Every home cook should have a good Pasta Meat Sauce recipe under their belt. I call it Meat Sauce because it goes with more than just Spaghetti. This scratch made Meat Sauce is so versatile and easily customizable, that is what I love about it. I probably should just call this a pasta sauce base.
Call it what you want, it is simple, and scratch made, best of both worlds. It comes together super-fast, or you can choose to let it simmer for a while. The longer is simmers the more flavor will develop. Either way, it is delicious.
This pasta sauce starts with a mirepoix. A mirepoix is a mixture of onions, carrots and celery. These vegetables are sautéed to develop flavor. This is a must for a good meat sauce. Other vegetables like mushrooms, spinach or summer squash can also be added for additional flavor.
This sauce works well as a spaghetti sauce as well as a lasagna sauce. Or it can be used with any other type of noodles. I often mix it with penne pasta, toss it in a casserole dish, top with mozzarella and bake it. It makes a fantastic baked pasta sauce.
One of my absolute favorite things to do when I am cooking is to make recipes in large batches and freeze the extra for later meals. This meat sauce recipe is a great recipe to portion and freeze. This makes dinner easier on nights that are a little crazy and you may not have that much time to spend cooking but you still want a homemade meal.
Handpicked Recipes
Pasta Meat Sauce
This is a simple yet delicious meat sauce that works well with many pasta dishes. It is easily customizable and full of flavor. It also freezes very well, to help make dinner come together faster on the nights you are trying to get something scratch made prepared fast.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Start by browning the meat on medium heat in a large skillet. I like to salt and pepper my meat as it is cooking. Once the meat is cooked through, strain the grease from the meat and set aside.
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Add the 3 Tbsp. of olive oil to the pan and sauté the onions, carrots and celery until they are tender, approximately 8 minutes. Then add the garlic. Sauté until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
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Now add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Finally, add all of your seasonings and simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes. Once your sauce is done simmering add the meat to sauce and adjust the seasonings if needed.
I do like to add about 1/2 a cup of my pasta water, after the pasta has cooked, to the sauce to help the sauce stick to the pasta. You can skip this step if you like. Adjust your seasonings if needed and enjoy!
Note
This Sauce works great as a Spaghetti Sauce, Baked Pasta Sauce and or Lasagna Sauce. You can also customize it with other veggies or meats. When making a baked pasta dish I like to replace the ground beef in this recipe with Italian sausage.
It's a great all around red sauce to have in your recipe book.
