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My weeknight bolognese recipe proves that you’re never too busy for a decadent American Italian meal! Bolognese is one of the most common Italian pasta recipes out there. Every Italian restaurant worth its garlic salt has its own version that riffs on the original dish from Bologna.
This recipe is Italian food at its best, and it also meets all the requirements of soul-satisfying comfort food! This dish will help you put a hot meal on the table no matter how crazy your night is!
As much as I love this in my weeknight dinner rotation, it’s also an excellent meal for company. You can’t beat the rich and delicious flavor, and the sauce can easily be made a day or two before serving, making it a host’s dream. The flavor will improve when given the chance to meld and marry in the fridge overnight.
If you love pasta with a meaty sauce, like this one, spaghetti with ground beef, Italian Sunday gravy, crockpot spaghetti sauce, or spaghetti meat sauce, these are delicious recipes to add to your dinner rotation!
Let’s make this pasta!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
- Start to eat in less than an hour.
- Minimal cleanup!
- Rich, Flavorful, but not time-consuming.
- Italian flavor favorites!
WHAT IS BOLOGNESE SAUCE
Bolognese is an Italian meat sauce created initially in Bologna, Italy. It typically has a combination of meats, such as beef and pork. It’s enriched with aromatics such as onion, garlic, carrots, celery, tomatoes, red wine, and often, milk or cream. The sauce is thick, rich, with a deep, savory profile. A long, slow cooking process generally achieves this, but not in this recipe! This recipe brings you everything a well-cooked Bolognese has, in a fraction of the time.
WHAT’S THE BEST PASTA FOR WEEKNIGHT BOLOGNESE
The best pasta options provide a surface and texture for this rich and hearty sauce to cling to. Papparadelle, tagliatelle, fettuccine, or spaghetti all work very well. Tubular pasta like rigatoni, which is made with ridges, works great to grab that delicious sauce! And small pasta like orecchiette or small shells are also fun to pair with this sauce.
WEEKNIGHT BOLOGNESE RECIPE INGREDIENTS
From hearty ground beef to rich red wine, each ingredient brings its own flavor sensation to this recipe!
- Oil: Olive oil is the best, most authentic oil for this recipe.
- Ground Meat: For this recipe, we use 80/20 ground beef. Some recipes call for using lean ground sirloin. This generally contains 10%-15% fat. It has a balanced flavor, but the lower fat, in my opinion, makes it not the best choice for this recipe.
- Garlic: Please only use fresh cloves of garlic, not that stuff that comes pre-minced, suspended in a weird liquid.
- Italian Seasoning: Ever wonder what, exactly, is in Italian seasoning? The exact combination can vary, but at its core, Italian seasoning mixes are the herbs most associated with Italian cooking. Commonly, you’ll see dried oregano, basil, and thyme, as the mixture in the McCormick version.
- Red Pepper Flakes: Adds some warmth.
- Dried Rosemary: Rosemary complements all the savory ingredients in the sauce while adding a strong woody flavor and earthiness.
- Red Wine: Since red wine has such a prominent richness in this dish, you want to make sure you choose the best red wine for sauces. I, personally, love a good Pinot Noir wine — they’re dark but not bitter, with smooth, earthy notes that don’t overpower the other ingredients. But feel free to adapt your wine choice based on your own tastes! Any dry red wine will work.
- Tomato Sauce: This is a fundamental component of the sauce.
- Tomato Paste: I use 2 tablespoons tomato paste, which adds concentrated tomato flavor and intensifies the overall taste of the sauce.
- Salt + Black Pepper: I use table salt, not coarse or Kosher salt, and freshly cracked black pepper.
- Pasta: Use a good, high-quality pasta brand like DeCecco or Barilla.
- Nutmeg: We only use 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, but it’s important. It adds a warm, slightly sweet flavor that enhances the sauce’s overall complexity. Its addition is subtle, yet significant.
- Heavy Cream: Use only heavy cream. Lower-fat milk products aren’t rich enough for this recipe.
- Parmesan Cheese: Freshly grated parmesan cheese is, of course, the best. Have you checked out the wedges Costco sells? It’s well-priced and easily grated at home. This is the gadget I use. My family eats a lot of Parm, so this is the most economical way to go. I also use and save the Parmesan rind for many other recipes (soups especially). I store the rinds in a resealable bag in the freezer. If you don’t want to grate your own, grab a tub of grated Parmesan from the deli section of your supermarket. Skip the stuff in the green cardboard canister!
- Parsley or Basil: A bit of fresh herb complements the sauce while adding a lovely visual. When I have fresh basil leaves on hand, they’re my go-to.
- Beef: For this recipe, I recommend using 80/20 ground beef. What is that? 80/20 refers to the fat content found in ground beef. You can buy beef with less fat (90/10), but this recipe benefits from added fat for flavor and texture.
TIPS
- Pasta: Cook the pasta in a large pot of water. A 6-8 quart pot works well. Over high heat, bring the water to a rolling boil. Salt the water generously. I like at least 1-2 tablespoons of salt, which greatly enhances the flavor of the pasta. Be sure to stir the pasta immediately to prevent sticking. Drain well, but do not rinse. Toss the pasta in the sauce immediately while it’s piping hot so the pasta absorbs the sauce.
