the flavor that has made it so famous. The pork adds sweetness to the sauce, the veal adds finesse, and the pancetta…well, we all know what bacon does.  It’s like manna from heaven.

The long, slow cooking time results in melt-in-your-mouth tenderness and a depth of flavor that will satisfy your tummy and your soul.

We’re taking traditional bolognese basics and then adding a few twists to bump up the flavor even further:  Dried porcini mushrooms are the ultimate secret ingredient for adding incredible FLAVOR and umami elements to sauces, gravies, soups and stews.  Make your best effort to source them.  For additional flavor I like to use ground pork sausage in place of ground pork.  And in addition to the traditionally used white wine we’re adding a bit of red as well for a more robust flavor.   We’re confident you’re going to love the depth and flavor that these twists contribute to your bolognese sauce.

Tips for Making the BEST Bolognese

The key to a good bolognese is to not cut corners when it comes to the length of the cooking time and the quality of ingredients.  The long cooking time is crucial for breaking down the food and releasing the flavors of each ingredient.  A bolognese that’s cooked for 30 minutes will taste vastly different than the bolognese that has simmered for 3 hours.  So don’t rush it!

Quality Tomatoes

Another key element is to use the best quality ingredients.  For the best flavor use tomatoes that are imported from Italy; they are much sweeter and more flavorful.  They can be purchased at most well-stocked grocery stores.  For those in the U.S., World Market also carries them.  And of course you can purchase them online.

I like the Mutti tomatoes brand– it’s a smooth puree that’s ready to go.  I also like Strianese San Marzano tomatoes which are stewed and traditionally they’re crushed by hand and then added to the bolognese.

Dried Porcini Mushrooms

This has become my secret flavor weapon for the past decade.  Grind them up with a coffee/spice grinder and add them to your sauces, gravies, soups and stews for an incredible depth of flavor and umami notes.  You will be blown away by what these do for the flavor of your food!   You can find them in many well-stocked grocery stores as well as online

Quality Fresh Meats

Another key to achieving the best flavored sauce is to use the highest quality of meat you can find.  You only need 1/2 pound of each kind and it’s worth it to splurge for quality.

Quality Cheese

Italy produces more than 300 varieties of cheese – three hundred!  It’s mind-blowing.  To finish off your bolognese use a quality aged Italian grating cheese.  The most popular are Asiago, Grana Padano, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano.  That finishing touch will take your bolognese to a whole new level.

bolognese sauce recipe best homemade authentic traditional

Can You Freeze Bolognese Sauce?

Yes!  This sauce freezes well and can be used in any pasta dish, including lasagna.  You can make it in bulk and freeze it in containers so you always have some on hand when you need it.

Bolognese Sauce Recipe

Let’s get started!

Very finely chop the carrots, celery, onions and garlic.  You don’t want large chunks of it in the sauce.  You want them to blend in, almost unnoticeably.

In a large Dutch Oven over medium-high heat, fry the bacon until done.

chopped vegetables frying bacon

Add all chopped vegetables (don’t drain that bacon grease!) along with the butter and cook until softened, 5-7 minutes.

Add the beef, veal and sausage/pork and cook until the pink is gone, another 5 minutes.

cooking vegetables adding meat

Add the milk, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Add the veal/beef consommé or broth and the white and red wine.

adding milk and broth to the pot

Add the tomato puree or crushed tomatoes.

Add the ground porcini, salt, pepper, nutmeg, sage, rosemary and bay leaf.

Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours.  The sauce will thicken further than the picture below over the course of the two hours.  If the sauce is still a little too runny, remove the lid and simmer another 30 minutes.  Stir in the chopped fresh parsley and add salt and pepper to taste.

adding tomatoes and herbs

Serve over pasta, fresh pasta is best, with some freshly grated aged Italian cheese.

bolognese sauce recipe best homemade authentic traditional

For more traditional Italian dishes be sure to try our:

bolognese sauce recipe best homemade authentic traditional

BEST EVER Bolognese Sauce

We take some of the basics of traditional bolognese and then add a few twists to bump up the flavor even further. Layers and layers of flavor mingle together to create a depth and richness that will make your taste buds sing!
4.96 from 83 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 10 minutes
Course Entree, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 6 servings
Calories 538 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 4 ounces pancetta or bacon , diced
  • 5 tablespoons butter
  • 1 medium yellow onion , very finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot , very finely chopped
  • 1 large celery rib , very finely chopped
  • 2 large cloves garlic , minced
  • 1/2 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 pound ground veal
  • 1/2 pound ground bulk pork sausage or plain ground pork (sausage will give even more flavor)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup beef or veal consommé or broth
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1/2 cup dry red wine
  • 1 28 ounce can or jar Italian imported tomato puree or Italian imported stewed tomatoes crushed by hand
  • 2 tablespoons ground dried porcini mushrooms (strongly recommend for incredible flavor)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seed
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage (or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Instructions
 

  • Fry the bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until done (don't drain the bacon grease). Add the butter and the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook until softened, 5-7 minutes.
  • Add the ground beef, veal, sausage and salt and cook until no pink remains. Add the milk, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
  • Add the consomme, white and red wine, tomatoes and all remaining ingredients except for the parsley. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Uncover and continue simmering on very low for another 2 hours. If the bolognese is too runny, uncover and simmer another 30 minutes or until sufficiently thickened. Stir in the parsley and simmer for another minute.
  • Serve over pasta (fresh is best) with some freshly grated aged Italian cheese.
  • Note: This sauce freezes well and can be used in any pasta dish, including lasagna.

