Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
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This is our family’s go-to spaghetti sauce recipe. It’s very easy to make and tastes like it’s been simmering for hours, even though it takes just over 30 minutes. We have a few tips for making this quick spaghetti sauce the best ever. With some ground beef and a few pantry staple ingredients, you can have a delicious dinner on your table in no time!
This is the spaghetti sauce I make almost every time I’m craving pasta. It’s quick, unfussy, and made with ingredients I usually already have on hand. I like to serve mine over zucchini noodles while my family goes for classic spaghetti—and when I’m feeling extra indulgent, I’ll grab fresh refrigerated pasta like the kind you see in the photos.
The sauce is rich and meaty and tastes like it’s been simmering all afternoon, even though it’s ready in just over 30 minutes. It’s made with only seven basic ingredients, has no added sugar (thanks to a couple of simple tricks), and delivers big, cozy pasta-night flavor with very little effort.
When the weather is warm, try my fresh summer spaghetti!
Spaghetti sauce ingredients
There are 7 ingredients in this sauce and you’re likely to have all of them in your kitchen right now.
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Tomato paste
- Ground beef
- Canned tomatoes
- Italian seasoning (this is our favorite Italian seasoning!)
Tips for making the best spaghetti sauce
This may be a quick spaghetti sauce recipe, but I promise you that it tastes like it’s been simmering on the stove for hours. Here’s how to make it taste the best:
- Mince the onion as small as you possibly can. You don’t want big chunks of onion here. You want the smallest pieces so when it’s cooked it almost melts right into the sauce.
- Saute the onion until it is very well browned and caramelized. This step is crucial for giving the sauce that “simmering for hours” taste.”
- Caramelize the tomato paste. Once you add it to the pot, let it cook for 3-4 minutes. It will darken and become sweet-smelling and add a lot of flavor to the sauce. It also adds sweetness, which is why we don’t need to add any sugar to our sauce.
- Use a hardy beef to tomato ratio. This rich bolognese sauce gets much of its flavor from the beef. Don’t skimp and use less beef or more tomatoes or the sauce will change entirely.
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion (very finely minced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 5.5 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 lb lean ground beef
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
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 to cook, stirring occasionally, until it is well caramelized, about 10 minutes more. Add the garlic and stir then push everything to the side of the pot.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 large onion, 3 cloves garlic
- Add the tomato paste to the pot and let it cook until it darkens and becomes sweet smelling, about 3-4 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook until it is no longer pink.5.5 ounce can tomato paste, 2 lb lean ground beef
- Add the crushed tomatoes and Italian seasoning and bring the pot to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.28 ounce can crushed tomatoes, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, Salt and pepper
Video
Nutrition
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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.
My only question…Step 2, when you add the meat to the cartelized tomato paste, how do you know the meat is cooked until “no longer pink” when it’s mixed in with the paste? Am I missing something?
Delicious though, and, yes, easy.
So happy to hear you liked the recipe! I find that I can still see the color of the meat even with the tomato paste in the pot.:)
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!