The Best Spaghetti Meat Sauce with Ground Beef

This spaghetti meat sauce recipe calls for simple ingredients from your kitchen to make the most flavorful meat sauce to serve over your pasta. This spaghetti sauce with ground beef is quick and easy to make yet full of comforting flavors, it will instantly become a family dinner staple.

The best spaghetti meat sauce made in the comfort of your home!

With winter fast approaching, all I have been craving lately is a steaming bowl of spaghetti noodles generously topped with a hearty meat sauce with a side of garlic bread. 

I often find myself having less energy to cook in the wintertime, and this homemade meat sauce recipe always comes to the rescue with its rich and comforting flavors to instantly warm my soul on a dark, frigid night.

Topped with a generous amount of parmesan cheese, spaghetti with meat sauce has been one of my favorite meals growing up and still remains to be my most beloved comfort food to this day.

As much as it is dear to me, I’ve spent countless hours in the kitchen perfecting the recipe to create the most flavorful Italian meat sauce in the simplest and quickest way possible with ingredients that you can easily find in the kitchen. 

The result is a foolproof, easy-to-follow recipe that comes together in just 3 simple steps: browning the ground beef, sautéing the aromatic vegetables, and mixing in a can of tomato sauce and seasonings to simmer down to a glorious sauce. 

Thanks to its ease of preparation and minimal cleanup, this spaghetti meat sauce recipe also makes for a wonderful low-effort dinner for the whole family to enjoy, and one that can also be stored for up to 4-6 months in the freezer. 

Above all, this spaghetti sauce is so incredibly delicious and full of garlicky and meaty flavors, I promise that you’ll be running back for seconds!

This is truly the best meat sauce you can make at home with minimal effort, and I hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. 

What do I need to make spaghetti meat sauce?

This easy meat sauce recipe calls for simple ingredients that are easily found in your kitchen, which often makes it my go-to choice for a last-minute lunch or dinner. 

Here is everything you’ll need to make your own homemade spaghetti sauce with ground beef:

• Ground beef: I recommend using 80% or 85% lean ground beef as it will give you the most flavorful results. Any other type will also work great as we will be draining the excess grease prior to sauteeing the vegetables. 
  • This recipe calls for all ground beef, but feel free to mix in or substitute the beef with ground turkey, pork, chicken, Italian sausage, veal, or tofu if you prefer.
• Olive oil: just a small amount is needed to coat the pot before adding in the beef.
  • If your pot has a non-stick surface, the fat from the beef may be enough to prevent it from sticking. 
• Onion, garlic, canned or fresh mushrooms, and bell pepper: for the vegetables. 
• Tomato sauce, tomato paste, and beef broth: using beef broth as a base will add a wonderful depth of flavor.
  • If you don’t have any beef broth on hand, you can also use chicken broth, pasta water, or water to thin out the sauce. 
• Oregano (or Italian seasoning), salt, black pepper, and sugar: for the base seasoning. Feel free to adjust or add more seasonings to taste or spice it up by adding some red pepper flakes to the mix.

And that’s it! All the ingredients you’ll need to make your own homemade batch of spaghetti meat sauce.

This recipe will make around 4 servings of Italian meat sauce, but you can easily adjust the serving size in the recipe card below to make a bigger portion to save for later. 

Tips & tricks to make the best spaghetti meat sauce

Simmer the sauce on low and stir regularly.

To prevent your sauce from burning, please make sure to cook your sauce at a gentle simmer while scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon every 5-10 minutes. 

To do this, you’ll want to make sure that the sauce is not at a rapid boil but at a gentle simmer to let the flavors meld at a slow, consistent pace. ‘Slow and low’ is the key to perfecting any sauce with a thick consistency.

Use a heavy-bottomed pot.

Heavy-bottomed pots such as dutch ovens hold and distribute the heat more evenly and will not burn your food as easily, as they will prevent ‘hot spots’ in which the food will start to stick and burn in one corner. 

To prevent your kitchen from turning into a hot mess, I recommend using a large pot with tall sides and covering it with a lid to prevent the sauce from splattering all over your stovetop. 

