Chicken Bolognese
This easy chicken bolognese is a hearty one pot dish that is perfect over your favorite spaghetti. It’s gluten free, can be made dairy free and is even freezer friendly! Made with simple ingredients you probably already have on hand.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Bolognese is a type of meat sauce, but is often creamier than a traditional meat sauce because has milk added to it in addition to the tomato. It’s a delicious recipe that is perfect for meal prep.
It’s perfect with spaghetti, penne or virtually any pasta shape! Here’s why you’ll love this sauce:
Flavorful. This recipe features ingredients like onion, garlic, white wine, tomato paste and lots of spices like basil and parsley for a rich and flavorful sauce.
You can make it spicy with extra red pepper flakes, cheesier with more parmesan or even add a little chili powder for a flavor twist.
Easy. One pot, simple ingredients and about 15 minutes of active cook time. This sauce simmers for about 45 minutes, but you’ll only be actively cooking for about 15. Easy!
Inexpensive. Chicken bolognese is made from really simple and inexpensive ingredients like tomato sauce, ground chicken, milk and some herbs and spices. Many of these ingredients you probably already have on hand!
If you love this recipe, try my gluten free chicken parmesan, gluten free beef chili or white bean chicken chili next!
How to make chicken bolognese
Add the onion, carrot and oil to a large pot or dutch oven. Saute for about 5-10 minutes or until soft. Add in the garlic and chicken and cook until the chicken has browned, stirring often.
Once browned, add in the wine and simmer until the liquid has cooked off. Add in the tomato paste and saute for 2-3 minutes.
Add in all remaining ingredients aside from the parmesan and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat to lower, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring a few times throughout.
Discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust flavors as desired. Serve with your favorite pasta, fresh basil and parmesan and enjoy! Try my chicken cutlet and lemon pasta or marry me chicken pasta next!
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Freeze it for later!
This chicken bolognese stores well in the fridge, but is also freezer friendly! I like to portion out the sauce into smaller containers so I can defrost only what I need at a time.
It’ll keep in the fridge for about 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let it defrost in the fridge overnight, then reheat and serve as usual. Same with my beef bolognese and gluten free meatballs!
Red vs. white wine
Traditional bolognese usually calls for white wine, but I love using red in this recipe and my lentil bolognese. I think the red pairs well with the tomato sauce and adds a richness that you don’t get from the white.
I used a pinot noir, but a cabernet Sauvignon is also delicious. For white, I generally stick with pinot grigio for cooking as it is inexpensive.
Make it a meal!
I love serving this chicken bolognese with gluten free spaghetti, my favorite is brown rice. It already has some veggies in the sauce (the carrots!) but I love serving it with a side salad or sauteed asparagus with some lemon and olive oil.
For an even more protein rich option, you can serve it with chickpea or a legume based pasta. For a more paleo friendly option, it’s delicious on top of some baked spaghetti squash!
If you need a dairy free option, just use almond milk and my homemade cashew parmesan in place of regular parmesan.
More easy dinner recipes to try!
- Turkey Meatballs
- Orange Chicken
- Salmon Noodle Stir Fry
- Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
- Chickpea Tacos
- Chicken Noodle Soup
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Best Chicken Bolognese
by: claire cary
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 large carrots diced
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ cup red or white wine I like red, but both are delicious
- 5 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- ¾ cup milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Add the onion, carrot and oil to a large pot or dutch oven.
- Saute for about 5-10 minutes or until soft.
- Add in the garlic and chicken and cook until the chicken has browned, stirring often.
- Once browned, add in the wine and simmer until the liquid has cooked off.
- Add in the tomato paste and saute for 2-3 minutes.
- Add in all remaining ingredients aside from the parmesan and bring to a low boil.
- Reduce the heat to lower, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring a few times throughout.
- Discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust flavors as desired.
- Serve with your favorite pasta, fresh basil and parmesan and enjoy!
Notes
Comments
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I loved it! 😍 At first I was skeptical because of the wine and milk, but I went ahead and followed the recipe almost exactly (I used 1/2 cup Cabernet instead of 3/4 cup). I also used whole milk (we drink 2% but the ground chicken I use is 93% lean, so I wanted the richness of whole milk). I also used fresh chopped basil instead of dried (pretty much any other dried spice is fine but fresh basil is so delicious, I always use it when I can find it). The chicken bolognese was delicious. Better than I expected and I can’t wait to make it again! I used mezzi rigatoni (smaller than regular rigatoni) and am sure that penne would be perfect for this sauce as well. YUM.
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Thank you, Michele! So glad you gave it a try!
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This is really good! Almost a very traditional bolognese method (omit garlic, simmer with 1/2 cup milk until evap before the wine step for more traditional). I actually think the milk steps adds here because chicken is so lean, you need fat and richness and texture. So I follow this recipe, but i add celery for the traditional base, and simmer the meat after browned in the milk as mentioned.
Sometimes I will add zucchini and/or dried porcini soaked in hot water and then add a bit of the porcini broth to get that deeper umami you get from beef/pork. Also, a splash of cream and simmer ten minutes before calling it done. That all makes it higher calorie, but I’m after deliciousness for someone who doesn’t eat beef or pork!
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Recipe is amazing. will definitely use it many times.
I didn’t have wine lying around, so I used broth mixed with balsamic vinegar, and it was still super delicious. thank you for posting this recipe!!-
Thank you, Sharon!
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This was so amazing! First time I’ve ever tried making a true Bolognese sauce and it was extremely flavorful, and super easy. I decided to add some roasted zucchini to the sauce too which tasted great with everything else. Can’t wait to make this again.
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Yum, love the addition of the zucchini, so glad you enjoyed this one!
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Nothing stated about preparing vegetables — diced, sliced, if so what size??
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It’s in there- should be diced! Size is up to you, I usually do a pretty fine dice.
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This was delicious. The sauce was a little thin. Next time I’ll drain some liquid after cooking the ground chicken. As far as flavor goes, this was wonderful. Thanks for a great recipe!
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Great idea, will have to test that out next time. Glad you enjoyed it regardless!
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Wonderfully delicious! I never made Bolognese before, and I made this last night for company. It was perfect. (Also very easy to make.) I found the recipe when searching for something to use with ground chicken that I happened to have already in the fridge. For the recipe, I cut the salt, pepper, and pepper flakes in half which worked perfectly for us. (I figure you can always add some more in the tasting phase.) I had some Chardonnay open and used it, and I used whole milk. Overall, it was perfect, and wonderful today for lunch, as well. I served it over Angel Hair pasta.
I did wonder about the Parmesan cheese that you list at the end of the recipe. I was confused if it was for mixing in or as a topping when serving. I used it only as a topping.
I will definitely be making this again and again.
Thank you.
John-
The parmesan is meant to be added at the end, then more for topping, will clarify that! So happy you enjoyed this.
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This was delicious.
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nice base.
I think I might use half the salt and season to taste, next time.
If you’re sensitive to spice, you might also cut that in half.
Doug -
Really loved this recipe! I don’t cook often, and this was a very manageable recipe while still tasting absolutely AMAZING! I’ll be making this all the time now, thank you!
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