Everyone needs a good homemade spaghetti sauce in their recipe collection and this one is mine. It’s rich, meaty, deliciously seasoned and easy enough to make any night of the week.
I’ve worked on perfecting this Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce over the years and recently decided it was time to jot down the “little of this, and little of that” and share it with you all. There are some really great jarred sauces out there, but from time to time I feel the need to cook up a batch from scratch.
Because, after all, there are few things that will make your home feel cozier than having a pot of homemade sauce bubbling away on your stove.
This recipe was designed to be easy and use items I consider to be kitchen staples. Dry herbs, canned tomatoes, beef broth, onion, and garlic. All you need to do is defrost a pound of ground beef, get it started, and let it simmer while you boil your pasta.
With just a 30 minute simmer, the sauce will reach just the perfect consistency for spooning over a mound of cooked pasta. If you’d like, you can let it simmer longer for an even richer, thicker sauce.
Tomatoes
The most important aspect to ensure you end up with a sauce that has a nice acid balance is to choose the right canned tomato product. Canned whole San Marzano tomatoes are an excellent choice for sauce making. The plum style tomato is highly flavorful, sweet, and naturally less acidic than many other varieties. Authentic San Marzanos are grown in Italy and the cans will be marked as such, but the seeds are available and grown worldwide. I’ve had good luck with the less expensive U.S. grown and canned “San Marzano Style” tomatoes and will generally use what I find at a good price at my local store.
From time to time I will sub crushed tomatoes but always try to use a high quality Italian tomato product.
Seasoning
The seasonings are what you would expect – basil, oregano, and thyme – but I’ve also added a bit of fennel seed and just enough crushed red pepper to add a kick but not much heat. The fennel seed adds that somethin’ somethin’ that sets this sauce apart from your average run-of-the-mill sauce and makes it abundantly clear that you’re eating something homemade. To amp the flavor, lightly crush the fennel seed before adding it to the pot.
Salt is vital but don’t forget that canned tomato products have plenty of sodium so it’s best to go light on the salt in the beginning. I find the 1/2 teaspoon I add at the beginning is enough for our taste. Always taste your sauce before serving and add additional seasoning only if you think it needs it.
The Butter Option
For an even more velvety, flavor balanced sauce, try melting a couple of tablespoons of butter into the sauce at the end of the simmer time. I’ve added this as an optional step and honestly, I rarely find it needs it, but butter really does do something magical to tomato based sauces. Try it sometime!
The Right Pan
It’s vital to use a non-reactive pan when cooking with very acidic or alkaline foods like tomatoes. Reactive pans, including unlined aluminum, cast iron, and copper, can cause the food to pick up a metallic flavor. Instead, opt for a non-reactive pan with a stainless steel or enameled cast iron cooking surface. My favorites include this Le Creuset enameled cast iron pan and this less expensive but still very high quality stainless steel pan from Calphalon.
A slight variation on this sauce creates these incredible Meaty Lasagna Roll-Ups. The recipe includes complete make-ahead and freeze directions.
This sauce is a great starting point for so many Italian dishes from spaghetti to lasagna to a delicious baked ziti. Toss a simple green salad, slice a loaf of French bread, open a nice bottle of wine, and you’ve got yourself an incredible meal!
More Easy Italian Recipes
- Easy Tomato Cream Sauce | Valerie’s Kitchen
- My Mom’s Legendary Italian Salad Dressing | Brown Eyed Baker
- Easy Chicken Cacciatore with Pasta | The Wanderlust Kitchen
- Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots | Valerie’s Kitchen
- Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken | Well Plated by Erin
- Skillet Lasagna | Valerie’s Kitchen
Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon fennel seed, lightly crushed (see note)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 28 ounces whole San Marzano tomatoes (see recipe note)
- 2 cups low sodium beef broth
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, optional
- Pasta of your choice, cooked according to package directions
- Parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a non-reactive pot or Dutch oven (see recipe note) and place over MEDIUM heat. Add ground beef, onion and garlic and cook, stirring to break up the beef until crumbly and browned with no pink remaining. Drain off excess grease, if necessary. Stir tomato paste into the mixture and cook for a minute or two and then add basil, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, fennel seed and crushed red pepper (if using). Cook, stirring, until well combined. Add whole tomatoes and all liquid from the can, breaking up the tomatoes with your hands as you add them. Add beef broth and sugar and stir to combine. Use the spoon to mash the tomato down to desired consistency.
