Indian Chicken Bolognese Pasta

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Dec 6

Written By Anadi Misra

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This post is sponsored by Chicken Farmers of Canada. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

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Looking for a hearty holiday meal? Treat your family to an innovative Bolognese pasta - Indian-style!! This **Indian-Style Chicken Bolognese Pasta** features a hearty Bolognese sauce that has the base of a traditional Bolognese, with minced chicken and aromatic Indian spices. Serve your royal sauce over some campanelle pasta and you’ve got a memorable winter dinner!

At the time of making this it’s literally snowing right now and far below zero degrees Celsius. When I first arrived to Canada, my first snowfall was really cool to watch. Now it’s not so pleasant! Not the biggest fan of winter here to be honest with you!

However, I do find the lovely coat of snow on the ground is much fitting for the holiday vibes of December! It’s cold and windy out, so I’d rather be inside and make a hearty pasta dish!

If you’ve been following the blog for awhile, then you know my favourite bird is chicken. Chicken and turkey are probably the ultimate holiday proteins! Chicken really is an incredible blank canvas in that you can create so many fabulous dishes that will warm you up in the chilly weather!

I know that I’ll be preparing many poultry dishes this time of year! What way to kick off the holidays than with a twist to Bolognese? I love enjoying a thick, hot, meaty and saucy Bolognese sauce with ground beef during the winter! My favourite ways to use it are in a Vegetarian 4-Cheese Lasagna, a Lasagna alla Bolognese, or even to use leftovers in a Bacon & Bolognese Macaroni Bake!

You can never go wrong with the classics, I do really love making fusion recipes with the touch of my Indian roots. The idea dawned on me - why not an Indian-inspired Bolognese? That would be so delicious!

I didn’t want to make this sauce turn into a gravy to have a curry flair, however. You’ll notice that to make this Indian-infused, I didn’t make the sauce turn into a gravy. Rather, I wanted to keep the core of a Bolognese sauce, but add in the charm of Indian spices, and replace the ground beef with ground chicken to suit the more popular protein found in India, as a significant portion of the Indian population do not consume beef. Using the best quality chicken will ensure your sauce really tastes its best, so be sure to look out for the Raised by a Canadian Farmer logo when looking for your package of minced chicken!

This Chicken Bolognese Sauce turned out absolutely amazing! At first glance, you’d think it’s a classic Bolognese, but when you smell and taste it, it’s its own special gem!

Serve this with some special pasta to make this a holiday meal for your family, and you’ve got Christmas dinner parties set! Enjoy the leftovers for any occasion, fridge- and freezer-friendly! Let’s get to the recipe!

why make Indian-Style Chicken Bolognese?

This Indian Chicken Bolognese Sauce is perfect fusion of classic Indian and Italian cuisines
The Chicken Bolognese is packed with nutritious veggies to get in your daily vitamins!
The sauce is so versatile - serve with your favourite pasta shape, use it in a lasagna, or spread it on a pizza bagel!
Freezer-friendly so you can make a huge batch to last you all winter!

Ingredients in Indian-Fusion Bolognese Pasta

Let’s go over what we’ll need to make this incredible hearty Indian-Style Chicken Bolognese. We’ll review what ingredients we’ll need for the Chicken Bolognese Sauce and for the pasta itself. Remember, for all measurements and the full recipe instructions, make sure you scroll down to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD! What’s awesome about this recipe is that you can scale the ingredients depending on how much sauce you want. Maybe you’re just cooking for one meal, or you want to make a butt load of it and freeze it to last you through the winter. I highly encourage you to make a giant pot of this and freeze! We really need a hearty Bolognese in the winter, and when you defrost your sauce, you can easily just heat it up and cook up some pasta for a delicious time-saving meal!

