Ditch the canned spaghetti sauce for this flavorful & beefy homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce. Easy to make with dried seasonings and canned tomatoes. Make it in one pot and let it simmer on the stove top for the best flavor. Serve over pasta noodles or use in any recipe that calls for spaghetti sauce.
If your family loves spaghetti like mine does then be sure and make my spaghetti casserole, this easy slow cooker spaghetti and meatballs, and my cheesy taco spaghetti casserole.
Spaghetti Meat Sauce Recipe
Homemade spaghetti meat sauce is a regular around my house. It's one of those recipes that my kids ask for all the time, "mom make your spaghetti sauce." My kids are young right now but I am hoping it's one of those recipes that they come back home and ask for as they get older ♥️.
This spaghetti meat sauce simmers on the stove top and every time I make it, I am reminded that there is not a better scent than spaghetti sauce simmering away on the stove. It's like the smell of comfort and home.
I love the convenience of a canned marinara sauce but sometimes you want a homemade, total comfort food dinner. And for me it's usually this spaghetti meat sauce. It's the perfect recipe to make for dinner when you have some time on your hands and just want some delicious classic, comfort food.
What You'll Need
You will need some easy ingredients like canned tomatoes, dried seasonings, ground beef, and garlic to make this homemade spaghetti sauce recipe.
Ground Beef - Use any ground beef you like. You will drain the excess grease from it so it really does not matter what percentage of fat you use. I always use 93/7 ground beef.
Sweet Onion - I find that this recipe is best with a sweet onion. But feel free to use a white onion or a yellow onion.
Garlic - So many options here! Mince or press fresh garlic cloves. Use chopped garlic from a jar. Or use garlic paste from the tube (I use this!).
Crushed Tomatoes - If you can't find the 15 ounce size can then buy the larger 29 ounce can and use half of it. I usually just eyeball it but if you want an exact measurement it is about 1.5 cups of crushed tomatoes.
Tomato Sauce
Diced Tomatoes w/ Basil, Garlic, Oregano - This is the 'Italian version' of diced tomatoes. If you prefer a not so chunky spaghetti sauce then throw these in the blender and blend until it's where you want it. I do this for my kids. And for me actually, as I am not a huge fan of tomato chunks.
Granulated Sugar - This helps offset all the acid from the tomatoes.
Dried Basil & Oregano - I love recipes that call for dried spices because I never have fresh spices on hand and don't want to spend a fortune for them at the store.
Sugar - Helps to balance out the acidity from the tomatoes. Don't skip this!
Salt & Pepper - You will add the salt in two different places while making this. As always, add more salt (or less) depending on preference.
How to Make Homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce
This recipe has a few steps needed to make it.
Brown Ground Beef : In a skillet pan, over medium-high heat, brown and crumble the ground beef with the onion, garlic, and salt. Once beef is no longer pink be sure and drain the excess grease.
Spaghetti Sauce : Add the remaining ingredients including tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, sugar, basil, oregano, and salt & pepper. Stir to combine.
Simmer : This is the most important step! Bring the spaghetti sauce to a low boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and let it simmer for at least 25 minutes. Longer if you can! The flavor gets better and better the longer it simmers.
Serve : Serve the meat sauce over pasta noodles of choice.
Tips For Success
Read below for my helpful tips so that you can have success making this in your own home.
- Simmer - This is the most important #1 tip for this recipe. If you don't let the sauce simmer for at least 25 minutes, the flavor will not be as good. Make sure that you have the time set aside to let it simmer.
- Thin or Thick Pasta Sauce - When you first mix all the stuff together it will seem thin. Don't worry, as it simmers the sauce thickens up to a perfect consistency. But if it's too thick for you then just add some beef broth, chicken broth, or water. I have never added this so I can't say for sure how it affects the final taste.
- Don't Skip The Sugar - The sugar helps to balance out the acidity from all the tomato. It really is necessary in this recipe.
Variation Ideas
There are a few ways you can change this recipe up and customize to your liking.
- Use Ground Turkey : Use ground turkey for a "healthier" and lower fat option.
- Use Ground Sausage : For maximum flavor use some ground Italian sausage. They make a mild ground sausage, sweet ground sausage, and even a hot ground sausage. This does have quite a flavor punch to it so the end result will be much more flavor and spice if using ground sausage.
- Seasonings : Feel free to add some additional seasonings like Italian Seasoning if wanted. Or add more or less of the dried seasonings depending on preference.
- Tomato Sauce : Instead of using plain tomato sauce, swap it out for a Italian style tomato sauce that has basil, garlic, oregano in it. Like the diced tomatoes the recipe calls for.
