Ragu bolognese sauce is a great recipe to learn. This easy ragu sauce, is useful for a sauce for spaghetti, lasagne or to fill ravioli. It has been a firm family favourite for years, but my boys insist it is always made like this from scratch.
It is always best to do the full prep in a pan first, and then transfer to a slow cooker for the rest of the cooking. The only change you will need to make is instead of using milk at the last stage, you would use something like mascarpone which is thicker. Otherwise if you use milk, it will take forever to reduce down to a thick sauce. Just add 2-3 heaped tablespoons of mascarpone cheese towards the end of cooking in the slow cooker and stir in well. Whether you are using the milk stove top method, or mascarpone, it just balances the flavour nicely and makes it rich and tasty.
I love a bowl of ragu bolognese, just to break the monotony of certain meals at Christmas. It is also good if you are feeding a crowd and tightening your purse strings a bit after the Christmas excess! It is popular for New Years Eve parties, where you do hot and cold buffet. Pasta is always tricky for this, so jacket potatoes are a great alternative to serve with it. A good pan is essential for this recipe, otherwise ingredients stick. One of the pans I use for making recipes like this is below on my affiliate link.
The recipe video is below or you can scroll down for the written recipe.
Ragu Bolognese Sauce Ingredients
- 50g Butter
- 100g Pancetta chopped
- 1 Large onion, chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves crushed
- 1 Large carrot, peeled and finely diced
- 1 Stick of celery, chopped and finely diced
- 2 Bay leaves
- 4 Medium sized mushrooms chopped
- 500g Minced Steak
- 225ml Red wine
- 200ml Beef stock
- 1 Can of chopped tomatoes or 350g of Passata
- ¼ Ground Nutmeg
- Salt and black pepper
- 150ml whole milk (Or 2-3 Tbsp of mascarpone – see slow cooker method above)
- A good handful of chopped fresh basil leaves.
Ragu Bolognese Sauce Method
Heat a large pan over a medium heat. Add the butter and pancetta, followed by the onion and garlic. Cook through for a couple of minutes. Then add the celery, carrot, mushrooms and bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the mince steak and let it cook for a further 5 minutes. Add in the tomatoes, stock, red wine, nutmeg, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix properly and then bring it to the boil. Once it has come to a boil, reduce to a very slow rolling simmer. Cook for about 2 hours with a lid on, stirring from time to time.
It is at this point if you want to slow cook it, you would transfer it to the slow cooker. It can then cook for 2-3 hours.
After simmering time, you need to add the milk. Stir round, and continue to simmer, but this time with the lid off. If using a slow cooker use something thicker like mascarpone (see narrative above), as if you use milk it will take a long time to reduce down to a nice thick sauce.
During the last five minutes of cooking time, add a handful of torn basil leaves.
Then serve with pasta and lots of good parmesan cheese grated over it!
Ragu Bolognese Sauce FAQ’s
Can I freeze ragu bolognese sauce?
Yes you can, the only thing I would say is to reheat it slowly. When you have milk or cream in a recipe it can split, if you heat it up too quickly or fiercely. Defrost and then gently heat it through.
Do Italians Eat Bolognese?
Italians do eat bolognese, although it is a little different to how we eat it in the UK. A traditional bolognese is often made with different meats and ingredients. Bolognese is understood to come from the Italian area of “Bologna” and it can be dated back from the 15th Century!
What is the difference between a ragu and a bolognese?
The difference between a ragu and bolognese is often the ingredients and the amount of ingredients used. I have seen many true Italian recipes, and yet each one appears to be different. Ragu uses what is known as “soffritto” which is a diced mixture of vegetables of celery, onion and carrot. Pancetta is also added as well as milk. Ragu apparently has less tomato, more meat and uses red wine. Whereas Bolognese has similar ingredients in a different ratio, but is said to use white wine.
What pasta is best for bolognese?
It Italy I have not seen spaghetti bolognese other than for tourists! What I have seen is a ragu or bolognese sauce which is served with a thicker pasta such as tagliatelle or with lasagne. This actually makes sense because it can be a heavy sauce and the thicker the pasta, the easier it will be for the sauce to stick to it. However, in the UK people tend to serve it with spaghetti.
How long should you cook ragu?
Many people rush a ragu sauce and it won’t have the depth of flavour needed. If you want a great balanced sauce you should cook it low and slow. The absolute minimum being 2 hours but I have had mine on the go for 6 hours, just at a barely recognisable bubble in the pan.
What makes bolognese tasty?
What makes a bolognese tasty is good ingredients. I harp on about it all the time but the best minced steak, fresh vegetables, great tomatoes and slow long cooking. One of the best tips I can give you is to do with the wine. Do not use cheap and nasty wine in a sauce … ever! You want a good quality wine, as that reflects in the sauce flavour.
Can I use red wine in bolognese sauce?
Many Italians actually use white wine in their bolognese sauce, which came as a revelation to me. However, I do like my red wine and so I use red wine in my recipe, which gives good results.
Does Bolognese sauce have garlic?
Bolognese sauce should not have any garlic. Put garlic in the bolognese of a true Italian, and they will probably throw it at you! However, I am always keen to add garlic to my food for the health benefits, plus I like the taste of it. So technically it should not have garlic, but if you like it, then add it.