Ground Beef and Red Wine Spaghetti Meat Sauce (Bolognese)

A simple spaghetti meat sauce recipe that's packed with flavor with ground beef, bacon, red wine, and shredded carrot and celery.

📝 Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks celery
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 oz bacon (finely chopped)
• 1 lb ground beef ((Note 1))
• 2 tbsp olive oil or butter
• 3/4 cup red wine ((Note 2))
• 1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes ((Note 3))
• 2 cups beef broth (stock) ((Note 4))
• 2 tbsp tomato paste (puree)
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dried oregano ((Note 5))
• salt and black pepper (to taste)
• 14 oz long pasta ((spaghetti, linguine, tagliatelle or parpadelle))
• grated Parmesan cheese
• finely chopped fresh basil

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Use a food processor to finely chop the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. (Note 6)
2. 2Place a large skillet or saucepan on a medium-low heat. Add the butter or olive oil and cook the finely chopped onion, carrots, celery, and garlic until softened. Then remove from the pan and set aside.
3. 3Place a large skillet or saucepan on a medium-high heat and fry the bacon until it gets crispy.
4. 4Add the ground beef and brown it over a high heat. Break it apart with a wooden spoon as it cooks, but not too much so it browns properly.
5. 5Pour in the red wine and let it simmer for a few minutes until reduced by half.
6. 6Add the cooked carrot, celery and onion mixture, crushed tomatoes, beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and dried oregano. Simmer for 30 minutes until the sauce thickens and starts to look a little glossy.
7. 7Lower the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. 8--- Combining the sauce with the pasta (optional) ---
9. 9Cook the pasta until al dente in a large pot of generously salted boiling water.
10. 10Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining.
11. 11Add the cooked pasta to the pan with the meat together with a couple of tablespoons of the reserved pasta water.
12. 12Toss the sauce and pasta together on a low heat for a couple of minutes, adding a little more pasta water if the sauce needs extra moisture.
13. 13Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmesan and finely chopped basil.