This Homemade Spaghetti Sauce combines all the best parts of Arrabiata, Marinara, and Bolognese sauces. It's sweet, spicy, meaty, and sticks to noodles perfectly. I also love serving this with Homemade Italian Meatballs. It's not the quickest spaghetti sauce recipe to make, but it's well worth the time!
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While You'll Love This Recipe
Similar to that of a fine wine blend, this sauce has deep flavors with a beginning, middle, and end. The first is the flavor of sweet tomatoes. Then, you get the Italian herbs with sautéed onion and garlic. Lastly, the spice hits just in time.
The texture is sure to stand out right away as well. It's a thick sauce that sticks to the noodles quite nicely. Between the meat and mushrooms, you have a hearty sauce that's sure to delight any Bolognese fanatic.
The only thing left...buttery Homemade Rosemary bread to soak up whatever didn't stick to the noodles.
Ingredients
Meat: All you'll need for this recipe is Ground Beef. (See Expert Tips)
Vegetables: You'll need Yellow Onions and White Mushrooms.
Liquids: For the spaghetti sauce base, you'll need Tomato Paste, Dry Red Wine, Tomato Puree, Tomato Sauce, and Water. (See Expert Tips)
Herbs and Spices: Fresh Minced Garlic, Fresh Basil, Dried Parsley, Dark Brown Sugar, Kosher Salt, Ground Black Pepper, and Crushed Red Pepper will bring you extra flavor, sweetness, and spice.
Extras: Olive oil for sautéing the vegetables.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat a cast iron pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Next, heat the olive oil in the pot until shimmering. Once your oil is heated, add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic, stirring to cover in the olive oil. Sprinkle the veggies with a bit of salt and sweat down, sautéing until the mushrooms have browned and the onions are translucent.
Now, add the lean ground beef, cooking until browned. Using lean ground beef is important because it will not be drained. The leaner, the better.
Step 2: add the tomato paste and stir very well to be sure the paste covers everything.
Stop drinking and add the wine; cook until reduced by half.
(Resume Drinking)
Then, add tomato puree, tomato sauce, water, dried parsley, dark brown sugar, and red pepper flakes. Stir this all together to combine, then add salt and pepper to taste.
Step 3: Stir in diced black olives, stirring to fully combine.
Step 4: Add the freshly diced basil and stir to incorporate.
Cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer for two hours or until ready to serve.
Expert Tips
- Try serving this with an Easy and Beautiful Bruschetta as an appetizer.
- Feel free to use Pinot Noir, Merlot, or Cabernet Sauvignon for the Dry Red Wine, whichever you'll most likely drink.
- Normally, I would recommend using Italian Sausage in Spaghetti. However, meatballs are made partly from my Homemade Hot Italian Sausage. So, if you prefer, you could use that Ground Italian Sausage Recipe or even a store-bought option instead of or combined with the ground beef.
Recipe FAQs
An Italian tomato sauce is typically thinner and doesn't contain meat, whereas spaghetti sauce is thicker, meatier, and has many more ingredients.
Traditional spaghetti sauce or pasta sauce is made from ripened tomatoes and a blend of herbs and spices that are stewed for quite some time, building up a wonderful flavor profile.
Red Wine. That's right, dry red wine is the best-kept secret to a full-flavored spaghetti sauce that will stick to the noodles and your ribs like a good Italian homecooked comfort food should. Pinot Noir, Merlot, or Cabernet Sauvignon are the best to use for the sauce. Just pick whichever you'll most likely drink with dinner.
To add flavor to homemade spaghetti sauce, try adding dry red wine, fresh basil, and/or dark brown sugar.
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📖 Recipe
Homemade Italian Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb Lean Ground Beef
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- 5 Whole Fresh Garlic Cloves
- ½ Medium Yellow Onion Chopped
- 8 Whole White Mushrooms Sliced
- 6 Oz Tomato Paste
- ½ Cup Dry Red wine
- 28 Oz Tomato Puree
- 8 Oz Tomato Sauce
- 1 Cup Water
- 6 Fresh Basil Leaves Chopped
- 2-½ teaspoon Dried Parsley
- 2 teaspoon Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Instructions
- Preheat heavy cast iron pot over medium heat.
- Pour in olive oil to bring up to temp then add the Mushrooms, Onions, and Garlic, stirring to cover in olive oil.
- Sprinkle with Salt and begin to sweat the vegetables down until onions become translucent, mushrooms are browning, and garlic is fragrant.
- Add in the ground beef and cook stirring occasionally to break up the meat, until fully browned.
- Add Tomato Paste and stir to combine with the meat and veggies.
- Pour in the Dry red wine, stir to combine, and cook until reduced by about half.
- Add Tomato Puree, Tomato Sauce, Water, and Fresh Basil. Stir.
- Stir in Dried Parsley and Dark Brown Sugar.
- Salt and Pepper to taste.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours or until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- Try serving this with an Easy and Beautiful Bruschetta as an appetizer.
- Feel free to use Pinot Noir, Merlot, or Cabernet Sauvignon for the Dry Red Wine, whichever you'll most likely drink.
- Normally, I would recommend using Italian Sausage in Spaghetti. However, meatballs are made partly from my Homemade Hot Italian Sausage. So, if you prefer, you could use that Ground Italian Sausage Recipe or even a store-bought option instead of or combined with the ground beef.
Cheryl says
This recipe looks similar to mine but the process different & I don't add wine so I look forward to trying it! Looks yummy!
Jeremy says
It's so flavorful and the consistency is perfect. The sauce sticks nicely to the noodles. My whole family loves it...even the younger pickier eaters!
Jeremy says
The wine really adds an extra element that kicks it up a bunch! Of course the alcohol cooks out and you don't use much so you'll need to drink the rest with the dish itself...but I didn't find that to be a problem!