Spaghetti Sauce Recipes

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce is so full of flavor and it’s easy to make it in large batches for freezing or canning for easy homemade meals that are prepared ahead.

My family loves it when we make homemade spaghetti sauce. Whenever we make it, it’s always a huge double or triple batch to easily freeze the leftovers. Spaghetti and meatballs is such a family favorite, we almost always have frozen spaghetti sauce and meatballs in the freezer. It makes for a quick and easy weeknight meal, and it’s pretty amazing.

The best spaghetti sauce is made using San Marzano tomatoes. San Marzano is a variety of plum tomatoes. These tomatoes have a stronger flavor and are sweeter and less acidic. You can find canned San Marzano tomatoes at your grocery store. The label should make it very obvious that the tomatoes are this variety.

If you want to make spaghetti sauce completely from scratch using whole tomatoes rather than canned, you’ll need to peel your tomatoes and remove the stems. The easiest way to peel tomatoes is to blanch them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes and then immediately place them into an ice bath. The skins can then be easily removed. We also have a different recipe for Fire Roasted Spaghetti Sauce.

Marinara and spaghetti sauce are slightly different things. Both are tomato-based sauces. Marinara has very simple additional flavorings added to it like garlic, salt, and basil. Spaghetti sauce usually has additional ingredients and spices like onion, fennel, parsley, and oregano.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Easy homemade spaghetti sauce, using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry! This recipe is a family dinner staple!

Prep: 10min

Total: 40min

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: calories 303 kcal, Carbohydrate 16 g, Protein 18 g, Fat 18 g, Saturated Fat 7 g, Cholesterol 64 mg, Sodium 814 mg, Fiber 3 g, Sugar 11 g, servingSize 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef ((or 1/2 lb ground Italian sausage and 1/2 lb ground beef))
• salt and freshly ground black pepper (, to taste)
• 1 medium onion (, chopped)
• 15 ounces tomato sauce
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• crushed red pepper flakes (, to taste)
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves ((optional))
• spaghetti noodles (, for serving)

Instruction:

1. Season ground beef with salt and pepper.
2. In a large skillet, add the beef and chopped onion and brown. Drain excess grease.
3. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, parsley, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, worcestershire, and sugar to the skillet.
4. Stir well to combine and bring to a boil. Add water and stir well.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add chopped basil before serving, if desired.
6. This sauce tastes great in Spaghetti Pie, Million Dollar Spaghetti, Slow Cooker Lasagna and Instant Pot Spaghetti.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce is so full of flavor and it’s easy to make it in large batches for freezing or canning for easy homemade meals that are prepared ahead.

Prep: 10min

Total: 70min

Yield: 8

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: calories 51 kcal, Carbohydrate 4 g, Fat 3 g, Sodium 203 mg, Sugar 2 g, servingSize 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large white onion (minced)
• 5 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instruction:

1. Heat a large pot on the stove over medium high heat. Add in olive oil and saute onion in the olive oil for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add in 5 cloves and saute another 30-60 seconds.
2. Pour in chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, fennel, oregano, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley. Bring to a simmer.
3. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1-4 hours. Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture until the desired consistency is achieved, leaving it slightly chunky, or making it completely smooth.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

This spaghetti sauce is versatile and filled with flavorful and fragrant ingredients.

Prep: 10min

Total: 40min

Yield: 8

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: calories 251 kcal, Carbohydrate 18 g, Protein 20 g, Fat 12 g, Saturated Fat 5 g, Cholesterol 57 mg, Sodium 691 mg, Fiber 4 g, Sugar 10 g, Trans Fat 0.2 g, unSaturated Fat 6 g, servingSize 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• ½ pound Italian sausage (casings removed, or bulk sausage)
• 1 medium onion (diced)
• 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 28 ounces diced tomatoes
• 28 ounces crushed tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup *carrot (grated)
• 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt (more to taste)
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley (optional)

Instruction:

1. Cook beef, sausage, onion, and garlic in a large pot or dutch oven until no pink remains. Drain fat.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
3. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or until thickened.
4. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Stir in fresh parsley if using.
5. Serve over spaghetti or cooked pasta.

Grandma Barb’s Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Family favorite homemade spaghetti sauce, seasoned to perfection! So simple and easy!

Prep: 15min

Total: 45min

Yield: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup yellow onion, diced
• 2-3 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 1 lb. seasoned ground beef (see note)
• 2 (14 oz cans) diced tomatoes (I used the basil, garlic, and oregano flavor from Hunt’s brand)
• 1 (30 oz can) tomato sauce ( I used Hunt’s brand)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder ((optional addition but I love it!))
• 1 generous pinch fennel seed
• ½ teaspoon celery salt
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• 2-4 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Instruction:

1. Heat olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions and cook until tender and then add garlic and cook until fragrant.
3. Add ground beef, chopping the beef with a rubber spatula or a ground meat chopper to spread it out in the skillet. Season beef. (see note)
4. Cook until beef is done and then drain off the fat.
5. To the skillet, add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. (You can chop up the tomatoes if you prefer them smaller)
6. Combined all the spices (except for fresh basil and fresh parsley ) and stir them into the sauce. (See NOTE)
7. Add the bay leaf.
8. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
9. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. If you want to simmer longer or want to thin out the sauce, add a bit of water or chicken broth (Now’s a good time to make your pasta)
10. Stir in the fresh basil and parsley and simmer for about 5 minutes.
11. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings (go easy on the salt if you plan on serving with parmesan cheese). The sauce will taste even bolder the next day.
12. Serve sauce on top of pasta.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe