I just love this recipe. My mom made it all the time when I was growing up. Her original recipe of made-from-scratch sauce is below. I take a little help from jarred spaghetti sauce, and it tastes almost the same.
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While I have instructions for making it in both the crock pot and on the stove top in the recipe below, I like making this in my slow cooker. Not only are the flavors richer when it cooks for a while, but this is a great way to make a lot of it. I’ll serve it over spaghetti the first night, then use it in a Roasted Vegetable Lasagna or Baked Ziti, and I will freeze the rest for later use.
TIP: When I buy ground beef, I cook it all at once, usually right after I get home. I store it in 2-cup servings, and freeze in zippered freezer bags. (Don’t forget to label them.) The only time I find I need uncooked ground beef is for burgers or meatballs, so the first day I get the beef I do one of those meals.
My changes to this recipe:
I love homemade, but since I can get jarred or canned spaghetti sauce so cheap, I make a few changes to my mom’s original recipe (shown in its entirety below).
- Substitute 2 jars jarred or canned spaghetti sauce for tomato sauce and paste.
- Omit water, vermouth/wine, and sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 lb cooked ground beef (or 1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb Italian sausage)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 small container sliced mushrooms
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 Tbs olive oil
- 16 ounce tomato sauce
- 12 ounce tomato paste
- 1-cup water
- 1 1/2 cups white wine or dry vermouth (optional)
- 1-2 tsp sugar
- 32 oz diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 tsp. thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Brown ground beef, then add with all other ingredients and cook for 8-10 hours on low.
- Cook beef, garlic, onions, peppers, and mushrooms in large stockpot.
- Drain fat.
- Add all remaining ingredients, bring to a boil.
- Reduce and simmer 1 hour or more.
Recipe developed by Kelly Hancock ©2010 Faithful Provisions. For personal use only. May not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed for capital gain without prior permission from Kelly Hancock.
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I no longer make spagetti sauce from scratch. I make a super easy recipe and make a huge pot. I almost always have sauce in the freezer.I use sauce whatevers on sale Iusually have it in the pantry from a sale. I brown hamburger and Italian sausage about a 2-1 ratio of beef and sausage. I have made a great sauce susing gr chicken for the beef. For some reason turkey does not work as well. I add a pk of frozen three pepper and onion and saute with the beef,if I don’t have fresh mushrooms I just add a can.I ad some water as it boils down to keep it at the consistency I want. I usually simmer this at least two hours. Add seasoning to taste. I have fresh oregano. I cool and put in freezer containers. Harris Teeter has a facebook special this week for 5lbs of Armours meatballs for $8 so I need to use up the meat sauce in the freezer.
Sounds yummy! When you say that you cook up your ground beef and then freeze it in 2 cup portions, is that equal to about 1/2 lb. of meat or a pound? I cook up my meat as well but I always divide it in either 1/2 lb or 1 lb. portions by eyeballing it, so I am just curious for future reference.
Mine is one cup portions which is about a pound.
I hope this doesn’t sound like a silly question…
In the recipe it says “1 1/2 cups white wine or dry vermouth (optional)”. If I don’t use that will the recipe be ok, or should I substitute it with something like a broth? Just wondering if the recipe needs 1 1/2 cups of a liquid of some sort. Thanks for your help!
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