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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!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!!!! I add a 28ounce can of diced tomatoes aks 8 dont put the beef in, I make meatballs. Left the crushed red out as last two times I made it too hot. Delicious! I use dried basil instead if fresh, a tbsp per recipe. As I’m fresh outta fresh. Itd be even better with tbat and I let simmer 30 min with the meatballs in it.
Love this recipe! I’ve been looking for a good meat sauce and we all love this. Made it several times and it will be my go to for now on. I like using sausage and using the food processor to chop up the meat finer is brilliant. Thank you!
I love spaghetti! And this is my first time making in homemade!! And it’s so good!!! Of course I added a few more spices! But the base was a great start!!! I won’t be buying jarred sauce any time soon!❤️
Thank you so much Lauren. You have brought back memories of childhood. My grandmother was French Canadian and this is very close to her recipe. Browned hamburger, onions, tomato sauce and tomato paste, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Only other ingredient my grandmother used was Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce. It’s a spicy sauce. She and my mom always made it in the morning and simmered all day before serving for dinner. You’ve put me in the mood for spaghetti and I can’t wait to try your recipe.
I have some secret ingredients that I use in my spaghetti bolognaise sauce. I use tomato or peach chutney instead of sugar. Tomato passata instead of tomato sauce. 1/4+tsp of nutmeg spice. TBS Vinigar. 1tsp mixed Italian herbs or a mixture of fresh herbs. 1x 450gm tinned cherry or chopped tomatoes in tomato juice and a beef stock cube or 1cup of beef stock. Plus Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste and season to taste. I use a pork and beef minced mixture instead. The method is the same however if I have the time I slow cook at 90°c for about 2 hrs
The idea is to make the recipe as given and then give your reactions and thoughts to the recipe. You do not use another’s website to publish your own recipes. You should be ashamed.
Made the recipe AS WRITTEN and was VERY impressed and quite happy! Next time I might use fresh garlic, as it is my usual choice over the powder, but otherwise a GREAT recipe!
Thank you Lauren for sharing your family recipes with us. Very much appreciated.
my thought as well for penelope
Seriously, why bother reviewing this recipe when you’ve basically changed the whole thing? This is always puzzling to me?
I’ll have to try this secret version next time! 😉
My wife and daughter loved this recipe! Keeping this one in the favorites, no more canned sauces for us!
Best spaghetti sauce ever. This is now my “go to” recipe. Perfect combination of ingredients for no fail goodness.
I made this with 1lb high fat ground turkey and 1lb low fat ground turkey and it turned out great! I also threw in some carrots and peppers for exta veggies.
I combined this recipe with what I usually do to make my sauce and it was the best sauce I’ve ever made! My changes: 1 chopped green bell pepper added with the onion, 1 diced zucchini added after the sausage was mostly cooked, approximately 8 thinly sliced mushrooms added with the tomatoes and spices. It was more like a marinara with the veggies. Your spices were on point, which was what I needed.
Thank you for this recipe. I wrote it out and added it to my recipe box. It will now be my go-to.
I love spaghetti, but i always would wind up buying sauce in a jar and “doctoring it up”. I kept trying to get up the nerve to make something from scratch … something I could “tweek” and have some fun with, and lo and behold, I found this recipe. After following the directions to the letter, and tasting it as it was cooking, I felt like I hit the lottery; this stuff was fantastic. Long story short, this recipe is the backbone of my recipe collection. I will be forever grateful for Lauren Allen for posting this, as this gave me the confidence to try different things in the kitchen. It’s alot of fun once you get going. So try this folks, you definitely will not be disappointed!