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The Best Homemade Bolognese
5 from 48 votes

The Best Homemade Bolognese

The Best Homemade Bolognese is a slow-simmered meat sauce combining ground beef, pork, diced pancetta, and soffrito vegetables cooked with herbs, spices, tomato paste, red wine, milk, and crushed tomatoes. Served with pappardelle pasta, it offers a rich, hearty sauce with nuanced flavors from a blend of seasoning and slow cooking.

Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
40 mins
Total Time
1 hr
Servings: 8 servings
Course: Main Course

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ tablespoons butter unsalted
  • 1 onion diced, medium sweet
  • 1 carrot peeled and diced
  • 1 celery diced, rib
  • ¾ pound ground beef
  • ¾ pound ground pork
  • 4 ounces pancetta diced
  • salt to taste, Kosher salt and freshly ground
  • black pepper to taste, Kosher salt and freshly ground
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoons oregano dried
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes crushed
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¾ cups red wine dry
  • 1 cup milk whole
  • 1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons parsley chopped fresh leaves
  • 1 pound pappardelle pasta

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
  2. Add ground beef, ground pork, pancetta, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook until browned, about 5-8 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef and pork as it cooks; drain excess fat.
  3. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, nutmeg and cinnamon until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  4. Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
  5. Stir in milk. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until reduced, about 5 minutes.
  6. Stir in crushed tomatoes. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered and stirring occasionally, until thickened and flavors have blended, about 20 minutes.
  7. Stir in parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.*
  8. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
  9. Serve immediately with bolognese sauce.

Notes

  • Freeze individual portions after cooling by flattening in freezer bags for quicker freezing and easier storage.
  • Thaw frozen Bolognese overnight in the refrigerator before reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally.