Mary Berry Bolognese Pasta Bake Recipe

Mary Berry’s bolognese pasta bake is a rich beef bolognese layered with pasta and a golden cheese topping — the most satisfying family bake in this collection.

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 40

Resting Time 5

Total Time 1

Servings: 6 Portions

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: British

Calories: 530

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

Bolognese Sauce:
500 g beef mince 15–20% fat
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
2 carrots and 2 celery sticks very finely chopped
3 garlic cloves crushed
2 tbsp tomato purée
150 ml red wine or beef stock
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
200 ml beef stock
1 tsp each dried oregano and basil
1 bay leaf 1 tsp caster sugar
Salt and pepper
Pasta Bake:
350 g penne or rigatoni cooked 2 minutes under, drained
100 ml double cream
75 g mature Cheddar — for sauce
75 g mature Cheddar — for topping
40 g Parmesan finely grated
2 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
Olive oil for drizzling
Fresh basil for serving

Method

Brown beef mince in hot oil 8–10 minutes until deeply golden and dry. Remove. Cook onion, carrot, celery 8 minutes. Add garlic — 2 minutes. Return beef. Add purée — 1 minute. Add wine — 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, stock, herbs, and sugar. Season. Simmer 25 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
Preheat oven to 190°C / 170°C fan / Gas 5. Stir cream and 75g Cheddar into hot sauce. Add drained pasta — stir to coat. Season very assertively.
Spoon into ovenproof dish — spread evenly. Scatter remaining Cheddar and Parmesan over surface. Scatter breadcrumbs — drizzle with olive oil.
Bake 25–30 minutes until deeply golden and bubbling. Rest 5 minutes. Scatter fresh basil. Serve from the dish.

Notes

Brown the beef deeply — pale mince gives a flat, one-dimensional bake.

Cook pasta 2 minutes under — it finishes cooking in the oven.

Stir double cream into the sauce — keeps the bake moist and creamy during baking.

Season very assertively — pasta absorbs a lot of seasoning during the bake.

Make completely ahead — assemble, refrigerate, bake from cold. Genuinely better the next day.

Freeze assembled before baking for up to 3 months.