One-Pan Spaghetti Bolognese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Spaghetti bolognese goes from a weekend kitchen project to weeknight go-to dinner thanks to a few key shortcuts that help get dinner on the table in less than an hour. Italian sausage and ground beef cook together in a simple short-cut sauce brightened with a pop of sun-dried tomatoes and fresh herbs. It’s hearty and comforting with minimal clean-up.

Spaghetti Bolognese

While this may not be a traditional spaghetti bolognese because it breaks many rules, the biggest ones being that it doesn’t need a long cook time and all of it (including the pasta!) cooks together in one pan. But (!), it does deliver on what a traditional bolognese is all about: a pure comfort food experience. So, really, it’s just a short-cut way to get a hearty and cozy dinner that doesn’t take a ton of time and makes a random Monday night all that much better.

And it has the usual suspects – like Italian sausage and ground beef – with a few ingredients that add a touch of brightness that balances the richness of the meat. The first is some chopped sun-dried tomatoes that melt into the sauce and leave it with a subtle acidic tang along with a generous amount of fresh herbs added just at that end of the cook time so they maintain their freshness. It’s these little surprises along with the one-pan convenience factor that makes this one worthy of a permanent place in the dinnertime rotation.

A Few Notes about the Recipe

• One-pan vs Two-pan: Admittedly, because regular spaghetti takes longer to cook with the sauce, the recipe might seem to go faster if you make the sauce and boil the pasta separately, so for the sake of transparency, I feel I need to mention that fact. However, while it does add an extra ten minutes to the cook time to go the one-pan route there is one less pot to deal with. Also, if you count the time that it takes to actually bring a large pot of water to a boil it really doesn’t make it any faster.
• That said, having made this spaghetti bolognese both ways, there’s a benefit in cooking the pasta right in the sauce – the starch from the pasta acts as a natural thickener for the sauce that replicates what you would get if you slow cook the sauce for several hours. Quick-cooked sauces don’t get enough time to reduce and thicken so the pasta-in-the-sauce method is a nice little hack to make it seem like the sauce cooked much longer than it did.
• You will need a large pan for this recipe. The one in the photo is about 11.5″ and 2.5″ deep which is plenty big enough to hold the uncooked spaghetti. It does take some time until the pasta softens and can be stirred into the sauce. That said, I’ve never had a problem breaking spaghetti in half to cook it in a smaller pan and did it a few times when I first tested this recipe on a smaller scale. No shame, I say, so if your pan is not quite big enough don’t overthink it and just adjust and call  it “broken spaghetti bolognese.”
• This recipe takes less than an hour start to finish with most of the time spent cooking the sauce and pasta. It’s not a set it and forget it situation because as the pasta cooks it’s important to stir frequently to ensure it cooks evenly and doesn’t end up stuck at the bottom of the pan.
• And last, but not least, use your favorite store-bought marinara sauce!

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One-Pot Spaghetti Bolognese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

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Spaghetti bolognese goes from a weekend kitchen project to weeknight go-to dinner thanks to a few key shortcuts that help get dinner on the table in less than an hour. Italian sausage and ground beef cook together in a simple short-cut sauce brightened with a pop of sun-dried tomatoes and fresh herbs. It’s hearty and comforting with minimal clean-up.

• Author: April @ Girl Gone Gourmet
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Method: One-Pan
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 ounces ground beef
• 2 Italian sausage links (about 7 ounces), casings removed
• 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• 4 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 1/4 cup store-bought marinara sauce
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 ounces spaghetti
• 1 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• Grated parmesan cheese, for serving

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Instructions

1. In a large pan (see note), heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and sausage and cook it, breaking it apart with a spatula, until it’s no longer pink. Add the onion, garlic, tomatoes, and red pepper flakes and cook them with the meat for two to three minutes.
2. Add the marinara sauce, water, and salt and stir to combine. Bring the pan to a boil and add the spaghetti. Adjust the heat to maintain a strong simmer and cook the pasta in the sauce for 20 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the pasta is tender. Add the herbs and stir. Top each serving with grated parmesan cheese if using.

Notes

You will need a large pan for this recipe. The I used is about 11.5″ and 2.5″ deep which is plenty big enough to hold the uncooked spaghetti and all of the sauce. If you’re worried about the size of your pan, consider just breaking the spaghetti in half.  No shame, I say, so if your pan is not quite big enough don’t overthink it and just adjust and call  it “broken spaghetti bolognese.”

Nutrition estimates do not include the grated Parmesan cheese.

Nutrition

• Calories: 432
• Sugar: 3.7g
• Fat: 21.5g
• Carbohydrates: 35.9g
• Fiber: 2.9g
• Protein: 22.8

Keywords: one pan spaghetti bolognese, one pan spaghetti with meat sauce