This slow cooker Chicken Bolognese recipe (ragù alla bolognese) makes a hearty delicious pasta meal featuring chicken thighs. The chicken bolognese sauce is super easy to make thanks to starting with jarred marinara sauce as a base.
It takes just a few minutes to do the prep work for this delicious chicken thigh pasta recipe, then just forget about it until the family is ready for dinner. Mix the bolognese sauce with your pasta of choice ( I used tagliatelle.) and enjoy!
Chicken Bolognese Sauce with Pasta
Classic Bolognese sauce is a slow simmered Italian meat sauce, made with the same vegetables used in mirepoix (carrot, celery and onion), along with or tomato sauce or a combination of tomato puree and tomato paste. It is quite popular not just in Italy, but is enjoyed in many countries these days. This Chicken Bolognese version is a hearty dish of chicken pasta sauce tossed with wide noodles.
My mom used to make a version with stew beef when I was a kid, but we never called it Bolognese at the time. It was more like she added pasta sauce to a beef stew and when she didn't add potatoes it ended out getting eaten with pasta.
We don't have a drop of Italian blood, and seldom dined in restaurants. So, we were not at all savvy in authentic Italian cooking
. We just knew what we liked. Adding sauce
was just my mom's way of making the beef more palatable to the rest of us, since my dad was the only one who actually liked it. She sort of stumbled upon the same great idea Italian cooks had been making for generations. It became our tradition too.
I am still not much of a beef or pork eater, but chicken thighs also work well in slow simmered sauces like Bolognese. Rather than preparing the chicken in a Dutch oven on the stove top like I usually do, I decided to dust off my neglected slow cooker
. This way I could make the meal overnight, and would also be an easy meal to toss together before work in the morning for family dinnertime.
How to Make Chicken Bolognese in the Slow Cooker
Here is a quick visual walk-through of the preparation of this easy slow cooker Chicken Bolognese. Full recipe below.
Ingredients you will need:
- 2 carrots medium
- 1-2 stalks celery
- ½ sweet onion
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup white wine or red wine if you prefer
- 1 ½ - 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 24 oz jar of pasta sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened or extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound tagliatelle or pasta of choice
Directions:
First, finely chopped carrot, celery, onion and bay leaves are added to the slow cooker. The vegetables can be prepared the evening before to save time in the morning, and a food processor can make the prep work a breeze.
A ¼ cup of white whine is added. If you don't have wine, grape or apple juice, or a couple tablespoons of red wine or apple cider vinegar
topped off with water to reach the ¼ cup level can readily be substituted.
Mix the vegetables together, then arrange the chicken thighs on top.
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Pour a jar of pasta sauce over the chicken. Turn the slow cooker on low. Cook for 6-8 hours, then break up the chicken thighs with a wooden spoon, until in bite sized pieces.
Toss pasta with butter or olive oil, then Bolognese sauce to serve.
Serve the hot pasta with grated Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh herbs on top. Buon appetito!
Storing
First off, I recommend only making as much pasta as you plan to eat, and just storing the chicken bolognese sauce. If the texture of reheated pasta doesn't bother you, go for it, mix it all up.
Whether you have just the sauce or pasta bolognese storing is essentially the same. Cool to room temp, then promptly seal in an airtight container and place in the fridge. The Chicken Bolognese will last 3-4 days in there.
Q&A
Yes, you can use ground chicken in the recipe. I would recommend browning the ground chicken meat in some olive oil before you add with the finely chopped vegetables and sauce though. The ground chicken may be hard to break up evenly into crumbles if you don't.
Yes, though the thighs work better in this recipe, you can swap breasts. They will be tougher to break up after cooking though, and the thighs lend more fat and flavor to the Bolognese sauce.
Chicken Pasta Recipes
Here are a few more dinners featuring pasta and chicken.
- Chicken Fajita Pasta
- Chicken and Pasta with Fresh Tomato Cream Sauce
- Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Pasta
- Chicken, Spinach and Cannellini Bean Pasta
Slow Cooker Chicken Bolognese
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 carrots medium
- 1-2 stalks celery
- ½ sweet onion
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup white wine Yes, you can use red wine if you prefer.
- 1 ½ - 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 24 oz jar of pasta sauce
- 2 tbs butter softened
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound tagliatelle substituting a good fettucine or pappardelle noodle is fine
Instructions
- Fine dice the carrots, celery and onion (food processor can be helpful). Place in slow cooker along with two bay leaves. Add wine and mix well.
- Arrange the chicken thighs on top, then add the RAGU Homestyle Traditional sauce.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Once fully cooked, break the chicken thighs up into bite sized pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook pasta to al dente. Drain and toss with butter, then add the Chicken Bolognese sauce and gently mix to coat.
- Serve warm. Add grated cheese if you like.
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom says
This looks delicious! I enjoyed hearing your story about how your mom used to prepare your RAGU dinners. 🙂 I selected this same jar of RAGU sauce, it is def. thick and hearty!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Phil Kuhlman says
i have some already cooked thighs in the freezer that i'd like to use. how should i adjust this recipe? thanks.
Robin Gagnon says
I would just cut down on the simmer time.
Elena says
My family loved this recipe!