Slow Roasted Spaghetti Sauce with Baked Meatballs
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I’ve been making this roasted spaghetti sauce with meatballs for years, and it’s still one of the most-loved meals in my kitchen. The sauce gets its deep, rich flavor from slow-roasting tomatoes, garlic, and onions until everything is caramelized and dreamy—it’s comfort food at its best!
If you’ve never made a roasted tomato pasta sauce from scratch, you’re in for something special. This one’s my favorite—I’ve been making it for years and still get excited every time it comes out of the oven. The tomatoes roast low and slow until they’re sweet, jammy, and full of rich flavor. No stovetop stirring marathons here, just a ridiculously good sauce with minimal effort!
Once it’s done, I love tossing it with spaghetti, then piling on some juicy meatballs, a shower of parmesan, and plenty of fresh basil. It looks fancy, tastes even better, and makes your kitchen smell like an Italian restaurant in the best way.
Seriously, if you’re craving cozy comfort food that’s still a little impressive, this one’s your go-to. Pour a glass of wine, and let’s make some magic!
A few notes I want to mention about the ingredients
Tomatoes: You can use any variety of tomato here. Summer ripened tomatoes are the best, but roasting does wonders even to winter tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes work, too!
Garlic: A whole head sounds like a lot, but I promise the flavor mellows out a lot in the oven.
Meat: The combination of ground beef and pork is my favorite, but you can switch it up as needed. All beef is very tasty, and I’ve even used ground chicken a few times when I’ve wanted to lighten up dinner.
Store, reheat, and freezer instructions
Store: This sauce will keep well for up to 4 days in a covered container in your fridge. I’ve stored it both on its own and mixed with the pasta, and it keeps well either way.
Reheat: My preference is to warm it gently in a pan over medium heat with a splash of water (and extra cheese). A microwave also works to warm this up.
Freeze: This sauce freezes very well! I recommend freezing the sauce separately and then cooking pasta fresh when you’re ready for dinner. You can also freeze the meatballs separately. Both will keep for up to 6 months stored in freezer containers in your freezer.
Slow Roasted Spaghetti Sauce with Baked Meatballs
Ingredients
The Spaghetti Sauce
- 3 lb tomatoes (cut in half)
- 1 head garlic (top cut off)
- 1 teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper (more to taste)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 medium onion (cut into quarters)
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ⅓ cup basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
The Meatballs
- ¾ lb ground beef
- ¾ lb ground pork
- 1 cup fine breadcrumbs
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper
- 3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ medium onion (finely minced)
To Serve
- 12 ounces dry spaghetti
- Optional toppings: parmesan cheese basil leaves
Instructions
- Position one oven rack 4 inches from the heat and one in the middle of your oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the tomatoes and garlic in a large baking dish, cut side up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Bake the tomatoes on the middle rack, uncovered, for 45 minutes.3 lb tomatoes, 1 head garlic, 1 teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper, ¼ cup olive oil
- After 45 minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven. Take out the garlic and add the onions, nestling them around the tomatoes. Put the dish back into the oven for 1 hour more.1 medium onion
- While the tomatoes are roasting, prepare the meatballs. Place all the meatball ingredients into a large bowl and mix well using your hands. Use a medium-sized (about 2 tablespoons) cookie scoop to portion the meat. Roll into balls, place them on a baking sheet, and store them in your fridge until you're ready for them.¾ lb ground beef, ¾ lb ground pork, 1 cup fine breadcrumbs, ⅓ cup whole milk, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper, 3 cloves garlic, ½ medium onion, 2 large eggs
- Remove the baking dish and turn the oven to broil. When it comes to temperature, broil the meatballs for 8-10 minutes until they develop a dark golden crust on top. Move the baking sheet to the lower rack, lower the heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and continue to cook them for another 10 minutes.
- When the meatballs go into the oven, put a large pot of salted water to boil. Then, transfer the tomatoes, onions, and all their juices to a blender. Squeeze the garlic from the skins and add the garlic, parmesan, basil, and thyme to the blender. Blend on medium speed until smooth.½ cup grated parmesan cheese, ⅓ cup basil leaves, 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- Pour the sauce into a pot (a braiser works really well for this step) and turn the heat to medium-low. Clean the blender with 1 cup of water and pour this into the sauce to get all the flavor.
- When the water beings to boil, add the spaghetti noodles and cook for 1 minute less than the package directions. When the noodles are almost cooked, add enough of the cooking water to the sauce to loosen it – the sauce is quite thick so I usually add close to a cup. Once it's the right consistency, taste it and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Note: if your tomatoes weren't very ripe, you may want to add a little sprinkle of sugar.12 ounces dry spaghetti
- Using a pair of tongs, transfer the spaghetti from the pot to the sauce and toss to coat. If needed, loosen the sauce with more of the cooking water.
- Serve the spaghetti with the meatballs on top and extra parmesan and basil.Optional toppings: parmesan cheese basil leaves
Notes
Nutrition
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Can I use beef only? As I don’t eat pork. Do I need to make any changes in the recipe?
Yes you can! Beef works well, too!
