Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce Recipe
Nana’s Best Meat Sauce Recipe (with Spaghetti) – Zesty, savory, and terrifically meaty, this Best Spaghetti Recipe with homemade Italian meat sauce recipe is perfect to enjoy with garlic bread and much more!
Why We Love Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
Nana knows a thing or two about home cooking.
If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you’ve surely tried Nana’s EPIC Creamy Potato Soup Recipe and Nana’s Epic Chicken and Rice. If you haven’t yet, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING and add these to your dinner menu for next week. Seriously.
As I was saying, my mom “Nana” is my go-to guide for all things comfort food. So when I wanted to create a hearty, savory, Sunday dinner-worthy Spaghetti with Meat Sauce recipe, I turned to Nana…
This fabulously easy and delicious sauce is a play off my mom’s old-timey spaghetti and meat sauce recipe. It’s not meant to be an authentic Italian Bolognese recipe, but is more of a classic Italian-American bistro meat sauce that is heavy on tomatoes. It is similar to Sunday Gravy but without the sausage links and peppers.
The Best Spaghetti Meat Sauce Recipe
Although there are a lot of ingredients you can add to Italian meat sauce, we like to keep it simple so that the flavor of the ground meat, Italian sausage, tomatoes, garlic, and basil really shines through.
It is basic but incredibly satisfying with lots of rustic flavors. Our Spaghetti Meat Sauce Recipe can be enjoyed on everything from pasta to polenta and even potatoes!
This sauce is fabulous on day one, but even better after 24 hours. It’s a great recipe to make and freeze for an effortless homemade meal later in the week or month. I love preparing several batches at once to stock the freezer and give to friends.
We hope you enjoy the best meat sauce with your family, too!
Ingredients You Need
Here are the ingredients needed to make our classic Italian-inspired Spaghetti Meat Sauce recipe:
- Butter – to sauté the aromatics
- Red onion – or a white onion if you prefer
- Garlic – for a deep, savory flavor
- Ground Italian sausage – adds loads of flavor, you can choose hot or mild depending on your spice tolerance
- Ground beef – or substitute with ground turkey or chicken
- Dried oregano – for classic Italian flavor
- Canned tomato sauce – or 20 oz tomato paste + 36 oz water
- Canned crushed tomatoes – use a high-quality can of crushed tomatoes
- Fresh basil – fresh is best here but you can use dry in a pinch
- Salt and pepper – to taste
You can jazz the sauce up a bit by adding other ingredients, like shaved carrots, aged balsamic vinegar, red wine, crushed red pepper, ground veal, and/or bell peppers. These aren’t necessary, but each adds a different unique flavor that can be fun to try!
Also… Sometimes canned tomatoes can be overly acidic and benefit from a little bit of sugar to balance the flavor. Only use if needed, and remember, a little goes a long way.
How to Make Meat Sauce
First, set a heavy-bottomed 6-quart sauce pot over medium heat. Add the butter and onions, and stir until the onions become soft. If they start to brown, turn the heat down to medium-low.
Then stir in the minced garlic and sauté for another couple of minutes. Next add in the ground sausage, ground beef, and dried oregano. Cook the meat and break it into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Once the meat pieces are well browned, stir in the tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes.
Cover and simmer for 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the sauce is done, stir in the fresh chopped basil. Taste, then salt and pepper as needed. If the meat sauce tastes too acidic, stir in 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.
Pro Tip: The ground sausage and canned tomatoes are both quite salty. It’s best to let the sauce cook a little while – at least 30 minutes – before deciding if you want to salt it.
Get the Complete Best Spaghetti Recipe + Video Below with Detailed Measurements and Instructions. Enjoy!
Tips & Tricks
- Let it simmer! For a sauce that is packed with flavor, it is best to let it simmer for some time, ideally an hour! This will help all the flavors develop and deepen.
- Keep homemade spaghetti with meat sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. The flavors keep getting better the longer all of the ingredients sit together!