Serving Suggestions For Spaghetti Meat Sauce
We love this spaghetti meat sauce over some cooked spaghetti noodles. You can use any noodle you want! Top each serving with parmesan cheese.
Serve some garlic bread on the side and a side salad. I like to buy the bagged organic Caesar salad mix from Costco, but any grocery store sells it.
You can also serve it over some zucchini noodles for a low carb option.
Feel free to use this pasta sauce in any recipe that calls for it, like this easy ziti pasta bake. This is a great thing to do with leftovers!
How To Store Leftovers
Leftovers of spaghetti meat sauce will store well, in an air-tight container, for up to 3-4 days.
When ready to eat simply heat up some meat sauce in the microwave or on the stove top.
Can I Freeze Spaghetti Meat Sauce?
Yes you can freeze spaghetti meat sauce! I love to freeze the leftovers in a freezer safe Ziploc bag (or other freezer safe container) for up to 3 months.
Thaw leftovers in the fridge overnight or place the frozen leftovers in a pot, with additional liquid, and warm it up that way.
You'll Love These Other Family Favorite Pasta Dinner Recipes
Easy Garlic Parmesan Pasta - My kids call this 'white pasta' and I make it weekly! So good, kid-friendly, and easy to keep the ingredients on hand.
Creamy Tomato Beef Pasta - Pasta covered in a creamy ground beef sauce.
Perfect Instant Pot Baked Ziti - This really is 'perfect' each time! This is a no-fail Instant Pot recipe.
Spaghetti Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 sweet onion finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 can (15 oz) crushed tomatoes
- 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes w/ garlic, oregano, basil
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Cook ground beef, onion, garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt over medium-high heat until the meat is no longer pink. Crumble as you cook it. Drain the meat to avoid a greasy pasta sauce.
- Add in the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
- Bring to a low boil and then turn heat down to medium low and let it simmer for at least 20-30 minutes, longer if you can. If it starts to boil and spit sauce, just turn the heat down.
- Serve over hot cooked pasta and garnish with chopped parsley and shredded parmesan cheese if wanted.
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Notes
Nutrition
Ugh! I can't live without air conditioning either! Good thing it was an easy fix. This looks delicious. If you'd like to deliver a plate of spaghetti and some of those breadsticks, I would gladly accept!
I know! I'm just glad we did not have to end up replacing it completely. Hello tons of money $ !!! I would totally deliver a plate if I could 🙂 Between my family, my parents visiting and my husband taking the leftovers to work the next day, we have none left!
OMG!!! So good!! Made this for dinner tonight - followed the recipe exactly (shocking i know LOL) and it was soooooo good!!! I will definitely be making this all the time!!!!
YAY!! I'm SO happy to hear you loved it, and it turned out! I still get nervous posting recipes because I want so badly for people to love them, so I love to hear from readers. Good or bad! We love it too. Just a bit more effort but it's all worth it 🙂 Thanks so much Shelly for coming back and leaving a comment.
I like homemade spaghetti sauce, so much better than any can or jar. By the way, use 96-97% fat free meat and no grease or fat to worry about or drain! Trust me, I'm frugal and pay the extra willingly, worth the extra pennies.
Yes Suzi, I agree. Homemade is so much better than jarred. I always use the lower fat ground beef too, it is worth the extra couple dollars 🙂 Thanks for your comment.
Great recipe! Take it to a whole other level with ground italian sausage. Sometimes I change it up for a little variety. Both ways are so good.
Thank you Sue! I love the idea of ground sausage. My kids love sausage so I am for sure going to try that when I make this again. Thanks so much for coming back to leave your comment 🙂
Can't wait to try this. I always boil my hamburger meat. That way it gets all the grease off. I also cook and put it in the freezer if I buy when on sale. It's perfect for spaghetti sauce, tacos, etc.
Now you have me curious about boiling ground beef. I may just have to try that. I hope you get a chance to make this, it is delicious 🙂 Thanks for commenting and visiting Tonya.
This sounds so yummy! How many does this feed?
Thanks Kathy. It makes a lot. For 2 adults & 3 kids we have enough leftover to make a lasagna or some other dish that needs pasta sauce. My best guess is that it would comfortably feed 6 adults.
Thank you!!
how big is a single serving?
I would say it’s about 3/4 cups of sauce.
I just made this today and it was a hit! Couldn't find any Italian style diced tomatoes so I just got regular diced tomatoes and put some Italian seasoning in it. Added some parsley at the end and it was to die for! So easy, quick and delicious and not too many ingredients needed! Thank you so much!
Hi Amber. I'm so glad you loved this! This is one that I still make often. Great idea about the diced tomato + Italian Seasoning. I actually need to change the recipe because they no longer label the diced tomatoes 'Italian Style'. They call them 'diced tomatoes with garlic, oregano, and basil'. But, yes adding Italian seasoning would be the same thing. Thanks so much for coming back to leave your comment 🙂
I've found that sausage gives spaghetti an even better flavor. I'll have to try it.