This recipe is delicious! I made it as soon as I saw your post. I roasted tomatoes and garlic for 1h and 30 min and that was plenty. One comment is that I would recommend roasting the garlic in container, covered with foil, separate from the tomatoes. Roasting the tomatoes uncovered is great as it helps concentrate the flavor as the juice evaporates. However 400 degrees for 2 hours in the oven will just completely dry out and char your garlic. If you want a little more roast on the garlic cloves, you can uncover for the last 20 minutes or so.
So happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe!
I’m so happy to hear you like it!!!
This recipe is delicious!!! The sauce is good enough on it’s own as a soup! I added the garlic to the tomatoes the last 30 minutes of roasting time. I doused the tomatoes with PLENTY of olive oil which I transferred to the blender as well. Also, I used a pack of spicy Italian sausage in place of ground pork. Delicious!!! Thank you!
What a great idea to use spicy Italian sausage. I’m trying that next time for sure!!
When u blend the tomatoes and garlic, do u blend the tomatoes with the skin on?
I have left the skins on as they just disintegrate when pulsed.
Enjoy!
I do, too! The blend right into the sauce. 🙂
Hi there,
So excited to make this recipe!! Just a quick question that may be on the silly side… 😛
To roast the tomatoes, do I need a roast pan? Will a normal 9×13 baking dish do fine, or will I be in trouble? Just wanted to check before I attempted this awesome-looking recipe! Thanks 🙂
Hi Kate,
That should work just fine! I’ve used a few different sizes of pans when making this and it has always turned out. Enjoy!
I want to make this weekend. What kind of tomatoes shall I use?
Hi Steve,
I’ve used many different types of tomatoes and they’ve all worked great. Use whichever tomatoes at the grocery store look the ripest.
How much is a generous bunch of sea salt? Over or under salted would not be great, so I’d like to know at least an approximate measure. Thanks – looking forward to trying this!
Hi Lisa,
I’m always hesitant to give exact measurements with salt. The saltiness of a dish will depend largely on what type of salt you use and your own taste buds.
I would start with a few good pinches, blend, taste and go from there. When it tastes rich and incredibly delicious, stop adding salt.
Hi there. For the basil leaves, should they be fresh or no? I am planning on making this tonight…it sounds deeelish!
Hey Kimberly,
Fresh basil leaves will make a world of difference. If you can, definitely use fresh basil. If you can’t find any you could substitute a pinch of dried basil or just leave it out 🙂
Hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Mix all ingredients together, form into 1″ balls and sauté in a pan, turning frequently, for 30 minutes. Set aside
When you say “all ingredients” do you mean everything except for the garlic, tomatoes, and sea salt and basil? it would be helpful to separate the ingredients for the sauce vs. the meatballs for people who are novice cooks and need to follow recipes carefully.
Thanks!
Hey K,
Sorry that that wasn’t clear. I went back and re-read it and it definitely wasn’t!
I’ve separated the ingredients for the sauce and meatballs so it should be clear now. Let me know if you have any other questions.
And thank you for mentioning that it is helpful for novice cooks to have clear directions. I do forget that sometimes and I’ll have to keep that in mind!
I wish I’d asked questions before attempting this recipe. 400 degrees seemed very hot to roast the tomatoes so I went with 160 (celcius & fan forced oven). Unfortunately both the garlic and some parts of the tomato were still a bit burnt and that was after 90 minutes. I tried using the non burnt bits to blend with basil but to be honest it wasn’t a great tasting sauce at all. Given the simplicity of the ingredients etc I don’t know how it could have gone wrong. Very disappointing:(
I’m sorry it didn’t turn out as you had hoped. We’ve got this recipe flagged to remake again soon and so will recipe test it a few more times to see if we can figure out what happened. 🙂
I put the garlic cloves in a separate dish, covered them with tin foil and set the timer for 1.5 hours to make sure they didn’t burn. They were burned to a crisp after an hour! Make sure to keep an eye on them and take them out ASAP!
Hey Alyssa,
Thank you for the feedback! Although this hasn’t happened to me whenever I make this recipe, I’m going to add a note to the recipe to help out other readers. Other than the crispy garlic, I hope it turned out for you 🙂
Made this last weekend… SO FLIPPIN GOOD!!!!
That’s so great to hear, Amy! So happy you liked it as much as I did 🙂
This recipe is delicious! I made it as soon as I saw your post. I roasted tomatoes and garlic for 1h and 30 min and that was plenty. One comment is that I would recommend roasting the garlic in container, covered with foil, separate from the tomatoes. Roasting the tomatoes uncovered is great as it helps concentrate the flavor as the juice evaporates. However 400 degrees for 2 hours in the oven will just completely dry out and char your garlic. If you want a little more roast on the garlic cloves, you can uncover for the last 20 minutes or so.
Hi Tracey,
That’s a great suggestion about covering the garlic. I actually took mine out before the end and just realized that I didn’t mention that in the recipe. So happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Hey Sarah,
I’m big on comfort food, especially when it’s been remade to be extra tasty!
LOL absolutely get him too!!
Yes. I am so making that tomato sauce.
Hey Katie,
I sure hope you do! I swear you are going to love it 🙂