Tips For Storing Leftovers & Freezing
Store & keep fresh: Let sauce cool to room temperature then store in an airtight container or glass jars. Chill in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days.
How to freeze: First, let the sauce cool to room temperature then store in an airtight container or freezer-friendly ziplock bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Italian Gravy For Pasta
When you think of homemade Italian gravy, you probably think pasta, however, there are lots of other uses for this delicious sauce. Here are some recipes that you can use with my Old School Italian Gravy:
- Beef Bones – Omit if you are vegetarian/vegan or if you cannot find them.
- Beef Broth – Use vegetable broth to make this recipe vegetarian/vegan.
- San Marzano Tomatoes – If you cant locate these, regular canned tomatoes can be used.
- Wine – You can substitute this with extra broth if you dont like to cook with wine or dont have any on hand.
Recipe Yields 4-6 quarts of sauce, depending on how much the sauce is reduced.
How Long Does Homemade Tomato Sauce Last In The Freezer
I keep my tomato sauce in the freezer for months. It will retain its best quality up to six months but, is safe to store in your freezer longer without jeopardizing much of the quality. I like to date my sauce so I can remove the older sauce first.
So, if you find tomato sauce in your freezer thats 9 months or even a year old, dont throw it away.
Youre going to love this spaghetti sauce recipe. My friend told me the first time she made this recipe she licked the plate clean and said shed never use store-bought jarred sauce again.
Treat your family to a great with this flavorful sauce.
Also Check: Texas Pete Hot Sauce Ingredients
Ingredients For Spaghetti Sauce With Ground Meat
If youre looking for a basic meat-free sauce, be sure to check out my homemade Marinara Sauce recipe. Its incredible. If youre a carnivore like me, proceed with this scrumptious recipe and be prepared to fall in love.
Heres the basic list of ingredients youll need in order to make this quick and easy Spaghetti Sauce. As always, you can find the full list of ingredients located in the recipe card below
- Italian Sausage try a spicy sausage for even more flavor
- Onion
- Italian Seasoningtry my homemade blend!
- Sugarjust a little to cut the acidity of the tomatoes
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.
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Ok Now Youre Ready To Roll Up The Meat
Roll up the meat as tight as you can and tie it up with some very strong nylon thread . You will need about three pieces of string for each piece of Braciole. You have to be patient. This part can take a while. You want to tie it well enough to hold it all together. Make sure to leave long pieces of string hanging off the knot you make so you can find the string after cooking it. If you dont have strong thread, it will fall apart during the searing process. You can also use cooking string, to roll up your Braciole. This is a lot easier to work with but would not fall under the category of Italian dental floss
OK, now that you have all your meat rolled up, tied up and ready to go, lets put the meat in the very hot pan. You want to brown/seer the meat and then put them in the sauce. Please be gentle stirring the sauce from this point on. You should try to get these into the sauce just prior to putting in the meatballs.
This recipe should yield approximately 5 to 8 Bracioles. Depends and the final size of your pieces of meat.
This part of the recipe will take practice. You will have to make the Braciole several times before you get it just right. Youll have to play around with the amount of ingredients to add to the meat and the size of the roll. You dont want the rolls too thick or you will have to cook youre sauce longer.
Now make your favorite Pasta and Mangiarlo tutto!!!
How To Check The Quality Of Your Tomatoes
Want a tip on testing if your choice of canned tomatoes are top quality? First, read the label: tomatoes from Italy are usually very good, but do check the ingredients. You do not want anything added other than tomatoes, salt, basil or citric acid.
Ive seen news stories where tomatoes were brought from China, then canned in Italy so they could say made in Italy. They added color and all sorts of nasty things, so dont just rely on the label. See the Il Pomodori di Napoli? These are from Naples, so theyre the real deal and delicious! Discover lots of new canned tomato recipes that you can enjoy on my latest post!
The best of the best are Pomodoro San Marzano dellAgro Sarnese-Nocerino, DOP = the REAL San Marzano tomatoes. Yes, its a mouthful, but this wording, along with two seals of approval guaranteeing the quality of these tomatoes is your way to knowing you are paying for the best quality tomatoes. The cans will always say pomodori pelati Italiani, which simply means Italian peeled tomatoes.
UPATE I am now collaborating on a campaign calledThe Greatest Tomatoes From Europe, with ANICAV.
Once you decide to purchase said tomatoes, heres the second test: open the can/jar/carton and taste the tomatoes or puree.
Does it taste good? If you made a sour face, theyre probably not going to make a great sauce. If the answer is Yes, theyre sweet and tasty! then youve found the right tomatoes, and they will make a great sauce!
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Can I Make Spaghetti Sauce From Whole Tomatoes
If you want to make spaghetti sauce completely from scratch using whole tomatoes rather than canned, youll 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.
Best Ever Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
This homemade spaghetti sauce recipe was passed down from my Sicilian grandma. It has been used for generations, and you cant mess it up! It is really easy and tastes SO much better than the store-bought sauce. I love that you can make this in a crock-pot, too no need to spend hours babysitting the stove making sure it doesnt burn.
