One Pot Rigatoni Bolognese

Make dinner time quick and easy with this One Pot Rigatoni Bolognese! Everything cooks in one pot - even the pasta cooks right in the sauce.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 carrot finely chopped

1 celery stalk finely chopped

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

salt & pepper to taste

¼ cup tomato paste

3 cups beef broth or more as needed

1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (16-oz) box rigatoni pasta uncooked

grated parmesan to serve (optional)

Instructions

Brown the beef: Heat oil in a medium-large pan. Brown the beef, seasoning with a few pinches of salt and pepper as it cooks.

Cook the vegetables: Add the finely chopped vegetables to the pot with the beef and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until softened (about 2-3 minutes).

Season and deglaze: Add garlic powder, Italian seasoning, a pinch of salt, pepper and tomato paste to the pan. Stir until mixed in well. Pour in 3 cups broth, scratching the browned bits off the bottom of the pan.

Cook the pasta: Add the diced tomatoes and uncooked pasta to the skillet, making sure to stir everything in until the pasta is covered with liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the pasta is done, about 15 minutes. Add up to one more cup of broth during cooking, as needed. Serve with grated parmesan.

Notes

Ingredient Notes:

Ground beef: I always use lean ground beef for this, but you can use crumbled Italian sausage in place of the ground beef if you prefer.

Pasta: This recipe works with most pasta shapes that cook in around 10 minutes (I do not recommend instant varieties, or very small or thin shapes, they usually need less liquid to cook and the pasta will stay soupy), though I do love rigatoni a lot with bolognese sauce

Cooking Tips:

No pre-cooking the pasta! I always get comments on my one pot pasta recipes turning out soupy, and usually it’s because the pasta was pre-cooked – do NOT pre-cook the pasta!

Chopping the vegetables: When cooking with little kids around, I like to get all of the prep work done ahead of time. Sometimes I even chop veggies during nap time in the morning!

Here, you need to chop onion, carrot and celery. These are relatively easy to clean and prep. Did you know that it’s easier to peel an onion after rinsing it? It kind of sticks the peel together so it doesn’t annoyingly flutter everywhere.

Chop everything quite small so it softens quickly during cooking. And to be even more lazy, I usually throw it all in my food processor and pulse a few times until it’s chopped up. So easy!

Make sure to sauté the tomato paste for a few minutes: Stir the tomato paste into the pot and seasoning and cook for another minute – it is important to roast the tomato paste before adding any liquids, to give it a richer flavor.

Freezer tips

You can make this and freeze it in a casserole dish.

Reheat in the oven at 360°F covered with foil for about an hour (no need to defrost). Sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and the casserole is piping hot all the way through.

Freezer tips

make sure to use containers or bags suitable for freezing

label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months)

reheat until piping hot all the way through before serving

Tips for leftovers

Turning leftovers into a pasta casserole is the best way to reheat leftovers here.

Refrigerate any leftovers in a casserole dish for up to 2 days. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400°F, or until hot and bubbly.