Bolognese sauce is a basic, but mighty, meat based sauce that is typically used for pasta’s and lasagna. The secret to a delicious bolognese is a seriously long cook time and just the right temperature.
My recipe is relatively easy with just a few spices, and Rao’s tomato sauce. If you cannot find Rao’s, then look for a keto pasta sauce that is free from added sugar. While I’m calling for the marinara, I’ve also tested this recipe with their cheese flavor and it was equally as delicious!
Instead of asking you to stand watch over a bolognese for several hours, we’re going to make things easier by transferring the sauce to a slow cooker. It’s best to start in the morning so that your sauce is ready before dinner time, but you can make a batch the day before and store in the fridge until the next day. Once the sauce is ready – the casserole is a breeze! It will only take a few minutes to put together. If you want to tell everyone that you spent the whole day slaving over this bolognese – well, I’ll keep your secret!
By the way, bolognese freezes well. Make a double, or triple, batch and you can have bolognese on hand any time you’d like. This is a great recipe for prep day.
I recommend serving this with our breadsticks, or maybe even a reverse seared rib eye steak.
I hope this will be your new weeknight favorite!
Yields 6 servings of Bolognese Zoodle Bake
The Preparation
Bolognese Sauce:
- 1/2 medium onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
- 24 ounces ground beef
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cups low-carb tomato sauce, like rao's
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 whole chicken bouillon cube, mixed with water
Zucchini Noodles:
- 3 medium zucchini
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/3 cup fresh basil
The Execution
1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat, and set your slow cooker onto “low.” Finely dice half of a medium sized white onion while you wait for the skillet to heat up.
2. Add olive oil to the frying pan.
3. Once the oil becomes hot, add the diced onion. Cook until the onions start to become translucent and pick up a bit of color.
4. Stir in the minced garlic cloves.
5. Crumble the ground beef into the pan. Don’t worry too much about breaking up the chunks as they cook. Everything is going to fall apart in the slow cooker anyway.
6. Add in ½ a teaspoon of thyme, ½ a teaspoon of nutmeg, ½ a teaspoon of marjoram, and black pepper to taste.
7. Mix everything together and allow the beef to cook until it has mostly browned.
8. Mix in 2 cups of Rao’s basil tomato marinara sauce.
9. Stir in the 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream.
10. Finish the sauce by mixing in ¼ of a cup of chicken bouillon.
11. Turn the heat off and allow the sauce to rest for about 10 minutes before transferring it into the preheated slow cooker. Be careful not to pour hot sauce into cold stoneware. I’ve cracked them before!
12. Cover the slow cooker and allow the sauce to simmer for 8 hours. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. When the sauce is ready it will take on a deep color and the house will smell like lasagne. After the sauce has finished cooking you can season with additional salt if needed.
13. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
14. Set up a vegetable spiralizer. Use it to process the zucchini into noodles, and place the noodles in a casserole dish. Break apart the longer strands so that none of them are too long.
15. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the noodles. Season to taste and then mix together.
16. Spread your bolognese sauce over the top of the zucchini.
17. Top the casserole with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.
18. If baking right after cooking the bolognese sauce, then you will only need to heat the casserole in the oven for 15-20 minutes. If you’ve made the sauce ahead of time and it’s been chilled in the refrigerator then you will need to bake for 30-35 minutes.
19. Garnish with fresh basil if desired.
This makes a total of 6 servings of Bolognese Zoodle Bake. Each serving comes out to be 464 calories, 36g fats, 7.1g net carbs, and 26.3g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 1/2 medium onion | 19 | 0.1 | 4.4 | 0.8 | 3.6 | 0.6 |
| 1 tablespoon olive oil | 119 | 13.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 teaspoon fresh garlic | 8 | 0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| 24 ounce ground beef | 1728 | 136.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 116.8 |
| 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme | 2 | 0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg | 6 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| 1/2 teaspoon marjoram | 1 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 cup low-carb tomato sauce | 118 | 1 | 28.4 | 7.4 | 21.1 | 6.4 |
| 2 tablespoon heavy whipping cream | 101 | 10.7 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| 1 whole chicken bouillon cube | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 medium zucchini | 98 | 2.3 | 17.5 | 6.5 | 11 | 7.4 |
| 2 tablespoon olive oil | 239 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 cup mozzarella cheese | 336 | 25 | 2.5 | 0 | 2.5 | 24.8 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/3 cup fresh basil | 2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Totals | 2781 | 216.3 | 57.8 | 15.5 | 42.3 | 157.7 |
| Per Serving (/6) | 464 | 36 | 9.6 | 2.6 | 7.1 | 26.3 |
Bolognese Zoodle Bake
Ingredients
Bolognese Sauce
- ½ medium onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoon fresh garlic minced
- 24 ounce ground beef
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon marjoram
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cup low-carb tomato sauce like rao's
- 2 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- 1 whole chicken bouillon cube mixed with water
Zucchini Noodles
- 3 medium zucchini
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
- ⅓ cup fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat a skillet over medium heat, and set your slow cooker to “low.” Finely dice the white onion while you wait for the skillet to heat up.
