Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe | Buns In My Oven (2024)

This Homemade Spaghetti Sauce is full of robust flavors, plenty of garlic, and loads of fresh tomato flavor. So easy – just toss your ingredients in a pot to simmer for a couple of hours and you’ll have the most flavorful spaghetti meat sauce ever!

My mama used to tease me for making my life more difficult than it needs to be.

I once had our family coming over and was in a major time crunch. And, yet, I still made homemade ricotta cheese to add to the baked ziti I was serving. Ridiculous? Probably. Worth it? 100%.

I love making quick dinner rolls or biscuits from scratch.

And you’ll often find me making this homemade meat sauce. That’s not to say I never grab a jar of sauce, because hey – I’m a busy mom too. But oh man, this homemade spaghetti sauce is just the best and it’s really not a lot of work – it just need some time to simmer on the stove.

Ingredient Notes:

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Ground Meat – I’m using a combination of ground beef and Italian sausage in my homemade spaghetti meat sauce! Both will add flavor but you can change it up and use all beef or all sausage if you prefer!

Garlic & Onion – Pretty much necessary ingredients for any good spaghetti sauce as far as I am concerned. Especially all that garlic! With six cloves of garlic in this sauce you’ll definitely be getting plenty of flavor – but feel free to add as much as your heart desires.

Tomato – You’ll need canned crushed tomatoes as well as tomato paste.

Italian Seasoning – A simple blend of basil, oregano, thyme, and other savory herbs and spices.

Sugar – Sugar might seem like an odd addition, but it’s just a bit and it helps to balance out the acid in the tomatoes.

Red Pepper Flakes – These are optional if you really don’t want any spice, but I think it adds great flavor!

How to Make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce:

Brown: We’re making spaghetti meat sauce because I think the meat adds so much rich flavor to the sauce. Even when I make meat sauce, we still sometimes add my turkey meatballs. So good!

To start, you’ll brown some ground beef and ground Italian sausage in a large dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot.

Mix: Once the meat is browned, add in your diced onion and minced garlic. <— Don’t skimp on the garlic!

Stir in some crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, sugar, and salt.

Simmer: Now comes the hardest part of all – waiting!

This needs to simmer for at least 2 hours, but preferably closer to 4 hours. The longer it simmers, the more flavorful the sauce gets. The more tender the meat gets. The more amazing your world will be. 😉

Be sure to sneak little spoonfuls of this spaghetti sauce every time you walk through the kitchen. It’s delicious.

Use this spaghetti meat sauce to make my ravioli lasagna too!

Recipes To Use Our Spaghetti Sauce With:

We love making pasta and other Italian favorites! They always go over well with my kids and are usually our go-to for dinner parties!

Try this spaghetti sauce recipe with our Million Dollar Ravioli Casserole or our favorite Baked Spaghetti with Cream Cheese!

This would also be tasty in our Crockpot Lasagna! Just be sure to add an extra cup of water to the sauce before layering the lasagna, so there is plenty of liquid for the noodles to soak up.

What gives spaghetti sauce flavor?

Loads of garlic, plenty of Italian seasonings like basil, oregano, and rosemary, and a mixture of beef and pork.

I use a jar of Italian Seasoning – it’s just a blend of herbs. You can put in a mix of your favorite Italian herbs instead if you like.

The beef and pork in this spaghetti sauce recipe add a delicious richness to the sauce and they get so tender as they simmer away for hours with the sauce.

I don’t drain the fat from the meat after cooking as that helps add flavor to the sauce as well.

Feel free to also stir in some red pepper flakes or a splash of red wine to add even more flavor.

FAQs:

• Baked Manicotti
• Chicken Caprese
• Italian Pasta Salad
• Sausage Tortellini Soup
• Baked Chicken Parmesan
• Homemade Italian Dressing

If you love this recipe, be sure to try my Alfredo sauce too!

This recipe was originally published in November of 2012. It’s been updated July of 2019. Original photo below.