I don’t know about you but I have a bit of a problem with portion control ending up with leftovers on most days, not just leftover bolognese sauce but everything I cook. I get it from my mum who always made more than she needed of whatever she cooked – in fact she still does but I’m not complaining as it often results in roast dinners being sent over for the girls.

One thing I always have WAY too much of is leftover bolognese sauce, mainly because I’m so used to making it that I rarely measure out ingredients and I often toss in any spare veggies to bulk it out. We all know the typical way to use bolognese sauce is on a bed of spaghetti or pasta.

I do find that batch cooking dishes such as this works out so much cheaper. You use less energy which leads to lower gas/electric bills and also I tend to use every scrap of veg/chickpeas etc that I have lingering around so I include less meat which again makes it cheaper. This leftover sauce never gets wasted, at least not any more. I don’t often feel like eating spaghetti bolognese twice in the same week but I find that as well as freezing a portion or two that I often feel like creating a different dish using some of the sauce. Here are some of our favourite ways of using it up:

Leftover Bolognese Sauce Ideas:

Loaded Nachos

This is a really simple dish. You simply put a layer of nachos at the bottom of a baking dish, pour over some leftover bolognese sauce, top with diced chilli or jalapeños and any leftover bits of cheese lingering in the fridge. The dish below has three different types of cheese including mozzarella which gives a gooey element! It tastes so good and it’s a great movie night supper with some sour cream to dip into.

Bolognese & Sweet Potato Pie

This is a twist on cottage pie. Place a layer of leftover bolognese sauce in a pie dish and top with sweet potato or potato mash and bake until piping hot throughout and browned and crispy on top. It’s perfect comfort food for cool autumn evenings and the girls love it.

Lasagne

This is an obvious one but a really fabulous dish – one of my favourite meals to eat. Bolognese tastes better the next day as the flavours mingle so this is a good one to make in the 1-2 days following you making the sauce. You could cheat by using fresh lasagne sheets and jars of bechamel sauce but it really is very easy to make yourself. Add spinach leaves in each layer for an easy way of getting more greens into your children.

Super Spuds

This is an idea I stole from an Instagram friend Alfresco Aussie and doesn’t it look delicious? Baked potatoes topped with leftover bolognese sauce, slaw, cheese and sour cream and well it can be adapted for more or less anything you fancy!

Chilli Con Carne

 Turn your bolognese into  chilli by reheating and adding a tin of kidney beans and some chilli powder. Serve with rice and you have a totally different meal.