This homemade spaghetti sauce is perfect for dinner, especially Sunday! Filled with ground beef, sausage, tomatoes, garlic, onion, and fresh basil.
Growing up in an Italian family, it is a tradition to have Sunday sauce. My family would a gigantic stockpot of sauce and then make it into a meal. It could be a simple pasta with homemade spaghetti sauce and meat, meatballs like our baked turkey meatballs, lasagna bolognese, or even stuffed shells. Whatever was on the table, we gathered around together to enjoy.
Recipe ingredients and notes
- Olive oil – We use olive oil to saute the onions and garlic.
- Ground meat– We use a mixture of ground beef and ground sausage. You could also use ground chicken or ground turkey. Not a meat fan? Make this a spaghetti sauce without meat by simply not adding any meat.
- Onion – Don’t like onions? Try shallots or leeks.
- Garlic – We love a lot of garlic, measure with your heart.
- Crushed Tomatoes – You can find this with added basil as well.
- Tomato Puree – We like using puree, but you can also use tomato sauce.
- Seasonings – We use seasonings to add more flavor; granulated garlic, basil, salt, and pepper.
- Fresh Basil – This adds more flavor. We add right at the end.
How to make homemade spaghetti sauce
Brown the ground beef and ground sausage in a skillet and cook until no longer pink. Add the olive oil to a large dutch oven or pot on medium-high heat. Once the oil is warmed add the onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes and then add in the garlic and cook for another minute. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, and seasonings.
Once the meat is cooked drain the fat and transfer it to the dutch oven.
Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce to low heat to simmer. Cook for 3-4 hours covered, stirring as needed.
Once the sauce is done stir in fresh basil and serve it as desired.
Recipe tips and variations
- Use your favorite meat instead of ground beef or sausage, like ground chicken, ground turkey, or ground pork.
- Double the batch to freeze for later.
- This sauce is perfect for meatballs too. Just leave the ground meat out.
- Add more meat to make it even more filling. We will go from 1-2lbs, depending on what else we’re serving for dinner.
- You can add a pinch of sugar if needed, but the onions and garlic add a natural sweetness.
Storage and reheating tips
- Refrigerate: Store any leftover meat sauce in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and enjoy it within 3-4 days.
- Freeze: To freeze meat sauce, place it in an airtight freezer-safe container and freeze for 3 months. If you made this spaghetti sauce without meat you could freeze up to 6 months.
- Reheat: Spaghetti sauce is best reheated in a saucepan on the stove. Stir as needed and enjoy once warmed throughout but allow to cool slightly before enjoying.
How to serve spaghetti sauce
We love serving it with spaghetti or using it in recipes. It goes perfectly with our Garlic Bread Recipe or Dinner Rolls
Frequently asked questions
Yes! We often make our spaghetti sauce so we can enjoy it for a few days. I love to double the recipe so we have leftovers and you can also freeze for up to 3 months.
Yes, simply leave the meat out. If you wanted to make this into a vegan meat sauce you could simply use your preferred meat alternative. We prefer impossible meat.
Absolutely! We like added grated carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, and leeks.
The meat has a lot of fat so draining it ensures that our sauce is silky smooth, without globs of oil.
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
click the stars to rate this recipe
Print Pin Recipe 🖤 SaveIngredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground Italian sausage sweet or spicy
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 28 oz tomato puree
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 leaves fresh basil chiffonade
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef and ground sausage in a skillet and cook until it is no longer pink.
- Add the olive oil to a large dutch oven or pot on medium-high heat. Once the oil is warmed add the onions and stir so they don't overcook. Cook for 3-4 minutes and then add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
- Pour the crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, and seasonings into the dutch oven.
- Once the meat is cooked, drain the fat and transfer it to the dutch oven.
- Bring the sauce to a slight boil and then reduce to low heat and simmer for 3-4 hours, stirring as needed.
- Stir in the fresh basil and serve as desired.
Tried this recipe?
We’d love to know what you think! Please leave a rating and comment to share your thoughts on this recipe. Your feedback helps us continue sharing free, high-quality recipes with you. Thank you so much!
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
So nice to have you here! Did you try this recipe? ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Be sure to leave a recipe rating! Also, tag us @courtneyssweets #courtneyssweets on Instagram so we can share it!
Leave a Reply