Everyone needs a great everyday Spaghetti Bolognese recipe, and this is mine! The Bolognese Sauce is rich, thick and has beautiful depth of flavour. It’s perfect for a quick midweek meal but even better if you can simmer it for a couple of hours! Serve it over pasta, stuff into jacket potatoes, make an epic Lasagna or Baked Spaghetti Pie!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Spaghetti Bolognese
We Aussies have a thing about shortening words. Good day is g’day. Pavlova is Pav, afternoon is arvo, mosquitos are mozzies. Sharon is Shazz, Nagisa is Nagi (that’s yours truly).
So it is thoroughly Aussie to shorten Spaghetti Bolognese to Spag Bol!
And here she is – my Spag Bol. Rich, thick, incredible flavour in the sauce even if you only have time for a quick 20 minute simmer. Though if you can slow cook for a couple of hours, it really takes it to another level!
What goes in Spaghetti Bolognese
I’ve been loyal to this Meat Sauce recipe since I first learned to cook when I was a teenager. There are 3 little things in this recipe that might be a bit different to Bolognese recipes you’ve seen around:
1. Worcestershire sauce: it just adds that little extra something-something. I get antsy if I get caught in a situation where I have to do without;
2. Beef bouillon cubes (beef stock cubes) for extra depth of flavour in the sauce, to compensate for this being an everyday midweek version rather than a traditional slow cooked Bolognese Ragu which starts with a soffrito (onion, celery, carrot slowly sautéed) as well as pancetta.
3. Sugar, if needed: just a little bit goes a long way to transform the sauce if you happen not to be using high quality, sweet Italian canned tomatoes. Supermarket canned tomatoes here in Australia are notoriously sour. Especially the Australian ones – it pains me so much to say that, but it’s true.
How to make Bolognese Sauce
The making part is straightforward and quite quick too:
Saute garlic and onion – about 3 minutes;
Brown the beef – about 2 minutes;
Add everything else, give it a good stir then simmer for 20 minutes minimum (midweek), up to 3 hours (weekend indulgence!). Slow cooking makes the beef incredibly tender and the sauce develops extra flavour.
Difference between Bolognese and Meat Sauce?
Different name for the same thing! You’ll find Bolognese made all sorts of ways all across Italy and all around the world, but essentially mince meat (usually beef, sometimes combined with pork or veal) in a tomato based sauce flavoured with herbs.
The “proper” way to serve pasta: toss with the sauce
As with all my pasta recipes, I include a step to toss the pasta IN the sauce, rather than just placing pasta in bowls and spooning over sauce.
This makes the Bolognese sauce emulsify, so it thickens, becomes glossy and clings to the spaghetti. No more watery sauce at the bottom of your pasta bowl! This is how chefs and Italians make pasta. Try it once, you will be converted!
But it is an optional step. Sometimes, you just don’t have the energy to clean yet another pan. I hear ya. 🙂
What to serve with Spaghetti Bolognese
For a classic Italian feast, serve this with:
Garlic Bread – or even more indulgent, with Cheesy Garlic Bread (or go over-the-top with Crack Bread). Or, for a more traditional start, real-deal Italian Focaccia.
Garden Salad with Italian Dressing (hit of crisp fresh salad essential!)
Tiramisu to finish with an Espresso Martini on the side
For a super quick side salad option, make this Rocket Parmesan Salad with Balsamic Dressing. Probably my most made side salad because it’s literally a 2 minute effortless-no-chop salad!
This recipe is the way I have been making Spaghetti Bolognese for decades (gosh it’s scary saying that!!). I really love it, and I think the sauce is rich and loaded with flavour, especially for a 30 minute Bolognese recipe.
Though if you have the time, slow cook it for a couple of hours. The flavour develops and the meat becomes so luxuriously tender.
Either way, I hope you love it as much as I do! – Nagi xx
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Spaghetti Bolognese
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped (brown, yellow or white)
- 1 lb / 500g beef mince (ground beef) OR half pork, half beef (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) dry red wine (sub water or beef broth/stock)
- 2 beef bouillon cubes , crumbled OR granulated beef bouillon (Note 2)
- 800g / 28 oz can crushed tomato (or tomato passata)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp white sugar , if needed (Note 3)
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme or oregano)
- 3/4 tsp cooking salt (kosher salt)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
To Serve
- 400 g / 13 oz spaghetti , dried
- Parmesan cheese and finely chopped parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Sauté – Heat oil in a large pot or deep skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 3 minutes or until light golden and softened.
