One Pot Rigatoni Bolognese

Make dinner time quick and easy with this One Pot Rigatoni Bolognese! Everything cooks in one pot – even the pasta cooks right in the sauce!

One pot pasta recipes are always my go-to on those absolutely crazy days, and dinner prep is incredibly quick and easy with this One Pot Rigatoni Bolognese, which is what I always go for when I don’t feel like hauling out the Instant Pot to make Instant Pot “Baked Ziti”.

Everything cooks in one pot for quick prep and easy clean up – even the pasta cooks right in the sauce. Some call me a lazy cook, but I like to call myself efficient.

Just a side note: I’m well aware that a real Bolognese sauce simmers for hours to get the perfect flavor. But calling this quick and easy weeknight dinner Bolognese makes it sound like so much more effort, and sometimes a haggard mother needs to feel special, too 😉

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Ingredient notes

• Ground beef: I always use lean ground beef for this, but you can use ground Italian sausage in place of the beef if you prefer. Ground turkey is also an option if you want to make a lighter meal.
• Pasta: This recipe works with most pasta shapes that cook in around 10 minutes (I do not recommend instant varieties, or very small or thin shapes, they usually need less liquid to cook and the pasta will stay soupy), though I do love rigatoni a lot with bolognese sauce.
• Broth: Feel free to use chicken broth if you don’t have beef on hand. The flavor will be a little different, but still delicious.

How to make One Pot Rigatoni Bolognese

Start by cooking the beef in a little olive oil with salt and pepper until it’s browned and crumbled. If you have a lot of grease emerging from the meat, feel free to drain it at this point (1).

Next, stir in the vegetables and sauté for a few minutes, until the onions have softened (2).

Now add the herbs, seasoning and tomato paste. Stir them in well until the tomato paste is fragrant (3).

Add the beef broth, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot (4).

Finally, stir in the diced tomatoes and uncooked rigatoni (5).

Now, you’ll want to bring the liquids to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the pasta until the rigatoni are done to your liking. Stir from time to time to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick and burn on the bottom of the pan.

Once the rigatoni are cooked, the liquids should have reduced to a saucy consistency. If you feel like it needs more broth, add more during the cooking – but don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with bolognese soup.

I recommend serving the pasta right away – the sauce thickens as it sits, and it’s really best eaten straight away.

Recipe tips

• No pre-cooking the pasta! I always get comments on my one pot pasta recipes turning out soupy, and usually it’s because the pasta was pre-cooked – do NOT pre-cook the pasta!
• Chopping the vegetables: 
  • When cooking with little kids around, I like to get all of the prep work done ahead of time. Sometimes I even chop veggies during nap time in the morning!
  • Here, you need to chop onion,carrot and celery. These are relatively easy to clean and prep. Did you know that it’s easier to peel an onion after rinsing it? It kind of sticks the peel together so it doesn’t annoyingly flutter everywhere.
  • Chop everything quite small so it softens quickly during cooking. And to be even more lazy, I usually throw it all in my food processor and pulse a few times until it’s chopped up. So easy!
• Make sure to sauté the tomato paste for a few minutes: Stir the tomato paste into the pot and seasoning and cook for another minute – it is important to roast the tomato paste before adding any liquids, to give it a richer flavor.

Freezer instructions

You can make this and freeze it in a casserole dish. Reheat in the oven at 360°F covered with foil for about an hour (no need to defrost). Sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and the casserole is piping hot all the way through.

General freezer tips

• make sure to use containers or bags suitable for freezing
• label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months)
• reheat until piping hot all the way through before serving

Tips for leftovers

Turning leftovers into a pasta casserole is the best way to reheat leftovers here. Refrigerate any leftovers in a casserole dish for up to 3 days. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400°F, or until hot and bubbly.

If the pasta feels dry, stir in ½ cup – 1 cup of tomato sauce before sprinkling with cheese.

More one pot pasta dinners

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for my email list, too!