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Chuck Roast Bolognese

by:
April 17, 2021
3.7
55 Ratings
Photo by Rocky Luten
  • Cook time 30 minutes
  • Serves 6
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Chuck Roast Bolognese
Ingredients
  • Olive oil
  • 1 pound well-marbled chuck roast, cut into very small cubes, or ground beef
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1/2 cup diced carrots
  • 1/2 cup diced celery
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried Turkish oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 2 cups beef stock or water
  • 1 cup strained tomatoes
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons milk or cream (optional)
  • 1 pound sturdy pasta, such as calamaritti, rigatoni, penne, farfalle
  • Grated Parmesan, for garnish
  • Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
Directions
  1. Heat oven to 350° F.
  2. Heat a 14-inch sauté pan (with a lid) over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the olive oil, swirl the pan and add the beef. Season it with a healthy pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Stir and brown it on all sides.
  3. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and herbs, and stir.
  4. Add the red wine and let it reduce to a tablespoon or so.
  5. Add the tomatoes, 2 cups of water, and the dairy (if using). Stir, taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the pasta. Shake the pan to spread the pasta evenly across the pan, and bring it all back to a boil.
  6. Put a lid on it, place it into the oven, and set a timer for 20 minutes.
  7. When the timer sounds, remove the pan from the oven, remove the lid, stir and taste a piece of the pasta. If it is still crunchy, put the lid back onto the pan and put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes.
  8. Remove the pasta from the oven. Top with lots of Parmesan and parsley and serve.
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This Recipe is Featured In:

This Bolognese Cooks In The Oven (Yup, The Pasta, Too)

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28 Reviews

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Deborah M. March 10, 2024
This was so good. I added a little more liquid (did not drain the tomatoes, a little more wine, and did not reduce to 1 tbl). Also, I happened to have Trader Joe's Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce, and 1 heaping tbl of this was just the kick this dish needed. Will make again!
mahann November 13, 2021
I love this recipe and today's the 2nd time I'm making this. It says 30 minutes cook time. LOL NOT! I let my sauce cook for hours and I also cook the pasta separately. Just my preference.
jillyt99 September 16, 2021
The recipe not the video shows when the herbs go in.
Tavo February 13, 2021
Thanks for a good pasta recipe. When I’m short on time, I’ll do it all on the stovetop, usually takes twenty minutes to simmer the pasta. It’s nice not to have to boil pasta separately, sometimes minutes matter, but no flavor is lost.
MP C. March 10, 2020
Quite delicious! Although I would at least par cook the pasta. Oven time was almost an hour, with mixing in between. Otherwise, we loved it!
Fred M. November 4, 2019
The spicing/flavoring in this recipe is terrific. I have made it as written, on stovetop and Crock-Pot (serving over cooked pasta) and am never disappointed with the flavor. Thanks for the recipe!
Margaret L. January 3, 2019
I have made other "cook the pasta in the sauce" recipes and threw most of the results away, but I had some raw beef roast that needed using and the photo looked so good that hope triumphed over experience. I'm glad I tried this one. I used a slice from a beef roast cut into small dice, under half an inch. If you use roast rather than ground beef, don't expect the meat to be falling-apart tender; it will have texture, as a cube of pancetta would. I used Bionaturae penne (from Italy) and it worked beautifully. I used 3/4 pound of pasta and added an extra half-cup of liquid (water) because it seemed that too much of the pasta was exposed, and I did not reduce the red wine to a tablespoon but simmered it for about 10 minutes. The pasta came out al dente, neither undercooked nor mushy. There was savory sauce clinging to every bit of the pasta, but no puddles in the pan. Next time I would adjust the herbs, omitting the rosemary entirely and probably the oregano and thyme, too, using just basil and parsley. It has too much of a muddle of dried herbs so missed the distinct flavor of bolognese. I think it's a good, quick, one-pan meat sauce recipe. I'll make it again, using ground beef next time to see how that goes.
Sarah D. November 26, 2018
I made this last night and it was fantastic! My husband already asked me to make more for next weeks lunches. I followed the recipe, using ground beef and included the dairy. I used tagliatelle pasta and added more beef broth so the pasta would be covered. This is a delicious recipe and will definitely be saved@
Patty November 14, 2018
I made this last night. It was good, but not great, and I had already doubled the dried herbs and added a can of tomato paste. To me, it tasted more like beef bourguignon. It is not saucy though, and so seemed like it was overcooked or dried out. If I make it again, I will cook on the stove top instead of the oven and stir more frequently, because I feel the oven dried it out and made the pasta cook unevenly. I had to add water at the 20 minute mark, and there were still some crunchy edges - unpleasant. I think I would also add more tomatoes or tomato sauce instead of just the paste. I think it could be improved as well by cooking beef cubes until they are fall apart tender, rather than relying on making them small enough to cook in the shorter time. Maybe it's better with ground beef also. I will try again, but with modifications.
Diorio J. November 3, 2018
Very good recipe! I made it without the meat, replacing it with lentils, mushrooms. I also replace the beef stock with mushroom stock. My girlfriend is vegetarian :) sorry for my bad english. I’m from Montreal.
Kevin F. September 25, 2018
This was excellent. Followed the recipe to the tee, using ground beef and including dairy (I had half-and-half on-hand). For pasta, I used a box of corkscrew I had laying around. This has become a new household favorite dish and the leftovers are very hard to keep away from!
Sean H. September 18, 2018
I decided to make this one, but one part of the instructions did not make sense:
4. Add the red wine and let it reduce to a tablespoon or so.