Adjust the consistency as desired. 

This recipe will result in a perfectly thick pasta sauce, but if it’s not as thick to your liking, you can easily adjust the consistency without adding more cook time.

To thicken the sauce, make a slurry with equal parts of cornstarch and water and stir it in slowly until you reach your desired thickness. Please make sure that your heat is on low to prevent your sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Don’t skip out on the sugar.

Sugar helps to cut the acidity of the tomatoes which helps to balance out the overall flavors. You can easily adjust the amount to your taste or use sugar substitutes to cater to your dietary preferences. 

How long does spaghetti meat sauce last in the fridge?

Any leftover meat sauce will last up to 4-5 days in the fridge when stored in an airtight container.

Homemade spaghetti sauce tastes even better the next day as the flavors meld together, which makes it to be one of the easiest dishes to add to your weekly dinner rotation. 

To reheat the sauce, transfer it into a saucepan and reheat over medium heat until warm, or microwave on high for about 2-3 minutes while stirring halfway. 

Can you freeze spaghetti meat sauce?

This homemade spaghetti sauce stores well up to 3-4 months in the freezer, which makes it a wonderful make-ahead meal to serve for any occasion.

To freeze your meat sauce, allow the sauce to cool completely and add about 2 cups of the sauce into quart-size freezer bags. Squeeze out any excess air, seal tightly, and lay the bags flat on the bottom of the freezer, using a baking sheet if needed.

Once they are frozen solid, you can stack the baggies to save space in your freezer. 

If you don’t have any freezer bags, another option is to place the sauce in a freezer-safe container while leaving just a slight amount of headroom at the top. 

To defrost the meat sauce, you can either place the sealed bag or container in a bowl of cold water until thawed or place it in the refrigerator overnight. Once it is fully thawed, reheat the sauce over medium heat just until it is hot and simmering.

I hope you enjoy this easy meat sauce recipe, and as usual, please feel free to leave a comment below or message me on Instagram with any questions you may have. Happy cooking everyone!

Other easy Dinner recipes you may like:

• Melt-In-Your-Mouth Italian Meatballs
• Spicy Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
• 10-Minute Air Fryer Garlic Bread
• 15-Minute Garlic Shrimp Spaghetti
• The Best Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Print Recipe

5 from 43 votes

The Best Spaghetti Meat Sauce with Ground Beef

This spaghetti meat sauce recipe calls for simple ingredients from your kitchen to make the most flavorful meat sauce to serve over your pasta. This spaghetti sauce with ground beef is quick and easy to make yet full of comforting flavors, it will instantly become a family dinner staple.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 184kcal

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb (450g) ground beef 80-85% lean
• 1 yellow onion chopped
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 4 (1 cup) button mushrooms diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper diced
• 1 can (23oz) tomato sauce
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup beef broth chicken broth or water
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp oregano or italian seasoning
• 1 tsp sugar

Instructions

• Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook, breaking it up with a spatula until browned. Drain excess grease, leaving about 1 tbsp behind.
• Add onion and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add bell pepper, mushrooms, salt and pepper, and saute until softened, for about 3 minutes.
• Stir in tomato sauce, beef broth, tomato paste, oregano, and sugar, and mix well to combine. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Season with salt to taste and serve over a bowl of cooked pasta, and garnish with parmesan cheese and parsley. Enjoy!

Notes

If you find that the sauce is not thick enough, simmer for 5-10 minutes more or mix in an equal amount of cornstarch and water in a bowl and stir it in until your desired consistency. 

For a kick of spice, add 1/2-1 tsp of crushed red pepper along with the oregano and sugar. 

Any leftover meat sauce can be refrigerated for up to 4 days, or stored in a freezer bag for up to 3-4 months. For detailed freezing instructions, please refer to the freezing tips section above.

This meat sauce is best served with spaghetti, but it can also be used as a pizza sauce, to make homemade lasagna, or serve on its own with a side of garlic bread. 

For additional tips and tricks as a detailed ingredient list, please refer to the blog post above. Happy cooking everyone! 

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Nutrition

Calories: 184kcal