- Reserve Pasta Water: I like to remove about a cup of pasta water before draining the pasta. It’s handy to have on hand for thinning the sauce, if needed, after the pasta is dressed.
- Cook To Al Dente: This is an Italian term that translates to “to the tooth.” It refers to pasta cooked until it’s firm to the bite. I prefer this texture for all of my pasta recipes. It’s even more critical in this recipe because you’re going to cook the pasta for a few minutes in the sauce.
STORING + FREEZING + MAKE-AHEAD
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? I love to portion out my leftovers so I have grab-and-go lunches throughout the week! Luckily, this bolognese has a nice long fridge life — 3-4 days to be exact. You might start to see some liquid separation by the last day, but give your sauce a stir and it’ll be good as fresh, if not better!
- Can You Freeze This? Yes! Sort of. The meat sauce portion of this recipe can absolutely be frozen—cool it, store it in an airtight container, and you’ll get up to six months out of it in the freezer.
- The noodles, on the other hand, typically do not do well when frozen. Reheated frozen noodles have all kinds of texture issues, and while some people might be okay with eating them, I think your hard-won bolognese deserves better! Boil fresh pasta when you want to eat the rest of your bolognese sauce.
- Make-Ahead Tips: This recipe’s beauty is that it’s designed to whip together in less than an hour! Because it’s specifically altered to work with those crazy busy nights, there isn’t much you can do to accelerate the cooking process. If you want to, you can always make the sauce ahead of time and store it for a day or two.
- Food Safety: If you’d like more info on food safety check out this link.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE
This is delicious with my fully loaded Mediterranean salad or a simple salad tossed with my super-easy balsamic vinaigrette. or red wine vinaigrette.If you’d like a light, fruity salad, its great with either strawberry salad or strawberry spinach salad.
It’s also wonderful with my ever-fluffy Olive Garden breadsticks, garlic bread, or easy beer bread.
Looking for a dessert to pair with this Italian pasta dinner? It’s fabulous with my Tiramisu, Italian rainbow cookies, Italian Christmas cookies (they’re not just for Christmas!), Ricotta cookies, lemon ricotta cookies, or Italian fig cookies!
HOW TO MAKE WEEKNIGHT BOLOGNESE
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In a 12-inch skillet, brown the beef, crumbling with a wooden spoon, over medium-high heat until there is no longer any pink color.
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Add the garlic, pepper, Italian seasoning, rosemary, and red pepper flakes to the skillet and cook until the garlic has softened.
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Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the red wine and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the skillet.
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Stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, and black pepper until evenly combined. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
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While the sauce simmers, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain well. Return pasta to the now empty pasta pot.
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Stir in the nutmeg, cream, and remaining 1/4 cup of wine into the sauce and simmer.
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Pour the sauce and 1/2 cup Parmesan over the pasta and toss to coat evenly.
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Transfer to a large serving bowl, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve.
***See the full instructions below.
MORE PASTA FAVORITES
- TikTok Spaghetti
- Chicken Spaghetti
- Spaghetti And Meatballs Recipe
- Million Dollar Spaghetti
- Spaghetti Pie
- Spaghetti Tacos
- School Cafeteria Spaghetti
- One Pot Pasta
- Italian Spaghetti Sauce
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Weeknight Bolognese
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef, 80/20
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 3/4 cups red wine, divided
- 1 (28-ounces) can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Garnish:
- 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Heat the oil (2 tablespoons) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef (1 pound) and brown, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until there is no longer any pink, about 6-8 minutes.
- Add the garlic (1 tablespoon), Italian seasoning (1 tablespoon), rosemary (1 teaspoon), and red pepper flakes (1/4 teaspoon) to the skillet and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes or until the garlic has softened.
- Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the red wine and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the skillet.
- Stir in the tomato sauce (1 can), tomato paste (2 tablespoons), salt (2 teaspoons), and black pepper (1/2 teaspoon) until evenly combined. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
- While the sauce simmers and is almost done, cook pasta (1 pound) in well-salted water according to package instrucions. Remove and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta well, then return it to the now empty pasta pot.
- Stir in the nutmeg (1/4 teaspoon), cream (1 cup), and remaining 1/4 wine to the sauce and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Pour the sauce and Parmesan (1/2 cup) over the pasta and toss to evenly coat. With the heat turned down to low, continue to cook pasta in sauce, for 2-4 minutes. Add reserved pasta water, a tablespoon at a time, to adjust the sauce if needed. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve.
Notes
- Pasta: Cook the pasta in a large pot of water. A 6-8 quart pot works well. Over high heat, bring the water to a rolling boil. Salt the water generously. I like at least 1-2 tablespoons of salt, which greatly enhances the flavor of the pasta. Be sure to stir the pasta immediately to prevent sticking. Drain well, but do not rinse. Toss the pasta in the sauce immediately while it's piping hot so the pasta absorbs the sauce.
- Reserve Pasta Water: I like to remove about a cup of pasta water before draining the pasta. It's handy to have on hand for thinning the sauce, if needed, after the pasta is dressed.
- Cook To Al Dente: This is an Italian term that translates to "to the tooth." It refers to pasta cooked until it's firm to the bite. I prefer this texture for all of my pasta recipes. It's even more critical in this recipe because you're going to cook the pasta for a few minutes in the sauce.
Nutrition
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