Make The Spaghetti Sauce
Crush the garlic with the flat side of a knife.
Bring the extra virgin olive oil to medium high heat, then add the garlic and chopped parsley.
After a minute, add the ground beef and break up with a wooden spoon. Add some salt, and cook until it begins to dry up, then add the tomato passata/purèe/chopped tomatoes of your choice.
If using Mutti, they tend to be thick, so add about ¾ cup of water or until the bottom line of the jar then add to the pot. If youre using another brand, rinse the can/jar with a little less water, unless its very thick.
Put the burner on high to bring the sauce to a simmer, and add more salt. Dont be afraid to add Kosher/sea salt as I can guarantee you will have much less sodium in this sauce than a jar of store-bought. This may look like a lot of salt, but its only one teaspoonful.
Lower the heat so that the sauce simmers gently for about an hour, stirring occassionally . Taste for seasoning after about 30 minutes, and add salt if needed.
When the sauce is ready, check once again for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as desired, and a generous amount of fresh basil, torn into pieces. Thats it. I told you it was easy!
Make It A Complete Meal
Salad A classic green salad or Italian Garden Salad is my favorite type of salad to serve with spaghetti, but go with what you love. Caesar would be good too.
Bread I love a nice crusty bread with my homemade spaghetti sauce, and I have a few fun options for you. Cheesy Garlic Bread, Garlic Bread Twists, or Crock Pot Artisan Bread.
Drink My favorite beverage with spaghetti is Blackberry Mint Spritzer.
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Ingredients For Italian Herb Seasoning
- Dried Herbs – Dried oregano, dried parsley, dried thyme, dried basil, and dried rosemary give this seasoning a lot of fresh herb flavor. Feel free to skip one of the herbs on the list if you dont have it on-hand or know you dont prefer the flavor. Make sure you get dried herbs that are in small flakes .
- Garlic Powder – Even though you may end up adding fresh garlic to an Italian recipe, some garlic powder in this seasoning mix really helps ensure you get that classic Italian flavor.
- Red Pepper Flakes – Totally optional, but a small amount of red pepper flakes gives the seasoning a subtle heat.
- Salt – Its up to you if youd like to add salt to this seasoning mix. If you prefer, you can make and store the seasoning without salt – just be sure to add it later when you use the seasoning in a recipe.
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Helpful Hints For A Perfect Spaghetti Sauce:
1.) Pick the right crushed tomatoes.
There are so many ways to make sure your sauce can be perfect every time. You first need to start with the best quality crushed tomatoes. When you buy your crushed tomatoes, make sure that you are buying ones that do not have any seasoning added. Often times you can buy crushed tomatoes with basil and salt already added, which can throw off the taste when you take into account the spices I add to my tomatoes.
You also want to decide if you like a chunky or smooth spaghetti sauce. We prefer a smooth sauce, so I like to buy Tuttorosso or Hunts crushed tomatoes. If you prefer a chunky sauce, you may want to use whole tomatoes or buy a chunky canned crushed tomato.
2.) Add Ground Beef or Italian sausage.
You can easily add ground beef or Italian sausage to this sauce. We typically brown it before adding it to the sauce. Another thing that we like to add is the big sausage links. That way, if the kids dont like them they can pick them out without it affecting the entire pot of sauce.
3.) Use canned crushed or fresh tomatoes.
When using canned tomatoes vs fresh tomatoes there are a few things to consider. If you are growing your own tomatoes at home, it is obviously going to be cheaper to make a sauce using your own tomatoes. You will need approx 15 medium-sized tomatoes to equal 3 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes.
Lets take a look at how to make a homemade spaghetti sauce using fresh tomatoes.
Serving Suggestions For Spaghetti Meat Sauce
We love this spaghetti meat sauce over some cooked spaghetti noodles. You can use any noodle you want! Top each serving with parmesan cheese.
Serve some garlic bread on the side and a side salad. I like to buy the bagged organic Caesar salad mix from Costco, but any grocery store sells it.
You can also serve it over some zucchini noodles for a low carb option.
Feel free to use this pasta sauce in any recipe that calls for it, like this easy ziti pasta bake. This is a great thing to do with leftovers!
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What Spices Do You Use In Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Usually you use the regular line up of Italian seasonings. For this recipe, I love adding a few extras in.
- Basil
- Oregano
The reality is, this is your sauce, so what spices do you like? Start with my suggestions in the recipe card below, and add or subtract to your preference. I like a lot of spices in my sauce, but if you want less spices feel free to cut down the amounts.
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How Do You Make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce From Scratch
- Start with great ingredients: Canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and spices.
