My dream Homemade Meat Sauce is hearty, thick and easy to make with simple ingredients. And you are looking at it right now!
It tastes delicious in zucchini lasagna, spaghetti, or with zoodles. Plus, it’s better and cheaper than any Italian restaurant.
Spaghetti Meat Sauce
I feel like I finally perfected juicy, meaty and flavorful homemade meat sauce. Every cook should have meat sauce recipe in their back pocket. The prep time is 3 minutes, kids love it and it’s even easier than bolognese sauce or meatballs! And homemade meat sauce is such easy but fancy Italian dish you could entertain with.
I recommend serving it as part of an entire Italian spread. Start with an Italian chopped salad or simple bread with a garlic olive oil dip. Then serve up this healthy spaghetti meat sauce served over al dente pasta or spaghetti and garnished with parmesan cheese served with a tomato mozzarella side salad and a good bottle of red wine.
Your guests will be knocking on your door next weekend. Maybe that’s not a good thing after all… Well, I guess it means you have lots of taste testers. Maybe next time you can serve up Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana or healthy Tuscan chicken pasta. During summer, I definitely recommend starting the meal with this Italian pasta salad and some high-quality crusty bread.
For now, let’s
Ingredients You Will Need
- Ground beef and turkey: When it comes to meat for tomato meat sauce, I like a combination of grass-fed or organic ground beef and lean tender ground turkey. I feel 1.5 lbs is perfect amount, where as 1 lb of meat is not enough.
- Diced tomatoes and tomato paste: Which are the best and substitutes are in details below.
- Onion and garlic: These sauteed veggies is the first layer of flavor.
- Balsamic vinegar and rich olive oil: Both add richness and another layer of flavors.
- Seasonings: I add traditional dried herbs and bay leaves.
- Cinnamon: And one secret punch of flavor I got from my neighbor is a pinch of cinnamon. You will not believe that extra touch of sweetness and warmth it adds to this quick meat sauce. Just trust me!
What Are the Best Tomatoes for Meat Sauce?
All right, tomatoes.
- Low sodium: I like to use what I always have on hand which are cases of organic low sodium canned tomatoes from Costco. Italians might argue it is not the best brand but I’m not Italian. I’m Ukrainian with a quarter heart of Italian for food.:)
- A mix: So I perfected this Italian meat sauce recipe using a combination of canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Each of them layers different texture on top of another texture making the best spaghetti meat sauce!
This meat sauce is thick, chunky and flavorful! It’s perfect!
How to Make Homemade Meat Sauce
- Cook ground meat in a hot cast iron pot breaking and stirring with spatula constantly. Takes about 5 minutes.
- Add onion, garlic and dried seasonings. Please note onion doesn’t need to brown but herbs benefit from high heat to release maximum flavors.
- Add canned tomatoes and liquid seasonings. Stir, cover and cook on low-medium heat for about 30 minutes. Covering the pot prevents red splatters all over the stove.
- To thicken meat sauce: Open the lid a little bit to the side and cook for 15 minutes. Moisture will evaporate making perfect hearty and thick meat sauce.
Tip: You can also use this sauce for lasagna.
What Is the Best Pasta for Meat Sauce?
- Long pasta: When it comes to pasta for meat sauce, the default is spaghetti.
- Pasta with holes: My personal preference is short pasta with holes or grooves to scoop up the sauce. Like penne, rigatoni, corkscrew or even macaroni.
- Healthy choices: I always try to buy whole grain and preferably organic pasta. But it’s real life and not every store carries it. So, I do what I can. It contains the bran and more fibre than traditional white pasta. Organic is the best to avoid consuming carcinogenic glyphosate.
Tip: Cook pasta in salted water to prevent sticking.
How to Store, Reheat and Freeze
Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Reheat meat sauce in a skillet or saucepan with a splash of water. Simmer on low, half-covered with a lid to prevent splashing and stirring occasionally. Shouldn’t take more than 5-7 minutes.
Freeze: Meat sauce is perfect for freezing because it doesn’t contain cooked starches or watery vegetables that become soggy once thawed. So make sure you don’t mix it with cooked spaghetti.
For up to 3 months in an airtight container. I prefer glass for health reasons and the environment as much as I can. But real life strikes, I get it.
I promise you can make the best homemade meat sauce yourself!
More Family Pasta Dinners
- Ground turkey and broccoli pasta
- Penne and broccoli
- Crockpot chicken spaghetti
- Red pepper lasagna
- Instant Pot goulash
- One-pot chili mac n’ cheese
Homemade Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs mix of ground beef and turkey*
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp oregano dried
- 1 tbsp basil dried
- 1 tsp thyme dried
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 28 oz can diced tomatoes low sodium
- 14 oz can tomato sauce low sodium
- 6 oz can tomato paste low sodium
- Parmesan cheese for garnish
- Whole grain pasta for serving
Instructions
- Preheat large dutch oven or heavy bottom pot on high heat and add ground beef and turkey. Cook breaking into small pieces and stirring with spatula constantly, for about 5 minutes.
