Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese
Tagliatelle with slow-cooked meat ragu
Ingredients
- 600 g Tagliatelle
- 400 g Ground beef
- 200 g Ground pork
- 80 g Pancetta
- 1 Onion
- 1 Carrot
- 1 stalk Celery
- 250 ml Milk
- 250 ml White wine
- 1 tin San Marzano tomatoes (DOP)
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 30 g Butter
- 30 ml Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 g Nutmeg
- 80 g Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 40 g Salt
- 1 tsp Black pepper
Method
- Finely dice the onion, carrot, and celery into a soffritto.
- Dice the pancetta small.
- Grate the parmigiano.
- Melt the butter and oil in the Dutch oven over medium-low heat, then sweat the pancetta until golden.
- Add the soffritto and cook gently until soft and sweet, about 12 minutes.
- Turn the heat to high, add the beef and pork, and brown well, breaking the meat up — about 10 minutes.
- Season with the salt, pepper, and a grating of nutmeg.
- Pour in the milk and simmer until almost dry, about 10 minutes.
- Pour in the wine and simmer until almost dry, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste and crushed tomatoes, then reduce to the barest simmer.
- Simmer uncovered, stirring every twenty minutes, until thick and glossy — about 2½ hours.
- Near the end, bring a pot of water to a boil and salt it heavily.
- Drop the tagliatelle and cook one minute shy of al dente (firm to the bite).
- Reserve a mugful of pasta water, then drain the tagliatelle.
- Toss the tagliatelle in the ragù off heat for a minute, loosening with pasta water until glossy.
- Plate and finish with the parmigiano.
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About Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese
Tagliatelle al ragù alla bolognese is the authentic form of a dish the world knows mostly through imitations. In Bologna the ragù is a meat sauce first and a tomato sauce a distant second — built on a finely diced soffritto of onion, carrot, and celery, enriched with pancetta, and slow-simmered with beef, pork, milk, and white wine for hours until it's thick, unctuous, and barely tinged red. Crucially, it's served over fresh tagliatelle, whose porous, ribbon-like strands cling to the sauce; the spaghetti pairing is a foreign invention the Bolognese don't recognize.
The long, gentle cook is everything. Milk is added early and simmered nearly dry, which tenderizes the meat and lends a subtle sweetness, and the wine and San Marzano tomatoes go in only after the meat has browned properly. Over three hours the sauce reduces into something deeply savory and velvety, with a whisper of nutmeg and the salty depth of pancetta running through it. Finished with butter and a generous grating of Parmigiano-Reggiano, this is a Sunday-dinner ragù meant to be made unhurried and shared, rewarding the patience the method demands.
Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese?
A serving has about 862 calories — 40.5g protein, 85.1g carbs, 36g fat, 5.5g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 40.5g of protein, roughly 19% of its calories.
Is Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Tagliatelle. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.
Is Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Milk, Butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano. Swapping those for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
How long does Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese take to make?
About 209 minutes start to finish, but only around 49 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese make?
This recipe makes 6 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.