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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!!
So simple and so good! Not a huge worcestershire fan you could use a little less of that and the sugar but overall a great sauce recipe. Served with rigatoni.
Made a double batch of this yesterday evening; was hesitant to use so much tomato paste but it was worth it! Extremely tasty!! And simple 🙂
Slight modifications: added a lot more Italian seasoning, swapped sugar for erythritol/monkfruit, and threw in a tiny bit of MSG near the end. Actually forgot to season the hamburger at the start lol.
Delicious and easy. I simmer for an hour. Won’t buy spaghetti sauce in a jar ever again!
Easy and delicious!
Made this tonight, simple to make, but sauce was a game changer!
Hello Lauren,
I am making this Spaghetti sauce recipe today. House smells amazing! My Family is so excited to eat dinner tonight. It tastes as good as it smells! (shh…I already had some).
Thanks for the recipe Lauren.
-Craig
I always start with 2 pound of fresh ground beef, 1 pound, Italian sausage, two onions, chopped three bell peppers, chopped a lot of various seasonings tomatoes sauce,l diced tomatoes, 1 quart one habanero pepper, a jar of Ragu with mushrooms, 1 pound jar of mushrooms and cook and do everything you’re done
So what does this have to do with the recipe shown???????
This is similar to how I make spaghetti sauce, I add parmesan cheese ,finger licking. The Italian sausage adds soo much flavor!!
So basically you made a completely different sauce. Got it
Great – and easy – recipe! But please, please, please – spaghetti is pasta. It is not a noodle. Pasta and noodles are made from different ingredients and are not the same. To coin a phrase, it’s like apples and oranges.
Stop knit-picking…no one cares
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Awesome comment
Exactly how I would put it
OMG I was just thinking the same exact while reading. And if you’re gonna change the entire recipe means you’re not following recipe so post your own on your own page.
Quit correcting, make the recipe or write one of your own, but nobody cares about your self importance. We only care about the taste of the food. People like you have no purpose other than pissing everyone else off.
Yum!!!! I used ground chicken, and half a can of plum tomatoes (along with the tomato paste). This recipe is a keeper…. Thank you!!! ❤️
Spaghetti are 100% noodles. Check the entry for noodle in your dictionary of choice. “Noodles” is a generic term for ribbon-shaped dough, which is attested in English for longer than the later loanword “pasta.” It applies as equally to Italian pasta as Chinese mian. Incidentally, in Italian, the word “pasta” can refer to noodles, pastes, smelt, confections, etc. All to day, “pasta” (as used in English) is simply a convenient term to specify traditional Italian noodles. It’s not apples to oranges; it’s oranges to navel oranges.
Delicious
Excellent taste. I used fresh tomatoes from the garden and blended them with my immersion blender. Followed the recipe exactly, and loved it.