Great Grandma’s Spaghetti Bolognese with Fresh Tomatoes

Spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes: just like your great grandmother would have made, as she most likely wouldn’t have had premade jars and just had fresh tomatoes! An old take on an older favourite, for those that are absolutely sick of premade sauces.

This is a thick, rich, beautiful, old fashioned Spaghetti Bolognese with fresh tomatoes. You won’t miss those jars, not even for a second. Serve over spaghetti, or on jacket potatoes, or use as a savoury mince.

This recipe of making spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes is a huge staple in my family, and the kids ask for it all the time. Give it a try!

I’ll get straight into the full recipe below after the brief introduction, so that you don’t have to scroll down to get the details.

However, after the recipe there are tips and variations that are worth reading, so make sure to check them out.

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Spaghetti Bolognese with Fresh Tomatoes

Yield: serves 4

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small clove garlic, crushed
• 500g beef mince
• 600g tomatoes, chopped (unpeeled)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp monk fruit sweetener
• ¼ cup red wine
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• Parmesan, to serve
• Cooked spaghetti, to serve

Instructions

1. Brown the mince: In a large frying pan, heat olive oil on medium heat for one minute, then add onion and cook until soft, about 5 mins.
2. Add garlic and beef mince. Stir and break up the mince with a wooden spoon to get it into an even layer in the frying pan. Let it fry for a few minutes until the bottom has browned, then stir and break it up some more with your spoon. Repeat this process a few times until you don’t have any more large clumps of mince and all of the mince looks brown. Breaking it up like this ensures it is all cooked through.
3. Make the sauce: Add the tomatoes, parsley, oregano, basil, paprika, bay leaf, chicken stock powder, salt and pepper. Bing to the boil, then turn down to low and simmer for 1 hour. Give it a stir every 15 minutes. The tomatoes will break down and turn into a rich sauce.
4. Discard the bay leaf. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings.
5. Serve over cooked spaghetti with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Nutrition Information

Yield 4 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 479Total Fat 26gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 112mgSodium 440mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 3gSugar 5gProtein 38g

A Note on Jars of Pasta Sauce

While jars of pasta sauce are convenient, many of them contain added sugars, excess salt, and preservatives that you might not expect in a simple sauce. Over time, these small additions can really add up, especially if they become a regular part of your meals. The added sugar you would be consuming alone, especially if you didn’t realise it was in there, is not healthy. And you’re not even having dessert, the sugar is right in your pasta sauce!

Cooking from scratch, on the other hand, gives you full control over what goes into your food, aligning with the idea of the “grandmother diet,” where meals are made from real, whole ingredients with nothing unnecessary added. Cooking like your grandmother, or your great grandmother, is a return to simple cooking using real, whole ingredients. It is always worth reading the label and finding out the ingredients on anything you are buying, as often there are sneaky things in the ingredients list that you would never know they have put in there.

Before jars of ready made sauce were common, meals like this were built from what was on hand: ripe tomatoes, a few pantry staples, and time to let everything simmer together. Making your spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes is a great example of this approach.

Variations for Spaghetti Bolognese with fresh tomatoes

• For gluten free spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes, use rice noodles or use gluten free spaghetti. Barilla is a nice brand.
• I understand that while making your spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes is very romantic, sometimes we just don’t have the time, and that’s okay. Instead of the chopped fresh tomatoes you could use a 700ml jar of tomato passata. Passata is simply pureed cooked tomatoes, with no sugar or other additives. In this recipe you’re cooking your own tomatoes until they break down. When you buy passata, someone has already cooked the tomatoes for you then pureed them taking that step away. Try to find a jar of passata that only has tomatoes under the ingredients, with no added salt. If you get one with salt added do some careful taste testing before adding any extra salt to the sauce. If you use passata you can simmer for half an hour, instead of an hour.
• If you prefer to use canned tomatoes, that is okay too, use 2 x 400ml cans. Make sure the ingredients only say tomatoes (no additives).
• Monkfruit sweetener is my favourite sugar replacement. I like to add a bit of sweetness to balance out the tartness of the tomatoes in the spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes recipe. You can use the same amount of sugar if you prefer.
• Instead of using the spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes as a pasta sauce, you can use it in other creative ways. You can use it as a savoury mince and serve with mashed potatoes, rice or crusty bread. Or try serving on top of jacket potatoes with grated cheese on top.
• You could add grated or chopped vegetables into the spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes to sneak veggies in but don’t go overboard! As it will alter the taste. No one wants the taste of veggie mush in there so be careful. One zucchini grated plus one carrot grated is a good amount to add.

Notes

• If you like spaghetti, you’ll love my Nonna’s Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe
• Grass fed beef tastes better and is better for the animals.
• Get the best quality parmesan cheese you can afford (it tastes sooo much better than the cheap stuff).
• If you want an extra flavour hit, add a teaspoon of butter into your bowl and stir into the meal when serving. (This is a grandmother hack and is not to be underestimated).
• The longer cooking time should thicken up the sauce for your spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes, as well as give the tomatoes time to really break down. If you find that the sauce is a bit watery at the end of the cooking time, you can add 1 tbs of cornflour which has been mixed into ½ cup cold water. Stir that into the sauce and simmer for 5mins until the sauce thickens to your liking. On the other hand if you’re finding that the sauce is looking dry or burning at the bottom, add half a cup of water or chicken stock and lower the heat.

Vegan Bolognese Recipe aka Green lentil bolognese

To make a vegan bolognese recipe I would make what I call Green Lentil Bolognese: add in two cans of lentils instead of the beef into the above recipe. Don’t use parmesan in this case, try nutritional yeast instead.

History of Spaghetti Bolognese

This is one of the most popular pasta dishes in the world, but its origins are a little different from what many people expect, so let’s talk about the history of spaghetti bolognese. The dish is inspired by the traditional Italian sauce ragù alla bolognese, which comes from the city of Bologna. This sauce dates back to at least the 18th century and was originally made with finely chopped meat, vegetables, wine, and a small amount of tomato, quite different from the extra tomatoey versions we often see today.

In Italy, ragù is traditionally served with tagliatelle, a wide, flat pasta that holds the sauce well. The combination of spaghetti and bolognese sauce is actually not typical in Italy, but it became popular outside of Italy, especially in countries like the UK, Australia, and the United States, where spaghetti was more widely available and familiar.

The modern spaghetti bolognese we know today evolved through migration and adaptation. The history of spaghetti bolognese is about Italian immigrants bringing their cooking traditions with them, and over time the dish was simplified and adjusted to local tastes in the West, often with more tomato, garlic, and herbs. And these days it has become a staple comfort food in many households around the world.

Making your favourite spaghetti bolognese with fresh tomatoes, instead of using premade pasta sauce, adds that homey touch and your family will love you for it.