- Cook beef – Turn heat up to high and add beef. Cook, breaking it up as your go, until browned.
- Reduce wine – Add red wine. Bring to simmer and cook for 1 minute, scraping the bottom of the pot, until the alcohol smell is gone.
- Simmer – Add the remaining ingredients. Stir, bring to a simmer then turn down to medium so it bubbles gently. Cook for 20 – 30 minutes (no lid), adding water if the sauce gets too thick for your taste. Stir occasionally.
- Slow simmer option: really takes this to another level, if you have the time! Add 3/4 cup of water, cover with lid and simmer on very low for 2 – 2.5 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so. (Note 5) Uncover, simmer 20 minutes to thicken sauce. (Note 6 for slow cooker)
- Taste and add more salt it desired. Serve over spaghetti – though if you have the time, I recommend tossing the sauce and pasta per steps below.
Tossing Sauce and Spaghetti (optional, Note 4)
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook per packet directions MINUS 1 minute.
- Scoop out a mug of pasta cooking water and set aside, then drain the pasta.
- Add pasta into the bolognese sauce with about 1/2 cup (125 ml) of reserved pasta water over medium heat. Toss gently for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes, or until the spaghetti turns red and the sauce thickens.
- Divide between bowls. Garnish with parmesan and parsley if desired.
Recipe Notes:
* Scaling recipe up (use auto recipe scaler) – If you double the recipe (or more!), then brown the beef in batches. If you try to cook it in one batch, you will end up stewing it rather than browning!
* Slow cooker: This is really fantastic made in a slow cooker! The meat becomes so tender and the sauce has incredible flavour. At step 3, cook until the wine liquid disappears completely, then transfer it into the slow cooker at step 4 and cook for low for 6 hours.
* Variations: Here are some ideas for ways to take this up a notch, if you are so inclined!
– Finely chop 1 carrot + celery and saute that with the onion to make a softrito. Cook on medium low heat for 10 minutes for extra amazingness!
– Add finely chopped bacon (smokey is the ultimate!) or pancetta, cook with the onion
– 1 tbsp soy sauce (my mother did this, I sometimes do! I’ve seen it in some chef recipes)
– Fresh or dried red chilli
– Bolognese gets better the longer it is cooked, and it’s even better the next day! 7. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings, including pasta.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published August 2016. Updated with new commentary, new photos and most importantly, recipe video! No change to recipe – I wouldn’t dare! Too many readers love it as it is. 🙂
More family favourites we’ll love forever
Meatloaf – so much more than just a hunk of meat in loaf form!
Life of Dozer
You know those muddy looking ponds on golf courses? He loves ’em 😖
First time I’ve ever succeeded in making this sort of thing and boy was it delicious.
As for a spag bol secret.. my mum used to always add in berenberg fruit chutney.. mm… need I say more 🙂
Woah what? OK that is a first but I get it, I get it, I get it!!! N xx
Hi Nagi, this recipe was awesome! I would never of thought to add beef bouillon cubes. I think that’s what gives it that wonderful deep flavor. This recipe is going into my book of favorite things to cook.
Fantastic to hear Ann! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! N x
Hi Nagi!
This recipe was actually the first one I made after discovering your website. It was the single most flavorful and delicious sauce I have ever had! I used my new slow cooker and it was simply divine!! 🙂 My friends were so impressed and it’s garnered compliments for days after. This will definately become a staple in my household and I can’t wait to make so many more of your fabulous recipies!
All The Best,
Carl
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Carl, thank you for letting me know! N x
In the recipe it’s written 800 go tomato Passata plus tomato paste?is it not too much and too sour
Hi Alice! It reduces down and it’s what creates the thick rich tomato base for this recipe 🙂 I add sugar if it is too sour because some canned tomato is more sour than others. 🙂
So glad you enjoyed this Mai, thanks for letting me know! N x
I just it this for lunch , it was delicious. I love it !
