A quick and easy chicken bolognese recipe made with healthy chicken thigh mince.
All the flavours of authentic Italian bolognese without the beef!
This chicken bolognese is much lighter and healthier than traditional beef bolognese, but still incredibly tasty!
Perfect for busy school nights or lazy weekends, this chicken bolognese recipe ticks all of the boxes when it comes to family-friendly meals!
👩🍳 Love bolognese? Try my vegetarian Quorn bolognese recipe!
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe!
- Lighter and healthier than beef bolognese.
- Use chicken mince or leftover roast chicken.
- Great for batch-cooking.
- Freezer-friendly.
🛒 Ingredients
- Chicken Mince - available in most major supermarkets (I bought mine from Lidl).
- Olive Oil
- Onion - 1 medium onion, finely chopped.
- Garlic - 3 cloves finely chopped.
- Carrot - peeled and chopped.
- Celery - chopped finely.
- Bacon Lardons - I use smoked lardons for added flavour.
- Passata - or substitute with chopped tomatoes for a chunkier texture.
- Stock - Chicken stock from a cube or stockpot.
- Tomato puree - adds richness to the sauce.
- White Wine Vinegar - for flavour. If you have a bottle of white wine open you could use that instead.
- Milk - helps to tenderise the chicken.
- Sugar
- Bay Leaves
- Oregano
- Salt and Pepper - for seasoning.
- Parmesan and Parsley - to serve.
🔪 Instructions
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
Step 1: Fry the onion, carrot, celery, bacon and garlic in a little olive oil for 3-4 minutes until softened.
Step 2: Turn the heat up to high and add the chicken mince. Fry until the chicken mince has changed colour.
Step 3: Add in the passata, stock, tomato puree, milk, white wine vinegar, bay leaves, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper.
Step 4: Simmer for 25 minutes on a medium low heat. Serve with pasta, Parmesan and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.
💭 Top tips
- Use leftover roast chicken instead of chicken mince if you prefer. Add in the cooked leftover chicken 5 minutes from the end of cooking. You'll need around 500g of cooked chicken.
🍴 Serving suggestions
Serve the chicken bolognese with spaghetti, tagliatelle or penne pasta, with a good grating of Parmesan cheese! Don't forget the garlic bread!
The bolognese is also delicious served with rice or mashed potatoes.
I like to serve a side of green vegetables with it for added nutrition. Roasted courgettes are nice, especially in the summer, or how about roasted Tenderstem broccoli?
📖 Variations
- Make it spicy by adding 1 chopped red chilli to the bolognese.
- Up the veggies and substitute 200g of the chicken mince with finely chopped mushrooms or grated courgette.
- Make a double batch and freeze half for another day.
- Make the chicken bolognese in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours and reduce the stock to 100ml and milk to 30ml. Just bung everything in and switch on!
🥡 Storage
- To Store. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- To Reheat. Microwave until piping hot.
- To Freeze. Spoon the cooled bolognese into a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge before reheating in the microwave.
❓ FAQs
Adding milk to your bolognese helps to tenderise the meat.
For best results simmer the chicken bolognese uncovered.
😋More bolognese recipes
You might also like my easy chicken goulash recipe!
More dinner inspiration!
Recipe
Easy Chicken Bolognese
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Onion peeled and finely chopped
- 1 Carrot peeled and finely chopped
- 1 Celery Stalk finely chopped
- 3 Garlic Cloves peeled and finely chopped
- 80 g Bacon Lardons
- 500 g Chicken Mince
- 400 ml Passata
- 200 ml Chicken Stock
- 60 ml Milk
- 2 tablespoon Tomato Puree
- 1 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 tablespoon Oregano
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Fry the onion, carrot, celery, bacon, and garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 3-4 minutes until softened.
- Turn the heat up to high and add the chicken mince. Fry until the chicken mince has changed colour. This will take roughly 3-4 minutes.
- Add in the passata, stock, tomato puree, milk, white wine vinegar, bay leaves, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for 25-30 minutes.
- Serve with pasta, grated Parmesan and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.
Notes
- Use leftover roast chicken instead of chicken mince if you prefer. Add in the cooked leftover chicken 5 minutes from the end of cooking. You'll need around 500g of cooked chicken.
- Make it spicy by adding 1 chopped red chilli to the bolognese.
- Up the veggies and substitute 200g of the chicken mince with finely chopped mushrooms or grated courgette.
- Make a double batch and freeze half for another day.
- Make the chicken bolognese in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours and reduce the stock to 100ml and milk to 30ml. Just bung everything in and switch on!
- To Store. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- To Reheat. Microwave until piping hot.
- To Freeze. Spoon the cooled bolognese into a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge before reheating in the microwave.
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Toni
A delicious and satisfying meal! My kids couldn't ask for more! They really loved it!
Lauren Michael Harris
This chicken bolognese is such a great, healthy dinner. I love that it's quick enough to make during the week too!
Gina
I've made bolognese with lentils, beef, venison and bison but never chicken! Will be trying this asap!
Natalie
I never tried chicken bolognese. But this sounds super delicious, to be honest. And so much healthier. I'm convinced.. I'm going to give your recipe a try.
Elaine Benoit
I'm a big fan of bolognese but have never made it with chicken. Until now. 🙂 Your recipe was so delicious and it passed the hubby test. I'll be making this again.
Lana
I love this recipe! I have a question about calories counting. Is this numbers for full dish with pasta or sauce only? And for one serve or 4 together?
Beth Sachs
Hi Lana. The calories is for 1 portion of sauce (no pasta). Hope that helps.