If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? For me that would totally be Fettuccini Bolognese! There is something about the flavors of the meat and tomatoes that just touches my soul, I could seriously eat it every day. However, no bolognese is the same, everyone has their own spin on it. For me, it almost becomes a pantry clean out recipe. I typically always have canned tomatoes, tomatoes sauces, and other items that I want to use. Add my easy bolognese sauce recipe to your meal plan this week to help clean out your panty. It makes a great meal prep recipe to eat over and over again! There are also many adjustments that can be made if you are counting macros.
Bolognese Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 60 g Celery diced, (about 1 stalk)
- 150 g Yellow Onion diced, (about ½ a large onion)
- 100 g Carrots diced, (about 2 large carrot)
- 15 g Serrano Pepper diced, (about 1 pepper)
- 170 g Red Bell Pepper diced, (about 1 pepper)
- 15 g Fresh Garlic diced, (about 3 cloves)
- 2 tbsp Oregano fresh or dry
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Red Pepper Flake
- 19 oz 93% Lean Ground Beef
- 400 g Stewed Tomatoes (about1 14.5oz can)
- 415 g Crushed Tomatoes (about1 14.5oz can)
- 400 g Tomato Sauce (about1 14.5oz can)
- 120 g Mushrooms fresh or canned, both work (about1 cup)
- 30 g White Cheddar Cheese freshly grate
- 1 tbsp Fresh Chives diced, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large saute pan or pot to medium heat. Once the pan is hot add the: celery, onion, carrots, and peppers to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes stirring frequently to prevent burning.
- After about 5 minutes add the garlic to the pan and then season with: oregano, garlic powder, black pepper, and red pepper. Continue to cook for another 3 minutes.
- By now your veggies should be aromatic and soft. Add your ground beef to the pan. Using a stiff spatula break up the ground beef. Cook the beef with the veggies, for 6-8 minutes, until most of the beef is no longer pink, stirring often.
- Now add the: stewed tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and mushrooms to the pan. Stir everything together until well combined. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for a minimum of 15 minutes, lifting the lid every 5 minutes to stir.
- While the sauce is cooking, boil your pasta of choice, my favorite is fettuccine…but feel free to use any pasta your heart desires.
- The longer the sauce cooks the thicker and more flavorful the sauce will become. Once your sauce is done serve it over your favorite pasta.
Nutrition
QUESTION:
- Are you trying to get better at meal planning?
- Do you find your self eating the same recipes every few weeks?
- Are you having trouble finding recipes for meal prep?
- Or are you counting macros?
If you are bored of eating the same recipes every week and answered yes to any of these question, then you are going to want to check out my notes below. Tips on how you can incorporate this easy bolognese sauce recipe into your meal plan and meal prep. If you are counting macros I have also included notes on how you can easily adjust the protein, carbs, and fats to meet your macro requirements.
NOTES FOR MEAL PLANNING:
Meal planning doesn’t have to be hard or take a lot of time. In fact, meal planning can be fun when you are provided with easy new recipes each week. Meal Planning can also help save money, prevent food waste, and save you time.
The best things about this sauce is it taste amazing, goes with any pasta, can be eaten on its own, or as a sloppy sandwich, and is freezer friendly.
NOTES FOR MEAL PREP:
This easy bolognese sauce recipe is a wonderful recipe for meal prepping. You can store the sauce as one large serving or as individual servings.
- The sauce will last in the fridge for 5-7 days.
- However, this is a great freezer friendly recipe, and can be stored in an air tight container for up to 6 months. I like to use my super cubes to freeze the sauce, then once frozen transfer to zip lock bags and suck all the air out of the bag. Removing the air helps to prevent freezer burn. Although, if you do not have super cubes, you can go straight to the zip lock bags. Be sure the sauce has cooled completely before freezing.
When its time to reheat:
- If coming from the fridge, heat the sauce in them microwave for 60-90 seconds. Or in a pot on the stove for about 5 minutes.
- If pulling from the freezer, you can defrost the sauce overnight and reheat using the same instructions above. Or, if cooking immediately from the freezer, I recommend cooking low and slow on the stove top. Starting off slow until the sauce breaks up into smaller chunks and begins to soften, then turn up to medium heat and cook until warmed thru.
NOTES FOR COUNTING MACROS:
PROTEIN:
- You can be adjust the amount of protein based on the amount and percentage of lean ground beef you use.
- 90% lean: 1 oz, has 5.8 grams of protein and 2.8 grams of fat.
- 93% lean: 1 oz, has 5.8 grams of protein and 2 grams fat.
- 95% lean: 1 oz, has 6 grams of protein and only 1 gram of fat.
- Because ground beef also contains fat, there is no way around the fat also changing. So you will want to keep that in mind when calculating your marcos.
CARBOHYDRATE:
- You can adjusted the amount of carbohydrates based on the amount and/or type of pasta you chose to serve the sauce with.
- 2 oz of Barilla Pasta has 200 calories, 42 carbs, only 1 gram of fat, and 7 grams of protein.
- But you could choose to do a veggie pasta which is lower in carbs and higher in protein. Most red lentil pasta has 187 calories, only 34 carbs, 1.7 grams of fat, and 12 grams of protein, per every 2oz serving.
- There are so many new types of pasta out there choose the one you like the best.
- You could also choose to eat this sauce on it’s own for the fewest amount of carbs. Or eat it as a sandwich…similar to a Sloppy Joe.
FAT:
- You can adjusted the amount of fat based on the percentage of lean ground beef you use.
- 90% lean: 1 oz, has 2.8 grams of fat and 5.8 grams of protein.
- 93% lean: 1 oz, has 2 grams fat and 5.8 grams of protein.
- 95% lean: 1 oz, has 1 gram of fat and 6 grams of protein.
- Ground beef also contains protein. As a result of making adjustments to the fats you will also make adjustments to the protein in this recipe. Therefore you will want to keep that in mind when calculating your marcos.
When adjusting macros in this easy bolognese sauce recipe you will want to keep in mind the number of servings you are making.
Can’t get enough pasta? Or are you not a fan of red sauce?
Check out my Fig and Prosciutto Pasta