How to Make Bolognese Sauce
A classic Bolognese Sauce should be in every home cook’s repertoire! My version is smooth, rich, hearty and slow cooked to perfection. The very essence of Italian comfort food!
Love Italian classic dishes? You’ll also love my Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe, Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, Lasagna Bolognese and Braised Beef Ragu.
When I was little, my parents used to take us to eat at this Italian restaurant in São Paulo, called Forchetta d’Oro. It was one of those restaurants that changed their menu quite frequently, but that didn’t stop me and my brother from asking for the pasta alla bolognese. Every. Single. Time!
Thankfully, the fact that that wasn’t in the menu didn’t seem to be a problem for the chef. In fact, all it took was for the waiter to notice we were there and two big bowls of the most amazing bolognese pasta appeared – almost magically – in front of us! I don’t know if my judgement is clouded by nostalgia, but that was the best bolognese I have ever tasted. It was so smooth it would melt in your mouth!
And that’s how my obsession with bolognese sauce was born. I have since eaten many versions of this dish at restaurants – all over the world – and worked tirelessly to perfect my home cooked rendition.
So it’s with great pride that I present you my bolognese sauce! Yes, it is a labor of love. But if you love cooking, it is a great weekend project. And the results will make you famous among your friends!
What is the difference between bolognese and meat sauce?
Bolognese is a kind of ragù (the Italian word for meat sauce), original from Bologna, Italy.
It’s very different from your usual American meat sauce, often a tomato-based sauce simmered with ground beef. Bolognese is much thicker, creamier (milk is one of the ingredients) and with just a touch of tomato.
This sauce is such a classic and definitely one of those dishes that spark epic fights regarding authenticity. Traditionalists will say that tomatoes have no place in ragù bolognese (with the exception of a bit of tomato paste for color) and that garlic is a sacrilege. In fact, they’ve gone so far as to register the “true and authentic” recipe for bolognese. *insert rolling eyes here*
Well, while I think my bolognese sauce is one of the best I’ve ever had, I am refraining from calling it authentic. I do like it with a little more tomatoes than just a spoonful of tomato paste (I use peeled San Marzano tomatoes that I crush by hand) and I could never skip the garlic (garlic is LIFE)! Oh, and I also add a splash of heavy cream at the end for extra creaminess.
The results? A velvety-smooth and rich sauce that will knock your socks off! Believe me, once you try this, authenticity will be the last thing on your mind.
How to Make Bolognese Sauce
The secret to making bolognese sauce is to let it simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Yep, you heard me! Low and slow is the way to go and there is no compromising. But – trust me – it is SO WORTH IT!
My favorite way to do it is to brown the meat and sauté the veggies in a dutch oven, add the liquids and then turn the heat down and watch the magic happen while my house is taken by that unmistakable aroma of good food cooking. Can you use a slow cooker or Instant Pot instead? You sure can! I haven’t tried it myself – as making bolognese sauce is often a ritual for me – but I assume you would just sauté everything on the stove and then transfer to your machine of choice when it’s simmer time.
If you’re in a pinch and you can only cook your sauce for 1 hour, go ahead. Who am I to tell you it won’t be delicious? But it won’t be Bolognese sauce.
Soffritto: the Holy Trinity of Italian Cuisine
Almost every Italian dish starts off with soffritto, a mixture of slowly cooked onions, celery and carrots. Sometimes called battuto, it’s the Italian equivalent of the French mirepoix.
The veggies cook until soft and almost caramelized, providing a satisfying depth of flavor to the dish you are making.
Most people use a sharp knife or a mezzaluna to roughly chop the vegetables. I like to use my food processor to get them very small as I don’t want huge chunks of carrots and celery in my bolognese sauce. A good tip is to process the onions first, remove and then do the hard vegetables (carrots and celery). That way you don’t risk the onions releasing water and you ending up with a watery paste.
If you do lots of Italian cooking, it’s a good idea to make a large batch of soffritto and freeze it into smaller portions for later. It can be cooked straight from frozen, making it very convenient for busy cooks!
What meat should be used for Bolognese?
Traditionally, bolognese sauce is made with a combination of beef and pork (both ground sausage and pancetta). I’ve seen a few recipes that add veal to the mix and also some that add chicken livers.
You can certainly play around and find the combination you love the most. I do love the flavor element that the ground pork brings to the dish, so my bolognese always has both beef and pork. But if you don’t eat pork, by all means, use just ground beef.
What kind of pasta goes with Bolognese Sauce?
You will have a hard time finding Spaghetti Bolognese in Italy. I know, shocking, right? Especially when it’s such a popular dish in Italian-American restaurants.
Well, in Italy, most ragù dishes are served with thicker pasta shapes, as those are more able to hold the chunky sauce. Popular choices are tagliatelle, pappardelle and fettuccine. It’s also a must in lasagna!
