Roasted Tomato Bolognese Sauce

5 from 11 votes

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This Bolognese Sauce is so tasty! Made with roasted tomatoes and after being cooked for four hours, the flavors are out of this world!

Roasted Tomato Bolognese Sauce

I made some seriously tasty Bolognese Sauce and needed to share it with you all today. It’s my newest favorite tomato-based sauce and will probably blow your minds just like it blew mine. In order to get this sauce to flavor-heaven levels, you need to let it simmer for 4-ish hours or more. Yes, most good pasta sauces are time consuming but most things that taste amazing do take some time. {For example my Irish Beef Stew Recipe.} I wouldn’t put this in the ‘make it for dinner every night’ category, but it’s definitely a keeper and really has minimal ingredients. Also, please don’t confuse ‘takes a long time to make’ with ‘hard recipe’ because it’s totally simple to throw together! For the majority of this recipe, you’ll just be stirring occasionally. That’s it! Let the sauce simmer and let the concept of time work its magic. Before you know it, you’ll be chowing down on some simple yet scrumptious bowls of spaghetti with full and content bellies on your horizons!

Here’s how to make it:

Tomatoes with salt and pepper

The first thing to do is roast some tomatoes and garlic. I used large beefsteak tomatoes because my husband thought it was a good idea to buy a big ol’ crate of them from Costco. “It didn’t seem like a lot of tomatoes at the store….” Mhmm, that’s what they all say.

Anyways, drizzle these tomatoes with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil.

Ground Beef

While the tomatoes are baking, cook up some ground beef in a large pot in more olive oil.

Beef with onions and seasonings

Add in onions and some spices and continue cooking until the onions are soft. Then you can reduce the heat to low until the tomatoes are done cooking.

roasted tomatoes

And just like that through the magic of my blog…whaddaya know! The tomatoes are all roasted!

Roasted tomatoes with other ingredients in a blender

Throw all of this into a blender and turn it into sauce.

Blended roasted tomatoes

Aaand literally 10 seconds later, we have roasted garlic and tomato sauce!

Adding tomato sauce to beef mixture

Pour this into the pot with an extra can of tomato sauce and a sprinkling of sugar. Simmer the sauce for a good 4 hours to thicken and let the flavors develop.

Bolognese sauce

Like so! I’m not sure how closely you’re looking at these photos, but if you compare this one with the last one, you can tell that the sauce looks richer and darker. All good signs of a fabulous sauce. Taste, adjust seasonings and serve over hot pasta.

Roasted Tomato Bolognese Sauce

The natural choice at my house is spaghetti! Add the sauce along with some cheese and proceed to eat bowls and bowls of this stuff.

It’s really so dreamy, you guys! If you think you don’t like spaghetti, give this recipe a whirl. You might just surprise yourself 🙂

Printable recipe below. Enjoy, friends!

Roasted Tomato Bolognese Sauce
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5 from 11 votes

Roasted Tomato Bolognese Sauce

This Bolognese Sauce is so tasty! Mad with roasted tomatoes and after being cooked for four hours, the flavors are out of this world!
servings 5 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Wash tomatoes and slice into thick slices. Place onto baking sheet with peeled cloves of garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and basil. Bake 30-35 minutes or until shrively-ish.
  • While tomatoes and garlic are baking, heat olive oil in large pot and brown ground beef and onions together. Add in bay leaves, basil, italian seasoning, salt and pepper and stir. Reduce heat to low until tomatoes are done cooking.
  • Once tomatoes and garlic are finished cooking, spoon into a food processor or blender and pulse until mostly smooth {a few chunks are fine}. Pour tomato sauce into meat along with the can of tomato sauce and the sugar. Stir and bring to boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly. {I had to add in more salt}
  • Serve on al dente pasta, such as spaghetti.

Nutrition

Calories: 790kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 64mg | Sodium: 564mg | Potassium: 1761mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 3790IU | Vitamin C: 65mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 5.5mg
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Roasted Tomato Bolognese Sauce
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Recipe Rating




42 Responses
  1. Linda

    5 stars
    This Roasted Tomato Bolognese sauce was amazing. The flavor was so rich. It was a great recipe for using tomatoes from my garden. I definitely will be making this recipe on a regular basis.

  2. Melissa

    5 stars
    Made this Bolognese Sauce tonight without ground beef! Instead I added some frozen Mild Italian Meatballs to the sauce and cooked it through over the four hours. SO SO GOOD!

  3. Alena

    5 stars
    I’m eating this right now and omg, wow, this is the BEST spaghetti sauce I’ve ever had! My boys are sitting here inhaling it lol I cant wait for my hubby to get home so he can try this, he’s going to love it! I know what to do with all of my tomatoes now, thank you for an amazing recipe.

