Indulge in the delicious flavors of an authentic Italian bolognese recipe that you can use in all your favorite kinds of pasta, like lasagna. This sauce has a deep flavor from salty pork, red wine, and delicious tomatoes all of which come together to make the best meat sauce you’ve ever tried.
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After attending culinary school in Italy, I learned how to make many types of sauces, one of my favorites being this authentic Italian bolognese ragu sauce. Ragu is a sauce that's known for being cooked low and slow.
Bolognese originates from the city of Bologna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. This region is located in northern Italy, and it's known for its rich cuisine. From being the birthplace of Parmigiano Reggiano, balsamic vinegar, prosciutto di Parma, and tagliatelle, there is no shortage of delicious flavors coming out of this region.
Poor Italian families in Bologna would use scraps of any meat they had to make traditional bolognese ragu. While the original version of this recipe is said to have used bits of different types of meats, this recipe uses just ground pork. This keeps with the traditional theme of using cheaper cuts of meat while guaranteeing great flavor and keeping the recipe super affordable.
Traditionally, this sauce was served atop fresh tagliatelle pasta, but this bolognese ragu is perfect for making traditional Italian lasagna, a delicious meaty pasta bake, or spaghetti alla bolognese.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- A brief historical background on Italian bolognese sauce.
- The importance of slow-cooking bolognese ragu for pasta.
- How to properly store bolognese ragu.
If you love this Italian ragu recipe, you have to check out my free guide with all of my favorite authentic Italian recipes.
Ingredients You Need
With just a few simple traditional bolognese ingredients, you can create one of the tastiest pasta sauces you’ll ever have.
Butter: Butter is the traditional fat used to saute vegetables in a bolognese. I recommend using unsalted butter, but if salted butter is all you have, then make sure to adjust the amount of salt added later on.
Carrot: Finely diced carrot is one of the base blocks for a good bolognese. The carrot will cook down and the sugars will develop into the sauce for a nice flavor and texture.
Onion: Finely diced red onion is another key building block for a good ragu. As the bolognese cooks, the onion will soften and the sharp raw-onion flavor will fade away, leaving you with a sweet and delicious flavor. While we always used red onion in culinary school (since Italians cook with very local ingredients), you can also substitute with a yellow onion.
Ground pork: While many bolognese recipes call for ground beef, I prefer pork bolognese. The fattiness and saltiness of the pork meat results in a flavorful and rich meat sauce.
If you prefer to use ground beef or a mixture of beef and pork, this is completely fine. If you choose to use beef, be sure to purchase ground meat with a high-fat content such as 20% fat or higher.
Dry red wine: Using red wine to deglaze the meat and onions is a key step to creating an authentic bolognese recipe.
I like to use Shiraz, but any dry red wine will work. Remember, if you wouldn't want to drink it, don’t cook with it.
Canned whole peeled tomatoes: This is one of those ingredients that’s better than using fresh produce. Canned tomatoes have had time for the flavors to develop more so than fresh tomatoes. Additionally, buying whole peeled tomatoes will save you time during the cooking process.
As with all of our ingredients, the higher the quality, the better the end result. This is especially true for tomatoes as there are more of them than anything else in this sauce. My two favorite canned tomato brands are Cento and Red Gold.
Pepper: Finely ground black pepper is my recommendation for this recipe. Pepper is a flavor enhancer and will help to elevate the flavors already present in this tasty bolognese ragu sauce.
Salt: Both salt and pepper are very important for ensuring the dish is properly seasoned and balanced. Since everyone's ingredients will be slightly different, it's best to cook the sauce, taste it at the end, and then season accordingly.
How To Make This Recipe
To make the best bolognese ragu sauce from Italy, you need a little bit of work, plenty of patience, and lots of love.
1. Begin by adding butter to a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Let the butter melt and then add the diced onion and carrots. Allow the vegetables cook until softened. This should only take a couple of minutes.
2. Once softened, remove the carrots and onion from the saucepan and set aside for later.
Be careful not to increase the heat too much when cooking the vegetables. If the veggies burn, that flavor will be noticeable in your bolognese.
3. In the same saucepan, add the ground pork and cook over medium-high heat. As it cooks, use a wooden spoon to break up the pork into small pieces. Keep cooking the pork until it has browned on all sides.
4. With the pork browned, add the carrot and onion mixture back into the saucepan. Add in the wine and let this cook down until it has reduced 100%.
5. As the wine reduces and cooks off, use the same wooden spoon from earlier to scrape off any browned pieces of food from the bottom of the saucepan. This will take the flavor of your bolognese to the next level.
Keep in mind, the fat will cook out of the meat before the wine is added. This means that there will still be some liquid in the bottom of the pan even after the wine has fully reduced.
6. With the wine reduced, crush the canned tomatoes with your hands as you add them to the saucepan.
7. Be sure to pour any leftover tomato juice from the can into the saucepan.
8. Drop the heat to medium-low and allow the ragu to simmer while partially covered with a lid. You want the sauce to reduce by 50%. Be sure to stir the mixture occasionally to ensure that the ingredients at the bottom don’t burn.
Every pan and every stove is different. If you see that your sauce is bubbling too intensely, turn the heat down slightly until it’s at a steady simmer.
It will take about two hours for the sauce to reduce by 50%. You do not need to be standing and stirring during this entire process, but be sure to keep an eye on it.
9. After the sauce has reduced down, taste it. After tasting, season with black pepper and kosher salt, as needed.
Expert Tips
- Storage: Store cooked bolognese ragu in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I always suggest using a glass container as plastic containers tend to stain when tomato sauce is stored within it.
- Bolognese ragu sauce can be used in various pasta dishes such as lasagna or with your favorite homemade or dried pasta.
- Italian ragu is meant to be cooked low and slow. Don’t be tempted to turn the heat higher or the sauce can burn.
Recipe FAQs
A bolognese is a specific form of a ragu. A ragu is simply a slow sauce while a bolognese signifies that it's a meat-based sauce.
Yes. It can be made and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Alternatively, the sauce can be cooled and frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Yes. Simply let the sauce cool and then place it in an airtight container and place it in the freezer. This will stay good for up to three months.
While classic Italian bolognese ragu is made with meat, you can make a vegetarian-friendly sauce by simply omitting the meat.
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Italian Bolognese Ragu
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup finely diced carrots
- ½ cup finely diced red onion
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 ¼ cups full bodied dry red wine (like Shiraz)
- 84 ounces canned whole peeled tomatoes
- black pepper to taste
- Morton kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Add butter to a heavy bottom saucepan and melt over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add carrots and onion, and cook until softened. Remove cooked carrots and onions from the saucepan and set aside.
- To the same saucepan, add ground pork, and cook on medium high heat breaking up the pork into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until browned on all sides.
- Pour the cooked carrots, onions, and wine into the saucepan with the cooked pork. Cook the wine until no liquid remains. As the wine reduces (cooks), scrape off any browned pieces of food on the bottom of the pan (this adds extra flavor to the sauce).
- Crush the canned tomatoes with your hands directly into the saucepan. Add in any leftover tomato juice still in the can to the saucepan. Turn heat to medium low. Simmer partially covered until reduced by 50%. Stir occasionally to ensure the bottom doesn't burn. If you notice the sauce bubbling too intensely, turn down the heat slightly.
- Once cooked down, taste and season with black pepper and Morton kosher salt to taste.
Tanya
I just made a homemade lasagna using this sauce for my boyfriend's birthday and I have to say it's the most delicious sauce we've both ever tasted! This will be our new go-to recipe!