- Add onion, garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes , stirring a few times. Please note onion doesn't need to brown but herbs benefit from high heat to release maximum flavors.
- Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and bay leaves. Stir, cover and cook on low-medium heat for about 30 minutes. Covering the pot prevents red splatters all over the stove.
- Open the lid a little bit to the side and cook for another 15 minutes. Moisture will evaporate making perfect hearty and thick meat sauce.
- Stir and serve hot over whole grain spaghetti or any tubular pasta, garnished with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Freeze: Fully cook, cool completely and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight or on a stovetop covered on low.
Video
Notes
- You can use all ground beef or all ground turkey if you wish.
What Is the Best Pasta for Meat Sauce?
- Long pasta: When it comes to pasta for meat sauce, the default is spaghetti.
- Pasta with holes: My personal preference is short pasta with holes or grooves to scoop up the sauce. Like penne, rigatoni, corkscrew or even macaroni.
- Healthy choices: I always try to buy whole grain and preferably organic pasta. But it's real life and not every store carries it. So, I do what I can. It contains the bran and more fibre than traditional white pasta. Organic is the best to avoid consuming carcinogenic glyphosate.
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes anywhere including social media, print and all world wide web. Nutritional info is provided for informational purposes only and to the best knowledge.
Today I made this sauce. I had lost track of the email with the recipe so did my best to remember the ingredients. My husband & I really liked it, the maple syrup and cinnamon indeed made it good. Now that I relocated the recipe I will write it down. It is a keeper! Thank you, Lilibet
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi from Australia! 😊 This was absolutely amazing!! I have tried about 5 of your recipes now and they have all turned out so great! My almost 3 year old is even loving cakes with zucchini in them 😊Thank you so much for all of the healthy and delicious recipes. I can’t wait to try more.
Hi Rosanna! I am so happy that your family are loving my recipes!
My husband does not like textures, like onion or tomato. How could I substitute for diced tomatoes and onion?
Onion and tomato are a must in this recipe. If you don’t want to the sauce to be as chunky, you could cook the onions and sauce in one pot, use an immersion blender in and puree until smooth and then add in the cooked meat.
I don’t like biting into beans in chili. I put things in a food processor or blender for a while. Works for me.
Hi Olena,
Have you tried to do this or have any suggestions to do this in the Instant Pot? I am refusing to make anything in the oven or stove due to the summer heat. Thanks!
Yes. Why don’t you make my Instant Pot bolognese? It’s very similar. Or use its directions as a guideline.
Thanks, Olena! It’s simply amazing.
You’re welcome Olga!
Hi Olena,
Hello from very wet Washington State. This recipe is yet another home run from your Website. I’ve never considered adding maple syrup or cinnamon to a meat sauce, but it is rich tasting and delicious!!! My husband and I loved it! Thanks again for sharing your recipes. When I’m not sure what to make for dinner, I go straight to your website now!
Amy
Hi Amy. I live on very wet Vancouver island haha. I’m so happy your family loved the recipe. Thanks for sharing that with me!
I made this and it was a big hit with the whole family. We don’t usually care for mixing cinnamon in with our savory dishes but its presence in this dish was so mild that it really just increased the depth of flavor instead of being an obvious cinnamon taste.
Thank you for your wonderful review, Deborah!!! This dish is one of very few I add cinnamon to and it works.
I give it a 5, I myself loved it just the way it was. However, my family is not a huge fan of cinnamon in meat (never have been) which is why I didn’t even use the full 1/8 tsp of it in the recipe. They still picked it out. ? I thought it was wonderful, but in the interest of everyone else I will probably leave it out next time. It’s delicious over spaghetti squash!!
Of course. I understand. My family used to be like that and now they are used to cinnamon. I broke them haha. Thank you for your wonderful review, Kim!
I made this last night and it was fantastic. I used the leftovers and made your one pot chili Mac with beer…so delicious too!
Perfect! I love that chili!
I came across your blog the other day and decided to make this recipe first as my youngest girl (16) is crazy about pasta. I cooked it today and it definitely got her approval. She loved it and so did we. It’s very tasteful. I’ll definitely cook it again. For now I have a large portion to go into the freezer. Thanks for sharing! Greetings from The Netherlands, Ingrid
You are so-so welcome!!! And happy to have you here. My kids love this one too. xxx
I loved it!! Super easy. Thank you!
You are very welcome! So happy to hear you loved my Ukrainian Italian homemade meat sauce.:)!
This meat sauce was fantastic, Olena!!!
In the instructions you mention adding bay leaves yet the ingredients do not include them
Should there be bay leaves?
Yes there should be bay leaves. Sorry. I will fix that.