This Best Ever Spaghetti and Meat Sauce recipe is the perfect Italian-style weeknight meal for the whole family – a rich, meaty sauce served over your favourite pasta!
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I don’t know about your family, but at our house spaghetti and meat sauce is everybody’s favourite meal. I make this Best Ever Spaghetti and Meat Sauce at least once every two weeks and it’s the dinner I look forward to the most – mainly because my kids love it so much that my husband and I are guaranteed a quiet, peaceful dinner while the kids are stuffing their faces!!
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In all seriousness, this Best Ever Spaghetti and Meat Sauce is the perfect Italian-inspired family meal idea – the sauce is rich and meaty and SO flavourful, and it goes great over your favourite pasta cooked in salted water. Top it off with some fresh herbs and parmesan cheese and serve it with a side salad, and you’ve got the perfect family dinner that that’s better than any Italian Restaurant!
Try this recipe with my Classic Creamy Italian Salad Dressing!!
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I hope your family loves this recipe as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your family’s favourite comfort food meal?
KITCHEN PRODUCTS I RECOMMEND:
Looking for even more comfort food meals? You’ll LOVE these:
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Easy One Pot Pasta Primavera
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Creamy Enchilada One Pot Pasta
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Crispy Oven Fried Chicken
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Skillet French Onion Stuffed Chicken
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Skillet Pesto Caprese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
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Chicken Breasts with White Wine Mushroom Sauce
Looking for more?
QUICK & EASY WEEKNIGHT MEALS
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Best Ever Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
This Best Ever Spaghetti and Meat Sauce recipe is the perfect Italian-style weeknight family meal - a rich, meaty sauce served over your favourite pasta!
Recipe: Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 cup red wine
- 9 cups canned crushed tomatoes (plain pureed tomato sauce, no salt or flavour added)
- chopped fresh parsley and parmesan cheese, for garnish
- spaghetti noodles, cooked according to package directions (I recommend Barilla brand - they're our family's favourite!)
Recipe: Instructions
- Heat a large dutch oven pot over medium high heat.
- Add the ground beef and cook until almost completely browned, breaking it up with a wooden spoon.
- Turn the heat to medium and add the onions, garlic, salt and pepper (to taste), parsley, basil, oregano and thyme. Saute with the beef until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Add the wine and allow the liquid to evaporate while stirring the mixture regularly so the meat absorbs the flavour of the wine.
- When the wine has almost evaporated, add the crushed tomatoes and stir to combine.
- Cover and let simmer on medium-low heat for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours (turn the heat to low if you plan to simmer for a long time). Stir regularly to ensure the sauce cooks evenly.
- Prepare the pasta according to the package directions, cooking it in salted water for best results.
- Serve the sauce over the pasta with a sprinkling of fresh parsley (if desired) and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Recipe: Notes
This recipe is great for meal prep because the sauce can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Freeze in airtight containers for up to 2 months.
Recipe: Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Best Ever Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
Amount Per Serving (1 cup)
Calories 186
Calories from Fat 36
% Daily Value*
Fat 4g6%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Cholesterol 47mg16%
Sodium 291mg13%
Potassium 840mg24%
Carbohydrates 15g5%
Fiber 4g17%
Sugar 9g10%
Protein 19g38%
Vitamin A 390IU8%
Vitamin C 18mg22%
Calcium 79mg8%
Iron 4mg22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Thank you so much for sharing. This looks amazing !!
Thanks so much!
Great dish, just finished making it for dinner, great tip on the supplement for red wine, I also added fresh basil and chillies. Taste fantastic
I LOVE spaghetti!
We do too!!
You can’t go wrong with a big bowl of spaghetti and meat sauce!
We couldn’t agree more!
This looks really good! I am sure my family will love this!
Thanks!
Wow, I want to eat it every day! I’m sure this is very tasty. This is a great recipe for me.
I’m so glad! Thanks!
This looks better than my favorite restaurant! I can’t wait to try your recipe.
Thanks so much!
