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Easy homemade spaghetti sauce, using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry! This recipe is a family dinner staple!
Spaghetti Sauce
This spaghetti sauce recipe may be the first thing I learned to cook, completely by myself, when I was really young. As I got better at cooking and baking (and because I loved it so much) I can specifically remember two recipes my Mom would let me make all by myself: this homemade spaghetti sauce, and our family's favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.
She'd be nearby for supervision, but it was a huge confidence boost for me to cook all on my own! And an even bigger confidence boost when my older brothers said they liked the food 🙂
This Homemade Spaghetti Sauce recipe has been a family staple for as long as I can remember. It's really simple and the flavors are fantastic.
This is one of those meals that always tastes amazing–and it's perfect for busy weeknights this time of year! Plus, there's no picky eater that would ever say no to spaghetti!
How to make homemade spaghetti sauce:
First brown the beef and onion. Chop the ground beef finely as you go. After it's browned I often like to add it to my food processor to pulse it once or twice so that it's finely crumbled. It makes the sauce extra smooth (although some people like their spaghettie sauce with larger peices of meat in it,)
Next, add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, seasonings, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add water and simmer for 30 minutes or longer, to get more depth of flavor. The longer you simmer it, the more the flavors will blend together beautifully.
I use this sauce all the time in my Spaghetti Pie, Million Dollar Spaghetti, Slow Cooker Lasagna and Instant Pot Spaghetti.
Spaghetti sauce, marinara sauce and pizza sauce; what's the difference?
There is all sorts of confusion surrounding these terms, but spaghetti sauce, marinara sauce, and pizza sauce are usually all tomato based sauces. Marinara sauce, or pasta sauce is a slow-simmered sauce that is often made with tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. In America, we often refer to marinara as a meatless, tomato-based sauce.
Spaghetti sauce is essentially any sauce that you put on spaghetti. Traditional spaghetti sauce is often just a more complex marina sauce that has additional spices and may be made with meat, vegetables, cheese, etc.
Pizza sauce is typically uncooked and refers to any sauce you put on pizza. This sauce is usually simple, with few ingredients and is meant to cook with the pizza for added flavor.
Tips for making ahead and freezing spaghetti sauce:
This homemade spaghetti sauce can be easily made ahead of time. Store it in the fridge for 3 to 4 days or freeze it. Before freezing spaghetti sauce, allow the mixture to cool completely. Label a gallon freezer bag and fill it with the sauce. Store it on a flat surface so that it freezes into a flat shape that will store easily. Store it for up to 4-6 months. To use, place frozen sauce in a pot and reheat on the stove until warm.
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Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef, (or ½ lb ground Italian sausage and ½ lb ground beef)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, , to taste
- 1 medium onion, , chopped
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- crushed red pepper flakes, , to taste
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, (optional)
- spaghetti noodles, , for serving
Instructions
- Season ground beef with salt and pepper.
- In a large skillet, add the beef and chopped onion and brown. Drain excess grease.
- Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, parsley, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, worcestershire, and sugar to the skillet.
- Stir well to combine and bring to a boil. Add water and stir well.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add chopped basil before serving, if desired.
- This sauce tastes great in Spaghetti Pie, Million Dollar Spaghetti, Slow Cooker Lasagna and Instant Pot Spaghetti.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
*I originally shared this recipe in September 2015. Updated July 2018.
So good! I have made this at least 5 times already. I always make a big pot and freeze half for another night for dinner ☺️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This recipe turned out great. It was even better than my recipe straight from Italy.
My family LOVES this sauce! It’s so good and easy to make! Thank you!
I made this sauce for my lasagna. It was the best I’ve ever tasted! Loved it and will continue to make it.
This recipe is seriously delicious, having made sauce hundreds of times this one is a true keeper. I’ve made your recipe about 10 times and it never fails. Thank you
Thank you so much for this keeper of a recipe. I have been looking all over and attempted so many recipes for homemade spaghetti sauce and am so glad to have found ‘THE ONE!’ It is absolutely ‘fantabulous!’ And I love pressing the easy button too!
I’ve tried a number of homemade spaghetti sauces and this is my favorite of all! Thank you so much.
Holy moly!! This is seriously good!! I was nervous that the seasonings wasn’t enough but it packed enough punch!! Soooo yummy and I made a huge batch so I’m sure the flavors will start to deepen and develop over a couple of hours. Thanks for sharing your yummy recipe!!
I’m trying to find a recipe my husband likes. He is a very picky man. With the sugar added does it taste really sweet? If so, can it be made without the sugar and not taste so bland? He is all about the meat really.
The sugar is there to offset the acidity of the tomatoes. It doesn’t make it sweet :-). Enjoy!
I’m sorry, made the recipe exactly as listed and…it was awful. The Worcester sauce drowns out the flavor of anything else, and it didn’t taste like any kind of marinara/spaghetti sauce I’ve ever had, just worchester tomato sauce. My husband loves anything Italian and both he and I had a couple of bites and then tossed the whole dinner, I’m sorry to say. I’m not trying to hate, but I followed the recipe exactly and it was really, really awful. I even reviewed the recipe thinking I had made a mistake somewhere, but I didn’t.
My family says this is the best ever spaghetti sauce. I agree.
A good solid sauce for everyday use. Definitely going to make another batch for freezing and using in a month. Reading through the pages of comments I really give you a lot of credit for not calling out some commenters who left out half the ingredients and substituted as many more and then still complained. WOW !
Just made this, it is great! Only thing i did outside of the recipe was add 1/2cup of chopped mushrooms and 1/4cup finely chopped spinach(only way i can eat spinach).
Its the first sauce that is like my gramps, he dead now and this took me back 30years to my childhood! Thanks soo much for this 👍
This spaghetti sauce is the bomb … so delicious! This is as close to my mom’s recipe as it gets. If you’re looking for a great recipe, this is it! This will he my go-to recipe. That you for posting this amazing recipe!
My daughter has never, ever liked spaghetti. One day I made this recipe. I went to work, a few minutes later my daughter calls me excited saying she loves this sauce. She is now a spaghetti sauce lover, BUT only of this sauce. Thank you for this recipe. One happy mom.
It’s simmering on my stove right now! And my sample taste is approved! My Mom passed away a few years ago, so I cannot ask fir her recipe: she used to say” you don’t know how to make sauce from scratch?!?!” Well, I didn’t. Now I do!! My Mom would be proud!!❤️
FIRST TIME great flavor loved it. Post more italian receipts
I made this spaghetti sauce tonight. Absolutely loved it. Only thing I did differently was added red wine instead of water. This will be my go to spaghetti sauce. Thank you for a wonderful spaghetti sauce that does not take hours to fix and is full of flavors.
So what’s the 1 cup of water for ?
Could this be made without meat?
Sure, just leave it out.
This is my go to spaghetti recipe! Delicious! It is great without meat too..just use 1lb 12oz can of crushed tomatoes in place of the meat and tomato sauce.
Very much like my family recipe. And YES, of course, you can eliminate the meat! It can be done totally veggie, although not vegan. Or you can add meatballs. It’s a very flexible recipe, although don’t add much garlic, especially fresh garlic. It overpowers the delicate sauce, especially if there is no meat. A half teaspoon of garlic powder is how we changed this particular recipe, otherwise did it as described. I am sensitive to too much garlic, plus these days it seems like people put too much garlic in many dishes. It can overwhelm the other flavors of any recipe.
Why??