A Classic Bolognese Packed With Ninja Veggies
Pretty much everyone loves a good bolognese, and unfortunately pretty much all kids hate eating vegetables. With these two things in mind, let’s sharpen up our ninja skills and dish up a quick and delicious bolognese, with it jammed packed with hidden veggies.
A normal bolognese can take a couple of hours to prep, fry off the ingredients and then simmer and reduce. Me being lazy, I mean busy, I like to get awesome results without all the time and washing up. So one of my best friends in the kitchen is my slow cooker. If you have never used a slow cooker before, I highly recommend having one of these if you are a busy parent, struggle with the work/family balance and enjoy great food.
Before I head out for the day, I spend 15 to 20 minutes getting everything prepped and throw it all in the slow cooker. Turn it on low and leave it for the day. Coming into Winter, my family love nothing more than coming home to a house filled with mouth-watering aromas from the slow cooker doing its magic for the last 8 hours. All we need to do now is dish it up and dinner is done.
To emphasise the point on how much I love my slow cooker, I have even brought it with us on family holidays and camping trips. Bang it on in the morning, spend the day at the beach or amusement park, then get back to our accommodation to kick back to a tasty meal with a nice glass of wine (or 2…or maybe 3).
“I was actually surprised that the hidden veggies weren’t noticeable at all”
One of the reasons why I love this recipe so much is that the slow cooker does most of the work in hiding the vegetable in the bolognese sauce. All ingredients are chopped up small and then with the 8 hours in the slow cooker they all soften to a point where they become one with the tomato-y sauce. The first time I made it, I was actually surprised that the hidden veggies weren’t noticeable at all!
Hidden Veggie Beef & Lamb Bolognese | Let’s Get Cooking!

I will just go through the actually Bolognese part of this recipe today, and you just need to decide what side you pair it with. Spaghetti, penne, normal pasta or perhaps a wholemeal variety. My son loves having it with rice, while my hubby likes zucchini spirals. For me, I could just eat it on its own with a little bit of parmesan cheese.
For the quantity we make, I like to cook enough for 2 nights worth for 2 adults and 2 kids, plus enough left over to get another handful of serves for the kids which I put in the freezer. Let’s get into it 🙂
Kitchen Utensils
- Slow Cooker / Crock Pot
- Chopping board
- Sharp knife
- Frypan
Ingredients
- 1 Large onion – finely chopped
- 6 Garlic cloves (or minced garlic in a jar) – finely chopped
- 1 Tbs Olive oil
- 1.1 (500g) Pound of minced Beef
- 1.1 (500g) Pound of minced Lamb
- 2 Tbs Tomate Paste
- 2 x 14oz (400g) Tin Tomotoes
- 1 Tbs Dried mixed herbs
- 4 Cups Chicken Stock
- 2 Medium eggplants – finely chopped
- 2 Cups Mushrooms – finely chopped
- 2 Carrots – finely chopped or grated
- 2 Zucchinis – finely chopped or grated
- 1 Tsp Pepper
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1 Cup tasty cheese
Method
Step 1
Finely chop up all your vegetables, keeping the onion and garlic to the side.
Step 2
On medium to high heat, fry off the onion, garlic, beef and lamb until it is lightly browned. Make sure to break up the mince so there are no big chunks. This should only take 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer everything in the pan to the slow cooker.

Step 3
Add all other ingredients into the slow cooker, mix together, put on the lid and turn the slow cooker onto the low setting. Leave for 8 hours and done.
If you don’t want to wait 8 hours, you can turn the slow cooker on high and this will be ready to 4 to 5 hours.
Recipe Tips
Suggested Dishes To Pair With
- As mentioned above, the choice is yours. However, I do recommend trying a wholemeal pasta. These days wholemeal pasta is actually really delicious and is a bit healthier than the standard more refined pasta varieties.
- Now it would be rude not to have a nice bit of sourdough on the side to soak up the leftover sauce in everyone’s bowl.
What to do now?

- Try this recipe! It’s less than 20 minutes of actual work and it allows busy parents like us to have a winning dinner on the table after a big day
- Get yourself a slow cooker if you haven’t got one already. It will legit be a game changer for you! There are some super cheap slow cookers out there, however for piece of mind I use well know brands like
- Crock Pot because it will be on cooking all day, most likely while no one is home. Pay a little bit more for quality is my recommendation.
- Use this recipe for dinners, meal prep or as a backup meal for those days when getting something fresh on the table is unrealistic. This recipe is super freezer friendly and I normally have at least 5 serves of this hidden veggie bolognese sitting in my freezer at all times
- Leave us a comment on your experience with this recipe – Hidden Veggie Beef & Lamb Bolognese
- Last but definitely not least, subscribe for new recipes so we can share what we are winning with, in our kitchen.
Easy, family-friendly, delicious – ENJOY!