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Home » Recipes » Recipes » The Easiest Homemade Bolognese Sauce!

The Easiest Homemade Bolognese Sauce!

Published: Feb 10, 2021 · Modified: Mar 28, 2023 by Lynn Polito · This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

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This Homemade Bolognese Sauce is a delicious recipe to add to your weeknight rotation. You might think that "Bolognese" would be a hard, time consuming sauce to make, but it couldn't be easier!

Spaghetti Bolognese

This is a really simple sauce to make. My grandmother used to make this sauce all the time for our Sunday dinners. It was a favorite of the whole family! If you have an Italian grandmother, I'm sure she has some version of this recipe.

Jump to:
  • What's In Homemade Bolognese Sauce?
  • How to Store Bolognese Sauce
  • Other Recipes To Try!
  • 📖 Recipe

What's In Homemade Bolognese Sauce?

Homemade Bolognese Sauce

Soffritto- Soffritto is just a fancy way of saying onions, carrots, and celery. These three ingredients are the foundation of many Italian sauces and soups. For this recipe, I put each ingredient in the food processor and chopped it until it was really fine. You can also grate everything on a box grater, but that takes quite a bit more time. If you have a food processor, definitely use it. I recommend this food processor if you need one! Feel free to add extra veggies too, just add them to the food processor. Zucchini, mushrooms, even peppers would be a great addition to add some extra nutrition to this sauce.

Ground Beef- This recipe is based on one pound of beef. Feel free to double or even triple this recipe! I used 80/20 for this recipe. You can use 93/7 if you would prefer and that would be great in this recipe as well!

Canned Tomatoes- You can use your favorite jarred tomato sauce in this recipe, or you can use a canned tomato. I prefer crushed tomatoes because it adds a nice texture to the sauce. Use the big tomato cans, 28 ounces per one pound of meat.

Butter- You might think "why in the heck would I add butter to a tomato based sauce?" Well I'm here to tell you it adds so much to the sauce because it makes the texture velvety and decadent. The butter is the finishing touch on this delicious sauce!

Fresh Herbs- Finish the sauce with fresh herbs. I'd suggest basil or parsley. Chop it up right before you are going to serve the sauce and sprinkle the herbs over the sauce. The herbs shouldn't be cooked in the sauce, just used as a garnish.

Melting Butter Into the Bolognese Sauce
Butter gives the Bolognese sauce a velvety texture

How To Make Homemade Bolognese Sauce

You start with a "soffritto" which is just onion, celery, and carrot. Cook that all together in olive oil in a Dutch oven or a large pot until all of the vegetables are soft. Once they are soft, add in the ground beef and cook the beef until brown. Once brown, add a can of crushed tomatoes.

Add 2 tablespoons of butter and melt that into the sauce. Let that cook on medium for at least an hour. You'll need to stir it every once in a while to make sure it doesn't burn. You can eat the sauce after about an hour, but the longer you let it simmer the richer and thicker the sauce will be.

Traditionally, you would eat this with a thick cut pasta, such as pappardelle or fettucine. Honestly, I would eat it with any type of pasta I had on hand, or even with zoodles if you would like! I've used it as a pizza sauce, and I'm not ashamed to admit that!

How to Store Bolognese Sauce

This recipe is so easy to double or triple. I usually buy a big package of ground beef and make a big pot of this sauce. It freezes in a Tupperware perfectly for a 2-3 months.

Make sure to label the Tupperware so you know how long it's been in the freezer. It's also really important to make sure the sauce is cooled down before you put it in the freezer. If the sauce is too hot it could bring down the temperature of the freezer and that won't be good for everything else in the freezer. You can also keep it in the refrigerator for about a week, if you can even keep it that long!

Bolognese Sauce

Other Recipes To Try!

Did you love this Homemade Bolognese Sauce? I'd so appreciate it if you would give this recipe a 5-star review! That will help other hungry readers find my recipes!

And don't forget to tag me on Instagram or Facebook and share this recipe on Pinterest! Thanks for sharing this journey with me and enjoy these delicious recipes!

Check out some of these other recipes like Veggie Loaded Shepherd's Pie Veggie Loaded Shepherd's Pie or Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese! Let me know if you make this recipe! I'd love to hear from you!

📖 Recipe

Spaghetti Bolognese

Homemade Bolognese Sauce

A classic Italian sauce, this Bolognese recipe is easy to make and a hearty, delicious sauce for any special occasion or family dinner.
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 325kcal
Author: Lynn Polito

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoon Olive oil
  • 1 Onion Medium
  • 2 Carrots Large
  • 2 Celery Stalks
  • 1 lb Ground Beef 80/20
  • 1 can Crushed Tomatoes 28 ounces
  • 2 tablespoon Butter
  • Fresh Herbs as a garnish Basil or Parsley for example

Instructions

  • Cut the carrots, onion, and celery into inch long pieces and put them in a food processor. Process them until they are chopped and all the same size.
  • In a Dutch oven or large pot, add the olive oil and heat on medium. Add all of the vegetables and cook that until the vegetables are soft, this should take about 10 minutes.
  • Add the ground beef and continue to cook that until all the ground beef is browned, about 15 minutes. Continue to stir so the ground beef does not stick to the pot.
  • Add the can of tomatoes and stir to combine all of the ingredients. Add the butter and stir.
  • Let the sauce simmer for at least 30 minutes. Stir the sauce throughout the cooking process so it does not burn.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste. Finish with the chopped basil.

Notes

  • Serve this sauce over pasta, zoodles, or as a pizza sauce.
  • Bolognese freezes well and can be frozen for up to 3 months.
  • 80/20 is the preferred meat to fat ratio, but 85/15 can be used as well.  Too lean and you won't get enough fat from the meat.

Nutrition

Calories: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 64mg | Sodium: 187mg | Potassium: 501mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 3667IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 3mg
Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LynnsWayofLife or tag #lynnswayoflife!

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Hey there! I'm Lynn and I'm based just outside of Boston. I'm a wife and mom of two with a passion for cooking and creating homemade food for my family.

Whether it's creating new recipes, or exploring tried and true classics, I am constantly trying to show that homemade doesn't have to be hard

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