That being said, I do love pairing bolognese sauce with short tube-like shapes, like penne. I love how the sauce gets captured inside the pasta!
Can I make it ahead?
Absolutely! In fact, if you can resist the temptation, I recommend making it a day before serving, as bolognese sauce tastes even better the next day! It will keep safely in the fridge for two to three days.
And while you can certainly reheat it in the microwave, I like to do it in a saucepan. First I skim off and discard the fat that solidified while the sauce was in the fridge. I then add a bit of the pasta cooking water to the saucepan and, to that, I add my sauce, letting it simmer slowly until warm.
When the pasta is ready, I toss it with most of the sauce, adding more pasta water if necessary so all the pasta is coated with the sauce. Finally, just before serving, I top with the remaining sauce for that wow factor!
How to Freeze Bolognese Sauce
If you’re making this to freeze for later, follow the recipe but skip the Parmesan cheese and heavy cream. You can then store the sauce in an airtight container, or freezer bags, in the freezer for up to 3 months.
When ready to eat, you can reheat directly from the freezer or thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Add the cheese and heavy cream once the sauce is warm.
So, what do you say? Ready to master making bolognese sauce at home?
Seriously, give this a try! Actually, go ahead and double the recipe so you can freeze some to have it whenever you’re craving comfort food. I promise you won’t regret it
More delicious Italian recipes:
- Spaghetti alla Carbonara
- Braised Beef Ragu
- Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
- Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe
- Creamy Sausage Kale Pasta
- Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino
Bolognese Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 large carrots, finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4 ounces pancetta, diced
- 1 pound ground beef, (20% fat)
- 1 pound ground pork
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 (28 ounces) can peeled San Marzano tomatoes, hand crushed
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 cup heavy cream, optional (see notes)
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano is the best!
- ½ cup chopped parsley
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large Dutch oven, over medium high heat, until the butter is melted. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and sauté until softened and beginning to caramelize, 5 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for another couple of minutes, until fragrant. Season with salt and pepper and, using a slotted spoon, remove the soffritto to a plate and reserve.
- Add more olive oil, if needed, and add the pancetta. Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove pancetta and reserve. Working in 2-3 batches so not to over crowd the pot, add ground beef and pork. Season with salt and pepper and cook, breaking lumps with a wooden spoon but resisting the urge to stir too often, until browned, about 10 – 15 minutes. We want the meat to caramelize and the brown bits to stick to the bottom of the pot, as that’s where all the flavor is! (See notes.)
- Return the reserved soffritto and pancetta to the pot. Add the white wine and deglaze the pan, scraping all the browned bits stuck to the bottom. Cook until the wine is mostly evaporated, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, milk, nutmeg and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer.
- Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 hours or until the liquids have reduced and the sauce is thick. If, by then, the sauce is still too liquid-y, you can turn the heat up and boil – stirring frequently – until it reduces.Some of the fat will separate and float to the top, making it easier to skim it off with a spoon. Discard.
- Stir in heavy cream, parmesan cheese and parsley. Stir vigorously to emulsify. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper, if necessary.
- Serve, tossed with a wide pasta, like tagliatelle or pappardelle.
65 Comments on “How to Make Bolognese Sauce”
Hi. Could you tell me what kind of wine do you use in your bolognese sauce?
Hi Sharon,
Any dry white wine will do. I usually have Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and/or Chardonnay on hand. Make sure to use something you would drink VS a wine labeled “cooking wine”. I hope that helps! :)
Hey Olivia
Just stumbled across your recipe and it looks amazing. I can’t wait to give it a try as I’ve never made homemade bolognese before. I’m planning on making a homemade lasagna for my family this Christmas Eve. Would this recipe yield enough sauce for a standard sized lasagna?
Hi Brian, I’m so sorry for the delayed response.
Yes, this would be enough for a lasagna. I also have a killer lasagna recipe here on the blog, if you want to check it out! :)
Best,
Olivia
Hy Olivia,
Tried your bolognese sauce for the first time yesterday.
It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And a bonus, my nephew helped.
Would this be enough sauce for 1 1\2 lb of pasta? One can of tomatoes doesnt seem like much.
Thanks!
Brilliant!!!
The recipe look amazing and I will be trying it out very soon. I have question what does the nutmeg do for the sauce and is it a must? I’m not to fond of nutmeg as you probably can tell.
You can omit it! :)
honestly, it adds a delightful “What is that flavor” kind of experience to this recipe. I grated what must have been less than 1/8th of a teaspoon of nutmeg, and it was perfect. I also used two large, heirloom tomatoes from
our garden in place of the canned tomatoes, and added a handful of hand-crushed dried basil from the garden. It was delicious.
