The Best Spaghetti Meat Sauce Recipe From Scratch

I absolutely LOVE this recipe!  My son begs me to make this meat sauce recipe at least once a week.  The great thing about this recipe is it uses pretty basic ingredients and once all the meats are browned, the meat sauce only simmers for one hour, but it’ll taste like you’ve been cooking it all day.

If you have tried to make spaghetti meat sauces from scratch before and the recipe always turned out tinny or metallic tasting, this recipe will solve that problem!  Over the past few months, I’ve made this recipe four times, each time using different brands of tomato products and the recipe turns out fantastic whether I use premium brands of tomato products or cheaper store brands, I’ve found the recipe turns out fantastic with any brand of tomato products.

Here’s the Big Secret

The secret to not having tinny or metallic-tasting spaghetti meat sauce from scratch is putting minced carrots in the sauce.  Somehow the carrot in the sauce prevents the sauce from having a metallic taste.  If you don’t want to see carrots in your meat sauces then grate them instead of mincing.

In the photo below I made this meat sauce and served it with a chopped salad tossed in my favorite Italian dressing and garlic crack bread.  This bread is seriously good and worth the effort!

I’ve also tossed this sauce with cooked cheese tortellini pasta.

How to Make The Best Spaghetti Meat Sauce From Scratch

I’d like to point out the obvious, linguica is a Portuguese sausage and not found in authentic Italian meat sauce, but trust me it TASTES amazing in this sauce!  Just please try it, I think you’ll really love the linguica in the sauce.

This recipe makes a lot.  If you are feeding a small family, you may want to cool down the meat sauce and then freeze the leftover sauce.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this spaghetti meat sauce:

• 1 stick linguica sausage – cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 small onion – minced
• 3 medium carrots – minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic – peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 – 28 ounce can whole tomatoes
• 2 – 6 ounce cans of tomato paste
• 2 – 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
• 1 cup water

In a large non-stick pot or dutch oven, brown the bite-sized linguica in a little bit of oil.  When the linguica is browned, remove it from the pot and set it aside.  This is the pot I cooked this recipe in.

Add the Italian sausage, ground beef, minced carrots, and onion to the pot.  Cook until the meat is no longer pink.

When the meat is no longer pink add in the garlic cloves, dried basil, dried parsley, crushed pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.  Cook for two minutes.

Add the cooked linguica and the brown sugar.

Immediately add the whole tomatoes (crush them with your hand) with the juices, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and one cup of water.

Cover and simmer the spaghetti meat sauce for one hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so.  After the meat sauce has simmered for an hour, taste for salt.  I typically have to add a little salt and a little garlic powder to the sauce.

Serve with your favorite cooked pasta.

The Best Spaghetti Meat Sauce Recipe From Scratch

Shelly

The best spaghetti meat sauce recipe from scratch.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr 30 mins

Total Time 1 hr 45 mins

Course Entrees

Cuisine Italian

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

• 1 stick linguica sausage - cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 small onion - minced
• 3 medium carrots - minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic - peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 - 28 ounce can whole tomatoes - crush with your hand
• 2 - 6 ounce cans tomato paste
• 2 - 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
• 1 cup water

Instructions

 

• Cut linguica into bite-sized pieces and brown linguica in a little bit of oil in a large non-stick pot or dutch oven. When linguica is browned remove from pot and set aside.
• Add Italian sausage, ground beef, onion, and minced carrots to pot. Cook until meat is no longer pink.
• Add in garlic cloves, dried basil, dried parsley, crushed pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Cook for two minutes.
• Return browned linguica to the pot along with brown sugar.
• Add all tomato products and one cup of water.
• Simmer covered for one hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
• When the hour is over, taste for seasoning.

Disclosure:  This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

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