- Let it all simmer! The key to a great spaghetti sauce is giving it time to let those flavors really meld together. Thus, the simmer time, which also reduces the sauce and helps it thicken, is key to amazing flavor and consistency. Its best to simmer in a thick bottom dutch oven pot, this one is my favorite.
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How To Make Jar Spaghetti Sauce Taste Homemade
If you either dont have time or dont feel like making spaghetti sauce from scratch, youll want to pull out the old reliable jar spaghetti sauce for your dinner. Jar spaghetti sauce is very good. It has already been cooked and simmered with delicious ingredients. It is made in different varieties too! Some spaghetti sauces come in garlic flavor, some basil flavored. There are jar spaghetti sauces with cheese flavors and wine too. You have many options for what flavor spaghetti sauce you want when it comes to jar spaghetti sauce.
But if you want to add even more flavor to your jar spaghetti sauce, youll want to learn how to spice up spaghetti sauce to make it taste homemade.
There are several different things that you can do to your jar spaghetti sauce to make it taste better. One of the things I have been doing for years is adding veggies to it! One of the things I have always done is to cook the ground beef in chopped onions and freshly chopped garlic. Adding some veggies will add a bunch of delicious flavors to your spaghetti sauce. You can also add things like different types of stock or wine to add flavor as well. If you normally eat your spaghetti with just the sauce and no meat, adding meat to the sauce will make all the difference.
Whats So Good About This Spaghetti Sauce
What I love about my Grandma Barbs easy spaghetti sauce recipe is thats its so quick, easy, full of flavor, and simple enough to make on the weekdays. Its super chunky and full of fresh onions, garlic, herbs, and the perfect blend of spaghetti sauce spices.
No need to ever buy the jars! This is a very basic spaghetti sauce recipe that you can easily tweak to your familys liking.
If youre looking for a classic homemade spaghetti sauce recipe give this one a try!
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Easy Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning Recipe
Got 5 minutes? Perfect! This Delicious and Easy Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning is whipped up in minutes and perfect for not only spaghetti, but baking as well!
At no additional cost to you, I may make a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.
Enough is enough. I use Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning way, way too often not to have my own recipe. I honestly cannot believe Ive gone this long without this incredibly easy and delicious spice blend!
There is so much you can do with Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning, besides the obvious, spaghetti. I think this spice adds the perfect flavour to baked goods or even potatoes! I hope you find as much use with this seasoning as I have!
How To Make Homemade Italian Seasoning Mix Step By Step
- Assemble Ingredients: First, place all of the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor.
- Process: Second, pulse until bay leaves are finely chopped.
- Next Step Here: Finally, transfer mixture to a spice jar for storage and then use in your favorite recipes.
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What Seasoning Do You Put In Spaghetti Sauce
Hardly any seasoning besides salt. When you use good quality jar/canned tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic and meat, youll only need some Italian parsley and basil for this recipe.
Thats all, please trust me on this. Yes, you can use dried parsley and basil, but its just not going to be as flavorful. Please do not follow the advicethat another American cooking site has shared, which is incorrect . This would be like a poison control website telling you to throw water on a grease fire! They have no authority to give you the advice, and its just wrong.
NOTE: if you dont have fresh garlic, I would skip it rather than use dehydrated garlic, or garlic powder.
Who am I to tell you how to make a proper spaghetti sauce? Read my about page if you dont already know about my Italian upbringing . Also, this is not a Bolognese sauce. That is a completely different recipe.
Super Simple Marinara Sauce
Meet the marinara sauce recipe of my dreams! Ive always been intimidated by marinara, maybe because I love it so much that I was afraid of messing it up. I finally faced my fears and tried making marinara every which way. This version is my favorite, no contest.
This homemade marinara sauce offers rich and lively tomato flavor. Youll need only five basic pantry ingredients to make this delicious marinara sauce: good canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, dried oregano and olive oil. Thats it!
This marinara is exceptionally easy to make, too, so its perfect for busy weeknights. You dont even have to chop the onion and garlic. Yep, thats rightjust crank open a can of tomatoes, halve an onion and peel some garlic. Youre ready to go!
This sauce offers lovely, authentic Italian flavor after a 45-minute simmer. I tried to take shortcuts to make it even faster, but no amount of tomato paste, spices, salt or sugar will make up for lost time.
Bottom line: Its impossible to achieve enchanting, long-simmered marinara flavor in under 45 minutes. So throw those ingredients in a pot, pour yourself a glass of wine and boil water for pasta. Dinner is almost ready.