Thanks !!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Erika! Thanks for letting me know! N x
Thank you so much for this easy and quick recipe. I made it for my husband’s birthday and he LOVED it, said he is never going out for pasta again.
I’m SO SO GLAD Cindy! And honoured that you would use one of my recipes for your husband’s birthday. Say happy birthday to him from me! 🙂 N x
I’m definitely trying this! We love this dish, but I use the “all day” recipe ( and I always double it and freeze half). I’d love to put a Bolognese dish on the table in 30 minutes.
Hope you do try it Cindy!!! 🙂
I’ve only just gotten around to reading this recipe, and I honestly think you and I are some kind of cosmic cooking twins, because your sauce is almost EXACTLY THE SAME as mine!!!
My “secret” ingredients are:
Worcestershire sauce – tick.
Beef bouillon cubes – tick.
Red wine – tick.
Sugar – tick.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
On top of the passata, I add a tin of diced tomatoes for a few tomato chunks, and have been known to mince/grate up whatever veg need to be used up and add those to the sauce as well. And during those really lean times – you know, the week before pay day – I use less meat and add a tin of lentils (rinsed and drained). And sometimes, I even add a little sprinkling of chilli flakes to spice up the sauce.
I think I’m going to have to make it next weekend. YUM!
Ba ha ha!!! You don’t need to make THIS next weekend, make YOURS because it IS THIS!!!! 🙂 N x
PS If you like lasagne make a double batch of your sauce because I have my lasagne sitting in my drafts folder, ready to go soon!
Just tried the bolognese sauce and oh my word, how DELICIOUS!!! Thank you for posting this amazing recipe and how it only takes a few short minutes to cook 🙂 I love that! Thank you xoxo
Thanks for trying my recipe Catherine! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for coming back to let me know! N x
Nagi, I just HAD to see what your spag bol (yes, we call it that here too!!) tips were when I spotted this on your blog – how did I miss this post?!
I LOVE your tip for getting rid of watery-ness at the bottom of the dish. This is Mr. Scrummy’s domain (I must admit he makes a mean spag), but he always gets annoyed when there’s water at the bottom of the dish.
Simon adds LOADS of tomatoes to make ours go further, and he also adds a bit of sugar, as you do.
I’ll pass on your tips!
I’m usually a bit ‘meh’ about spag bol but decided to give this a go as it’s you – and your recipes have NEVER failed me. So glad I did as it was delicious!
There was only 3 of us eating it so I was hoping for plenty of leftovers but my 11 year old put paid to that! Not even a teaspoonful of food was left in the pot!
I don’t care how authentic or not this recipe is – it tastes amazing so that’s all that matters. 😀
Thanks for the faith Sacha!!! 🙂 I think it’s not so much whether this is authentic or not, it’s that this is a midweek version not the 3 hour full-blown version! 🙂 I just don’t have time for that every time I need a Spag Bol fix. So glad you enjoyed it Sacha! Thank you for trying it! N x
Nagi, hi from the USA via Ireland! This is the SpagBol recipe I’ve been looking for all my life! This is a staple, weekly meal in our home and I’m going to try this recipe THIS week! You’re a star and I’ve never seen a more delicious, do-able recipe site in ALL my years of recipe-searching. I recommend your site to all of my fellow foodies. Cheers!
*Also, I add about a half cup of good parmesan and stir it around just before adding the pasta to the sauce.
Awww Erin! You made my evening with our message, THANK YOU! PS Love your tip re: parmesan! 🙂 N x
W commonly refer to Spaghetti Bolognese as Spag Bol here in the UK.
I didn’t know that! But as soon as I read it, I could “hear” Jamie Oliver calling it Spag Bol!
