Rich in flavor, this 30-Minute Beef Bolognese recipe has Herbes de Provence and red wine, and is impressive enough to entertain with, but fast enough for weeknight dinner!
Once cooking for yourself or for your family becomes a regular part of your routine, you find ways to make it work even on busy weeknights.
Maybe it’s grocery shopping and prepping ingredients over the weekend. Alternatively, maybe it’s batch cooking a couple nights a week and then eating leftovers the rest of the time.
No matter what your game plan is, having a few easy recipes that come together in just 30 minutes is always a welcome trick to have up your sleeve. Especially when it’s a meal that you can entertain with!
What is the Difference Between Meat Sauce and Bolognese?
Bolognese is a type of Italian meat sauce, also known as ragù, from Bologna. It's a thick meat-based sauce that typically contains wine and a touch of tomato and milk or cream.
Beef Bolognese is quite a bit thicker than the American meat tomato sauce I grew up eating on pasta!
Additionally, note that Bolognese is traditionally served on top of tagiatelle pasta (although here I served it on spiral-shaped pasta).
The Best Easy 30-Minute Beef Bolognese Recipe
Pasta night is always fun when you’re inviting people over. And homemade sauce for pasta makes all the difference in the world! When it takes just 30 minutes to whip up you know you have a winner.
To start this sauce, we use extra-virgin olive oil and a beautiful trifecta of sauteed veggies (onion, carrot, and celery) for depth of flavor. And then we add a healthy dose of garlic, fire-roasted tomatoes, and Herbes de Provence.
Complexity in this dish comes from deglazing with a dry red wine, which is rich with the flavor of dark fruit.
Everyone who tastes this Beef Bolognese will think that it simmered on the stovetop all day!
How to Serve Bolognese
You can serve this Bolognese in a number of different ways:
- On top of your favorite pasta (regular, gluten-free, or any of the other types that are out there these days!)
- With spaghetti squash or zoodles
- On a bed of steamed cauliflower or broccoli
If you’re entertaining with this meal, have people bring different components, like a big green salad, soup to start the meal off with, crusty bread, or maybe fudgy brownies for dessert.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
More Sauce Recipes for Pasta
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30-Minute Easy Beef Bolognese Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ¼ pounds 90% lean ground beef
- 1 medium-large yellow onion finely diced
- 1 large carrot finely diced
- 2 large stalks celery finely diced
- 4 large cloves garlic crushed
- 1 ½ cups Pinot Noir
- 1 cup fire-roasted no-salt-added crushed tomatoes
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- Fresh parsley leaves for garnish (optional)
- Pasta cooked to al dente (optional)
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over high heat. Once hot, add the oil, beef, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, and cook (uncovered) until the meat is browned and the vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes.
- Add the wine and cook (uncovered) until the liquid is reduced by about 90%, about 5 minutes.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, Herbes de Provence, salt, and black pepper. Turn the heat down to medium, cover the skillet, and cook until the sauce is thick, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the cream.
- Serve garnished with fresh parsley on top of pasta if desired.
Faith's Tips
- Net Carbs: 9g per serving
- Low Carb Serving Suggestion: To keep this meal lower in carbs, serve the Bolognese on a bed of zoodles or steamed cauliflower.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
RPM says
I made the recipe exactly as listed, It came out with undercooked carrots and dry. Next time I will cook vegetables first with oil, also minced galic not crushed. This will be at medium heat until vegetables are very soft. Then add beef, cook again at medium heat. Then add wine and reduce at medium heat. Then add final ingredients art medium heat. Also I will double the cream. This will most likely double or triple the cook time but I believe it will make a better sauce. Which by the way had the right taste but not consistency or fluidity. Thank you so much for posting, it was fun making it.