This spaghetti bolognese is one of those weeknight dinners that’s super simple, quick to make, and everyone will love. I mean, it’s pasta! You can easily customize this in a number of ways but more often than not I keep it classic.

Bolognese sauce is a little different from spaghetti sauce in that it usually contains a mixture of beef and pork as well as a few added vegetables: onion, carrots, celery and garlic. I love this combination of flavors and textures and it makes this recipe feel hearty and filling.

Related: Love easy pasta meals? Me too! Next up, make my overnight no-boil lasagna or my baked ziti.

Ingredients

• Onion – shallot or yellow onion is usually what I use
• Carrot
• Celery
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Boston burger – a ground beef and pork mix
• Marinara sauce
• Italian seasoning
• Spaghetti noodles
• Parmesan cheese

Sometimes, I will add a little milk or half and half cream to the sauce, but it’s optional.

Directions

Prepare the vegetables. Finely chop the onion, carrot and celery. Mince the garlic.

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the onion, carrot and celery until it begins to soften (2-3 minutes). Season with a little salt and pepper. Then add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute. Remove this vegetable mixture from the pan.

In the same pan, add the meat and cook until no pink remains. Then add back in the cooked vegetables, marinara sauce and Italian seasoning.

While the sauce continues to simmer on low, cook the noodles according to the directions.

Once the noodles are ready, drain and mix in with the sauce. Serve hot with parmesan sprinkled over everything.

Tips for Making

• The Boston burger ground meat I use is a mixture of 60% beef and 40% pork. It’s very common for the grocery stores I shop at in my area. But if you don’t have an option like this, you can simply use a mixture of ground beef and ground pork. Or you can substitute a different meat like ground turkey or chicken for a lighter option.
• Sometimes, I will use a box grater for the onion, carrot and celery if I want to really, really finely chop up the vegetables.
• While I usually make this with spaghetti noodles, any long, thin noodles (angel hair, fettuccine) will work just as well. You could serve this sauce over other noodle shapes or even rice if you wanted to.

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