Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Our family favorite 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 sauce recipe! 

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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 spaghetti 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 needs some time to simmer on the stove and then it’s ready to use in your baked ravioli, crockpot lasagna, or our family favorite baked spaghetti.

♥ What We Love About This Recipe:

Flavor: You’ll get a far superior and more complex flavor when you make your sauce from scratch vs. starting with a jar of sauce.

Freshness: When you make spaghetti sauce at home, you have complete control over the ingredients. This means using the best quality tomatoes, vegetables, meats, and seasonings available. The difference in taste and texture is immediately noticeable compared to mass-produced jarred sauces.

Customized: One of the joys of homemade spaghetti sauce is the ability to customize it to your personal preferences. Whether you like it spicier, sweeter, chunkier, or with more or less of certain ingredients, the flexibility to adapt the recipe is hugely appealing.

Budget Friendly: Preparing a large batch of homemade spaghetti sauce is often more economical than repeatedly purchasing jarred varieties. Plus, the leftovers can be easily frozen for quick, delicious meals down the road.

Ingredient Notes:

Ground Meat – I’m using a combination of ground beef and ground pork 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. There is no limit to garlic.

Tomato – You’ll need canned crushed tomatoes as well as tomato paste. We use canned tomatoes instead of fresh, but always go for a high quality brand. Canned tomatoes are picked and canned at the peak of freshness and good all year long.

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. Skip this if you prefer or grate in a carrot to add some natural sweetness.

Red Pepper Flakes – These are optional, but they really don’t make this spicy. They just add a depth of flavor.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How to Make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce: 

Brown the ground beef and sausage in a heavy bottomed pot, such as a dutch oven. Once cooked through, stir in the garlic and onion and keep cooking until softened.

Stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, and seasonings and bring this to a simmer. Cook this uncovered for 2-4 hours. The longer the better!

Give your sauce a taste and adjust the seasonings to suit your tastes. You may need more salt or more sugar. A dash of Worcestershire sauce adds more savory depth and a knob of butter will add a silky mouthfeel to the sauce.

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!

Use this as a sauce for pizza and top it off with cheese and pepperoni. You’ll have a meat lovers pizza thanks to the sauce!

Use this in our ravioli lasagna and you’ll really turn your pasta into a protein packed dish.

This is perfect over spaghetti, penne, or any other shape of noodle as well.

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.