Spaghetti
Published on May 17, 2023
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Quick Summary
Homemade Spaghetti made with a rich and hearty meat sauce is a classic dinner recipe. It’s easy to make and always delicious! Serve with garlic bread and salad for an easy weeknight meal.
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Pin ItWe love making spaghetti and meatballs, baked spaghetti, and lemon spaghetti, but classic Spaghetti with Meat Sauce is the BEST! It is a family dinner staple.
I love this recipe because it’s made with basic ingredients that we always have in our pantry. Whenever we don’t know what to make for dinner, we often turn to spaghetti because everyone loves it.
The meat sauce is rich, hearty, and full of comforting flavors. It is easy to make too! The steps are simple: sauté vegetables in olive oil, brown the ground beef, mix in tomatoes, broth, and seasonings and let simmer.
Combine the homemade meat sauce with long, slurp-able spaghetti noodles and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and basil. YUM!
A big bowl of spaghetti noodles topped with hearty meat sauce is the ultimate comfort food. Serve garlic bread and salad on the side and even the pickiest of eaters will lick their bowls clean!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Veggies– onion, celery, and carrot
- Garlic
- Ground beef
- Beef broth
- Tomatoes– crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste
- Italian seasoning
- Crushed red pepper
- Bay leaves
- Spaghetti
- Parmesan cheese & fresh basil– for garnish.
How to Make Spaghetti
(Scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe with ingredients and instructions)
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery to the pot. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the meat and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to break up the meat into smaller pieces as it cooks. Drain off any excess grease.
- Pour in the beef broth and bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir until well combined and add the bay leaves. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste the sauce and adjust seasonings, as necessary.
- To cook the spaghetti, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti to al dente, according to package directions. Drain well.
- Remove the bay leaves from the sauce. Add the spaghetti to the meat sauce in the pot and use tongs to toss until combined. Alternatively, plate the spaghetti and top with meat sauce.
- Garnish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.
Recipe Variations
- Instead of using ground beef, you can use ground turkey, ground chicken, or half ground beef and half Italian sausage, or even all Italian sausage.
- Add a little brown sugar, granulated sugar, or pure maple syrup if you want a sweeter spaghetti sauce. The sugar will also help cut the acidity from the tomatoes.
- For a vegetarian spaghetti, you can omit the meat and sauté mushrooms and other veggies for a satisfying sauce.
- Serve with spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles. You can also use gluten-free pasta or chickpea pasta.
- Instead of spaghetti noodles, use your favorite pasta shape. Penne, ziti, farfalle, fusilli, and angel hair are all good options.
What to Serve with Spaghetti
- Salad: Kale Salad, Caesar Salad, Green Salad, Arugula Salad, or Spinach Salad
- Garlic Bread or Caprese Garlic Bread
- Bruschetta
- Roasted Broccoli
- Roasted Green Beans or Simple Skillet Green Beans
- Roasted Carrots
- Roasted Asparagus
How to Store & Reheat
- Store: Keep leftover spaghetti in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: I don’t recommend freezing the spaghetti, but the sauce freezes beautifully. Let the sauce cool completely. Transfer to a freezer container or bag and label. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw, reheat in a pot on the stovetop, and serve with fresh spaghetti noodles.
- Reheat: To reheat in the microwave, place the pasta in a microwave-safe bowl or plate and heat for 30 to 60 seconds. Stir and if the pasta is still not warm enough, heat in 15 second increments until heated through. To reheat in the oven, place the pasta (and sauce) in an oven-safe baking dish, cover it with foil and bake at 350℉ for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through. To reheat on the stovetop, add a little olive oil to a pan or pot and heat over medium heat. Add the spaghetti with sauce and heat until warm, stirring occasionally. Make sure you have enough sauce so the spaghetti isn’t dry.
More Spaghetti Recipes
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Baked Spaghetti
- Lemon Spaghetti
- Spaghetti Carbonara
- Spaghetti with Chickpeas & Kale
Spaghetti
Homemade Spaghetti made with a rich and hearty meat sauce is a classic dinner recipe. It is easy to make and always delicious! Serve with garlic bread and salad for an easy weeknight meal.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 lb ground beef, can use ground turkey, chicken, or half ground beef/ half Italian sausage
- 1 cup beef broth
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- Crushed red pepper, to taste
- 2 bay leaves
- Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
- 16 oz spaghetti
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery to the pot. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the meat and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to break up the meat into smaller pieces as it cooks. Drain off any excess grease.
- Pour in the beef broth and bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir until well combined and add the bay leaves. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste the sauce and adjust seasonings, as necessary.
- To cook the spaghetti, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti to al dente, according to package directions. Drain well.
- Remove the bay leaves from the sauce. Add the spaghetti to the meat sauce in the pot and use tongs to toss until combined. Alternatively, plate the spaghetti and top with meat sauce.
- Garnish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Serve immediately.
Notes
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze the meat sauce for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Calories: 423kcal, Carbohydrates: 53g, Protein: 21g, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 593mg, Potassium: 948mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 1949IU, Vitamin C: 18mg, Calcium: 89mg, Iron: 4mg
Have you tried this recipe?
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What brand of canned tomatoes do you like to use?
San Marzano are my favorite tomatoes.
I used Swansons unsalted beef broth, and Hunts No Salt tomato paste, No fault tomato sauce and no salt crushed tomatoes. This took the sodium for the sauce down to 93g per serving. This is a great recipe to add some veggies (mushrooms), texture and extra flavor with the broth. I also added 1T sugar to give it a sweeter taste. Guilt free!
Thanks for sharing. I am so glad you loved the recipe!
I just made this for tonight’s dinner. Honestly…it is delicious! I do think the kind of crushed tomatoes you use makes the difference. I used San Marzano. I am on Weight Watchers and wanted to lower the point value so I used 99% lean ground turkey. For those who care, unless my math is off, with the pasta, it is 7 points per serving.
Thanks for sharing!