Forget lumpy mince: how to make smooth bolognese sauce

Forget the meaty chunks and lumps. There is an easy way to make a mince bolognese sauce with a nice and smooth consistency. Find out how.

There’s nothing worse than getting all hyped up to create a beautiful bolognese masterpiece, only to realise that your mince is, sadly, not a thing of beauty.

Instead it sits in the pan in (delicious) chunks and lumps, looking back at you. And all you wanted was a nice smooth mince consistency.

What are people saying about lumpy mince?

So we took to Facebook to ask the masses how they avoid the lumps. And it turns out, people are well aware, and have a few tricks of their own.

Lumpy or smooth mince bolognese? You choose.

“I use a potato masher, it helps to break up the mince every time.” – Annie

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“I use a wooden spatula and break the mince up as it browns.” – Helen

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“I mash it with a pasta server. Easier to clean than a potato masher.” – Heather

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“I use a small metal whisk. Works very well.” – Val

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“I break mine up with an egg flipper.” – Lisa

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So you can see from the wide range of comments, when it comes to lumpy mince, it’s on the national agenda. Big. Important. Stuff.

What do the experts say about lumpy mince?

We asked Amira Georgy, Taste’s food director here, on what tips and tricks she has up her sleeve when it comes to smooth, lovely mince and this is what she said.

“I let my mince stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes before I cook it, I find this helps it to cook more evenly,” she said.

There are ways to make your mince smooth instead of lumpy.

“Many people make the mistake of adding the block of mince straight to the pan and then breaking it up, but it’s well worth crumbling the raw mince with your hands before adding to the pan.

“Once in the pan, I like to break up my mince with the back of a wooden spatula rather than a regular wooden spoon as it has more surface that makes contact with the mince and makes it quicker to break it up.”

A Taste team personal fave to the rescue

And if you’re after something super speedy, there’s the trusty Hackit. If you haven’t met it yet, then it’s safe to say it’ll become a fast friend – and we’re obsessed.

Kitchen gadgets like this Hackit are becoming more popular.

This simple yet very effective chopping utensil costs as little as $14, and helps to easily and fluidly break up meat. It allows for even cooking, and meat that really melts in your mouth.

And yes, while the wooden spoon or masher could do the trick, we wanted results, pronto. (Impatient? Maybe. Efficient? Certainly.)

I need to know more about the Hackit

We hear you – we were a bit taken with it, too. So much so, that we did a bit of a road test as part of our Taste Test Kitchen.

See our very informative, very delicious, very important Hackit review here. Pictures and videos included.

So now that we’ve got perfectly smooth mince, let’s test it out on as many mince recipes as our mince-lovin’ hearts desire.

Mince recipes you should try:

Spaghetti bolognese

Chicken mince recipes the kids will love

101 easy dinner ideas using mince

For more recipe ideas, go to taste.com.au or check out the Taste Test Kitchen now.

Originally published as Forget lumpy mince: how to make smooth bolognese sauce