Syn Free Delicious Bolognese Pasta Bake – a perfect family meal!!
Every one loves a bolognese, right?
So you will really LOVE this Bolognese Pasta Bake
Rich bolognese meat sauce, mixed with pasta and topped with melted golden cheese.
This can also easily be made gluten free by using a gluten free pasta, like brown rice or quinoa pasta. I personally prefer brown rice pasta when using a gluten free substitute as I find it the closest to regular pasta.
I love the bags of brown rice pasta from Trader Joes.
You can even buy a paleo friendly pasta now from Whole Foods by Cappello’s which is gluten and grain free and is made from almond flour, eggs, tapioca flour, xanthum gum and sea salt. I haven’t tried it, but I see it highly rated in the paleo/low carb world.
Sadly those ingredients make the capello’s pasta pretty high synned, but for someone following a paleo diet this recipe could be made paleo friendly if you are okay with dairy.
If you are vegetarian, swap out the ground beef for a veggie meat substitute or even lentils. I love bolognese using green or brown lentils. Lentils can be purchased for such a low cost too, which would make these meal budget friendly.
I always have various bags of different lentils and beans in my pantry. They can come in really handy, if I do not have any meat defrosted and I need to make something up for dinner.
Have you seen my Lentil Bolognese recipe?
I like to serve this Bolognese Pasta bake with a mixed salad of baby greens, just to up my speed foods, but side choices are totally up to you. This would go well with a variety of different vegetables hot or cold.
Extra Easy – 1 HEa per serving
Green/Vegetarian - 1 HEa per serving (substitute ground beef for lentils etc)
WW Smart Points - 10 (dividing the made up recipe into 6 servings instead of 4)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped chopped
- 1 courgette, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 cup (240ml) of beef, chicken or vegetable stock
- 400g of extra lean beef mince
- 3 cups (720ml) of passata
- 1 tsp of dried basil
- 1 tsp of dried oregano
- 1 tsp of dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
- handful of mushrooms sliced
- 300g of dried pasta of choice (can use gluten free)
- salt and black pepper to season
- splash of balsamic vinegar
- dash or worcestershire sauce
- Salt and Black Pepper
- to top:
- 90g/3oz of Mozzarella (2xHEa)
- 60g/2oz of Parmesan (2xHEa)
- to serve:
- fresh chopped Italian parsley
- Add the mince, onion and garlic to a deep frying pan over a medium high heat and cook until browned.
- Add the carrot, courgette and mushrooms and cook for a further 3 mins.
- Add the herbs, passata, stock, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil and then cover and reduce to simmer. Allow to simmer for 30 mins, until sauce thickens and becomes nice and rich. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
- Preheat oven to 200c or 400f (gas mark 6)
- Place the pasta in a saucepan of boiling hot water and cook until al dente - approx 7 mins (you want it to still have a slight bite, as it will continue to cook in the oven).
- Add the pasta to a large oven proof dish.
- Add the bolognese meat sauce and mix well.
- Top with both cheeses.
- Place in oven and bake until cheese has melted and is golden on top. Approx 30mins
- Serve topped with fresh chopped Italian parsley and your choice of sides.
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Oooh this looks absolutely gawwwwjusss! will definitely be giving it a go. Thank you, Jo x
it is yummy 🙂
this is stunning, i knoe its 2syns for the whole bake, but on which plan ???
is 2 syns for the whole recipe on extra easy
this recipe is absolutely lovely used a few times and for dinner tomorrow i give it 5 stars
This dish was very simple to make and tased gorgeous. I made it for one of our taster evenings and everybody has asked for the recipe.
I made this minus the red wine and the tomato puree and it was still delicious and syn free :o)
Made
this pasta bake last night with salad! Absolutely gorgeous
and even my fussy, non-dieting boyf liked it and had seconds! Got
leftovers for lunch today 🙂 The only thing is the recipe doesn’t say when to add the celery but I just used my common sense and added it the same time as the carrots. This is the first slimming eats recipe I have tried so really looking forward to making (and eating) the next one. Thank you x
This was really easy to make and as with all the recipes have tried on here extremely tasty – I sprinkled over extra parmesan on my husbands portion and he had no idea was slimming recipe!
This dish was extremely easy to make.My husband and boys really enjoyed.I have loads left can u freeze tis?
It would be suitable to freeze, made up before it goes in the oven. But would perhaps dry out a bit if frozen after going in the oven. Hope that helps
how did you know the syns as only the HE is listed? sorry new to this
This is absolutely amazing ! It tastes delicious. My hubby loved it too and took it work for lunch two days running ! You have to try it , you won’t be sorry .
This pasta bake was so easy and my whole family really enjoyed it !!
Really enjoyed this and so did hubby – clean plate! Tasted even better the next day for lunch, mmmmm!
Loved this. I used the giant she’ll pasta I had left over from your spinach and ricotta pasta dish.