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    You are here Home Β» Recipes Β» food

    By: Melissa

    Authentic Bolognese Sauce (Ragu)

    This traditional bolognese is a pork and beef ragu that comes from the Bologna region of Italy. This bolognese recipe (ragu) is a classic Italian meat sauce that is cooked for hours and then tossed with the pasta. This authentic bolognese is the one that you will find used often in Italy when you visit and there is no cream or dairy of any kind which is how traditional ragu is often made.

    bolognese on plate
    Jump to Recipe
    Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes

    Table of contents

    • About this Bolognese Recipe
    • Ingredients to make a traditional bolognese
    • How to make bolognese:
    • Tips when making this bolognese sauce
    • Pasta to serve with a traditional bolognese
    • Faqs
    • Variations
    • More Italian Pasta Recipes:
    • Authentic Bolognese Sauce

    About this Bolognese Recipe

    This traditional bolognese recipe (beef and pork ragu) is one that many Italians make and it does not involve cream or milk like many recipes out there. This bolognese recipe and my simple cheese tortellini recipe were taught to me by two Italian Sfoglinas (women who hand roll pasta) on a recent trip to Italy.

    The key to this authentic bolognese sauce is lots of meat and cooking it for hours to achieve that richness that makes a bolognese so delicious.

    This is not like a meat sauce that Americans think of when they think of bolognese. It is a sauce with meat however and it has a little wine and classic Italian aromatics like onion, carrots and celery and a thick tomato sauce.

    The end result is pure meaty richness that you will love. I love making a double batch of this ragu and freezing some of it so I can make a classic lasagna bolognese later in the week.

    authentic bolognese

    Ingredients to make a traditional bolognese

    • Tomato Puree. Italians uses what is called tomato passata. If you can find it, use that. If not, tomato puree will work great too.
    • Carrots.
    • Onion.
    • Celery.
    • Meat- We use ground pork and beef in this recipe.
    • Olive oil- Try to use extra virgin olive oil.
    • Salt A little in the recipe and then tasting at the end to see if you want to add more. Kosher salt is preferred.
    • White wine
    • Fresh Pasta- Try to use rigatoni, tagliatelle or another wide long noodle shape.

    How to make bolognese:

    aromatics in food processor for bolognese
    1. Mince aromatics in food processor.
    • Step 1: First you want to finely chop your carrots, onion and celery in the food processor. This ensures they completely cook into the sauce later.

    I like to use the food processor to get the carrots, celery and onions very small. You can easily just finely chop them for the sauce.

    Do whatever is easiest for you!

    saute aromatics
    3. SautΓ© your aromatics until soft then remove from pan.
    beef and pork for bolognese
    4. Grab your ground beef and pork and sautΓ© lightly.
    • Step 3: Start sautΓ©ing your aromatics for the ragu (onion, carrots and celery).
    • Step 4: Take out your ground beef and ground pork and add it to the sautΓ© pan.

    This part is very straightforward πŸ™‚ You first want to cook down the carrots, celery and onion. Once they are cooked down you can start browning the beef and pork mixture.

    saute beef and prok for bolognese
    5. Start sautΓ©ing your beef and pork but not browning it.
    finished beef and pork for bolognese
    6 and 7. Here is what the final cooked meat should look like. Now add wine and reduce it.
    • Step 5: When you cook the meat, you are not going to cook it all the way through like you would in other meat sauces you are used to. You want the meat to render in the sauce.
    • Step 6: Here is what the meat mixture should look like after cooking it. About 60-70 percent cooked.
    • Step 7: Add the wine and reduce down.

    I prefer to not fully brown the meat so that the meat will cook directly in the tomatoes that you add in the next step. This keeps the meat really tender which is what you want in a traditional bolognese.

    tomato puree
    8. Grab your tomato puree.
    adding puree to bolognese
    9. Add the puree to your meat and stir.

    Once the meat is cooked, you want to add the white wine to the meat and allow it reduce almost completely. Make sure you do not add the tomatoes until then.

    • Step 8: Grab your tomato puree or passata.
    • Step 9: Add your tomato puree to the meat and mix well. At this stage it looks like a regular meat sauce. It will cook into a beautiful Ragu, promise!

    If the sauce looks too thick, you can add a little water and thin it out a bit.

    rigatoni bolognese
    Here is the final bolognese sauce after it simmered for about 4 hours.

    Tips when making this bolognese sauce

    • Pasta: try to use fresh pasta when you make this bolognese which is how Italians would eat this dish. Tagliatelle is also preferred (or a similar wide noodle pasta) since the sauce has something to stick to.
    • Tomato puree: Italians use what is called passata for the bolognese. Passata is basically tomato puree and is easily substituted. Whole tomatoes or crushed tomatoes are too liquid to use in this recipe so make sure to use puree.
    • Do not skimp on the amount of meat. The beef and pork combination used in this bolognese are important and what an authentic bolognese is all about, the meat.

    Pasta to serve with a traditional bolognese

    A traditional bolognese (ragu) is served with fresh tagliatelle. That is if you live in Bologna, Italy πŸ™‚

    Italians from Bologna are very particular about this. Many of us cannot find tagliatelle or fresh pasta so any long pasta or even rigatoni like I used will do.

    I really like the thick pasta shape of rigatoni so that is what I use most often.

    rolling fresh pasta tagliatelle on a wooden table in Italy
    Rolling fresh tagliatelle on my trip in Bologna.

