Slow cooker bolognese
A rich, silky meat sauce that simmers all day on its own and tastes like an Italian grandmother made it.
- 540 min total
- 40 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $2.23 a serving
- 580 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup milk
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup beef broth
- 1 lb rigatoni
- ½ cup grated parmesan
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1½ tbsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 580 calories, 30 g protein, 74 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $2.23 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No crushed tomatoes? Diced tomatoes work.
- No beef broth? Bone broth works.
- No rigatoni? Penne works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, carrot and celery into small, even pieces, and the garlic.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Dolly’s tip: The smaller you chop them, the more they melt into the sauce. Aim for pieces the size of a pea.Heat the oil in a large over medium, add the onion, carrot and celery, and cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until soft.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Turn the heat to medium-high, add the beef, and cook 7 to 8 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink is left and it browns in spots.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic and tomato paste for 1 minute, then pour in the milk and let it bubble 3 minutes, until it’s mostly soaked up.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Dolly’s tip: Milk in a meat sauce sounds odd, but it’s the traditional trick. It makes the meat silky and tender.Scrape everything into the slow cooker and stir in the crushed tomatoes, broth, bay leaves, 1½ teaspoons salt and the pepper.
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 4, until thick and deep red.
Timer: 360 min
About 20 minutes before serving, bring a large pot of water with the rest of the salt over high. Cook the rigatoni until , scoop out a mug of , and .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Al dente. Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”: pasta cooked until tender but with a slight firm bite in the center. It holds up in sauce and keeps softening a little after you drain it.
How you’ll know: Bite a piece a minute before the package time: tender, with a slight firm bite in the middle and no crunch.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heat
Fish out the bay leaves, the pasta with as much sauce as you like and of the , and serve with parmesan.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Splash. A splash is a small, quick pour, about a teaspoon to a tablespoon. It’s there to loosen or brighten a dish, so the exact amount doesn’t matter.
How you’ll know: The dish looks a little looser or tastes a little brighter, not soupy.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Dolly’s tip: Leftover sauce freezes for 3 months. Freeze it flat in a bag and it thaws in about 20 minutes in a bowl of cold water.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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