Concerned about the 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of Parmesan. Does it ever become TOO milky/creamy? Or do the meat and tomatoes Cover it up
You can’t even tell there’s heavy cream and parmesan when you taste the sauce! :) The heavy cream helps emulsify some of the fat back into the sauce.
agreed. The final sauce is hearty, flavorful, and smooth. I was concerned about the heavy cream, but it simply serves as a velvety base for the flavors to coat the pasta.
I can’t wait to try your Bolognese sauce. I’ve never had Bolognese before so I’m anx8 to try it. I ❤️cooking nd have serval signature dishes that my friends enjoy.
I hope you love it! :)
Made this today! It’s amazing, but definitely not red like the picture. The heavy cream and Parmesan made it creamier but so so good!
I made your Bolognese tonight and it was AMAZING! I can’t wait to cook more of your recipes now!
Yay! So glad you loved it. :)
Hi there! I love your recipe as it is super similar to mine and you left me with so excellent tips! I just wanted to ask why you let it cook down covered and not uncovered like most other recipes? Does that make a difference?
This tasted AMAZING!!! Totally worth the time and effort. However, I found the prep time to be way longer than 30 mins. Without a food processor, it took me close to 1.5 hours to prep, chop, sautee, and brown everything. Also, my end product was much pinker and liquidy than the photos. It looked similar until I added the cream at the end. None of that really mattered though after I took the first bite!
Made this tonight and the flavor was great!! Mine came out very watery however, and I followed the recipe to a T. Do you use the liquid in the marzano tomatoes or just the crushed tomatoes? Wondering if this is where my extra liquid came from 🤔 but will make again to see if i can’t get it right!
What about Italian seasoning?
No Italian seasoning in traditional bolognese sauce! But if you like it, go for it. 😊
This was absolutely delicious!!! Made the recipe exactly as written with homemade fettuccini.
Hi!!!! Thank you for your recipe. It looks delicious! How many servings does ir yield? I am looking to cool for 15 so not sure if I should do 2 or 3 recipes? Thanks
Why do the people commenting have the same picture as the person responding?
This recipe is amazing. First time I ever made Bolognese sauce, My husband and I were blown away on tasting it. We were putting together our shopping list this morning and he asked me to make it again. Thanks so much for such great information.
During the simmer, do you cover for the full four hours?
I started it and then chickened out because it was such a huge pot of sauce.. i put some aside without the milk….. the rest had the milk inside, but i didnt like it..didnt get to the cream part.. i ended up putting tomato paste and tomato soup with it… i will try it with the container i kept aside tomorrow night…
I made this recipe exactly as written and it was amazing! This will now be a standard recipe I’ll be making again and again!
That makes me so happy! Thanks for the feedback.
If I make the bolognese with spicy Italian sausage, do I still need to add pancetta?
It’s up to you. I would! :)
Hi Olivia. Quick question…….the recipe calls for both milk and heavy cream, but then the instructions only specify adding “milk.” Am I misreading something?
Thank you,
Joel
Looking to create a lower calorie version…what can I used in place of the heavy cream?
Making this again because We loved it so much. But At what point do I add the parsley?
My home has an amazing aroma — the bolognese has been simmering for almost three hours. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
One question, how can I get smaller meat particles? I used pork and beef.
Hi Rebecca, you just have to patiently break it apart with a wooden spoon. I personally love this tool: https://amzn.to/38juB4N (affiliate link). It makes breaking the ground beef and pork apart much easier! 😊 I hope that helps!
Olivia, I made your sauce and your Lasagna Bolognese for Christmas Eve. Prepared it and layered it the day before, I didn’t adequately thicken the white sauce, it was very thin. I refrigerated my pan of Lasagna overnight, I woke up stressing about my pan of lasagna swimming in white sauce. I want you to know after setting up in fridge and baking it came out fine and was delicious. I didn’t use all of the bolognese sauce, but had already added cream and parm. I went ahead and froze this to make a small pan of lasagna later, do you think this will be ok? thanks for great Lasagna!
Hi Leslie,
It should be okay. If there’s any major texture alterations, you can try adding more heavy cream to emulsify.
I usually make Gino Dcampos recipe but wanted to try a few different recipes. I only had red wine so used that instead, it was so delicious. I will use white wine next time. Thanks for the recipe. Sally
Olivia, What a terrific recipe. This is the very best Bolognese Sauce that we have made at home. As in another of the blogs here, I too was concerned about the amount of heavy cream; however, it was just heavenly. Yesterday, we enjoyed the sauce with tagliatelle. We were so pleased with the Bolognese that, tonight, we made your Lasagna Bolognese !!! These were two exceptional dinners for us – back to back. Thanks again for these wonderful recipes. Jim and Sue Sullivan
I have it simmering on the stove but the liquid reduced too quickly. What can I add so that I can continue to keep it simmering for another hour or so?
