Name: Pumpkin Bolognese
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 2 Servings
Cuisine: Italian

Jule’s Menu Verified

February 13, 2026

This hearty, flavorful pumpkin Bolognese blends tender pumpkin with savory ground beef and a mix of aromatic vegetables. Simmered with tomato, broth, and a Parmesan rind, the sauce becomes rich and velvety, making it perfect for short pasta like rigatoni. You can also serve it with whole-wheat pasta for extra fiber, or even adapt it to a vegetarian version for a lighter twist.

From the Cook

1/5

Pumpkin Bolognese

Jule’s Menu Verified

Ingredients

WarningMilk and 5 other allergens identified

Instructions

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Instructions

Peel and finely dice the shallot and garlic. Clean the vegetables and dice them finely as well. Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds, and finely dice the flesh.

Add half the oil to the pan and brown the ground beef over medium-high heat for about five to six minutes, breaking it up into crumbles. Remove the browned ground beef from the pan and set aside briefly.

Add the remaining oil to the pan, then sauté the shallots, garlic, carrot, and celery over medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes with a generous pinch of salt, until the shallots are translucent. Add the pumpkin and sauté for another 3 minutes.

Return the minced meat to the pan, add the tomato paste and fry for another 2 minutes.

Deglaze the pan with the red wine and let it simmer briefly until the alcohol smell disappears. Then add the vegetable stock and tomatoes. Add the bay leaf and Parmesan rind and let the Bolognese simmer over medium heat for about 30 to 60 minutes, until the vegetables are nice and soft and the sauce has reduced slightly.

Cook the pasta according to package directions in salted water. Remove the bay leaf and Parmesan rind from the Bolognese sauce and season with salt, pepper, and dried herbs.

Remove the pasta from the pot shortly before the end of the cooking time and add it directly to the sauce. Add approximately 50 milliliters of the pasta water and continue cooking the pasta in the sauce for about 2 to 3 minutes.

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Tips & Tricks (5)

Pumpkin Roasting Secret 🎃
Roast the butternut squash before adding to the Bolognese to concentrate its natural sweetness and develop deeper caramelized flavors.
Parmesan Rind Magic 🧀
Simmer the entire Parmesan rind in the sauce to release umami-rich flavors and create a more complex, velvety texture.
Mirepoix Precision 🔪
Dice celery, carrots, and shallots uniformly to ensure even cooking and balanced flavor distribution in the Bolognese.
Wine Deglazing Technique 🍷
Use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the browned bits when deglazing with red wine, as these fond pieces contain incredible depth of flavor.
Slow Simmer Strategy 🥄
Allow the Bolognese to simmer low and slow for at least 1-2 hours to develop rich, melded flavors and achieve a luxurious sauce consistency.

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About the Cook

Jule’s Menu

Hi, I’m Julia, and I’m the recipe developer, photographer, and author behind Jules’ Menu. I’ve spent the last eight years perfecting healthy everyday recipes so they strike the perfect balance between healthy and nourishing, simple and practical, and gourmet-level delicious.