Gnocchi Bolognese is a delicious and comforting gnocchi dish made with a creamy bolognese sauce. Soft pillowy store-bought gnocchi mixed with a homemade meat sauce full of dried herbs, ground beef, ground sausage, wine, tomato paste, milk, and cheese. You will love this recipe!

What is Bolognese?

Bolognese is a meat based sauce made popular by Italian cuisine. This sauce originated in the city of Bologna, which is how it got it’s name. In Italy it is usually served with Tagliatelle pasta or used to make Lasagna.

One of the reasons this sauce is so great is because it is slowly cooked. When something cooks slowly, the ingredients have a longer time to meld together and create a delicious flavor. A traditional bolognese sauce does not have much tomato in it. It only has a little bit of tomato paste in addition to white wine and milk.

In the United States a lot of places add a lot more tomato sauce into their bolognese, which is actually more similar to the tomato heavy sauces in the south of Italy, but not actually similar to a traditional bolognese sauce. My version of bolognese is a combination of traditional Italian bolognese and the American version.

Gnocchi with Meat Sauce

There are many ways to enjoy gnocchi, but one of my favorites is a bolognese sauce. To make gnocchi bolognese I normally use two different types of ground meat and then I slowly cook them in a sauce full of dried herbs, onion, garlic, wine, tomato paste, tomato puree, milk, and cheese. You can add more tomatoes to yours if you want. The sauce is super forgiving and there are so many variations that taste delicious.

If I have leftover bolognese sauce after I make this gnocchi dish, I like to use the sauce to make Bolognese Pizza. Just add the sauce on top of pizza dough and top with cheese. It becomes such a great little weeknight meal.

Bolognese Sauce

This thick and meaty bolognese sauce is an great solution for the popular question of “What’s for dinner”. I love making bolognese on a Sunday to eat with pasta and garlic bread. I always make a lot so that we can have lunches packed for a few days. Sometimes instead of taking the leftovers for lunch we will use some of the sauce to make bolognese pizza instead.
You can use any type of meat in your bolognese but my favorite is a combination of ground Italian sausage and ground beef. If you can find ground sausage, great! If you can’t, you can remove the casing of raw sausage links and ground them in your pot as you cook.

How do you make Gnocchi Bolognese?

INGREDIENTS FOR GNOCCHI BOLOGNESE

Bolognese Sauce

3 tbsp Butter
1 Large Carrot diced
1 Celery Stalk diced
1 Small Yellow Onion diced
4 cloves Garlic minced
16 oz Ground sweet italian sausage if you cannot find it pre ground then you can buy regular sausage, remove it from the casing, and then ground it.
16 oz Ground Beef 85%
1/2 cup White Wine
3 tbsp Tomato Paste
10 oz Tomato Puree Passata
1 cup Beef Broth
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1 Bay Leaf
1 pinch Nutmeg

Gnocchi

1 pack Gnocchi I buy store bought for convenience

INSTRUCTIONS FOR GNOCCHI BOLOGNESE

Bolognese Sauce

Heat the butter on medium heat and add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally so that it does not burn.
Add the garlic, italian sausage, salt, pepper, and beef. Cook until the meat is mostly cooked.
Add the wine and stir. Allow the alcohol to cook out of the wine for about 3-5 minutes. Then, add your tomato paste and stir it in so that it is fully incorporated.
Add your tomato puree, beef broth, bay leaf, pinch of nutmeg and milk. Mix well and allow to simmer on low heat for 2-3 hours.

Gnocchi

Boil Gnocchi according to package instructions
Add bolognese sauce to the gnocchi and enjoy

What to serve with Gnocchi Bolognese

This dish is really filling on it’s own because of the gnocchi and creamy meat sauce. To balance this meal, either serve this with a salad or a vegetable. This would probably go great with my air fryer cauliflower recipe mixed into the sauce or even some roasted asparagus.