Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

I love a good spaghetti sauce. A great sauce that is just as good straight off a spoon as it is on top of pasta. That is after chocolate, of course. I’ve made my own spaghetti sauce for years. It’s easy, and healthier than the jarred sauces you can buy.

I usually make my sauce with the dump method. I just start dumping everything in, taste, then season more if needed. I never measure. Well, I was teaching my daughter how to make spaghetti sauce last week, so I took the time to measure everything and write the recipe down. I poured the seasonings in my hand like I usually do, then into a measuring spoon to measure. My daughter thought I was a little crazy, but now she can make the sauce, too. Yeah for a night off from dinner duty! lol

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

2 pounds hamburger
1 large onion
2 –  29 oz cans tomato sauce
1 –  28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1/4 cup sugar

Cook the hamburger. (I prefer boiling over frying) You can cook the onions with the hamburger, or add them to the sauce later, which is what I usually do. Drain the meat

Place the cooked hamburger, and the rest of the ingredients into a large pan, like a stock pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer until ready to use. If you added raw onions to the sauce, let it boil longer, until they are soft, then simmer.

Serve over your favorite pasta or use in lasagna. I even use it as pizza sauce sometimes.

Tips:

I like to keep cooked hamburger in the freezer. (No need to thaw the meat, just dump it into the sauce frozen.) Then making this sauce is so easy. I can literally put all this together in a pan, or the crockpot, in 5 minutes.

By cooking the hamburger separately, and adding the raw onions to the sauce instead of sauteing in oil, you can greatly reduce the amount of fat. If you fried your hamburger, you can also rinse after draining to remove more fat.

If you prefer meatballs in your sauce, leave out the hamburger, and add cooked meatballs to the sauce. If you want a meatless sauce, just leave the meat out.

Sugar – You don’t have to use the sugar. But tomatoes are acidic, and the sauce will taste better with a sweetener. You can substitute your favorite sweetener in place of the sugar.

This makes enough sauce for 2 pounds of spaghetti.

If you don’t need that much, this sauce freezes beautifully.

Adjust the seasonings to your liking. We try not to use a lot of salt, so you may prefer more.

You can add whatever vegetables to the sauce that you would like. I like to put grated zucchini in. Grated so the rest of the family doesn’t notice it. lol I often add green bell peppers, too. If you like mushrooms, throw those in, too. If you don’t like the diced tomatoes in the sauce, substitute them with another can of sauce or pureed tomatoes. You can also use a clove or two of fresh garlic, if you like, instead of the garlic powder.