In fact, its one of our favorite dump recipes!
Homemade sauce is not as hard as you may think! It is actually pretty simple and tastes so much better than store-bought sauce! You can either make it on the stovetop, crockpot, or pressure cooker.
Making homemade sauce makes me feel like a super mom, even though I typically make it in the crockpot
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Tips For Making The Best Homemade Tomato Sauce
Pomodoro Sauce Recipe From Italy
Being able to use a good pomodoro sauce recipe for your pasta or just as an accompaniment to some bread is a real treat. In fact. way too often people think that preparing a tomato sauce at home is so difficult that its not worth the effort.
In reality, making a pomodoro sauce recipe is easy and its extremely rewarding: its a simple, delicious, and family-friendly way to dress up your pasta, your slice of bread or even your meat.
Below you will learn what is pomodoro sauce, ingredients and step by step recipe, the best type of tomatoes for tomato sauce recipes, and tips and trick to store/prepare your tomato sauce.
Lets start from the basic
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Tips For Making The Best Bolognese Sauce
There is no such thing as a quick Bolognese Sauce, Authentic Bolognese must be slow cooked for three hours, nothing rushed here.
And when you try it, youll know it was worth every minute.
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!
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An Extremely Important Part Of This Recipe For Overall Flavor Adds A Lot To The Sauce Really You Must Make The Meatballs ~ This Is Important Chops Are Optional
OK, look, its just not sauce without the meatballs, so make the meatballs.
Oh, wait.. Did I forget to tell you my Familys recipe for Braciole, you know, that steak with bread crumb type filling all rolled up and held together with toothpicks or string The string around the meat we call Italian dental floss Its excellent addition to the sauce recipe. It makes the sauce taste even better! Its a good!! ~ The Braciole recipe is towards the bottom of this page if you want to add it to the pot!
Important Note: If you are going to make the Braciole this is where you would make it and add it to the sauce. You should make the Braciole before the Pork Chops and Meatballs. The meat for the Braciole needs to cook in the sauce longer than the Balls and Chops. **Very Important Note: You will want to make the Braciole and brown it in a pan as noted in the Braciole recipe toward the bottom of this page. You should also put the Braciole in the sauce right from the pan and you should place them in the sauce before you make the meatballs. This way your Braciole is cooking while youre preparing the meatballs.
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How Do You Use A Homemade Pomodoro Sauce
Well, we Italians use our tomato sauce with everything. The main use, however, is with pasta . Meatballs also are great if covered in real tomato sauce, and so is every other type of meat.
Not to mention a toasted slice of bread , which will be the highlight of every dinner party.
And what about pizza?
Why This Recipe Is The Best
This is a comfort food site, and I’m not going to pretend this is the best marinara sauce in the world. Just know this is an authentic Mariana recipe that has passed from one generation to the next for many years.
My nonna would be proud to know I’m sharing this homemade marina sauce with you.
I promise this recipe is easy to make, tastes fantastic, and is superior to store-bought tomato sauce in every way. You’ll come away with an amazing marina sauce everyone will enjoy with minimal effort.
You’ll still need to set aside 3-4 hours required to cook down the tomatoes. For this reason, I recommend making a large batch so you can make an amazing pasta whenever you want.
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What Is The Secret To Good Spaghetti Sauce
There is no secret to good spaghetti sauce, you just have to ask the Italians: if you want good flavor, you need to start with the best quality ingredients! Its that simple. You can read about the best quality canned tomatoes in my fish in tomato sauce recipe.
Grating your own Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano to serve on top of your pasta is always the best plan.
The meat is really important, too! Try to buy grass fed, without antibiotics and growth hormones. Corn-fed beef is not a good thing, despite companies promoting it as if it was. This is an interview I listened to on the radio many years ago. Since then, I have always tried to buy better beef, for our health and the health and treatment of the cows.
Recently, I tried Farm Foods grass fed, non GMO ground beef to make my sauce, and Im so pleased! The meat doesnt end up in chewy chunks, but cooks beautifully in the sauce! The flavor is fabulous, too. You can have all types of grass feed beef, as well as lamb, pork, chicken and even seafood delivered right to your door ! Just click the banner below to go to their site.
Baking A Delicious Pizza Using This Recipe
So this is the part we have the least control over in making a really good Italian pizza: the oven. We can always buy a pizza stone, which helps, but the fact that we cant get an oven temperature of more than 500 degrees F is the biggest problem. Pizza needs a super hot oven upwards of 700 degrees F.
Without buying a professional pizza oven, the next best thing Ive found is an inexpensive countertop pizza maker. I love mine and it reaches over 600 degrees F! The Petite Pizzeria that I have has been discontinued, but this Chef di Cucina Pizza Maker looks almost exactly the same and gets rave reviews.
My mother and familys go to pizza sauce is actually what is called a Marinara pizza. Somehow, Americans/Brits got mixed up with what marinara sauce is. A Marinara pizza sauce includes garlic and oregano, however, for a Margherita pizza, these are omitted.
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