ONE POT HIDDEN ORGAN MEAT BOLOGNESE
on Feb 16, 2024, Updated Jul 18, 2024
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I’ve heard so much about the benefits of organ meat such as liver as a nutrient-dense food chocked full of minerals and nutrients. I was looking for a way to incorporate organ meats into my diet without sacrificing my enjoyment. After all, my food philosophy is to eat food that tastes good and is healthy too.
Liver is a great pre-conception food, and while Kyle and I are thinking about starting a family soon, I’ve been wanting to include more of it in my diet. But, I’m sure like many of you, I don’t find it to be palatable. You’ll never find me eating liver for the sake of it!
This One Pot Hidden Organ Meat Bolognese completely masks the taste of the organ meat so I can still have a nutrient-dense healthy, hearty meal without noticing that I’m eating liver and heart. It’s not gamey and tastes like your Italian grandmother was standing over the stove for the entire afternoon. Your family may not even be able to tell that there’s anything but ground beef in here.
Best of all, it comes together in one pot! The pasta is cooked directly in the meat sauce, meaning you have one less dish to clean at the end of the night. That’s a winning strategy in my book.
I got so many requests for this recipe so I hope you give it a try and let me know what you think!
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Pin ItKey Ingredients for Hidden Organ Meat Bolognese
All the ingredients of a basic bolognese, just a little bit healthier with the addition of organ meat!
- Meat: For this recipe, I use a combination of ground beef and ground beef with an organ meat blend from @forceofnaturemeats. Their Ancestral Blend ground beef contains beef heart and liver. I find this at @wholefoods, @sprouts, and @centralmarket. You may also be able to find organ meat blends at your local butcher or farmer’s market. If organ meat isn’t your thing, you can certainly use all ground beef or even ground turkey if you’d prefer!
- Veggies: It wouldn’t be a bolognese without the trifecta of onion, carrots, and celery. Sauteeing these veggies with the ground meat time adds a touch of sweetness and texture to the rich sauce.
- Tomatoes: Tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and diced tomatoes are all used in this recipe. Tomato paste adds depth to the sauce, providing a burst of concentrated sweetness. And I like the combination of crushed and diced tomatoes as, again, it helps with the overall texture of the dish.
- Bone Broth: To up the protein even more, I add 3 cups of beef bone broth. I love @fondbonebroth because it’s certified organic and they use only 100% grass-finished beef bones. You can substitute chicken bone broth or regular beef or chicken stock if that’s all you have on hand.
- Pasta: Of course, pasta is a necessary ingredient for this Italian classic healthified! I used gluten-free fusilli here but any type of short pasta shape should work well here.
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How to Make This One-Pot Bolognese
GROUND THE MEAT
In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, heat the avocado oil over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat and cook until browned, breaking it up as it cooks.
Remove most of the rendered liquid from the pot. This is just extra fat that will make the sauce greasy. Add your chopped onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened. Add the Italian seasoning and season generously with salt and pepper (you can always add more later). Cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
MAKE THE PASTA SAUCE
Make a well in the center of the mixture and add your tomato paste, allowing it to cook in the center for 30 seconds before incorporating it into the rest of the mixture. Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and broth.
Add your pasta of choice directly into the pot. Cook, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve with fresh basil and more cracked pepper. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are a few of the most common questions I’m asked for this pasta dish.
Organ meats are more nutrient-dense than muscle meat. They are full of essential vitamins and minerals that are often hard to come by in our standard diets. @forceofnaturemeats makes it easy to cook with since it’s already blended with regular ground beef.
I add the dried pasta directly to the sauce. The bone broth and canned tomatoes provide plenty of liquid for the pasta to cook and add so much flavor to the pasta. Plus, it makes for a simple cleanup. However, you can certainly cook the pasta separately and serve it together.
I use a 7 1/4 quart round Dutch oven from @lecreuset.
This serves 5 to 7 people. Typically, I’m only cooking for myself and my husband Kyle and while I like leftovers, I never want too many!
Other One-Pot Recipes
- Viral One Pot Curry Chicken and Rice
- Loaded Veggie Salsa Verde Chicken Chili
- Dairy-Free Ground Beef Stroganoff
ONE POT HIDDEN ORGAN MEAT BOLOGNESE
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground beef + organ meats blend or another pound of ground beef
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 4 ribs of celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- Salt and pepper to season
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 3 cups beef bone broth (I used FOND bone broth)
- 8 ounces pasta of choice (I used gluten-free fusili)
- Chopped fresh basil, for garnishing
Instructions
- Heat avocado in a large Dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat.
- Add the ground meat and cook until browned, breaking up as you go.
- Remove most of the rendered liquid from the meat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until the vegetables have softened.
- Add the Italian seasoning and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 to 5 more minutes.
- Make a well in the center of the mixture and add your tomato paste, allowing it to cook in the center for 30 seconds before incorporating it into the rest of the mixture.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and broth along with your pasta of choice. Cook uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Serve with fresh basil and cracked pepper.
- ENJOY!
This could be the dumbest question, but is the pasta cooked when you add it?
Hi! The pasta is uncooked when added.