Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese

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Look, we understand the purists will have an issue with this recipe, but we don’t care. The Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese is a tried and tested recipe that is loved all around the world, so who cares if it’s not ‘officially’ how they make it in Italy. This is what we ate growing up and we absolutely loved it. So why change the recipe now when its just as tasty!

Who didn’t love a good bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese, or ‘Spag Bog’ as it was affectionally called by many. Delicious strands of Spaghetti cooked to perfection, topped with a delicious meaty sauce. It is a favorite of kids all around the world and we can happily say that this recipe will do true justice. Any fussy appetite kids will gobble this up immediately. That’s a Dinnertime Somewhere guarantee

Get a good bottle of Red Wine for this dish

Now, one caution we will air though is the dish does have a fair amount of red wine in it. The alcohol goes during the cooking process however if you are concerned about this then simply omit it from the recipe. For those who love a bit more richness in their meat sauce then please keep the wine. It’s delicious!

For the wine in the Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese there is a great rule that we heard once that we live by when it comes to cooking with wine. Add wine to the dish that you yourself would drink. I think that’s a very fair mantra to live by in the cooking world. If you put some crummy $2 bottle of Wine in the food, it’s likely going to affect the dish. So put in wine that you like and you’ll sure to enjoy. The recipe asks for about half a bottle, so the added bonus is you get to drink what’s remaining

We love this dish and I hope you all do too. It’s comforting and delicious. What’s more it’s quite flexible on how you prepare it. We’ve opted for the classic vegetable combination of Mushrooms, Celery, Carrots, and Onions but feel free to add whatever vegetables you like. It’ll taste amazing!

How to make a Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese

Every household should have their go-to recipe for a traditional Spaghetti Bolognese. If you don’t, then you’re in the right place! If you do, then please hear us out as we think this recipe is a great rendition of this absolute classic dish

We’ve got a couple of little secrets and tricks along the way which we think will help to make the best version of this famous dish!

1. Use a mixture of Ground Beef and Pork
2. Red Wine!
3. Cook the dish low and slow
   
   

1. Use a mixture of Ground Beef and Ground Pork

This trick is becoming more and more common in Spaghetti Bolognese recipes these days. There’s no need to rely on just one flavor of meat in the dish. In fact, by combining Pork and Beef we’ve found you get a much richer, meatier flavor overall. The two flavors bring something a little bit more unique to the dish

Ground Pork is naturally always quite high in fat, which brings so much flavor to the dish. We highly encourage you to try and go for a relatively high fat quantity for both the ground Pork and Ground Beef. We recommend around an 85/15 mix of Meat to Fat. It’s not at the 20% mark, which we find turns the sauce a little too greasy. 15% is a great level, because you’re getting loads of flavor without the dish becoming too greasy or heavy

2. We’ve mentioned it above, but it’s worth mentioning again – Red Wine!

You simply must include Red Wine in your Bolognese Sauce. The sweetness that a reduced Red Wine brings to the sauce is phenomenal. Add that Red Wine before you’re Tomatoes go in and let it reduce down by about ¾ in volume. You burn off all the alcohol and what you are left with is a beautiful Red Wine reduction, almost glaze-like in its consistency

I know of many Bolognese recipes that add sugar to their sauce to add sweetness. Trust us, there’s no need if you are using Red Wine. You’re getting that delicious, sweet flavor of reduced Red Wine, which is more than enough sweetness to flavor a good quality Bolognese Sauce

3. You just must cook this dish slowly, allowing the flavors to develop

The final ‘secret’ for the perfect Spaghetti Bolognese recipe is to cook the sauce slowly. Don’t crank the heat and reduce it too fast for the sake of time. You need to cook the dish slowly, to allow all of those wonderful ingredients to develop their flavors together

I know that a Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese is a great go-to for a weeknight meal, and many of those meals are ones you want to whip up quickly. We get that, however for the best flavor to develop in this dish, we highly recommend turning that heat down, and letting the sauce simmer away. At least 45 minutes of a slow simmer will improve the flavor so much in the dish

Have you ever eaten leftover Bolognese Sauce the next day and noticed how much better it tastes? This is kind of the same thing! The longer you let these ingredients sit together, the more intense their flavor becomes. Honestly, if you can we recommend cooking the dish a day in advance. Put it in the refrigerator and then re-heat the sauce when you’re ready to eat. We guarantee that the flavor will be immense!

Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

Ingredients

• 16 oz. Spaghetti (approx. 1 packet)
• 1 lb. Ground Pork (recommend 85/15)
• 1 lb. Ground Beef (recommend 85/15)
• 1 large Brown Onion, Diced
• 8 Garlic Cloves, chopped
• 1 cup of Button Mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Carrots, finely diced
• 2 Celery Sticks, finely diced
• ½ cup Red Wine
• 4 tbsp. Tomato Paste
• 2 cans of Crushed Tomatoes (800 ml / 28 oz.)
• 5 Sprigs of Thyme
• 5 Sprigs of Rosemary
• ½ cup Fresh Parsley or Basil, chopped
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 1 tbsp. Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
  
  

Instructions

1. Place the Olive Oil In a large Pot or Dutch Oven and heat over the stovetop on Medium Heat. Add the Onion, Carrots, Mushrooms, and Celery and cook for 5 minutes
2. Add the Garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant, then add the Ground Pork and Ground Beef. Continuously stir until the Ground Meat has browned, approximately 5 – 10 minutes depending on the heat in the pan
3. Add the Red Wine and cook for 4-5 minutes until the alcohol has burned off the wine begins to reduce. Then add the Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Thyme, Rosemary, 2 tbsp. of Salt and 1 tbsp. Pepper and bring to a boil
4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 40-50 minutes so the mixture begins to reduce and thicken. Once cooked, remove the Rosemary and Thyme storks
5. While the Sauce is cooking prepare the Spaghetti by adding it to a large pot of boiling water. Be sure that the pot of water is heavily seasoned with Salt, as this will add significant flavor to the Spaghetti. Cook for 7-8 minutes until al-dente (slightly chewy but tender) then drain
6. You can either plate the dish family style (everything on one large plate) or on individual serves. Place the Spaghetti in a bowl or plate then top with a generous amount of Bolognese Sauce. Finish the plates with Parsley or Basil then grate a generous amount of Parmesan Cheese on top
   
   

More Delicious Recipes

There you have it. The Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese recipe. Affordable, delicious, and most important of all – tasty. It’s highly recommended that you enjoy this lovely dish with some delicious Garlic Bread. Check our our Side Dishes page for some lovely recipes

If there is any leftover sauce, we’ve got you covered with our fun Homemade Sloppy Joe’s recipe. Happy cooking!

We’ve got plenty more amazing Pasta recipes here, including some of these favorites of ours:

• Brown Butter Sage Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Goats Cheese
• Epic Short Rib Lasagna
• Cajun Chicken Mac and Cheese
• Sausage and Fennel Pasta
  
  

Happy Cooking!