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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!!
My husband cannot have store bought sauce as it makes him sick. So this is our go to recipe for spaghetti sauce and he loves the flavor and taste of this.
Made this tonight for my Family, and they loved it! Tasted like what my Mom used to make! Definitely will be sharing.
I accidently bought crushed tomatoes instead of tomato sauce, can I still make this and if so how much would I use and would I need to change any of the other ingredients?
Great recipe. My family loved it the first time I made it and wondered why I hadn’t done this before. Now that I have been on a whole food/plant based diet for 2 months, this is still my go to recipe with modifications. Thanks for sharing.
I tried the recipe and left out the Worcestershire sauce because I didn’t have any, I really liked the recipe, it was easy and tasted better than what you buy at the store. Thank you for sharing.
Delicious! Though not Italian, i grew up in a wonderful mixed- ethnic area. Lucky me. And this has the aroma and taste of some of the freat Italian ” gravies” , I was lucky enough to taste, from the Nonni’s thenselves. Thank you!!
This sauce is delicious. The kids devoured it and asked for leftovers the next day. Easy to make and uses pantry staples readily on hand. This is definitely going to be a repeat.
Amazing!!
What is it about this simple sauce? It is excellent. I’m 63 and have been cooking dinner for 53 years. I’ve made dozens of different tomato sauces over the years and this is the best yet. This is why I think it works:
1) grinding up the cooked beef and/or sausage is brilliant. I’d never thought of that before. It gives the sauce a thicker consistency.
2) I think the Worcestershire sauce and sugar and garlic powder, with the other spices is spot on.
3) the tomato paste with water in addition to the tomato sauce (not canned tomatoes) gives it a deep, tomato flavor. And in fact there is a lasagna recipe I use from a 1953 Betty Crocker cookbook that has a similar tomato sauce recipe and people always rave over my lasagna.
I won’t change a thing. It is perfect as is. And I almost always tweak recipes. I made a huge stockpot of this sauce today (7x) the original recipe. My 5 yo grandson loves spaghetti and especially likes mommom’ s sauce. So I’m going to fill their freezer with 32 Oz containers of sauce. I’m also using this for some pans of ziti I’m freezing.
Lauren, you hit this out of the park. I rarely write comments but I had to tell you how much I appreciate your talent and effort. Thank you.
Just made this sauce because I thought I had jarred sauce but I didn’t. I tweaked it to make it my own by adding in fresh garlic, balsamic vinegar, 2 beef bouillon cubes, red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon), dried basil, organic coconut palm sugar instead of white sugar, bagged meatballs instead of ground beef( Farm Rich are the best), season salt, and a splash of fish sauce. It came out delish, and I’ll definitely make this again. Next time I’ll use ground beef, green peppers, and perhaps Italian sausage and fresh mushrooms. This is a keeper and I may not buy jarred sauce again, just like I stopped buying Alfredo sauce. We make our own from scratch, and it’s way more yummy.
Natural Beauty….your recipe is not anything like this so your rating is not for this recipe. It would be nice to have a comment on the original recipe as that is how the chef would want it. Maybe you could have your own site or blog for others to rate your recipes. Great place to start sharing.