Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce is the perfect topping for your next plate of pasta. This from-scratch sauce recipe is made in a single stock pot, and is filled with tomatoes, ground beef, onions, garlic, and bell pepper.
Making your own homemade spaghetti sauce is a must try. Why? It’s so much more flavorful than a store bought sauce, and easy to customize to suit your tastes.
This sauce is assembled in a single pot, and is cooked down on the stovetop over the course of a few hours. The flavors develop and deepen the longer you let your sauce simmer, so it’s worth the wait.
My sauce is filled with onion, garlic, and bell pepper. It’s also lightly seasoned with some basil (I like to buy the crushed tomatoes with basil to save a step), oregano, and red pepper flakes.
What to Make with Spaghetti Sauce
What to Make with Spaghetti SauceAside from topping a pile of spaghetti, I also like to use this spaghetti sauce to make lasagna or baked ziti. Simply replace the spaghetti sauce called for in any recipe with this sauce instead.
Don’t forget to complete your meal with some Freezer Garlic Bread or Garlic Bread Cheese Bombs. Garlic bread is a must when making spaghetti!
How to Make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
First, gather your ingredients, plus a large stock pot with a lid.
For this recipe, you’ll need ground beef, olive oil, garlic, granulated sugar, salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, onion, bell pepper, and crushed tomatoes with basil.
If you can’t find crushed tomatoes with basil, you can add a tablespoon of dried basil to your sauce instead.
Why the sugar? Granulated sugar is added to this tomato sauce to balance the acidity of the tomatoes, as well as enhance the natural sweetness of the tomatoes. Your sauce will not taste sweet, I promise!
First, add your olive oil and brown your ground beef in the bottom of a large stock pot.
Remove the beef from the pot, then add your onion and bell pepper. Cool until they begin to lightly brown and onions begin to turn translucent. Add your garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
Return your beef to the pan, and add the remainder of your ingredients. This includes your crushed tomatoes, sugar, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine your ingredients.
Once your sauce begins to bubble, cover with a lid, reduce heat to low, and allow to simmer for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, remove the lid and allow to simmer for another 30 minutes. At this point, your sauce is ready to serve.
If you’re planning on freezing some or all of your sauce, allow it to come to room temperature first. Then, transfer to another container for freezing.
I like to store two portions in quart size freezer bags, or four to six portions in a gallon sized bag.
More Ground Beef Recipes
- One Pot Beef Tortellini Soup
- Beef Enchilada Casserole
- Slow Cooker Chili
- Cheesesteak Pasta Skillet Meal
- Cheesesteak Style Sloppy Joes
Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 and 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 112 ounces canned crushed tomatoes with basil
- 1.5 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- In a large stock pot over medium heat, add olive oil. Once heated, crumble ground beef into pan and cook until browned. Remove beef from pan and set aside.
- Add diced onion and bell pepper to pan. Cook until lightly browned and onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
- Return ground beef to pan. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes, and pepper. Stir to combine. When mixture begins to bubble, cover pot and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, remove lid and continue cooking for another 30 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.
- If freezing, allow sauce to cool completely before portioning into containers/bags.
Equipment
Notes
- 112 ounces of canned tomatoes = four, 28 ounce cans
- Sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Frozen spaghetti sauce will keep for 3 months (or more!) in a tightly sealed container or freezer safe bag. Move from the freezer to refrigerator the night before to thaw.
- Sauce can be served over prepared pasta like spaghetti, penne, or rotini.
- Sauce can also be used in other recipes that call for a beef spaghetti sauce, like lasagna or baked ziti.
My family loves this recipe!!
Thanks for the great review Diane!