Description
This is my family’s favorite slow cooker Bolognese sauce! It’s a hearty and flavorful meat sauce with ground beef, tomatoes, onion, and smoky bacon. Perfect over spaghetti any night of the week.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1/4 pound pancetta, chopped
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 2 (28- ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat a large, deep, nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. (Alternately if your slow cooker has a saute setting you can do these steps using that feature.) Add the pancetta and cook, stirring until the fat renders, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the butter, onion, celery, and carrots and cook until soft, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Increase the heat to medium-high, add the garlic and ground beef, and season it with 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and pepper to taste.
- Cook, using a wooden spoon to break the meat into small pieces as it browns, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the wine and cook 3 to 4 minutes to reduce slightly.
- Transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt, and more pepper to taste.
- Cover and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours, or on low heat for 6 to 8 hours. Discard bay leaves.
- Stir in half and half, and parsley and serve.
Notes
- I used bacon instead of pancetta and omitted the butter, using the bacon grease to saute the vegetables.
- I added 1 teaspoon of basil, 1 teaspoon of oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper when I added the tomato sauce.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 132
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 478.4 mg
- Fat: 3.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 10.9 g
- Protein: 15.5 g
- Cholesterol: 38.9 mg
