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thehungryhungryhiker

Creamy Bolognese

A traditional Bolognese base meets an unsuspecting dairy-free mix-in to create a lusciously rich Whole30 meat sauce that you won't be able to put down!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 15 minutes
Servings: 8 people
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tbsp avocado oil
  • 2 tbsp ghee can use butter if not Whole30
  • 1 white onion diced small
  • 2 carrots, large peeled and diced
  • 2 celery stalks diced
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 4 strips bacon cut into 1" long pieces, check labels for Whole30, I used ButcherBox
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
  • pinch nutmeg
  • ½ cup raw cashews soaked for at least 2 hours, then drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • ½ cup Italian parsley leaves, roughly chopped
  • sea salt
  • fresh ground black pepper

Equipment

  • Dutch oven (I used 6 quart)
  • High speed blender

Method
 

  1. Place a 6 quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the avocado oil and the ghee to the pot. Once melted, stir to combine. Add the onion, carrot, and celery to the pot. Add a pinch of sea salt and stir to coat the vegetables. Sauté approx. 8 minutes, until softened and fragrant. Add the garlic, stir to combine, and sauté 3-5 minutes more. Use a slotted spoon to remove the ingredients from the pot and place in a medium bowl.
  2. Add the bacon pieces to the pot in a single layer and saute 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown and crisp on the edges. Use the slotted spoon to remove the bacon and add the pieces to the bowl with the vegetables.
  3. Place the ground beef and the ground pork in the pot in the two whole pieces that they were packaged as. Add a pinch of sea salt over the meat. Break each into roughly six large chunks, each chunk being approx. 1.5 inches cubed. Saute 1-2 minutes on medium high on all sides until browned. Add the vegetables and bacon back to the pot and pour in the chicken broth. The mixture should be boiling. After 5 minutes, the chicken broth should be mostly evaporated. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and add a pinch of nutmeg. Reduce heat to low to simmer.
  4. Stir in a hefty pinch of sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally (every 15 minutes or so) and monitoring the heat. The sauce should be barely bubbling. After 2 hours, you should notice that the sauce has reduced and thickened considerably.
  5. Add the cashews, almond milk, nutritional yeast, and a pinch of sea salt to a high speed blender. Blend about 20 seconds until incorporated completely. Pour the mixture into the sauce and stir to incorporate completely. Stir in the parsley. Simmer the sauce 15-20 minutes more on low, stirring occasionally, until thickened to your liking. Serve hot over noodles of choice (I prefer zucchini noodles for Whole30) and enjoy!