A delicious take on the traditional spaghetti bolognese with under 600 calories and over half of your five-a-day fruit and vegetables in one serving.
I’ve been racking my brains to try and think of a more exciting name for this recipe than “Spaghetti Bolognese” but as you can see from the top of the post, I failed miserably. It is what it is, although if I may say, a very nice one.
It’s a hit with the boys, I usually make it with other types of (easier to eat) pasta as spaghetti can be a little tricky for little ones, but in future I think I’ll go for spaghetti as watching their attempts to eat it is really funny. I thought about sharing a little video but I suspect that watching a 5 year old slurping spaghetti is something only a mother could love so I’ll spare you all!
A healthy start to the new year
As you’ll know from when I shared my collection of delicious dinners with under 500 calories a few days ago, I’m in need of a bit of healthy eating to kick-start the new year. For the past few days I’ve been making dinners which aren’t too high in fat and calories and where I can squeeze in a few extra vegetables.
As always, you can find a breakdown of the nutritional information after the recipe, but I’m pretty pleased with the fact it’s come in at under 600 calories and contains over half of your five-a-day.
If I’m trying to be extra good, I’ll add an extra carrot and stick of celery and cut back on some of the pasta making those numbers even better.
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Spaghetti Bolognese
INGREDIENTS
- 300 g pasta - I used dried spaghetti
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 500 g extra lean beef mince
- 3 medium carrots - about 250g
- 1 stick of celery - about 80g
- 1 onion
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato puree - (heaped)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 50 ml ruby port
- 1 beef stock cube
- 100-200 ml water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the olive oil (1 tsp) in a large saucepan. Add the beef mince (500g) and cook until browned, stirring regularly to ensure it doesn't burn.
- While the beef is browning, finely chop the onion.
- Once the beef has browned, remove it from the pan and set aside. Add the chopped onion to the saucepan and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- While the onion is cooking, peel and finely chop the carrot (3 carrots) and celery (1 stick).
- Add the carrot and celery to the onion and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Return the beef to the pan and add the chopped tomatoes (400g can), tomato puree (heaped tbsp), dried oregano (1 tsp), port (50ml) and beef stock cube. Add 100-200ml of water until the ingredients are just covered in liquid.
- Bring to the boil and the simmer for 25 minutes until the liquid has reduced. Season with salt to taste (Personally I don't add any extra as I find there's enough in the stock cube to add the flavour I want).
- While the bolognese is simmering, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions.
- Drain the pasta and serve.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
- Corn-Free
- Dairy-Free (just don’t sprinkle lots of cheese on top!)
- Egg-Free
- Nut-Free
- Soy-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are commonly available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
Elizabeth C. says
This looks so delicious!
Jane G says
Definitely trying that – looks and sounds delicious! One question – when do you add the beef back in? I can see its removed when browned (before cooking onions) – but can’t see when it’s reintroduced during the cooking process! Thanks! 🙂
Charlotte Oates says
Oops, it should be added back in step 6 along with the chopped tomatoes, etc. I’ve corrected it now. Thanks for pointing that out and I hope you enjoy it.
Eb Gargano says
Yum! I love spaghetti bolognese and I am impressed you have managed to bring it in at less than 600 calories…is that including or excluding the cheese you’ve sprinkled on top? I think that usually the cheese on top is my downfall 🙁 I often make bolognese with Quorn mince to make it a bit healthier and I love to pack it with veggies but then I ruin all my good work with too much spaghetti and cheese!! I am amused by your comments about your boys eating spaghetti…my kids are the same…it’s very cute!! I do tend to put the sauce and the spaghetti separately on their plates…which helps a little bit…but, yeah, it’s still amusing 🙂 Eb x
Charlotte Oates says
Excluding the cheese (it only includes the ingredients listed in the recipe) although I only add a little sprinkle so I still don’t think it would be too bad. The spaghetti is a real killer when it comes to calories (nearly half of the calories in the dish!) I ordered myself a spiriliser today so I’m interested to see if I can create any veggie alternatives that I enjoy as much.
Eb Gargano says
Oooh I will be interested to hear how you get on with the spiralizer. I am not big on gadgets, but I am rather tempted by a spiralizer. Sounds like a good way to get more veggies into our diet and I reckon the kids would love it! Eb x
Charlotte Oates says
Will do. I’m not big on gadgets either so I just bought a small handheld one that is easy to store.