Hi Nagi I always add about half cup of milk to my spag bog – cant remember which recipe I learnt that trick from however makes the sauce nice and creamy ! Also I love all your recipes and the accompanying notes – very useful and your recipes always work. I now make your three ingrediant scone recipe every Friday for the kids after school – they love them. Keep posting your recipes – look forward to them every week. Cheers big fan Holly
Thanks Holly! I add milk to my “long and slow” version but not my midweek one 🙂 So glad you are enjoying my recipes, thank you for reading! N x
I have used bullion cubes often my whole life since I saw what they added to my mom’s delicious cooking! She came from a family of French & German chefs & bakers and nothing about her food was EVER bland. I even throw those babies into the water when I cook rice, pasta & potatoes. But, Nagi girl, you have got to explore the product “Better than Bullion”. The bases are so flavorful and handy. First one I bought was the ham base to add to green beans & navy bean soup. I was hooked! In addition to the roasted chicken & roasted beef, they have shrimp, fish, lobster (makes great bisque!), vegetable, mushroom, turkey, etc. A small jar lasts forever, it doesn’t cost that much more when you do the equivalency-to-cubes math & dissolves quickly in sauces & gravies when you don’t have time to mess with a hard cube! It will open up your world! BTW – this good cook thinks that you really know what you are doing in the kitchen and that your recipes are spot on. Made the Beef & Mushroom last week & your sauce was killer. Keep ’em coming!
I have tried the Better than Bollion and found it made food so salty it was inedible for me.
Thanks for the tip Victoria, I will try to hunt it down!!! So glad you enjoyed the beef & mushroom (salisbury steaks???) 🙂 And thank you for the compliment – I’m so glad you enjoy my recipes Victoria! N x
Hi Ntombi! You can serve this with any pasta you desire! Just follow the recipe 🙂 Same weights!
This looks so good! I’m in love with your photos, you really have a way of making dishes look so appetizing, Nagi.
Thank you Britt, you’re so kind! N x
Hi Nagi! Me again, I forgot to add that I also like bolognese over polena (as I do with slow braised short ribs)!
My humble apologies, Dorothy but I am a little puzzled: how can one serve ‘bolognaise’? That is NOT any kind of food but simply means that any given dish so designated comes from Bologna, the food capital of Italy. There are hundreds of dishes so named – in the same way as ‘Pizza Napoletana’ is one typically served in Naples.
Woah – I didn’t know that either Eha! I use the term “Bolognese” like Dorothy does, referring to the Bolognese Sauce recipe I shared, as does everyone I know. So actually, when people say “Bolognese”, it is actually referring to any food from Bologna? PS Funny you mention Rick Stein and Bologna, I’ve taped his “Long Weekends” series and I know Bologna is one of the places he visits!!! N x
Well I knew that Nagi but I still call it Spaghetti Bolognaise. Same as Singapore noodles have never visited Singapore. There is no such thing as Beef Madras in India despite it being one of my fave curries. So, IMHO people with a problem about what we call things should report it to Lifeline, they might care, I don’t. Oh and no, I wasn’t suggesting that you should jump into the sludge with Dozer. It is his beauty treatment, you don’t need it. Here endeth the sermon for today.
I hear you Ann 🙂 Funny related story – once when my mum was watching a cooking show called Boys Weekend Away (Manu + Ben O’Donnohue + someone else I can’t remember!), they made Tempura. They did it so badly, my mother was incensed and she actually WROTE IN to the show to say that the recipe was completely wrong! BA HA HA!!!! PS I do hear mud baths are good…..ever tried it?? 😉
Absolutely correct – the reason I have given references is that these should be much more credible than anything I would say: Carlucci, Stein et al are pretty knowledgeable methinks I think and Italians are not happy about errors regarding their food. There are dozens upon dozens of recipes with ‘bolognese’ at the end of it . . . it just denotes an old recipe from the place. I rarely et pasta with ragu, but Stefan Boer actually pulled me up on this a year or so ago, and of English speakers on Italian food he has yet to make an error. Actually Mr Google in most cases also gets this right. Oh, Stein’s ‘Bologna’ is marvellous: did not know he was an Oxford graduate, so a lot of university stuff there . . .
I hear you Eha! My mother once wrote into a cooking show when they butchered Tempura! She was incensed – I was laughing so hard!!!
Oooh YES! Me too, I LOVE bolognese and ragus over polenta! 🙂 N x
Your sauce sounds incredible and the pictures are absolutely mouthwatering!
Thank you so much Fida! N x