This would take quite some time to reduce and then I felt you might not have enough liquid. So I just let it simmer for about 10 min and then continued on thinking it was be abit too wet.

When it was done, it was actually somewhat dry. It had just a little liquid on the bottom. Next time I make this I will not worry about it too wet.
Karen G. September 12, 2018
In the end, this was tasty but not the prize-winner I'd hoped it would be. The 20-minute time for the cooking of the pasta was no where close to sufficient. First I added more wine, and then I ended up adding a small can of tomato sauce mixd with about 1/4 cup of water, and cooked it for another 20 minutes. There were still some pieces of pasta that were too al dente for our taste. Next time I would use more tomatoes and/or tomato paste and more wine.
SG September 12, 2018
Outstanding & SO easy! Used ground beef and everyone LOVED it! Will go in the regular rotation!
Michael September 12, 2018
Allured by the prospect of a “one pot meal” I gave it a try but, this one fell flat for me. The pasta take on a slimy characteristic while latent starches (normally drawn out through cooking pasta in water) tainted what might have been an otherwise decent Bolognese. Apparently, there aren’t many shortcuts in life or in cooking bolognese.
Thom September 9, 2018
I made this for dinner this evening with ground beef (not sure what the cow ate) using a 4 quart Staub braiser — now this thing really is The Bomb!... don’t be fooled. I agree with Julie, the Finex cook, the flavor is definitely basic. I followed the recipe, no mods to the ingredients list. I cooked it in the oven for 25 minutes, stirring twice. After 25 minutes I finished it on the stove, low heat, to let the pasta finish cooking and the liquid absorb/cook out. Not a problem. I like this recipe conceptually; however, unless someone comments with a great idea to add some wow factor to it, I will not make it again.
Julie September 9, 2018
I just made this with grass fed ground beef in a Finex skillet (the bomb!), and honesty I have to say this recipe is pretty basic on flavor. I used a 15 oz can of crushed tomatoes (muir glen brand roasted organic crushed tomatoes), and followed recipe to a T for the amounts. Also incorporated pesto, shaved parm and ricotta in place of the "dairy" which increased the flavor, but I would recommend adding fresh herbs instead of dried (better flavor). Perhaps a 1/2 can of tomato paste would liven it up. My pasta (large orichette) came out too soft as well. We normally like al dente. I did not get soup like some other commenters, so that's good. It might depend on the pasta used, but perhaps the tomato-to-water could be modified.
Hannah September 7, 2018
This recipe did not turn out good. I made it for dinner and it was very runny like a soup. I followed the recipe exactly. Very disappointed as this was the first recipe I've made from Food52. The flavor was good but I did not want to have soup for dinner. Bad recipe.
thirschfeld September 9, 2018
I am sorry it didn’t work out for you. I have made my pasta like this dozens of times since I wrote this recipe, all with different pastas and all with success. It sounds to me like you had too much liquid. It is important to find the balance so the sauce is the right consistency but not soup.
jon E. September 7, 2018
How does the chuck meat get tender in 30 minutes?
thirschfeld September 7, 2018
Because it would s a very fine dice.
Ann W. September 4, 2018
We like the flavor very much; I’ll use a smaller type of pasta next time, and perhaps only one extra cup of water will be needed. I use only fresh herbs, including a plain basil purée that I keep frozen throughout the year.