Homemade Italian Meat Sauce

Homemade Italian Meat Sauce is perfect for everyone’s favorite pasta night dinner. Rich, hearty, and full of flavor, everyone will be asking you for this recipe. Make it over the weekend and freeze for a quick weeknight meal.

Italian Meat Sauce

Who loves some awesome comfort food?!? And my favorite food like a bowl of pasta covered in a hearty, rich, and thick meat sauce. Am I Right?

Throw in some crusty bread or garlic covered breadsticks and I am in absolute heaven!

But before I can go into the details of this family recipe, we need to clear up some of the lingo used to describe this meat sauce.

If you want the authentic Italian word, it would be ragù. Technically, a ragù is a sauce made with meat.

Is Bolognese the same as meat sauce?

Bolognese is a variation of ragù from the city of Bologna in Italy but with a slight difference. A bolognese sauce is a meat sauce but finished with milk or cream.

So really it’s a “creamy” meat sauce. But this meat sauce recipe is strictly a tomato based sauce with minimal extra ingredients. This allows the meat and tomatoes to really shine!

By the way, the term “Sunday Gravy” is not an authentic Italian word for sauce. It may have been started by Italian American immigrants in a way to assimilate and introduce American’s to Italian cuisine.

Bunch of Godfather fans out there? I AM!!

Ingredients Needed

Ground beef – I like to use 93/7 ground chuck, but feel free to use ground turkey, pork, or veal. Try Italian sausage if you want to try something different.

Tomatoes – I only use San Marzano tomatoes because they have the best taste and texture. Tomato paste is a good way to get concentrated tomato flavor without changing the overall volume.

Onion – Use a sweet or white onion.

Spices – Homemade Italian seasoning, bay leaves.

Sugar- This is a hot topic issue in my house. A lot of people add sugar to their sauce to cut the acidity of the tomatoes. I am against it entirely but if you need to add a little sweetness, I suggest adding some finely chopped carrots to the sauce instead of the sugar. They will do the trick!

Pantry staples – Olive oil, salt, black pepper.

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How to Make Meat Sauce from Scratch

First: Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large pan over medium high heat, add olive oil, onion, and lean ground beef.

Second: Cook until the ground beef is cooked through and the onion is tender, using a spoon to break up the ground beef. Add the garlic, bay leaves, Italian seasoning, and tomato paste. Stir to combine.

Third: Stir in crushed tomatoes and water. Bring to a low boil. Remove from heat and place in the preheated oven, uncovered.

Fourth: Bake for 1 hour stirring a few times while baking. Sauce should be bubbly and reduced in volume slightly. Remove and let cool.

Fifth: Serve immediately over your favorite pasta or spaghetti squash. Garnish with parsley and grated cheese.

For the full recipe and detailed baking instructions, please see the recipe card at the end of this post.

How long does it last?

Store any leftovers in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove top until warmed through.

This sauce will last for 5 days in the refrigerator. Because this recipe makes a large amount so I like to freeze most of it for later on.

I prefer to store my sauce in 2 cup portions in freezer containers. Or you can vacuum seal it in bags.

Freezing tip: store the bags flat while it freezes. They will be easier to stack or store upright without taking up too much space! Store it in the freezer for up to 4 months.

How long should I simmer it?

I simmer my sauce in the oven for an hour but feel free to go another hour. It will decrease the volume a bit more and intensify the flavor of the sauce.

Just be sure to stir it so it doesn’t stick.

Can I make it in the slow cooker or instant pot?

You certainly can make it in the slow cooker. Cook the sauce as directed but instead of putting it in the oven, add the sauce to your crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 3 hours.

Because the crock pot has a lid on it, the sauce will not reduce in volume.

For the instant pot, cook the meat and onions on the sauté function, cover and cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.

What kind of pasta is best with meat sauce?

Spaghetti and meat sauce is a thing but really spaghetti noodles are not the best pasta for this ground beef pasta sauce recipe.

A thick and hearty sauce needs a sturdy noodle to handle it. But not just any noodle because shape matters!

You need a pasta noodle needs texture in the form of ridges on the outside which helps the thick sauce cling to the noodle instead of sliding off.

Make sure you cook your pasta al dente in salted water.

Best Pasta Noodles To Use

• Papperdelle – flat and wide egg noodle shape that is perfect for this sauce.
• Fettuccini – flat and wide noodle that will work well too
• Rigatoni – flat, has ridges, and the hole through the center is wide enough to allow some sauce to sneak inside, which is what you want!

Pasta Noodles Not Best for Meat Sauce

• Penne – ridged but not wide wide enough to catch sauce
• Ziti – same as penne with no ridges
• Spaghetti – too thin and round so meat sauce slides off easily

Tips for No Leftovers

• This sauce is a great opportunity to sneak in some vegetables. A little carrot and celery when you are sweating the onions is ok. Some green pepper is great too!
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes while adding the spices gives the sauce a little kick.
• Use stewed or fire roasted diced tomatoes instead of the crushed one for a different flavor twist.
• Serve with pasta cooked al dente in salted water for the best flavor and texture.
• Stir in a little parmesan cheese for extra flavor.
• Use this in this baked chicken spaghetti and serve it with a side of Italian green beans or a chopped salad.

If you love this recipe as much as I do, please write a five-star review in the comment section below (or on Pinterest with the “tried it” button – you can now add pictures into reviews, too!), and be sure to help me share on facebook!

This homemade meat sauce recipe will be your new favorite way to top pasta and will have everyone asking for the recipe!

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