Bolognese Sauce {Gluten & Dairy Free}
This Bolognese sauce is loaded with layers of flavor, protein, and vegetables. Ladled over spaghetti squash or pasta of your choice, you will love the flavors that develop in this dish. Perfect to meal prep for a healthy and quick weekday dinner for you or your entire family.
Hearty and comforting, this veggie packed Bolognese sauce with spaghetti squash is sure to win over any meat sauce lover.
When I was a kid, spaghetti with meat sauce was always a quick go-to on nights where there wasn’t a lot of time to cook dinner. It’s the ultimate comfort food for many of us.
With just a handful of accessible and wholesome ingredients, this bolognese recipe will provide you a healthier option without giving up the flavor.
Why I Love This Bolognese Sauce
Easy and Flavorful Recipe
As you may already know, I love making ground meat recipes. You can pack SO many flavors into them, and there are so many ways you make it interesting.
So with this bolognese sauce, it is even easier to make because there is no rolling and packing the ground meat mixture.
Hearty and Satisfying Ingredients
I absolutely love it when I can make a comfort food recipe with clean, hearty ingredients. The bison is a great protein choice here because it is very lean, but you don’t have to compromise on flavor for all you beef lovers out there.
You could easily use ground turkey, chicken, or lean beef if you prefer. You could even use tofu for a vegan option as well.
I can’t forget to point out that this sauce only has 7 ingredients and it’s super easy to make too.
This is not only great as a pasta sauce option, but you can use it in other dishes like casseroles, lasagna ravioli, calzones and more. The sky is the limit when it comes to ways to enjoy this healthy bolognese sauce.
Additionally, this bolognese sauce recipe is easy to double or triple so you can make extra ahead of time and freeze it for later use.
How to Make This Hearty Bolognese Sauce
Great bolognese is going to need good quality meat as the base since it’s the star of this recipe. Here is a list of the ingredients I used. They are simple and accessible. But when you combine them all, the magic happens.
Ingredients:
- Ground bison (you can also use ground beef or ground turkey)
- Diced tomato
- Small shallot
- 1 Celery stalk
- 1 carrot
- Fresh basil
- 1 jar of marinara sauce (I love Rao’s Marinara Sauce)
In one pan, saute the tomato, shallot, celery, and carrot.
Then, add the bison in the same pan to cook until there is no pink left.
Lastly, add the Mariana sauce and stir it well until fully combined.
That’s it, your bolognese is ready!
Last but not least, simply throw the hot and steamy bolognese sauce over your pasta of choice and top with fresh basil.
Total cook time takes about 15-20 minutes so it’s a great option for days where you don’t have a lot of time to cook but still will be able to get a healthy and satisfying dinner on the table.
How to Serve This Delicious Bolognese Sauce
You can pair this bolognese with any pasta you like. If you ARE trying to remain gluten free, it goes great with spaghetti squash or any kind of veggie noodles.
Meanwhile, you can purchase pre-spiralized veggie noodles to save some time which will be a bit more expensive, or you can just use a spiralizer to make your own which is actually super easy to do and it guarantees a fresher “noodle.”
Some of the best veggies to use as noodles are carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and celeriac.
In fact, I love this healthy bolognese sauce so much that I eat it regularly, not just for gluten free. My favorite way to eat it is with spaghetti squash.
If you’ve never made spaghetti squash before, you can check out my post on how to make it here. It’s super easy, I promise.
What’s your favorite way to use bolognese sauce? Leave a comment below!
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Get the recipe:Super Easy Bolognese Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef *
- 2 -3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 small shallot, chopped
- 1 jar 24 oz marinara sauce
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 – 3 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat 2 tbsp olive oil, after 1 minute or so, add minced garlic, chopped shallots, celery, and carrots in.
- Continue to stir to prevent any burning, until fragrant, and the carrots and celery are softened.
- Add ground beef, breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to stir and saute until the meat is no longer pink (about 7 – 8 minutes)
- Add marinara sauce and basil, lower the heat and stir until the meat and vegetables are completely coated with the sauce. TASTE and season with extra salt and pepper accordingly.
- Let it simmer for approximately 10 minutes or until the sauce is well combined and thick.
- Serve over prepared spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles or your favorite traditional pasta.
Notes
The Nutrition Facts above are specific to the ingredients I chose to use for this recipe, which may vary.
