Baby’s First Bolognese with Carrots and Zucchini
Baby’s First Bolognese – this thick and hearty bolognese sauce with added veggies is the perfect way to introduce the classic sauce to your baby. Great for baby-led weaning or the finger food stage – 9+ months and up.
Baby (and the entire family) will love this easy take on the classic dish!
Browned ground turkey is simmered in a tomato sauce that is filled with chopped carrots and zucchini until tender and flavorful. While I love using ground turkey in this recipe, you can also use ground beef or chicken.
This sauce is versatile and can be served over your favorite pasta, brown rice, zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash.
This dinner is great for baby-led weaning or for self-feeding. But not to fear, toddlers, kids and adults will also love this warming and filling meal.
Get the recipe: Baby’s First Bolognese with Carrots and Zucchini
Ingredients
- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/2 pound ground turkey beef, chicken or pork
- 1 small carrot peeled and finely chopped
- 1/3 cup zucchini finely chopped
- 1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add in the onion and garlic and let cook for 2-3 minutes or until translucent, stirring often.
- Add in the ground meat and cook for 4-5 minutes or until browned, stirring often to break up the meat. Drain any excess fat.
- Add in the carrot and zucchini and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, basil and oregano and let it come to a boil.
- Reduce heat and let simmer for 10-20 minutes.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @babyfoode on Instagram and hashtag it #babyfoode!
14 Comments on “Baby’s First Bolognese with Carrots and Zucchini”
Could you grate the veggies into the sauce instead of chopping?
You can definitely try it. I would just ring out any extra moisture so the sauce isn’t too watered down. 😊
Do you have the nutritional facts for this recipe?
Hi Michelle! I do not provide nutritional information. You can use use an online nutrition calculator to input the ingredients and measurements. xo, Michele
Not sure why, but this came out way too runny/watery, would probably cut down the amount of crushed tomatoes (to maybe 1 can or 1.5 can. Even after allowing it to boil in hopes it would evaporate more sauce. May have been the way I cooked it but my baby wasn’t a fan of the chop meat she kept spitting it out and would choke on it so I ended up making it a puree then mixing it with pastina. Baby liked it. Overall delicious and we made it work for us!
Hi I just made the recipes and it taste good, but my meat came out very dry. Do you have any tips for keeping the ground beef from drying out?
The dryness might be due to your meat not having enough fat in it. What meat did you use and do you know the fat percentage?
Really delicious for the whole family!
So happy to hear that the whole family loved it!
How do you have an 8 month old eat this? My son is doing really well with finger foods so I’m thinking he’s ready for something like this. However, I haven’t introduce a fork yet- too early for using a preloaded fork?
You can toss this bolognese with some shaped pasta (penne, fusilli, farfalle, etc) and have you baby pick up the pasta and eat it. You can also pre-load a fork for him to feed himself. It will be messy, but delicious!
Can this be frozen?
I have frozen this often and it always thaws great. I use the those portioning trays (random one off Amazon) to divide it up and usually thaw two “cubes” at a time for my nearly three year old on top of his noodles. This is one of his favorite meals.
This is brilliant! Love this idea!