This post contains affiliate links.
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.
Need a SIDE DISH? Some of my favorites include:
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!
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.
Text me new recipe ideas!
Simple, tasty ideas sent once a week. No spam.
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!!
Delicious!!! Thank you!
Thanks so much for trying the recipe!
So good this is my family’s favorite, second time I’ve made this and everyone loves it!
Appreciate the recipe, but this was awful. Followed recipe completely and end result tasted like strong metallic tomato paste with meat. If I ever tried this again I would up the tomato sauce and leave out the tomato paste. Would also add more spices, this was way too bland for our taste.
This sounds more like your ingredients than the recipe. If you buy cheap tomato products, the acid can start leaching away at the tin. I have had this happen to cheaper canned veggies before, as well as tomato sauce. Also, beef that is mixed with beef byproducts (which you have to check the back of package) can have things like liver etc ground into them that make the meat taste metallic. Check your ingredients.
Two things:
First, “Italian” seasoning? Really? Depending upon which brand you buy of this, the ingredients and proportions vary greatly; you cannot expect consistency of results using so-called “Italian” seasoning. It’s more professional to list ALL of the spices involved, and the appropriate proportions. I don’t just buy my spices prepared and stored on shelves for God knows how long (I never buy spice blends, preferring to do my own mixing); I buy them whole and fresh, hand-grinding them myself, and all spices are not equal. Take oregano, for instance: There’s Mediterranean and Mexican. They do NOT taste the same. Use Mediterranean for Italian dishes and Mexican for Mexican.
Second, SUGAR? You do NOT put SUGAR in spaghetti sauce. Yeah, I know, Prego and other brands do, and they are all uniformly REVOLTING. It is an egregious offense to put sugar in any red sauce but pizza sauce; one expects a little sweetness with a red pizza sauce, but spaghetti sauce recipes are simple and unpretentious.
What a jerk.
The unpretenciousness of your perfect sugarless spaghetti sauce, does not seem to have done many favors for that pretentious attitude of yours, that is 100% subjective. However, your comment was the one comment that persuaded me to try this recipe out. So that’s what I’m making my fam tonight. Thank you.
Sorry, William. I agree with Barbara and Jayme. Some comments are better left unsaid. Better yet, do share your unpretentious recipe with the rest of us.
William, bless your heart! I’m sure the Italian seasoning police appreciate your vigilance, but not all of us have hours to individually grind herbs for a weeknight dinner. Sometimes simple works, and not every sauce needs to be a culinary crusade.
Obviously you have nothing but time on your hands lmao…. but probably 98% of us do not!!! We have jobs, families to take care of and other things to take care of around the house as well.
Keep your comments to yourself. Buy a voice recorder and record your comments in it….. then play them back in a month or so and see how much of an idiot you are!!!!!
This was the first time in my 56 years of life that I made sauce that wasn’t jarred and heated.
Delicious!! I cooked for my next door neighbor too. She’s an amazing cook and she’s picky. She said it was real good. High compliment from her!
Thanks for this recipe. I had no idea how simple it could be to make tasty food💜
My Dad is the world’s pickiest eater. Every time he comes to my house for dinner, he generally hates what I cook for him. I made this recipe for him last week and he said it was “really good” and then changed his answer to “excellent”. The world as I know it as forever changed.
I love this sauce. I don’t buy jar sauce anymore. Thanks for the recipe!
Great recipe, and super easy. We omit the Worcestershire sauce, as we don’t like the flavor this gives to the sauce.
Your recipe is good. but….mine is better. The only difference is ,I mince 2 med garlic cloves and half chopped a green bell pepper.saute the onion,garlic pepper add your spices,tomato paste and sauce and 1 teaspoon sugar. Add water then add the meat. Simmer adding water a little at a time if it gets too thick. Salt and pepper to taste.
My great aunt from Italy taught me this and it is quite delicious. Happy cooking.!!!
Dorothy Rodela, I live in Texas.
Excellent Sauce!! Used in our lasagna and it was great!