- Add olive oil to the frying pan.
- Once the oil becomes hot, add the diced onion. Cook until the onions start to become translucent and pick up a bit of color.
- Stir in the minced garlic cloves.
- Crumble the ground beef into the pan. Don’t worry too much about breaking up the chunks as they cook. Everything is going to fall apart in the slow cooker anyway.
- Add in thyme, nutmeg, marjoram, and black pepper.
- Mix everything together and allow the beef to cook until it has mostly browned.
- Mix in marinar sauce.
- Stir in the heavy whipping cream.
- Finish the sauce by mixing in chicken bouillon.
- Turn the heat off and allow the sauce to rest for about 10 minutes before transferring it to the preheated slow cooker. Be careful not to pour hot sauce into cold stoneware. I’ve cracked them before!
- Cover the slow cooker and allow the sauce to simmer for 8 hours. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. When the sauce is ready it will take on a deep color and the house will smell like lasagna. After the sauce has finished cooking, you can season with additional salt if needed.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Using a spiralizer, process the zucchini into noodles and place in a casserole dish. Break apart the longer strands, so that none of them are too long.
- Add the olive oil to the noodles. Season to taste and then mix together.
- Spread your bolognese sauce over the top of the zucchini.
- Top the casserole with shredded mozzarella cheese.
- If baking right after cooking the bolognese sauce, then you will only need to heat the casserole in the oven for 15-20 minutes. If you’ve made the sauce ahead of time and it’s been chilled in the refrigerator, then you will need to bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh basil if desired.
Is it okay to speed up the slow cooker process of the Bolognese Sauce? If so, how long should it be cooked on High?
Sure! You could just make sure that the beef is cooked through when it’s initially browned, and then slow cook it for a few hours. It might not be exactly the same, but as long as you are happy with it that’s all that matters. 🙂
Looks amazing!!!!
Thank you so much!
Instead of buying the tomato sauce could I make my own using fresh tomatoes?
Sure! Just make sure to calculate the nutrition using something like MyFitnessPal so you can track it. 🙂
Have made this one twice with my wife and love this recipe. It’s a nice one for a mixed keto/carb eating family, too– my teenage son loves it on regular pasta!
I should add that my chicken boullion paste is super concentrated so we cut the amount in half for great results. I’ve had to do this with other recipes using this boullion, so others may want to keep in mind you may have to dial it up or back depending on your taste.
Can’t wait to try!
I hope you like it!
Having this for dinner tonight, the house already smells good!
should it be 1/4 c of chicken bouillon paste (as the list of ingredients at the top of the page indicates) or 1/4 c of chicken bouillon as in the printed instructions?
Eek! Thanks Dana. It should be 1/4 cup liquid. (Flavored/seasoned chicken stock.)
Do I have to put it in the slow cooker? I don’t always have time to leave the food in a slow cooker, I usually away from the house for more than 8+ hours.
You can cook it on the stove top but the flavor is not quite the same. Bolognese really benefits from a long cook time.
Can the sauce be cooked on high to speed things up (if so, for how long?) or will that ruin the taste?
P.S. I’ve cooked this as directed twice and it’s SOOO great. Thank y’all for these amazing recipes. Really helps us stay on track.
When I’ve tried it that way it turns out – but it’s not exactly the same. Might be better to make some and then freeze for busy nights.
would you recommend changing from 1.5lbs of ground meat to maybe 2 portions ground beef and 1 portion of a hot italian sausage? just to change up the taste a bit
That sounds fantastic Deb!
Cooking now – can’t wait, the house smells amazing!
I love that smell!
hi! If i wanted to make 2 batches of this sauce at once, how much longer should i allow it to stay in the slow cooker?
Just make sure that your slow cooker is not more than 2/3 full and the cook time should be about the same.