Nutrition

Calories: 538kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 27gFat: 38gSaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 131mgSodium: 987mgPotassium: 738mgFiber: 1gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 2484IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 145mgIron: 2mg
Keyword Bolognese, Spaghetti
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

First published on The Daring Gourmet November 7, 2014

 

kimberly killebrew the daring gourmet

Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!

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Recipe Rating




4.96 from 83 votes (61 ratings without comment)

122 Comments

  1. I’ve been looking for a good recipe I could make on Sunday and use throughout the week and freeze for later. This is perfect! The flavor is so much better than any jar could ever offer.

  2. Listen. I do not care what any Italian snob or whoever says, THIS RECIPE IS AMAZING! I am a culinary arts teacher and this is the recipe my kids and I use for our Bolognese lesson. Well done and thanks for sharing.

  3. Close, but NOT authentic Italian.
    First, all those herbs towards the recipe’s end, are just NOT part of the registered Italian recipe.
    Second, the photo. Italians would NEVER serve ragù alla bolognese with a short or tubular pasta; it’s always served with fettuccine, tagliatelle, pappardelle or lasagna.

  4. Hello! I attempted to make your bolegnese sauce today. I was super excited and rushed around to multiple stores to get all of the correct ingredients. I followed the recipe to the tee, however my sauce came out extremely soupy and greasy. I’m not here to criticize, I just genuinely want to know where I went wrong for next time. Do you think the type of meat/not draining the meat had something to do with this? I’m just disappointed after the tome and commitment I put into it. Thanks!

  5. Hello! Do you know how many bolognese recipes are on the interwebs? A LOT. Do you know how many of those recipes I consider to be worth making? ONE. I hate admitting someone made a recipe better than I did, but you did so I am. Only changes? Fresh chicken broth, 2 juniper berries, no red wine, and more broth, cream, and white wine added as needed. BTW, I find Barefoot Pinot Grigio to be a very good and inexpensive wine to use in this. I’m making a huge batch right now to send to Virginia for my son-in-law. Half the neighborhood wants to know what the heck I’m cooking in here :)
    Thanks very much. Cheers!

    1. Thank you for your generous compliment, Lisa, and also for the wine tip! Yes, no doubt you’re torturing your neighbors with those heavenly aromas! :)

  6. OMG! This is absolutely incredible! The house smells great! It is one of those perfect cool days in Florida and I have all the windows open to torture the neighbors walking their dogs! Thanks for the amazing recipe!

  7. I’m making this now (so far so good). I didn’t have any parsley in the garden, so I am substituting basil for the finish. I’ve made Bologenese in the past with chicken livers, but was too lazy to venture out to procure them. I am very Provencial, apparently. I bought some fresh Bucatini and I alway shred my own cheese. I have high hopes! I plan on using the sauce later for lasagna. I agree with the former posts about Alfredo Viazzi’s book (a favorite). Best pesto EVER!

    1. Fantastic, Jocelyn, I hope you enjoy this. Please let us know what you think once you’ve tried it!

  8. Kimberly,

    I am cursed with the obsession of trying to create the absolute best possible lasagna
    on the planet. I have perused literally hundreds of recipes and videos, all of which are
    “The world’s BEST!” (LOL) sauce or cheese components. Your use of the consommé
    is the first time I’ve seen it. Into the notebook! I was wondering about the porcini
    mushrooms – many times I’ve seen folks rehydrate dried shrooms then use the liquid only
    and toss the solid components as “trash”? Couple tips you might try, if so inclined…
    unsweetened condensed milk,worcestershire…Rather than the ground beef (or in addition),
    overnight (12 Hour) braised beef shank plus some shank bones at 140F in Wine, water,
    veg (mirapoix) to your taste. finely shred meat, add marrow (Meat Butter!)
    I’ve also considered, but have not yet tried, BRATWURST!!! as an addition/complement
    to the pork component. Best regards and blessings.

    1. Thanks for sharing, Wayne! Beef shanks are a great swap. I like to add ground sausage to my bolognese on occasions so the bratwurst doesn’t seem too terribly out of place to me :) So in this case the porcini mushrooms are ground into a fine powder that is assimilated into the sauce. You get a fuller flavor that way as they simmer along with the other ingredients and, being powder, there’s no need to discard them.

  9. Hello from Oregon: I made this phantastic Bolognese yesterday. Today we had 6 guests and everyone loved the sauce. I am from Germany and grew up in Italy in the summers before moving to the US. My younger sister is living in the Emilia Romagna near Bologna and she loved the recipe! I doubled the recipe and had to use two large pots! A great success and some sauce left to freeze. Thanks for all the tips!

  10. Just returned from a few days skiing in northern Italy and a few days in Florence. My partner had pasta Bolognese at least once every day in a variety of places. Never was it served sauce plopped on top of the pasta! Rather, the sauce was gently, sparingly mixed,with the pasta giving it a nice even coating of flavor with small chunks of chopped meat throughout. Wanting to replicate this presentation was what brought me to searching “classic Bolognese”. Recipe sounds good, photo was a turn off.

    1. I’m sorry the photo is a turnoff, Sharon. Your experience on your ski trip is obviously very different from mine and many others. Being from Europe and having visited Italy many times over the course of 20 years, this bolognese is very much like the ones I was served there. It doesn’t surprise me in the least though that different restaurants will do things differently.