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Create an Italian classic right at home with this Pappardelle Bolognese recipe. You’ll love the tender meat, rich sauce, and al dente noodles.
This classic dish that tastes like a gourmet meal is actually pasta dish made from simple ingredients, you’ll never go back to a jar of Bolognese again. With a rich texture and depth of flavor, this meal is the favorite of many! Enjoy with your favorite salad, breadsticks, or roasted veggies.
What is Pappardelle Bolognese?
Famous to the city of Bologna in Italy, Bolognese is traditionally a meat sauce that is slow cooked with other things such as onion, carrot, and celery with a bit of tomato paste or sauce and sometimes a bit of wine or milk for richness. Most typically, people do not eat Bolognese with a thin noodle like spaghetti (it’s a hearty, hefty sauce). More often, it is enjoyed with a larger, flatter noodle. Hence, Pappardelle Bolognese. Pappardelle is a type of noodle, a very wide, very flat, large pasta noodle perfect for carrying the load of the Bolognese.
How to Make Pappardelle Bolognese
- To begin cooking, add oil to a large pot. Heat this over medium heat. To the hot oil, add chopped onion, carrots, and celery. Allow to cook until the onions are translucent and the carrots are soft. At this point, you can add the diced garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until garlic is fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic, it’s easy to burn. When ready, remove the cooked vegetables from the pot and place in a large bowl. You can set these aside for a little later.
- Next, break the beef and pork up into large chunks. Working in batches in the same pot as before, sear all sides of each chunk of meat over medium high heat. Working in batches with smaller pieces will allow for more surface area of the meat to sear and become crispy. When you’re finished with each piece, remove it and set on a paper towel lined plate.
- The next step is to add all the meat back to the pot and break it up into smaller pieces.
- Add to the pot the cooked vegetables, beef broth (or wine), crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Cover and let this simmer for at least one hour. Add more salt and pepper to taste, if need be. Remove bay leaves at this point.
- While the sauce is simmering, cook your pasta according to package directions. You can add a pinch of sea salt to the water for extra Italian authenticity.
- To serve, you can either combine the sauce and pasta in the pot, or serve the sauce over the pasta in individual bowls. Be sure to top with parmesan cheese for extra deliciousness.
Variations
There are many ways to switch up a Bolognese, but here are some that I know of. Many people add milk or heavy cream or give a thick richness to the sauce. Almost like an alfredo. Another idea is to try adding anchovies. A lot of people love the salty, fishy taste that these little guys add to things. In the right portion, it could be delicious! Switching the ground beef/ground pork for chorizo would make a spicy sauce that many would love and wouldn’t be able to get enough of! Something easy to do- add mushrooms. It’s a great earthy taste and a wonderful texture. Try some of these variations for a fun and different Bolognese!
What to Serve with Pappardelle Bolognese
Enjoy Pappardelle Bolognese with a fresh salad, lots of greens, a slightly sour dressing. It will refresh you after bites of the heavy pasta. Many people recommend a caprese salad, a beautiful ball of fresh mozzarella, ripe, red tomatoes, fresh basil, and extra-virgin olive oil. It seems the combination of fresh with the heavier pasta dish is a winner.
Recipe Tip
Searing the meat, instead of browning it the traditional way, makes the meat taste better and adds some crispy bits. Browning the meat all at once creates a lot of steam and ends up steaming the meat instead of searing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Bolognese tastes hearty and meaty, very savory from the meat that has been seared nicely. It also has a sweet-ish tang from the tomatoes that goes well with the meaty flavor.
No, Bolognese is slow cooked with seared meat for maximum flavor. It also can be made with larger cuts of meat, unlike marinara’s ground beef composition.
Yes! Pappardelle is much thicker than fettuccine. More like WIDER than fettuccine. It’s a broad noodle.
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Pappardelle Bolognese
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 2 celery ribs diced
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1 cup beef broth or red wine
- 28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 pound pappardelle pasta
- parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Add oil to a large pot. Heat over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook until onions are translucent and carrots are soft. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until garlic is fragrant. Remove the cooked vegetables from the pot into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Break the beef and pork up into large chunks. Working in batches in the same pot as before, sear all sides of each chunk of meat over medium high heat. Remove and set on a paper towel lined plate.
- Add all the meat back to the pot and break up into smaller pieces.
- Add cooked vegetables, beef broth, crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, and salt and pepper to the pot. Stir to combine.
- Cover and let simmer for at least one hour. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaves.
- While sauce is simmering, cook pasta according to package directions.
- To serve, you can either combine the sauce and pasta in the pot, or serve sauce over pasta in individual bowls. Top with parmesan cheese.
Notes
- We chose to omit the wine and replace it with beef broth, but you can use red or white wine instead.Â
- For an even richer taste, add a parmesan rind when you add the bay leaves. Remove the rind when you remove the bay leaves.Â
- If you are short on time, then you can skip the searing step and just brown the meat all together in the pot. Searing the meat just gives it a better taste and some crispy edges.Â
The link you emailed me sent me right back to the page, nothing downloadable and NO INGREDIENTS. How do I get the actual recipe?
You can find the full recipe if you scroll down to the bottom of this page: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/pappardelle-bolognese/