FOR THE BOLOGNESE SAUCE

Ground chicken: A traditional Bolognese uses ground beef. However, many Indians don’t eat beef for religious reasons, so we’ll be using ground chicken here. If you’re in Canada, remember to look for the Raised by a Chicken Farmer logo so you have the best quality chicken out there!
Butter: Used to sauté our vegetables.
Vegetables: The “sofritto” of a traditional Bolognese consists of onions, carrots, and celery. These are the core veggies of the Bolognese sauce. To make this Bolognese Indian-style, I’ve omitted the celery (fun fact: it’s my least favourite veggie anyway!), and I’m swapping with a green pepper. I’ve also got an eggplant in there, which I also use in my version of the classic Bolognese recipe!
Ginger-garlic paste: One of the most essential ingredients in Indian cooking, I just had to incorporate it into this Indian Bolognese sauce to really set it apart! All you need to do is blend peeled ginger and garlic! The ratio to ginger to garlic is 1:2! For more details on how to prepare the best ginger-garlic paste and how to store extra, check out the full Ginger-Garlic Paste recipe.
Tomatoes: A traditional Bolognese sauce only uses a minimal amount of tomatoes (1/2 what I’m using technically). In my version of the classic Bolognese, I loaded it with tomatoes, and I’m going to do the same thing here because I really love my tomatoes - they’re my favourite vegetable (contrary to the celery as mentioned above ;) ). Furthermore, in the majority of my Indian cooking, you’ll see that I’ll be using a combination of Passata, which are strained tomatoes, and canned San Marzano tomatoes. The passata will help to create the base of the sauce, and I crushed the San Marzano tomatoes with my hands to add extra texture to the sauce. If you’re a tomato lover like I am, you’re going to love this version of Bolognese!
Wine: Traditionally, a white wine is used. You can use red wine if that’s all you have, and this is used in a typical “ragu.” If you don’t want to cook with wine, you can use chicken broth, but I strongly recommend adding the white wine for the best flavour!
Spices: My traditional Bolognese recipe uses ground nutmeg for aromatics. To add an Indian flair to this Bolognese sauce, we’ll be using fennel seeds, cumin seeds, ground coriander, and red chilli powder (deggi mirch).
Milk: Adds a rich flavour depth to the sauce in addition to tenderizing the meat.
Bay leaf: I love the flavour that comes from bay leaf! I use bay leaf in my traditional Bolognese sauce recipe, and because Bay leaves are commonly used in Indian cooking, I thought it really had its place to stay in this recipe!
Salt & pepper: To taste.

How to Make Indian-Style Chicken Bolognese

For the Chicken Bolognese sauce

Finely chop the veggies and set them aside.
Melt butter in a large pot and add cumin and fennel seeds. Saute until fragrant and then add ginger garlic paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add onions, peppers, and carrots. Stir and cook until the veggies start to soften.
Add eggplant, stir and cook until the veggies start to soften and release some of their moisture.
Add the meat and dried spices and break any lumps with a wooden spoon while continuously stirring. Season with salt and pepper.
Once the meat is no longer pink, add the milk. Bring the milk to a simmer, turn down the heat and cook until all the milk has simmered away.
Add the wine, bring to a simmer and cook until all the wine has simmered away.
While the wine is simmering, transfer all the canned San Marzano tomatoes to a large bowl and lightly crush the whole tomatoes with your hands.
Add the hand crushed tomatoes to the pot, along with the passata. Stir well, season with salt, add bay leaf and bring up to a simmer.
Once the sauce reaches a simmer, lower the heat so that the sauce has the laziest of simmers and cook until the sauce reduced and thickened. The sauce is ready when you start seeing some grease along the sides of the pot and the tomatoes have sweetened. At this stage you can simmer it as fast as you want, however, the slower you go, the better the end product will be.

For the pasta

Bring water up to a rolling boil for your pasta and cook for 7-8 minutes, or until al dente.
If you have fresh Bolognese sauce on hand, mix the desired amount with the pasta in a pan and transfer the pasta onto a plate. For frozen bolognese sauce, let the sauce defrost naturally overnight, or mix the sauce with the pasta in a pot and simmer gently until the sauce has warmed through.
Top with parmesan cheese and freshly chopped cilantro. Serve hot and enjoy!

Are there any shortcuts to this recipe?

No, unfortunately not. I do find a real Bolognese is worth the fruits of your labour. I strongly recommend you take the time to chop your veggies, and allow the sauce to simmer for hours. The flavours will really meld and your sauce will taste out of this world. Patience is key but if you’re making enough sauce to last you all winter long, won’t you want it to be the best it can be?

