Easy Bolognese Recipe With Red Wine

This easy bolognese sauce comes together in less than an hour and tastes like it’s been simmering away all day. It’s absolutely perfect for a warm and hearty weeknight meal alongside garlic bread and a salad. I guarantee even your Italian grandma will love it!

A few months ago, I saw Ina Garten post her weeknight bolognese recipe on Instagram and immediately saved the post so I could return to it at another time; it sounded delicious! Not long after, I mentioned it on Friday Things and so many of you said that you had made it and it was amazing, so I made a mental note to put it on the rotation for a future Sunday dinner.

Truth be told, it’s insanely difficult to impress a bunch of Italian folks with a new red sauce recipe. It always get the side eye. My grandma made the same sauce every single Sunday. My father-in-law has made the same meat sauce forever (a huge family and reader favorite!); you just generally do not do new.

Easy Chicken Ragu

The result? Everyone RAVED about this bolognese; literally, every single person. My sister came over later, was eating leftovers and asked, “who made the sauce today?” I said that I did, that it was a new recipe, and she asked how I did it. I proceeded to tell her what was in it and how quickly it came together; she was STUNNED. She said it tasted like it had been simmering on the stove all day.

I kept the bulk of this recipe the same as Ina’s original, but did make a couple of changes. First, I substituted Italian sausage for half of the beef; I like making this sub in my regular meat sauce if I’m going to use it for lasagna – it really adds a significant bump of flavor.

The original recipe called for adding in more wine towards the end of cooking, but 1) a lot of the reviews said the wine flavor was overpowering; and 2) I was concerned that adding it so late in the cooking process wouldn’t let the alcohol cook off enough for the kids to eat it, and and they LOVE their red sauce ;-)

Bolognese Sauce Recipe Makes Easy And Best Spaghetti Meat Sauce

You may think that bolognese is simply meat sauce, while marinara or “spaghetti sauce” is meatless, but it’s a little bit more than that.

Bolognese, on the other hand, has a high protein to tomato ratio, along with other ingredients (such as wine and milk or cream) that give it a very hearty and full-bodied flavor.

I seriously cannot recommend this bolognese sauce enough; it is truly outstanding and I just adore how quickly you can get it on the table. You’ll be amazed at how so much flavor can be packed into a sauce in so little time.

The Best Bolognese Sauce Recipe

This easy bolognese sauce comes together in less than an hour and tastes like it’s been simmering away all day. Even your Italian grandma will love it!

Calories: 662 kcal , Carbohydrates: 70 g , Protein: 29 g , Fat: 26 g , Saturated Fat: 9 g , Cholesterol: 73 mg , Sodium: 1820 mg , Potassium: 930 mg , Fiber: 5 g , Sugar: 8 g , Vitamin A: 675 IU , Vitamin C: 14.9 mg , Calcium: 196 mg , Iron: 4.9 mgThis rich red wine bolognese sauce made with minced beef and mushrooms is jam packed full of flavour. It’s a deliciously easy weeknight dinner recipe that only requires eight basic ingredients, plus your favourite pasta! Gluten free (with GF pasta) and dairy free.

We are pretty big bolognese fans in our household. It’s one of my favourite simple, comforting dinners to cook, and I love that a big batch of sauce always gives us plenty of leftovers for more meals. This rich red wine bolognese with mushrooms is our current favourite (though I’m still pretty partial to my roast eggplant and kale bolognese sauce, too).

Pappardelle Alla Bolognese

Though you might not think of bolognese as a particularly “healthy” dish, why isn’t it? If you use quality red meat (we happily pay a little extra and buy organic, grassfed beef mince), add some veggies in the sauce and serve it with a whole grain pasta (or over brown rice, quinoa, in a baked sweet potato), then I think you’re doing pretty well. I usually serve it with a bowl of steamed broccoli as a side dish, too. Red meat is such a great source of iron and I always feel so warm and nourished when I eat this.

I’m especially attached to this recipe because it’s one of the few meals that I’ve been able to cook and share with my brother recently, when he last visited (we live in different cities). It’s gotten a big thumbs up from him and I know he’s made it again at home too 🙂

Serve it up with your favourite pasta and that’s about it – and maybe add the side dish of broccoli if you love your greens like I do. This sauce recipe will easily serve 4-6 people and you can freeze leftovers, perfect for meal prep!

Deliciously Easy Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

This rich red wine bolognese made with minced beef and mushrooms is jam packed full of flavour. It's a seriously easy weeknight recipe that only requires eight basic ingredients, plus your favourite pasta!

*I buy a pre-mixed Italian dry herb mix. If you don't have this, just use a mixture of dried herbs e.g. thyme, basil, parsley, oregano. When I don't have a herb mix in the cupboard, I just use 2 tsp of dried thyme instead!This recipe yields a simple, rich Bolognese sauce that’s perfect over pasta or in Lasagna. It’s easy and straight-forward to make, it just needs a little time to simmer!

Authentic, classic, traditional Ragu Bolognese recipe (just like my Marinara recipe). This is the way my husband has been making Pasta Bolognese for me for all of our marriage, and I love it his way. He

Simple Bolognese Sauce Recipe

It’s a very simple, unpretentious recipe. It yields a rich, flavorful sauce you can eat with pasta, in Lasagna, just by itself in a bowl with some ricotta to be eaten with a spoon…

In case you aren’t looking for a slow simmered sauce but just want a quick pasta with meat sauce for dinner… I have some recipes for you:

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Beef Bolognese Sauce Recipe

Ingredients for Bolognese Sauce: Italian sausage, ground beef, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, balsamic vinegar, sugar, olive oil, bay leaves, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.

1. Start by sautéing the onion, garlic, carrot and celery in olive oil until the onion has fully softened. This will take 5-10 minutes over medium heat, and it’s important you take your time with this step. Otherwise, you’ll have lingering raw onion taste in your sauce later.

Then, stir in the seasoning and the tomato paste until fully incorporated. Allow the tomato paste to cook and roast for 1-2 minutes, this will significantly improve the flavor of the tomato paste.

Easy Lamb Ragu With Ground Lamb And Linguine

3. Next, pour in the red wine, stirring well to remove any browned bits off the bottom of the pan (this is called deglazing). Simmer to reduce the wine by about ⅓. This will again take 3-5 minutes.

4. Finally, stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil once, then cover with a lid and simmer slowly for 1-2 hours. Take off the lid and simmer uncovered for another 15-30 minutes, until the sauce is rich and thick.

Fridge: Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, then pack it into an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days.

In A Hurry Meat Sauce (in Under 20 Minutes)!

Freezer: Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, then pack it into freezer-friendy bags or containers. Label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months), then place into your freezer.

Defrost in the fridge overnight, then reheat on the stove until steaming hot all the way through. You may need to add a little beef broth, but chances are there is some condensation from the freezing/defrosting and you may not need any extra liquid.

We eat this sauce in so many ways! It’s obviously great over pasta (try it with a wider pasta and not with spaghetti – spaghetti definitely needs a more “saucy” sauce, and this is more like a thick, meaty Ragu).

The Best Bolognese Sauce (how To Freeze, Tips, Tricks, Etc)

But it also works with polenta or without any carbs at all. I often have a bowl with a spoonful of ricotta and some parmesan cheese added.

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest,  Facebook or Instagram.

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Homemade Bison Bolognese

Storage tips Fridge: Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, then pack it into an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days.

When I got married