  4. Marissa

    5 stars
    Thank you for this delicious and surprisingly easy recipe! I think my husband told me four times how much he liked it. I subbed the sugar with erythritol and used baked spaghetti squash in place of pasta to make it keto. It was completely satisfying and I’ll be making it again.

  5. Hallie J

    5 stars
    This is my all-time favorite bolognese recipe and I have been making it for years! It’s my family favorite and from my picky parents, to my sister who still doesn’t know there is mushrooms in it, to my hubby who requested it before his marathon last weekend, and my 3 kids who cannot get enough… this is the best!!! Thank you, thank you!

  6. Chris Van Rynbach

    5 stars
    Hey! Made this last night for family and it turned out really well. This was my first attempt at homemade sauce and the directions were clear, easy to follow and the sauce turned out fantastic.

  7. Skinny Baked Spaghetti | Lauren's Latest

    […] have a better tomato sauce you’d prefer than this one I used, feel free to use that instead. This or this are great options. Also, just using straight up jarred marinara with a few veggies would […]

  8. Mark

    Great recipe Lauren !! Course I can’t help myself to tweak just a little bit.

    I added in 3/4 cup of 2% milk and about a 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes to give it some zing!

    I had some leftover sausage in the fridge so fried that up with the meat too

    Then during the last hour of the long simmer, I added in 1/2 of dry red wine. By the time it’s completely done simmering there is no alcohol but just a rich deep flavor! Little bit of fresh chopped parsley when serving and BAM!

    My dinner guests were asking to take leftover sauce home with them and crying for the recipe. I told em it’s a family recipe, we’re family right Lauren?

  9. Chalet

    5 stars
    I made this today. The first time I roasted tomatoes and they turned out amazing. Yay!I doubled the recipe and used 1 lb beef and 1 lb mild sausage. It is simmering now…and it already tastes fantastic. Thank you so much, I will always roast tomatoes and garlic now.

  10. Marcie

    5 stars
    Your recipe is on my stove top cooking; it still has three hours to simmer, but the awesome taste is already making my taste buds dream.

    Thank You!
    PS I used a mixture of dried and fresh basil; dry on the roasted tomatoes and fresh when browning the meat.
    Delicious!

  11. Jewel

    Good job lauryn , as soon as we get our fresh tomatoes I’ll make this. Oregon is known for there fruit but the tomatoes are fab .
    I canned 30 quirts last year!! There is a guy at our church who sells some wonderful tomatoes!!
    Best iv ever had !! I get my cucumbers from him and do relishing Devine !!
    Love your pizza dough!
    Blessings, jewel

  12. doug kaiser

    am 77 don’t cook or eat much any more…BUT!!!! I am going to do this sauce Lauren, cause this guy loves spaghetti and the sauce looks so good. My house will smell great also…….thanks.

  13. Nicole H

    5 stars
    I made this last night and it was delicious! I already had roasted roma tomatoes and garlic in my freezer that I made a few weeks ago, so I used them instead. I made it all up until the point of having everything simmering in the pot (minus some sugar, my romas aren’t very acidic) on the stove, then transferred the sauce to my small crock pot because I had some errands to run. I let it simmer on low, didn’t crack the lid (one commenter mentioned possibly doing this) and by the time we ate it about 3 hours later it was the pretty, deep red that you commented about. My husband and I loved it, so did our little one. The leftovers are just as good as dinner yesterday, maybe even more flavorful. Thanks for this awesome recipe!

  14. Jen

    This looks good! My mom makes a delicious spaghetti sauce, but her recipe doesn’t list amounts for any of the spices. I love that this recipe has all the amounts! We have one more week of our farmers market over here–looks like I need to buy more tomatoes. Thanks!

  15. Natalie | Paper & Birch

    5 stars
    This is my favourite pasta sauce! I’m with you, I’m totally in the ‘need to get outta here’ mode. Husband and I are heading for a quick getaway to Whistler next month and I’m counting down the days!

  16. Stefanie

    Looks fabulous! Any thoughts on letting it simmer in a crockpot with the lid propped open a bit to let the liquid evaporate? I have a gas stove top, and leaving an open flame going for 4 hours with kiddos running around makes me nervous . . . would love to hear what you think!

  17. Mommy

    Sounds wonderful & easy!

    Have you thought of San Diego?

    I can tell you, after & still raising 3 young boys….make vacations with toddler boys EASY & carefree.

    He isn’t going to remember Hawaii but your checkbook will.

    Boys just want to run & climb until they are 10 🙂

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