Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce

(We’ve made a vegetarian version of this, but I’ve kept the full recipe for easy sharing.)

🍲 Slow Cooker Recipe

Ingredients

400 g (14oz) lean minced beef
75 g (3oz) pancetta or smoked bacon lardons, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
125ml (4 fl oz) white wine
2 tablespoons tomato purée
400g (14oz) tin chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon Italian herb seasoning
300ml (10 fl oz (½ pint)) beef stock
4 tablespoons double cream (optional)

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pan on high heat and cook the beef and pancetta for about 10 minutes, until browned. Place the meat into the slow cooker. Lower the stovetop heat to medium and fry the onion, carrots and celery until soft, about 10 minutes. Add in the garlic, wine, and tomato purée and simmer for another minute or so. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker.
Add in the canned tomatoes, dried herbs, and stock, stirring well to combine. Cover and cook on High for 1 hour, then on Low for 5 to 6 hours, stirring in the cream for the last 30 minute of cook time. (If using.)

My Notes

We left all the meat out of this, and quadrupled the recipe, except for the wine and stock which were only doubled. I layered the onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and dried herbs in the slow cooker, then poured the stock and canned tomatoes over the top. No stirring, just covered and cooked on High for an hour and then Low for 6 more hours. We didn’t add any cream. I also added in 500g of chopped chestnut mushrooms for the last hour of cooking time, and left the lid ajar for that last hour to help the sauce thicken up. The leftovers froze well and I used some of the big batch of sauce to make lasagne.