- The Italian sausage can sometimes be spicy, if you opt for a hot sausage. If you prefer, you can use mild sausage, or ground pork. If you use ground pork, add additional seasonings like Italian seasoning.
Serving Suggestions
While this spaghetti and meat sauce is a filling and satisfying meal on its own, you can try serving it with a variety of side dishes for a well-balanced and delicious meal. And don’t forget dessert! Here are my suggestions:
- Garlic Bread
- Kale Caesar Salad
- Wedge Salad
- Lemon Butter Roasted Asparagus
- Dinner Rolls
- Tiramisu
- BEST Lemon Tart Recipe
Spaghetti Meat Sauce Frequently Asked Questions
Serve this classic homemade spaghetti sauce recipe with spaghetti noodles or ziti, in lasagna, or as the sauce with our Ricotta Stuffed Shells recipe with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. But before you start to boil the water, be sure to check out our guide for How to Cook Pasta (Perfectly)! Also, this Baked Spaghetti Pie is perfect for a fun and easy family meal.
Enjoy a gluten-free meal by pairing it with baked polenta, or even enjoy over-baked potatoes to mix things up.
Living low carb? Try the best Meat Sauce with Low Carb Spaghetti (psst, it’s spaghetti squash!) for a yummy and super healthy dinner.
You can certainly make delicious spaghetti sauce without ground beef and/or Italian sausage.
Try this recipe with ground turkey for a leaner meat sauce. Or for a vegetarian and vegan pasta sauce, substitute the meat with chopped mushrooms for a wonderfully savory flavor.
Yes, sort of. These two sauces are very similar. However, ragu is a tomato-based sauce with braised meat in the sauce that cooks for a long period. This meat sauce is a ground beef ragu sauce!
While meat sauce for spaghetti and bolognese are both a thick pasta sauce, they are not the same. Bolognese is typically made with a base of onions, carrots and celery. There is minimal tomato added to the bolognese. Instead, the color comes from the meat and beef broth. Plus, it usually contains cream or milk!
Looking for More Easy Classic Recipes?
- Best Hamburger Patty Recipe
- The Ultimate Cottage Pie Recipe
- The Best Classic Meatloaf
- Chopped Steak with Mushroom Gravy
- The Best Chili Recipe
- BEST Chicken Noodle Soup
Check the printable recipe card below for the nutrition information including calories, carbohydrates, protein, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, fiber, vitamin c, and calcium percentages.
Best Spaghetti Meat Sauce Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 extra-large red onion peeled and diced (2 cups)
- 7-8 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano or Italian Seasoning
- 2 – 28 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 1 – 28 ounce can crushed tomato
- ½ cup chopped fresh basil
- 1-2 tablespoon sugar if needed
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Set a heavy-bottomed 6 quart sauce pot over medium heat. Add the butter and onions. Stir and soften the onions for 5-8 minutes. If they start to brown, turn the heat to medium-low.
- Stir in the garlic and sauté another 2 minutes. Then add in the ground sausage, ground beef, and dried oregano. Cook and break the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Once the meat pieces are well browned, stir in tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes.
- Cover and simmer for 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. (As long as it simmer for 30 minutes it’s ready. However, you can let it simmer as long as you like.)
- Stir in the fresh chopped basil. Taste, then salt and pepper as needed. If the meat sauce tastes too acidic, stir in 1-2 tablespoons sugar.
- Serve warm with pasta.
Makes a good lasagna sauce.
I’m going to try this recipe having not made meat sauce for some time (been making traditional sauce with meatballs & sausage). Being 100% Italian I can say with certainty that butter would never start a sauce. Olive oil is always used to begin the process of making sauce no matter which type you make.
This pasta was incredible, it really put to shame anything that I could have made on my own.
this meat sauce reminds me of when my mom made spaghetti when I was younger! thank you for sharing a recipe that brought me some great memories!