Possessing the meanest home PL defence after conceding only seven goals, Bournemouth's best form of defence was attack from the onset on the South Coast.
That front-foot approach was rewarded in the ninth minute, as Justin Kluivert continued his stellar run of form by capping off a clinical counter-attack with a fine finish into the corner of the net – a goal highly reminiscent of his father Patrick’s heyday.
In response to falling behind, Morgan Gibbs-White fired a snapshot from inside the area inches wide of the wrong side of the post for Forest.
Back to the scene of the game’s opening goal, Ryan Christie and Antoine Semenyo forced Matz Sels into two significant saves to keep the deficit at just one for the visitors, as the contest approached the half-hour mark.
First, the Belgian number one did brilliantly to prevent Christie’s rebounded effort from doubling the hosts’ lead, before he produced a more eye-catching save to deny Semenyo after a promising solo run.
Overall, Andoni Iraola’s side were full value for their HT lead, which had them just 45 minutes away from closing the gap on the top four to a single point.
It was nearly double delight for the Cherries almost immediately from the restart, with Ouattara firing straight into the arms of Sels.
Nevertheless, there was only one place the ball was heading in the 55th minute, and that was the back of the net, as Kluivert’s exquisitely lofted delivery into the danger zone put it on a plate for Ouattara to head home.
Two nearly became three no fewer than three minutes later as Kluivert thought he had doubled his tally for the afternoon. However, VAR came to Forest's rescue, due to a marginal offside in the build-up.
Nonetheless, there was no stopping Iraola’s rampant side from wrapping up the victory in the 62nd minute, as Tyler Adams’ defence-splitting pass allowed Ouattara to expertly cut in on his marker before sublimely slotting the ball past Sels into the far corner.
Forest’s woes were vigorously compounded with time elapsing, as first Ouattara completed his hat-trick by clinically converting from close-range after Sels failed to deal with a fierce effort from a distance before Semenyo added a cheeky fifth goal from inside the area.
Bournemouth's spectacular season (W11, D7, L5) well-and-truly continues, with the Cherries still daring to dream that they could be playing in the UEFA Champions League next season.
Meanwhile, despite suffering their first defeat in nine matches across all competitions, Forest remain four points ahead of their nearest top-four challengers.