An easy but super delicious recipe for spaghetti bolognese, packed with lots of vegetables and a great dish to get kids in the kitchen cooking.
We talk all the time about how important it is to get kids in the kitchen cooking with you. But in reality it can be difficult to find the time with busy school, work and activity schedules.
Now however we have not excuse! We’re all stuck inside so it’s the perfect time to teach our kids a few kitchen skills!
I’m all for a baking session with the kids but I also believe it’s imperative to teach our children some basic everyday meal recipes that will see them through their teenage years and into adulthood.
Aoife absolutely loves Spaghetti Bolognese. It’s one of her favourite dinners so last week we got in the kitchen together and made her version of this classic Italian dish!
We’ve included quite a few veggies in our recipe – carrots, celery and red pepper. But feel free to leave out or add whatever veggies you like. This recipe is super versatile.
Same with the bacon. It adds a tonne of flavour to the dish but it can be left out if you don’t have any to hand.
The red wine adds a delicious depth of flavour to the sauce but if you’d prefer not to use it then just add some extra stock instead.
If you try my recipe please come back and let me know what you think in the comments. I’ve also been getting so many messages and tags on Instagram from you guys making my recipes so keep sending them in!
Spaghetti Bolognese – Cooking with Kids
Prep Time: 5 mins- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 4 1x
Category: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
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Pin RecipeDescription
An easy but super delicious recipe for spaghetti bolognese, packed with lots of vegetables and a great dish to get kids in the kitchen cooking.
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp oil
- 75g smoked bacon, chopped
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic, crushed
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 celery, chopped
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 500g beef mince
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 200ml beef stock
- 100ml red wine (or more stock)
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
- Add the oil and bacon to a large frying pan and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery and red pepper and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes until the veggies start to soften.
- Add the mince and use a wooden spoon to break it up in the pan, frying until it has all browned.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, beef stock, wine, tomato puree and oregano and bring to the boil.
- Reduce to a high simmer and cook for 30 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and soft.
- Serve with spaghetti and top with some grated cheese.
Notes
Leftovers can be cooled and kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. They can also be frozen and defrosted in the fridge overnight.
Giu says
Wow! I cannot believe it, my ultra fussy 5 year old loves it!! He never had any vegetables since he became a toddler. Only eat chicken, beef, rice, white pasta, toast and fruit, that’s it! Recently he ate spaghetti bolognaise at a restaurant, which was a huge surprise. I then risked it and tried your recipe with vegetables (thinking he might not eat it seeing all the vegetables in it) and guess what?? He loooovveeed it! You cannot imagine how happy I was! And this dish is packed with vegetables! I’m batch cooking this pasta sauce every week now. It’s incredible and thank you so much for this recipe, it changed everything for the better!! A very happy mummy
★★★★★
Anonymous says
mammamia
★★★★★
Laura says
Thankyou my son is 4 and loves cooking with me helps with our mummy and son time making this tonight woth him.
Vicky says
Please feel free to send us your photos of your creations on our Facebook and Instagram pages, we love seeing all of them 💜
Fizzy T says
With half term looming, trying to think of things to do with the kids, I plan to cook this with them one day, and maybe also make some garlic bread to accompany it ….. wish me luck 😂
★★★★★
Vicky says
Good luck! please come back to us and let us know how it went, we love to see your creations.
Melissa says
I took a chance making this as my Daughter is a extremely fussy eater, and hardly even touches evening meals. But I was shocked as she ate most the sauce and pasta and even managed a piece of garlic bread on the side. Very happy with this recipe and will be making it again.
★★★★★
Vicky says
This is fantastic Melissa, please do come back and let us know if you try anything else. We love hearing your success stories.
Veronica says
My really picky eater and I made this for our tea last night and I was so surprised that she ate the lot and declared it “yummy”. She never normally will touch any vegetables so this was a huge win for us!
★★★★★