Quick sausage Bolognese
Use sausages without their skins to make a Bolognese-style ragu in minutes. You can adjust the level of spice according to how much heat you fancy in this easy meaty pasta dish.
Each serving provides 595 kcal, 24g protein, 58.5g carbohydrates (of which 9g sugars), 25g fat (of which 9g saturates), 5.5g fibre and 1.3g salt.
Ingredients
- 4–6 good-quality sausages (300–400²µ/10½–14´Ç³ú)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- ½–1 tsp dried chilli flakes, according to taste
- 400g/14oz tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 150ml/5fl oz red wine or water
- ½ tsp dried mixed herbs or dried oregano
- 275g/9¾oz dried spaghetti
- grated Parmesan, to serve (optional)
- fresh basil leaves, to serve (optional)
Method
Squeeze the sausagemeat out of the skins into a large non-stick frying pan. Add the oil and onion and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Use two wooden spoons to break up the sausagemeat into small mince-like pieces as it cooks. Add the chilli flakes and cook for 1 minute more, stirring.
Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, red wine (or water) and oregano. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 8–10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened, stirring regularly.
Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the pasta to the water and cook for 7–9 minutes (or according to the pack instructions) until tender, stirring occasionally to separate the strands.
Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and return to the saucepan. Tip the spicy sausage sauce into the same pan and toss well together. Serve topped with grated Parmesan and scattered with torn basil leaves.
Recipe Tips
The nutritional information was calculated using 400g/14oz sausages.
In September 2023 this recipe was costed at an average of £3.11 (excluding the optional serving suggestions) when checking prices at four UK supermarkets. This recipe is designed to be made in conjunction with a low-cost store-cupboard, for more details click here to see how our budget recipes were costed.