WHAT PASTA SHOULD I USE to pair with chicken bolognese?

Traditionally, a Bolognese is paired with thick pasta shapes, including pappardelle, tagliatelle, linguine, and is used in lasagna. Apparently, a spaghetti Bolognese isn’t actually a thing, though if spaghetti is all you have on hand, I personally don’t see anything wrong with that!

In this recipe, I’m using a special pasta shape called campanelle. I call them “trumpets”, but this actually translates to “little bells!” We used this pasta shape at the restaurant I used to work out, and I like them because they hold a thick sauce really well!

Funny story: my box of pasta labeled this as riccioli, which is slightly different because those pasta shapes are similar to fusili; they’re long tubes that are layered, looking similar to a caterpillar. You could substitute campanelle with this!

I would also recommend rigatoni, ziti, fusilli, or Chiocciole, a large and thick macaroni shape! Wheels would be a very fun idea too, I still need to make a pasta recipe using those!

HOW MUCH SAUCE DOES THIS BOLOGNESE RECIPE MAKE?

This recipe will yield about 6-8 cups, depending on how much you’ve reduced it by. You can easily adapt the recipe to make more less sauce, depending on your needs. Scroll to the recipe card to see all quantities of ingredients and adjust accordingly!

TROUBLESHOOTING - WHAT DO I DO IF MY SAUCE IS…

TOO THICK?

If you are having the sauce as leftovers, it would have slightly thickened. Not to worry, simple dilute the sauce with some of the pasta water you are boiling to adjust the consistency.

TOO THIN?

This scenario is rather unlikely since we are not using any water or broth while preparing the sauce. However, if the sauce is too watery, simple simmer the sauce down until it reaches your preferred consistency.

Tips for the best chicken Bolognese pasta

Each step requires patience and care. Simmer the sauce as gently as you can for the best tasting sauce.
Take the time to finely dice each vegetable, onion, carrot, eggplant and green pepper. Chopping the veggies in a food processor vs hand chopping will result in a different and noticeable consistency.
Purchase the best quality of meat you can find, organic or your local butcher would be best. If you’re in Canada, I recommend you look for the Raised by a Chicken Farmer logo on your package, so you know that the chickens were raised sustainably.
Crush the whole San Marzano tomatoes by hand to introduce some texture and pulpy surprise while enjoying the sauce.
If you are really pressed on time, in small batches, add roughly diced veggies to a food processor and pulse a few times to finely chop.
For a more authentic version of a Bolognese, cut the tomatoes by half.
If you x2 or x3 the recipe, that will likely increase the cooking time as well. More to cook, more to simmer, more to enjoy!
Reserve some pasta water to thin out your sauce if it becomes too thick

Serving suggestions

For me the ultimate pairing with a special pasta dinner is garlic bread of course! Cheesy garlic bread is my favourite! However, for a lighter side, you could opt for a Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad - it’s got more chicken goodness and is on the lighter side since we use a yogurt dressing instead of the classic mayo dressing!

More Indian-Fusion Recipes

If you loved this Indian twist to a classic Bolognese sauce, then I’m sure you’re going to want to make these other epic fusion recipes!

Watch How to Make Indian-Style Bolognese Pasta Here:

If you liked this recipe please let me know in the comments. Tag your post on social media using #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cookingwithanadi. Thank you!

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Indian, Italian, fusion, pasta, poultry

Italian, Indian

Yield: 6

Author: Anadi

Indian Chicken Bolognese Sauce | Minced Chicken Pasta Bolognese | Chicken Keema Pasta Recipehttps://youtu.be/bdLNU7TtZoYThis Indian chicken Bolognese recipe is a minced chicken keema pasta with a Bolognese sauce that is infused with Indian spices. This Indian Bolognese sauce recipe uses minced chicken, chicken keema, instead of ground beef and has classic Indian whole and ground spices to give a balanced fusion of Indian and Italian cooking. This Indian chicken Bolognese pasta is served with freshly chopped cilantro and Parmesan cheese.2021-12-06