Oh, for sure! Sausage would be amazing in this. I've also made this using ground turkey and that is yummy as well.
do you use paste as a thickener or does it thicken by boiling
As the sauce simmers it will thicken. If you prefer a really thick pasta sauce then you could add some tomato paste if you wanted. I hope that helps 🙂
Are you using dried oregano?
Yes it is dried oregano. If you would rather use fresh it is about half the amount of the dried. I prefer dried because they're cheaper and I think they taste just as good 🙂
What specific brand of can tomatoes do you use!?
I use all different brands. The only brand that I tend to not buy is the Great Value Walmart brand, but that is just personal preference. Any brand will work 🙂
Jessica, I tried your recipe today and it was a hit!! I doubled the recipe and fed 5 hungry hired men (they ate big portions). I had 3 pints left over, so I froze it. I'm anxious to see how it does after freezing, but I'm guessing it will be delicious. The only change I made was from necessity (i.e. I goofed up). I reached for crushed tomatoes and opened whole tomatoes by mistake!! After I realized my error, I just grabbed my potato masher and mashed them up. Waa Laa! Crushed tomatoes! LOL
Thanks for a delicious recipe - one I'm sure I will use over and over.
This is very similar to a quick meat sauce recipe I had made up on the run long ago. I had some ripe Roma Tomatoes on hand, I was going to make a concasseé for a nice sauteéd white fish filet (flounder, orange roughy or halibut, sand dabs work well too) but had plenty so I peeled and seeded a few of them, crushed them and added them to the sauce instead of canned crushed tomatoes. It was, *kisses fingertips* superb!.
I made this today and we'll be eating it for dinner tonight. I figured the last time we used Prego would be the last time I used jarred sauce (soooo sweet!). This is very very thick so there are no worries about having to thicken it up. Can't wait for dinner!
Rainy day so I decided to make homemade spaghetti sauce. Haven’t done that in years! Came across your recipe and I liked how easy it looked and it had ingredients I already had on hand, for the most part. I did change up a couple things. Added extra sugar because I like it on the sweeter, less acidic side, added a can of tomato paste with a cup of water and a beef bullion cube (I like Knorr brand). Also, didn’t have crushed tomatoes but I had some regular diced and just used my potato masher to crush them up. It really came out delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe! ?
This is the BEST sauce I've ever had! I let it simmer for 6 hours and it really upped the flavor. I also added a few days leaves cause I knew I was going to let it simmer a long time. Every ingredient worked so well together! This is my new sauce! Thank you so much!!
I tried the recipe this evening and it was excellent. Great job! I will definitely be making this one again.
If I’m making this with fresh tomatoes. Do you an idea of how many or how many pounds I would need for this recipe?
Good question. I am not sure to be honest. I would say maybe like 2-3 cups of chopped tomatoes. Not sure what that is in pounds. Sorry!
How long can you leave on stove to simmer?
I love to let it simmer for as long as I can. I would say 30-45 minutes is best. But it can also be made quicker, according to the recipe, and it's still amazing.
Ok. My niece just came in the kitchen and asked if I was sure there was enough cause it smelled so delicious. : ). I almost never follow a recipe verbatim and I didn't with this one either. Only addition, though, was to add a half pound of sausage - equally split between sweet and hot. I've tasted it (I"m only 1 hour into simmering) and it's ridiculously delicious. I say ridiculously because it was so easy. Thank you so much!!
Awesome! Thanks for the great review and I am glad this was a hit 🙂
Oops sorry. I adjusted the tomato ingredients proportionally. But not the spices. The sausage adds a lot of salt and heat.
Yes, sausage will add some additional salt and spiciness. So glad you loved this! I just made it for the dinner the other night and we love it too.
I’m rating this a 4 because I’m in the middle of cooking as I type! I’m all for quick delicious dinners that don’t require tons of recipes. Can’t wait to try this!
I have made this many times and love it sooo much! I am making it this evening, but need to double the recipe. Is there anything you would leave out the second go 'round? I just don't want it to be too sweet with adding double sugar.
So sorry my response is late! I would double everything. If you're worried about the sugar then don't double that, rather taste it and then see if you should add the additional sugar (as a double recipe would call for). Tomatoes are so acidic and I would guess that doubling the sugar would be needed. Or maybe 1 1/2 times just the sugar rather than doubling.
Terrific recipe! My family loves it. However I add about a Tablespoon of Chocolate powder to give a a rich flavor and blend all the other spices together. I do this also with homemade chili.
