Pappardelle Alla Bolognese is one of the staples of Italian comfort food. These wide egg pasta ribbons coated in rich and flavorful authentic Bolognese Sauce are impossible to resist.
Rich decadent flavor and bright colors make Pappardelle Bolognese a perfect meal for the holiday dinner: Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving or with no particular occasion this pasta will make your dinner truly special.
Recipe in a Nutshell
Essentially Pappardelle alla Bolognese are made with 2 ingredients: Pappardelle pasta and Ragu Alla Bolognese.
Step 1: Cook pappardelle in boiling water for 2-3 minutes or as directed in the package. Reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid then drain.
Step 2: In a pot with ragu sauce, add cooked pappardelle pasta and a little of pasta cooking liquid. Add more if needed until pasta is well coated in the sauce. Toss in the pot for 1 minute and serve!
Ingredients You'll Need
- Pappradelle Pasta: You get extra points if you make your own homemade pappardelle. But even if you make it with quality store bought pappardelle you’ll fall in love from the first bite.
- Ragu Alla Bolognese (Bolognese Sauce): made with simple genuine ingredients like ground beef, pork belly, onion-carrot-celery soffritto slowly cooked in tomato sauce on very low heat for a few hours.
- Parmesan (Parmiggiano Reggiano): for serving.
Full Recipe
Pappardelle Bolognese
Pappardelle Alla Bolognese is one of the staples of Italian comfort food. These wide egg pasta ribbons coated in rich and flavorful authentic Bolognese sauce are impossible to resist.
SERVINGS: 4
Ingredients
For Pappardelle Alla Bolognese
- 8-10 oz dry pappardelle pasta or 18-20 oz fresh pappardelle
- Parmesan cheese for serving
- 2 cups Ragu Alla Bolognese or
For Ragu Alla Bolognese
- 1 lb ground beef , about 450-500 grams
- 5 oz pancetta (pork belly) , cut in small cubes (about 150 grams)
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 1 carrot , finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks , finely chopped
- 1 cup tomato passata (strained tomatoes)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ⅔ cup dry white or red wine
- 1 cup broth or water
- ⅓ cup milk optional
- 1 teaspoon salt , more to taste
- Pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Prepare Ragu
- Remove the rind from pork belly and then cut it into ¼ inch (0.5 cm) strips and again into ¼ inch x ¼ inch cubes.
- Wash and peel the vegetables. With a sharp knife finely chop onion, carrot and celery. You can also chop them roughly and pulse in a food processor until finely chopped.
Cook Soffritto
- In a casserole add pork belly cubes and let brown on medium-high heat.
- Reduce the heat and add finely chopped vegetables.
- Let cook of medium-low heat until vegetables have softened and onion has changed color from white to almost translucent. This will take about 10 minutes. It’s best to keep the lid on and stir frequently.
Roast the Meat
- In a separate large pan add a splash of extra virgin olive oil and ground beef.
- Set the heat to high and stir continuously with a wooden spoon breaking the meat into small pieces.
- After a few minutes of cooking the meat will release the juice. Do NOT stop cooking. If you stop at this time you’ll have the taste of boiled meat in your ragu!
- Continue on high heat stirring until the meat has browned. Once meat changed color and all juice has evaporated, add wine. Cook for a few more minutes until wine has slightly evaporated.This will take 10-12 minutes.
Assemble and Cook Ragu
- Transfer roasted meat to the casserole with soffritto.Add tomato passata (sieved tomatoes) and tomato paste and stir.Add broth and bring everything to a boil.
- Set heat on very low and cover the pot with the lid leaving a small opening.Simmer on low heat for 2.5-3 hours.
- Half through the cooking time add milk or skip the milk if you prefer.Make sure to check and stir your ragu occasionally and check.If ragu dries out too much add a little more broth or water.
- At the end of cooking adjust for salt and pepper to taste.
Cook Pappardelle
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.Once reached rolling boil add pappardelle pasta. Cook for 2-3 minutes or according to directions on the package.
- Leave 2 cups of ragu in the pot (for 4 servings). Store the remaining in the freezer.
- Once pappardelle are cooked, reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid and drain the rest.
- In a pot with ragu sauce, add cooked pappardelle pasta and a little of pasta cooking liquid. Add more if needed until pasta is well coated in the sauce. Toss in the pot for 1 minute and serve!
Nutrition
Calories: 713kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 34gFat: 40gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 154mgSodium: 1209mgPotassium: 954mgFiber: 4gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 3143IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 92mgIron: 5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Have a question or want to let me know you loved the recipe?Leave a comment below! I love hearing from you!
Buon Appetito!
Don Ugent says
Your recipe looks delicious and I’m in the process of making it but you mention adding broth. The recipe doesn’t mention broth. How much should I add?
Italian Recipe Book says
Yes, 1 cup broth. Thank you for spotting it, Don!
I'm glad to hear you're giving it a try right away.
Let me know how it turns out.