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Spaghetti Meat Sauce Recipe
Homemade spaghetti meat sauce is a regular around my house. Its one of those recipes that my kids ask for all the time, mom make your spaghetti sauce. My kids are young right now but I am hoping its one of those recipes that they come back home and ask for as they get older .
This spaghetti meat sauce simmers on the stove top and every time I make it, I am reminded that there is not a better scent than spaghetti sauce simmering away on the stove. Its like the smell of comfort and home.
I love the convenience of a canned marinara sauce but sometimes you want a homemade, total comfort food dinner. And for me its usually this spaghetti meat sauce. Its the perfect recipe to make for dinner when you have some time on your hands and just want some delicious classic, comfort food.
What Vegetables Can You Put In Your Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
I dont put anything other than garlic and onion in for the sauce if I am making it to can or freeze. But when I whip up a dinner with it I will often add carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms.
That is my favorite combination.
But the nice thing about this sauce is it is super versatile, so add or subtract what you like in your spaghetti sauce.
That might be ground beef or sausage . It might be eggplant. What do you prefer?
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How To Spice Up Alfredo Jar Spaghetti Sauce
You might love spaghetti sauce, but not the traditional marinara type spaghetti sauce. The sauce you might really love on your spaghetti is alfredo sauce. Alfredo sauce is absolutely delicious over spaghetti. It is eaten often with shrimp or chicken as well. Alfredo sauce is my absolute favorite sauce to put on my spaghetti. A lot of people might prefer it over fettucini or penne, but I am just as happy pouring it over spaghetti. You can make homemade alfredo or use jar alfredo sauce. If youre using jar alfredo sauce, you probably want to learn how to spice it up to make it taste better.
One of the things you can do to make your Alfredo taste better is adding veggies. Just like with red spaghetti sauce, the veggies really improve it. You can add vegetables like onions, garlic, spinach, broccoli, or peas. Those are great options to make it taste better. You can add spices like garlic powder, dried basil, or pepper. Adding fresh basil is great too! You can add Parmesan cheese to make it even cheesier, and you can add one of the most popular meats on the planet. Bacon. Adding crumbled bacon into your Alfredo will really give it an amazing taste. You really cant go wrong with bacon! Now, you know how to spice up Alfredo spaghetti sauce too.
Can I Make Pasta Sauce Ahead Of Time
Yes! You can make spaghetti sauce ahead of time. In fact, I love to make a double or even triple batch then freeze the leftovers for meal prep in the future.
This spaghetti sauce recipe can be made up to 3 to 5 days in advance and kept in the refrigerator.
If freezing, let cool completely, store in a zip-close bag and freeze laying down flat. . Freeze for up to 2 months!
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Seriously The Best Spaghetti Sauce
4.) My kids love it. I I give it to them with noodles or zoodles or spaghetti squash, but most of the time they end up just eating the sauce with the spoon.
5.) You can freeze it. This recipe makes a lot so you can freeze half and get another whole meal out of it.
6.) Its a great last minute meal. What I mean by that is most of the ingredients are canned or dried. This is something I make on a what the heck are we gonna eat kinda night. I usually have some frozen ground meat in the freezer. And I always have canned tomatoes in the pantry and spices in the drawer.
A word on canned tomatoes Check the labels when you shop and look for BPA free and no salt added. And organic is ideal. My favorite brand is Muir Glen. I just think they taste the best.
And herbs and spices Its worth it to buy high quality organic herbs and spices. Always check the labels, particularly on spice mixes because they may contain fillers like corn starch and other added things you dont want like sugar and preservatives.
Making Your Own Italian Seasoning At Home
While store-bought shakers of dried Italian seasoning are certainly a convenient way to save time in the kitchen , theres something incredibly rewarding about seasoning your food with seasoning thats in your very own precise portions.
When you blend your own Italian seasoning, it also gives you the freedom to include other herbs and spices like sage, red pepper flakes, cilantro, fennel, parsley and more. And once youve mastered the art of blending herbs for an Italian seasoning, you can move on and try your hand at other mixes like taco seasoning and even pumpkin spice seasoning.
Be sure to label the container so you can grab and use a pinch at a moments notice.
To make your own Italian seasoning, blend 2 tablespoons each of your chosen dried herbs. When using the five classic herbs mentioned above, this recipe will make 10 tablespoons of Italian seasoning. But its easily scaled up or down to make as much or as little as youll need. To maintain maximum freshness, try to make about six months worth of seasoning.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until well combined. If you prefer seasoning to have a finer consistency, pulse the herbs in a spice grinder or food processor, utilize a mortar and pestle, or use the flat side of a frying pan to crush the mixture.
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