Bolognese Sauce
Homemade ragu that tastes so much better than the bottled stuff!
Growing up, I was one of those Korean kids who couldn’t go to the mall with friends or go to sleepovers of any kind. Instead, I had go to swim practice 6 times a week and practice violin right afterwards. Then I’d have to finish my homework and study so I can get an A+ on every assignment, quiz, and test.
That was my life. It was tough, but my mom wanted the best for me and she worked hard for it.
My mom raised me to do a million things a day, and going into adulthood, I always felt like I can actually do a million things a day.
- I can have a full-time job.
- I can have a full-time blog job.
- I can go to the gym 6 times a week.
- I can clean the house, vacuum the carpet, scrub the toilet and dust off the counters.
- I can have a social life.
- I can do it all.
But you know what? I can’t. I really can’t.
It took me quite some time to finally accept that but I’m glad I did.
Just the other night, the clock was hitting 10PM and I still had to send out at least 4 recipes to the companies that I work for, create a post for the blog in which I haven’t even edited the photos yet and sleep at a reasonable hour for a full work day the next morning.
That’s when I realized I just had to cut down my hours at my day job. I spoke to my bosses the next day and they were very understanding about how overwhelmed I am and said they would try to let me have a day off a week, depending on the workload.
That’s how I got the day off from work yesterday. I woke up at 6AM, worked on recipe development, gorged on some amazing pancakes, treated myself to Thai food, took a 2 hour nap and skipped the gym.
It was a much needed day off. And I couldn’t be more thrilled to have some time off from my day job.
Whew. Okay, sorry for that essay there. I think I was just rambling at some point.
Enough about me though. Let’s talk pasta!
Today I am sharing my all-time favorite kind of comfort food: homemade bolognese cooked low and slow. It comes together quite easily and makes the house smell amazing while it’s cooking. It also yields enough servings to feed a small army so this would go perfectly at your next dinner party or a big family dinner without having to slave away in the kitchen all night long. I’m sure your guests would greatly appreciate a plate of this and be begging for seconds. After all, who can turn down a bowl of pasta filled with a hearty, tender meat sauce with a side of crusty bread and a glass of red wine?
Bolognese Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 small onion, chopped
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 14.5-ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 6-8 cloves
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 1 pound spaghetti
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and saute until the edges are golden, about 2-3 minutes. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt, to taste. Add beef and cook until browned, about 5-8 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; season with salt, to taste.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, cinnamon sticks and cloves. Reduce heat to low; simmer, stirring occasionally, with lid slightly ajar, until sauce has thickened, about 90-120 minutes. Stir in parsley.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Serve immediately with spaghetti.
Did you make this recipe?
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So delicious. Tastes just like Yia-Yia’s sauce. The cinnamon and cloves ratio is perfect. Prep is quick, but the 2 hours it takes to simmer is worth the wait.
Question, can I use ground cloves and ground cinnamon if I don’t have whole ones…and how much do it use of both?
Could I use spicy Italian Sausage as the meat?! This sounds amazing! Thank you!
Okay, so I am a diehard Damn Delicious fan, all my favorite recipes come from Chungah! I had been craving spaghetti so I went on a search for a good sauce; I should have known that I only needed to check one site! I was a little iffy about cinnamon and cloves in my sauce, but Chungah has never disappointed me before so I went for it! Y’ALL, THIS IS THE BEST SAUCE I HAVE EVER HAD! The only thing I did differently was 1lb ground beef/1lb ground pork, everything else was exactly the same!
Thank you for my new favorite sauce for spaghetti night!
What is great about this sauce is that it is so simple to make and provides such great flavors as it is made using some great seasonings of herbs and spices. You also don’t need to go out looking for any special ingredients as you can easily find them freely available.
very spicy
I made this yesterday and it was amazing! My new “go to” for meat sauce, for sure. The addition of the cinnamon and cloves is wonderful. I wasn’t sure what it would taste like with such few ingredients, but it was fabulous. The only thing I forgot to do was add in the parsley (after having my husband make a special trip to the store for it). I will definitely add it in next time. Thank you for the great recipe!
I just found this website and WOW! I cannot wait to send this to my uncle who is a chef who is always willing to try new things. I can not wait to try the things he makes from your blog!
Do you just leave the whole cloves and cinnamon sticks in the sauce, pick them out, put them in a bag, or what? Recipe sounds great. Just wondering about cloves.cinnamon.
Lilly, the cinnamon sticks and whole cloves should be discarded prior to serving.
I can’t wait to try this bolognese sauce. I’ve made your one pot lasagna, teriyaki salmon and beef with broccoli and I have to tell you that every single recipe was delicious. This is my go to website when I’m itching to cook. Everything has been so simple and so good! Thank you for sharing!
I am now making this dish for the 3rd time-always w leftover filet + a little ground beef. It is great, delicious and not that time consuming(I shorten the time a tad) I also add a tad of red wine. Love!! My husband really loves bolognese!! Thanks, it’s a fave.
Hi, I have tried a few of your recipes now with great success. I have bolognaise on the go now ready for after school tea.
I love the honesty of your food and your postings. I suspect you are really quite a Wonder Woman and for those who really know you they will know that most of the time you do do everything and everything you do, you do fantastically well.
WOW! I just found your website. I can’t wait to try your recipes. “You can cook”
Your ads are great also. I’m looking forward to your news letter.
Thank you for your hard work.
Karen