Easy Beef Bolognese with Creamy Polenta
This easy recipe for beef bolognese sauce is delicious over creamy polenta. Have a cozy, comforting dish on the table in just 30 minutes!
Ingredients
For the beef bolognese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef or ground beef and pork mix
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 small carrot finely diced
- 1 rib celery finely diced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 cup beef stock or water
- 1/2 cup dry red wine or dry white wine or stock or water
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar** optional
- 1 cinnamon stick (you can replace cinnamon with a pinch of nutmeg, if desired)
- 1/2 cup whole milk or 2%
- salt and pepper to taste
For the polenta
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 3/4 cup polenta or grits
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated + extra for serving
- pepper
Instructions
To make the bolognese sauce:
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat and add the beef.* Brown the meat for a few minutes, being sure to break up any large pieces.
- Add the onions, carrots, and celery and continue to saute until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables have softened.
- Add the tomato paste, beef stock, red wine, sugar, parsley, Italian seasoning, and cinnamon stick. Simmer for 10 minutes, allowing the wine to evaporate. Then cover the skillet and let it simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Add more water if needed.
- Stir in the milk and let it simmer for a few more minutes. Discard cinnamon stick.
To make the polenta:
- Bring 3 cups of chicken broth to a boil.
- Add the polenta and lower to medium heat. Cook for approximately 15 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and stir in butter, Parmesan cheese and pepper.
- Spoon polenta into dishes. Top with the beef bolognese and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan.
Notes
*Note: Many traditional bolognese recipes use pancetta as well as the ground meat. If you wish to use it in this recipe, add finely diced pancetta to the ground meat mixture when you are browning it and proceed with the recipe as written.
**Note: Sugar is added to the sauce to help cut the acidity from the tomato paste.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
Calories: 536kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 26gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 14gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 101mgSodium: 973mgPotassium: 616mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 604IUVitamin C: 18mgCalcium: 155mgIron: 3mg
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
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