I love that idea. I have a chili recipe that uses cocoa powder and I love the flavor it adds. Thanks for your comment.
LISTEN!!! This is by far the best spaghetti sauce recipe I have made. I have eaten this stuff for 3 days straight. My forever got to recipe. Thanks’
Yay! Thank you so much for leaving your comment 🙂
Tasted great! I didn’t have tomato sauce or diced tomatoes, so just used 2 cans crushed tomatoes and it came out wonderful.
This recipe brings back so many childhood memories of spaghetti dinners for my birthday. Thank you for sharing. I will be making it again and again.
Love this recipe! I usually stick with recipes that have 25+ votes, but this looked good and I'm so glad I tried it. Tossed in a bit more basil and oregano for extra punch. My husband and I liked it better than the recipe I've used in the past. Thanks!
Thanks so much for trying it! Yea, it's hard to get people to leave reviews so I appreciate it so much when people comment and rate the recipe. Thank YOU 🙂
For all the hunters out there, this recipe works amazing with deer burger too! We love it!
This is a good recipe. I use a pinch of baking soda to cut the acidity, but also add sugar. Instead of crushed tomatoes, I use tomato puree? Is there a difference?
Not a huge difference between the two. Crushed tomatoes have more texture to them (small chunks of tomato) and the tomato puree is just smooth, blended up tomatoes. I think either one would be great in this recipe. I love the baking soda hack! Great idea and thanks for sharing.
My husband gave this after I put a little more spices. Thank you!
I meant to give this five stars!
My whole family loves this!
Can I halve this recipe?
Yes that would work out great.
Absolutely delicious! By far the best spaghetti sauce I've ever had.
I've made this sauce many times over the past few years. When I have them,I add mushrooms and chopped zucchini to slip in extra veggies but it's just as delicious without. Only change I make is using onion and garlic powder when I don't have the real thing. Thanks for a great and easy recipe!
Made this sauce multiple times. All 5 kids love it. Dinner time is a zoo at our house so i need something all will eat that's easy to fix. This is my go to. Thank you!
I put mushrooms at the end and use Rosemary also with seasoning. Bey good.
Yum! Rosemary & mushrooms sound so good in this. Happy to hear you loved the recipe.
Found your recipe a couple days ago and decided to give it a shot and all I can say OH EM GEE delicious!!! This will be my go-to recipe every time now! I added mushrooms which was a nice addition. The wonderful smell went all throughout the house and the taste was even better! The smell reminded me of my Mommom's kitchen (home cooked and with so much love). I made this today as a "practice run" for when I see a good friend in 2 weeks who loves Spaghetti (I'm cooking dinner for him!), I can't wait to cook this again!! One question though how do you go about cutting up the onion without crying? Haha. I was a hot mess express over an onion. Thank you so very much!!!
You're very welcome! Thank you for leaving your comment. I love hearing things like this 🙂
Thank you for this recipe!! It is so good and easy to make. Much better than jarred sauce. I’ve made it a few times now and it’s a hit with my kids!!
So happy to hear this! Thank you for your comment and rating. I appreciate it.
I’m making this spaghetti sauce recipe again today so I thought I would leave a comment. Absolutely the best sauce I’ve ever had. I always triple the recipe so I have 4 or 5 containers to freeze. I use 2 lbs beef and 1 lb sausage. We also love mushrooms but I only add those near the end like after thawing out a container for supper. Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes. Thanks
I made this for my family and my sons family with my homemade meatballs as well… wow everyone loved it and wanted to know what I did differently from past and it was the sugar which is crucial and I never did that before… I forgot to drain the hamburger fat after browning however I used a large serving spoon and wicked off the fast that rose to the surface in fact I think having the hamburger fat in the pot as it simmered for three hours May have added to the flavor…. I used the dry basil in the recipe and garnished with fresh basil… everyone thinks this Irish guy is really Italian… thanks for ur recipe.
I added 5 Ounces of Boar's Head Diced Pancetta used 1/2 pound ground beef 1/2 and a pound sweet Italian sausage and one medium Finely Diced shallot, It turns out to be the finest tasting sauce I have ever had. When I served it I topped it off with a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano cheese. With a glass of Red Italian Rocca delleMacie Chianti Classico Wine,
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Sounds incredible! Pancetta sounds like a tasty addition for sure. Thank you for your comment and leaving your feedback. I appreciate it.
I usually make my own sauce from scratch using fresh ingredients and no sugar. I made this without telling my partner and as soon as he tired it his eyes got big and said it's the best sauce I have made to date and told me to write it down before I forget (I usually wing it) hahahaha I told him it wasn't my recipe. 🙂 I didn't have dry basil so I used Italian seasoning instead. I also added fresh basil at the end. I agree tho it was super yummy and one we will make again. Cheers!