Hi!
Is there any substitute for the red wine for someone who does not consume alcohol? Thanks!
Yes, use a pinch of sugar and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Or just leave it out altogether 🙂
this is always a go to for our house! it’s always so comforting!
In our house too! Thanks!
What brand of red wine d you use in this recipe. I dont drink red wine so i have NO idea. Thanks
I typically go for a cabernet sauvignon, since it’s widely available 🙂
Do you have a video for this?
Not yet…watch for it in 2020!
This spaghetti and meat sauce recipe does look like the best one, and I will try and make this at home later in the evening. I hope that everything goes to plan; otherwise, the dish won’t be as good as I want it to be.
Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Hi–going to try this tonight!
Wondering where the sodium comes from in this recipe if you’re using salt free tomatoes? (Hubby has high BP…)
Thanks!
Hi Michele, the sodium comes from the beef. I hope it helps!Enjoy!
Nice to see this, thank you. Made a similar one for years due to cooking with a Swiss born chef. Added a small tin of Pastene tomato paste and six cloves of garlic. Fed many daycare children for years who licked their bowls from this and my mother’s very different but awesome recipe.
Thanks!
How much is a serving? Not listed on Nutri
1 serving is about 1 cup sauce.
I am making this right now, smells so good! One question, my sauce looks really liquidy, I didnt have pureed tomatoes on hand so I pureed whole canned tomatoes would that affect the consistency?
Usually whole canned tomatoes come in juice, which is more liquidy. This is likely why your sauce is watery. To use canned whole tomatoes for this recipe, drain them a little bit first.
This really is the best spaghetti and meatsauce ever! Really easy to make and the addition of wine (which I have never tried before) really added a nice deep flavour. My family loved it! Thanks!
Thank you so much Elin! So happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the recipe and that you tried the addition of wine and liked it!
Normally I make a vat full of pork ragú, cooked all day with meaty pork bones, my home-made Italian sausage, the whole nine yards. Today, there was none of that left in my freezer. Oh no! I poked around on the Internet and found your recipe. “How good could it be?”, I asked myself. “It won’t be like MINE.”
It wasn’t like mine, but OMG! It was marvelous! I did use the wine, and the two-hour simmer, and I added a fresh bay leaf, a TBsp of fennel seeds, a pinch of cinnamon, and another pinch of sugar.
Served in a big bowl over al dente Barilla fettuccine–with a lot of freshly grated parmesano–perfect.
You’re bookmarked, Busy Baker. Thank you so much.
I invite you to enjoy my website, Mexico Cooks!, for Mexico’s food, cultures, and beauty.
Thanks so much for the comment! I’m so glad you like the recipe! 🙂
Can you substitute the red wine for jack daniels?
Go right ahead! 🙂
Thank you so much, I made it last night with half the recipe. The only thing I did different was 3 small garlic cloves, and a bay leaf while simmering. Delicious and simple to make.
Thanks for the feedback Marianne!! Glad you find it delicious!🙂
Mmm spaghettini and sauce meat
Thank you!!😊
Can you use fresh tomatoe (pureed) in plaee of the canned ones.
I wouldn’t recommend it for recipes like this as canned tomatoes are more flavourful than fresh ones.
I made this last night. My husband repeatedly said it was really good (different…from my other spaghetti sauces). I added little bit of tomato paste, brown sugar, ground fennel. I only put in 6.5 cups of crushed tomatoes and a lot more garlic. Next time I’ll try 6 cups.
Thank you
Thanks for your feedback Paula!!
This is a keeper! Super easy and is a delicious, full flavoured sauce. The only change I made was adding fennel seeds and hot pepper flakes.
Thanks Susan!! So glad you like the recipe!!
This is ABSOLUTELY delicious. It is so easy and the flavour is outstanding. I added a few things my family loves like fennel seeds and red pepper flakes to make it our own.
I will try to make it tonight . it sounds good but never put wine in my pasta sauce before
I love cooking with wine!