    Faqs

    Does traditional bolognese have dairy?

    Not necessarily. Many Italians in Bologna where bolognese originated do not use dairy. You may see many recipes for authentic bolognese and they all vary a lot but most of them do use some sort of cream or milk. Many Italians will argue that is not a traditional bolognese.

    This is what I learned when I visited Bologna, Italy. This bolognese has no cream or dairy and it is my favorite way to make bolognese. This recipe was taught to me by an Italian family in Bologna.

    Variations

    I make another bolognese, my pork bolognese which uses cream in it to add more richness and because I only use one meat, pork. It breaks another rule of using spaghetti and not fresh pasta.

    The end result is still shear deliciousness and it is rich the way an Italian bolognese should be.

    Both versions are amazing just different. I hope you give this bolognese recipe a try and see for yourself, how amazing such simple ingredients can be.

    authentic bolognese
    Authentic Bolognese.

    More Italian Pasta Recipes:

    • Pork Ragu (Pork Bolognese)
    • Pasta Genovese
    • Pasta with Broccoli and Truffle Cream Sauce
    • Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
    • Broken Noodles with Sausage and Kale
    • Pasta with Chickpeas, Spinach and Lemon
    • Italian Sunday Gravy- Sicilian Style
    • Ricotta Pasta
    • Pasta Nerano (Pasta with Zucchini)

    ο»Ώ

    Authentic Bolognese Sauce

    bolognese on plate
    Print Recipe
    5 from 8 votes

    Authentic Bolognese Sauce (Ragu)

    A classic Italian Ragu that is cooked for hours until rich and delicious.
    Prep Time20 mins
    Cook Time3 hrs
    Total Time3 hrs 20 mins
    Servings: 6

    Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!

    Author: Melissa

    Ingredients

    • 1 lb ground pork
    • 1 lb ground beef preferably 80/20 mix
    • 1 lb fresh tagliatelle or another fresh pasta like pappardelle
    • 1 28 oz can of pureed tomatoes
    • 2 small carrots shredded in food processor
    • 1 small yellow onion shredded in food processor
    • 1 celery rib shredded in food processor
    • Β½ cup good quality Italian white wine
    • 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil best quality you can find
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
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    Instructions

    Sauce

    • In a large pan over medium heat, add your olive oil, carrots, celery and onion and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until they begin to soften.
      2 small carrots, 1 small yellow onion, 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil best quality you can find, 1 celery rib
    • In the same pan add your ground pork and beef and break up into small pieces and cook lightly making sure not to brown the meat but gently cook it.
      1 lb ground pork, 1 lb ground beef
    • Now add all of your wine and cook until the wine almost completely evaporates and gets absorbed into the meat.
      Β½ cup good quality Italian white wine
    • Once your wine has completely evaporated out (you cannot smell the alcohol anymore) add your tomato puree and mix well.
      1 28 oz can of pureed tomatoes
    • Next, add salt and mix well.
      1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • Cover with a tight fitting lid and turn down heat down to low and allow to gently simmer for at least 2 hours, preferably 3, making sure to check it every 30 minutes or so and give it a good stir.
    • Taste for seasoning and see if it needs any salt.

    Pasta

    • Bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove.
    • When the water is boiling salt it well and add your pasta. Follow the instructions on the box of spaghetti for cooking just to al dente. For fresh pasta usually 2-3 minutes is all you need.
      1 lb fresh tagliatelle
    • Once the pasta if cooked drain the pasta and place it back into the pot. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce.
    • Add 1 ladle of the red sauce to the pasta and mix well to prevent it from sticking to itself.

    Serve

    • You can plate this family style by placing your pasta in a large platter or bowl and scooping the meat sauce over top of the pasta.
    • Toss the pasta and sauce together.
    • Serve this with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
    • Enjoy!

    Notes

    For leftovers:

    If you are doubling the recipe or have enough for leftovers, make sure to store the sauce and the pasta separate. Ideally for leftovers it is best to just make enough pasta for the first night and make enough sauce for 2 nights. On the second night (leftover night) just make a new pot of pasta to go with the sauce.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 793kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 42g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 18g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 184mg | Sodium: 1413mg | Potassium: 763mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3460IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 4mg

    Nutrition Values are estimates only.

    See full nutrition disclaimer here
    Course :Main Course

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Alicia says

      January 02, 2023 at 11:10 pm

      5 stars
      This was amazing

      Reply
    2. Victoria says

      December 30, 2022 at 2:23 pm

      5 stars
      Tasty and easy! It has a delicate flavor that was really nice. Will be making this again

      Reply
      • Melissa says

        December 30, 2022 at 2:33 pm

        I am so glad you enjoyed it πŸ™‚

        Reply
    3. Jenny says

      September 26, 2022 at 7:00 pm

      5 stars
      This bolognese sauce was delicious!

      Reply
    4. Zach says

      March 04, 2022 at 6:56 pm

      5 stars
      Loved it. We needed a good bolognese recipe that did not have dairy. It came out perfect.

      Reply
    5. ed says

      November 10, 2021 at 6:26 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious! I love that this recipe does not have cream or milk. This is what we had in Italy too.

      Reply
    6. Daniel says

      November 01, 2021 at 2:58 pm

      5 stars
      This was really delish. It was very thick after simmering for a while so we added a little of the pasta water to it when serving.

      Reply

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