- Increase heat to MEDIUM-HIGH and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to LOW and allow to simmer, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes while you cook your pasta or for up to 2 hours to deepen the flavors.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, only if needed. If the sauce is too acidic for your taste, add optional butter and allow to melt into the sauce. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving for sauce to mellow. If you’ve used San Marzano tomatoes, it is unlikely you’ll feel the need to add the butter but it is an excellent way to balance the flavors even further if you’d like.
- Serve over cooked pasta or your choice and top with Parmesan cheese.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
Why do you add beef broth? I wouldn’t ever think of adding it.
Beef broth adds richness and flavor to homemade sauce and I especially like to add it in a meat sauce, like this one. Many cooks will toss in a bouillon cube or a hunk of meat to simmer in a tomato based sauce but I opt to add low-sodium beef broth to this quick recipe. You’ll find beef broth as a component to many recipes by popular cooks (Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray, and more). When I have a bottle of red wine open I will frequently reduce the amount of broth and sub the wine for a nice, complex flavor profile.
I have made this several times and its my family/s favorite. I do a little red wine but besides that I follow this to the t. YUM!!!
I’m so glad to hear this, Sherry! I frequently sub about 1 cup of the broth for red wine too. If you’ve got a bottle open, you might as well! 🙂
Can I use a crock pot and let all the flavors “intermingle”
Sure! This recipe was written to be quick and easy but it would do just fine simmering in a slow cooker.
Made it.
Modification in my humble opinion, use a total of 1 tablespoon Oregano. This reduces the overwhelming flavor of fennel bringing it into balance with the other seasonings. Simmer for 2 hours. Other than that, most excellent!
Much better than any spaghetti sauce I’ve ever tried in 30 years, through which I’m always searching for something unique but remain authentic to flavor.
This is very fragrant, multi-note, and not a single flavor which dominates the meal. With your first bite you go humm, interesting, then another, and it’s, what’s this? This is different. The next bite and it’s; oh yea, nice! Before you know it the bowl is empty.
Adding the Parmesan cheese enhances the flavor and helps the sauce to adhere to the spaghetti.
This is one of the very few recipes I’ve ever commented positively on.
I love that you modified this to suit your tastes and had a great result. That is what cooking is all about! I 100% agree with your comment on the complex and unique flavor to this sauce. It is a great combination of seasonings. Thanks so much, Chef Warren 🙂
I’m got a question. My husband hates tomatoes is there a tomato sauce that is comparable to whole canned ones if it was for just me I would LOVE it…..
Hi Nancy. I recommend using the San Marzano tomatoes but you could try using your food processor or blender to puree them before adding them to the skillet.
What is the carbohydrate amoujt?
Meat sauce RULES! I’m jumping right in to do a triple batch for my freezer. YUM!
Cannot see the recipe
The printable recipe card is at the bottom of the post, Mary.
wow omg
This sounds so yummy,can’t wait to try it.
The SanMarzano tomatoes are the best,they are a very meaty tomato??
Yes, they are definitely the best for sauce making. I hope you love the sauce, Cheryl! 🙂
Ooooh this sauce really does look PERFECT!!!
Thank you, Kayle!
Add two tablespoons sugar. Siciliano like their sauce a little on sweet side
I add the sugar to help balance the acid from the tomatoes but personally don’t prefer a sweeter sauce. That being said, the recipe is easy to modify to suit your individual taste and I highly encourage it!
Sounds fabulous! I have never added butter before! I will have to try that!
Adding butter is a trick from Marcella Hazan’s famous tomato sauce recipe that was hugely popular awhile back. It’s always fun to try something new!
would love to try it but so many papers before you get the recipe
Hi Ann. Be sure to click on the “Print” icon on the recipe card at the bottom of the post to print the nicely formatted recipe.
I have ALWAYS added butter to my homemade sauce. it adds a different depth of flavor and a rich velvety texture that I LOVE. Most people look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them. Glad to see someone else use it also!!
I totally agree, Jennifer. If the sauce tastes too acidic, a little butter will do wonders!
Can I add Italian seasoning instead of fennel?