Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
My easy homemade spaghetti sauce is thick, meaty, and tastes like it simmered on the stovetop all afternoon, even though it comes together quickly on a weeknight. The trick is browning the onion, beef, and a whole can of tomato paste before the tomatoes go in the pot, which builds deep flavor and all the sweetness a good pasta sauce needs.
This is a thick, meaty spaghetti sauce with the deep, rounded flavor of one that’s been on the stove all afternoon, but it’s easy to make on a weeknight. It’s the sauce I make most often when I’m craving pasta, because I always have the ingredients on hand.
I build the flavor right at the very start, before the tomatoes ever go in. I mince the onion as fine as I can and cook it until it’s deeply browned, so it melts into the sauce instead of sitting in chunks. Then I add a whole can of tomato paste and cook it until it turns brick red and smells sweet. In my kitchen testing, that step gives the sauce its long-simmered taste, and it adds enough natural sweetness that I never have to reach for sugar.
Two pounds of beef to one can of tomatoes makes this a hearty meat sauce, not a tomato sauce with a little meat in it. On a slow Sunday, I make my slow-roasted spaghetti sauce instead.
What to serve with spaghetti for dinner
A crisp salad and something to mop up the sauce are all this needs. My Caesar salad is my go-to, and the sharp Parmesan and lemony, garlicky dressing cut through the richness of a meat sauce.
For bread, I make my garlic bread on sourdough with plenty of butter, garlic, and Parmesan, so it holds up to being dragged through the bowl. The sauce cooks entirely on the stovetop, so the oven is free and the bread can bake while the sauce comes together. When it’s just the three of us, I make a half batch of the garlic butter and spread it on a few slices of sourdough.
Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion (very finely minced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 2 lb lean ground beef
- 1 teaspoon EACH: sea salt and pepper
- 5.5 ounce can tomato paste
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until it is quite dark, about 10 minutes more. Stir in the garlic.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 large onion, 3 cloves garlic
- Add the ground beef, salt, and pepper and cook until the meat is no longer pink. Push the meat to the sides of the pot, add the tomato paste, and cook until it darkens and becomes sweet-smelling, about 3-4 minutes.2 lb lean ground beef, 5.5 ounce can tomato paste, 1 teaspoon EACH: sea salt and pepper
- Add the crushed tomatoes and Italian seasoning, and bring the pot to a simmer for 10 minutes. Season with extra salt and pepper if wanted, then serve over pasta.28 ounce can crushed tomatoes, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
Video
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
I don’t eat red meat or pork. Can I use minced chicken?
Ground chicken works great! It’s slightly lighter tasting, but still delicious!
Great Recipe ! love it.
This was so good! Loved how simple it was to make and it had so much flavor. Everyone raved about it!
Love it! So happy everyone loved it!
I really want to try this recipe but I don’t eat beef. Will it be alright if I changed it to pork?
You could definitely use pork, but I would recommend changing the method a little. Pork is much fattier so I think that it would be best if cooked in a separate pan and then drained of the fat before adding it to the sauce. 🙂
I made the recipe and loved it. I used less meat however, 2 lbs being a lot for one can of tomatoes, and added a 1/2 jar of tomato coulis. It still came out nice and thick.
Delicious and, yes, easy.
So happy to hear you liked the recipe! 🙂
Made this tonight & even my picky teen loved it. Delicious & just as simple as it says. I only had 1 pound of ground beef, but it was still delicious!
That’s so wonderful to hear! I’m so happy that it was a hit!