Ground Chicken Bolognese Sauce for Spaghetti

Chicken bolognese served on a pasta plate topped with parmesan cheese.

Ground Chicken Bolognese Sauce for Spaghetti

Chicken Bolognese is a lighter version of this traditional Italian beef sauce. This sauce is smooth, rich, hearty, and slow cooked to perfection.

Course Main Course Chicken

Cuisine Italian

Diet Low Fat

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 30

Servings

Calories 399kcal

Author Lea Ann Brown

Equipment

Large Heavy Bottom Fry Pan

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1 Onion Sweet, or yellow. Chopped. About 1 cup
1 carrot peeled and chopped. About ½ cup
1 large celery stalk with leaves, chopped. About ½ cup
1 clove garlic diced
1 pound ground chicken
½ cup dry Vermouth or white wine
1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
½ teaspoon fennel seed
14.5 ounce tomatoes canned, undrained and pureed in food processor
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
1 Tablespon Italian flat leaf parsley chopped
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
½ pound spaghetti
½ cup Parmesan cheese grated

Instructions

In a large fry pan, heat the oil over medium heat.
Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery. Saute uncovered, stirring a couple of times, until starting to soften. About 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the ground chicken and cook, breaking up the meat. Cook until it's just starting to lose its pink color. About 5 minutes.
Add the salt and fennel seed.
Add the Vermouth or white wine. Raise the heat to high and cook stirring occasionally until the alcohol is almost evaporated. About 5 minutes.
Stir in the pureed tomatoes, the tomato paste, the chicken stock and parsley. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 hour.
Stir in the cream and let it heat for about 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti until al dente. Drain, reserving about ½ cup of the starchy pasta water.
Place the spaghetti back into the pan in which is was cooked and stir in a glug of the pasta water. Add the remaining pasta water to the sauce and stir.
Place spaghetti into pasta bowls or plates. Top with a heaping scoop of the bolognese sauce and garnish with grated Parmesan Cheese and fine chopped fresh basil.

Notes

About Salting Water for Boiling Pasta: No reason to haphazardly throw salt into a pot of water so it "tastes like the sea". Use a rule of 2 - 3 tablespoons of salt per one pound of pasta. This ratio comes from my Executive Chef teacher at Culinary School.
Type of Pasta: Even though I used spaghetti for this Chicken Bolognese, it's a popular theory in Italy to use a wider noodle to capture as much of the sauce as possible. Pappardelle pasta works well here.

Why is pasta water good for pasta sauce? Don't throw all of that pasta cooking liquid down the drain, It’s liquid gold. It’s a must to add to any sauce for any pasta dish. It’s high in starch and this salty starchy water helps the sauce cling to the pasta while helping to thicken the sauce. It turns any pasta dish into a luxurious pasta dish.

Nutrition