Classic Bolognese Sauce

In this recipe

What is Bolognese?
How to make Bolognese
What to serve with Bolognese
Freeze bolognese sauce?

If you’re looking for a truly luxurious pasta sauce, there’s no better candidate than a classic Italian Bolognese.

Slow simmered for at least a few hours, the sauce is deep, rich, flavorful and well worth the extra effort!

Bolognese sauce is a classic Italian sauce for pasta made from ground meat such as beef or pork. It’s slow-cooked with a soffritto of onions, carrots and celery, tomatoes and milk to give it a creamy texture.

Pronounced “bow-luh-nez”, The sauce comes from the Bologna region of Italy, hence the name. There are many variations given the cultural history of this sauce, but all seem to follow a basic structure of ground beef, a soffritto, some tomato, some milk, and long, slow cooking.

How to make bolognese sauce

This bolognese sauce is a family recipe from one of our readers and is used in our lasagna bolognese recipe. The recipe features ground beef, pork, and Italian sausage, which is essentially seasoned ground pork and pork fat.

To start, sweat the soffritto of chopped onion, celery, and carrot with pancetta in butter. Then add the ground beef to brown and sprinkle with ground clove, cinnamon and pepper.

Add tomatoes, then milk and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours. Leave partially covered, but add water if too much liquid boils away.

Of course, you can skip the long slow cook if you like (we have a quick Bolognese recipe), but the flavor definitely improves with the longer cook.

What to serve with Bolognese

Bolognese sauce is traditionally served with fresh tagliatelle pasta, but you can also serve it with fettuccine, pappardelle, penne, or other pasta.

Can You Freeze Bolognese Sauce?

Yes! Bolognese freezes well for up to 6 months. (Here’s our favorite method.)

More classic Italian pasta dishes to try:

Fettuccine Alfredo
Baked spaghetti
Penne pasta with meat sauce
Cacio and Pepe
Baked ziti

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Check out this classic Bolognese sauce recipe

preparation time
15 minutes

cooking time
3 hrs 30 mins

total time
3 hrs 45 mins

portions
6 servings

2 ounces baconfinely chopped
1 Middle spanish onion yellow onionfinely chopped
1 celery ribfinely chopped
1 carrotfinely chopped
3 tablespoon unsalted butter
12 ounces ground beef
4 ounces mead
4 ounces italian sausageCase removed if necessary
hyphen Ground carnations
hyphen Cinammon
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 lb peeled and chopped tomatoes (or one 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes packed in water)
1 Cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon sea-salt

Make the soffritto:

Combine pancetta, onion, celery, and carrot in a buttered skillet and cook over medium-high heat until onion turns pale golden, about 10 minutes.
Add Meat:

Add the beef, pork, and sausage to the soffritto and sauté until browned, about 5 minutes.
Add Spices:

Sprinkle with cloves, cinnamon and pepper.
Add tomatoes and let simmer:

Stir in the tomatoes, increase the heat to bring them to a simmer, then reduce the heat back to medium. Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes. If using whole canned tomatoes, shred them as you add them to the sauce.
Simmer for 2 1/2 hours:

Add milk and season with sea salt. Then turn the heat down to low, partially cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Stir at least every 20 minutes.

Anytime the sauce gets too dry and starts sticking to the pan, simply add 1/4 cup water and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
Taste and serve:

Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings as needed.

Bolognese is traditionally served with fresh tagliatelle pasta, but you can also serve it with fettuccine, pappardelle, penne, or other pasta. The sauce freezes well for later use.