Spaghetti with Bolognese Meat Sauce
Serves 4 Time 2 hours Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 18 Steps 16
This northern Italian meat sauce, or Ragu Bolognese, is wonderful on pasta with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or as filling for lasagne.
Ingredients
- ¼ lb (125 g) ham or bacon, cut into cubes
- 1 lb (450 g) beef lean or medium ground
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
- 1 cup (225 ml) coarsely chopped onion
- ¼ cup (50 ml) coarsely chopped celery
- ¼ cup (50 ml) coarsely chopped carrot
- ¼ cup (50 ml) coarsely chopped fennel bulb, if available
- ¼ cup (50 ml) butter
- 1 cup (225 ml) canned plum tomato
- ½ cup (125 ml) red wine
- 2 cups (500 ml) beef stock (preferably fresh, but canned beef stock will do)
- ¼ cup (50 ml) tomato paste
- 1 strip of lemon rind
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 lb (450 g) spaghetti pasta, preferably made from durum wheat
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese for garnish, preferably freshly grated Reggiano Parmesan
- Salt to taste
- Fresh ground pepper to taste
Steps
- Mix the coarsely chopped onion, carrot, celery and fennel (optional). Finely chop to make the battuto.
- Cut the ham or bacon into little cubes. Sauté in a heavy saucepan.
- Add the butter. Melt. Add the battuto.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until very lightly browned. Transfer to a heavy pot.
- Heat the olive oil in the same skillet. Add the beef. Break up lumps. Cook until well browned.
- Add to the battuto in the pot.
- Add the wine to the skillet. Stir on high heat, scraping up the brown bits.
- Add the tomato paste and stock. Stir until mixed. Add to the pot.
- Drain and coarsely chop the plum tomatoes. Add to the pot.
- Add the bay leaf and lemon rind. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer, bubbles barely breaking the surface.
- Simmer, stirring occasionally, an hour or more, until thick.
- Add pepper and salt to taste.
- Bring a gallon (4 litres) of water to a full boil over high heat in a large pot.
- Add the pasta. Stir briskly to separate. Cook 10–12 minutes until al dente.
- Drain the pasta well. Serve immediately.
- Remove the bay leaf and lemon rind from the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the pasta. Garnish with grated Parmesan.
Notes from the original
- This is a great recipe for making in large quantities and freezing. If making bulk recipes, be sure to simmer for hours, or even a full day, occasionally stirring up from the bottom of the large pot to ensure the contents at the bottom does not burn, adding stock as needed to keep the right consistency. The goal is to have the flavours mix and make the home smell delicious!
- Never rinse pasta with water. To ensure there is no excess starch from the pasta, choose a high quality durum wheat pasta and boil it in lots of water.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Spaghetti with Bolognese Meat Sauce” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-04-16, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Spaghetti Bolognese.jpg by No machine-readable author provided. Chingon assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.