Thanks
Hi Charlie, make sure the heat is on low. You can add a little bit of water as needed!
The sauce doesn’t look as red as yours, can I add tomatoe paste to thicken and make it more red ?
Hi Olivia,
I have only made your version of bolognese sauce but I notice that the others use stock as well as wine. I love your recipe but wonder why you omit chicken stock. Also why not beef stock in a pork and beef sauce. Tradition? Just curious.
Since pandemic I make my own pasta and this elevates the dish. First time I made this, from your recipe, I went to the store the day we finished it and bought all ingredients again. Like you, when I had this in a restautrant I realized that meat sauce is not bolognese. The silky, meaty flavour, so incredibly delicious….
Thank you for thecexcellent recipe.
Yours, Janice
Hi Janice,
Thanks for commenting!
As far as the stock, my Italian relatives never use any, so I never did. I prefer a richer sauce, so I’m afraid it would water it down a bit.
That being said, it’s always good trying new things, so give it a try next time you make it and let me know what you think. 😊
Having used this recipe successfully several times, it has become my staple for all bolgnaise sauce bases. Delicious, healthy (I add extra vegetables in the fridge) and relatively easy. Now I am more confident to give unsolicitored advice to family and friends on how to improve their own sauce! They agree (to my face) and we love the competitive banter over delicious food.
Thank you from Sydney.
So nice of you to leave me such a nice feedback, Andrew! I am so glad my recipe has brought you – and your friends – joy. ❤️
Flavour of this recipe is amazing although the colour didn’t turn out like pictures. The colouring was more brown/orange. Followed the recipe and added the right amount of everything (except the cream at the end)…and the colour definitely wasn’t red. Tips??
Hi Evelyn, this has happened to me in the past. I find that the color changes depending on what brand of canned tomatoes you use. If you want it to be redder, you could try adding some tomato sauce or even tomato paste.
I’m a little confused (but I always am) but do you use ground pork or pancetta?
Both! :)
I really like this recipe but liked it more before adding that CUP (!) Of Cream at the end. Next time I will add only a “splash” as it says in the description. And I will add a smidge more tomato as was suggested in another comment. It did not wind up looking like the picture …..more like a light vodka sauce. Delicious. I just like more of a tomato base.
I’m a little underwhelmed by this. The cheesy and meaty flavors are nice, but even after 4 hours and a lot of Maillard reaction, it’s almost too dairy-full for what I want Bolognese to be especially when the comments up above mention a splash of heavy cream and the recipe calls for a full cup. A cup of milk, a cup of cream, and a cup of parmesan… But no broth?
Hi Kiko! I’m sorry the recipe was underwhelming for you. Yes, my version is creamier and has more dairy, but authentic bolognese never has broth or stock!
I made your sauce today. It is wonderful. I added mushrooms to the recipe. It was an afterthought so they were cooked separately and added just prior to cooking for 4 hours. I have to admit I almost didn’t add the cream and cheese as it was delicious when I tasted it prior to that but I did and it’s good with it also. I may try without next time and just switch it up.
can you use bacon in place of pancetta? my local store did not have it and was planning today to make it.
Yes, you can! 😊
Hi Olivia ~
I started making Bolognese two years ago — following your recipe step by step, and I have been asked by family and friends to make it again and again because your version of Bolognese tastes just amazing — rich, creamy, full of flavors. I have also been told that I make the best Bolognese, better than those in Italian restaurants. I am Asian, BTW. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe.
Oh, Shaoli, that makes me so happy! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. ♥️
Great recipe ! We added a dash of Worcestershire sauce, pinch of dried red pepper, fresh basil leaves and a couple shakes of smoked paprika. Kicked up the sauce real nice. Thanks !
Excellent recipe. Us Italian’s are usually sauce snobs. This is how I make my ragu’ I just put it in the oven at 250 for about 5h. When I make Bolognese lasagna I use this with homemade noodles and béchamel. Great job!
So glad I got the Italian seal of approval! ♥️
So, I’m making the Bolognese sauce as I write this. I’m at the point where it is simmering prior to the final addition of heavy cream and parmesan. Of course, I have been sampling and already know this sauce is delightful! I am definitely planning on adding the entire cup of heavy cream as per original recipe because I know it will make it that much richer and a gourmet delight! I did run into one obstacle if you have had any readers run into this Olivia…I had no wine! HORRORS! Honestly I do need to refill the wine rack (I’m blaming my husband). What I did was add some good balsamic vinegar to deglaze pan prior to adding milk and tomatoes. So far it tastes as I mentioned above. Have you encountered this with other readers? Thank you!