One Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Spaghetti with meat sauce is the ultimate comfort food that brings everyone to the table! This rich, flavorful sauce combines savory Italian sausage and ground beef with aromatic garlic, sweet onions, and fresh basil for a meal filling your entire house with the most incredible aroma.

Love More One Pot Spaghetti Recipes? Try My Taco Spaghetti or this Spicy Southern Chicken Spaghetti Casserole next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It uses two types of meat (Italian sausage AND ground beef) for incredible depth of flavor that you just can’t get from one alone. The sausage brings all those beautiful Italian seasonings while the beef adds richness.

The sauce gets better the longer it simmers, which means you can make it as quick or as slow as your schedule allows. Need dinner in 45 minutes? Done. Have time to let it bubble away for a few hours? Even better!

It makes a HUGE batch, so you’ll have plenty for a crowd or amazing leftovers for busy weeknights. Trust me, you’ll be thanking yourself when you have this waiting in the fridge.

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Ingredient List

For the sauce:

• 3 tablespoons butter (or olive oil for more traditional Italian style)
• 1 extra-large red onion, diced (about 2 cups; white onion also works)
• 7–8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground Italian sausage (hot or mild)
• 1 pound ground beef (or substitute ground turkey, chicken, or chopped mushrooms)
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano (or Italian seasoning)
• 2 (28-ounce) cans tomato sauce (or 20 oz tomato paste mixed with 36 oz water)
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (high quality)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (or 1–2 tablespoons dried basil)
• 1–2 tablespoons sugar (optional, if sauce tastes too acidic)
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

For serving:

• 1 pound spaghetti or pasta of choice, cooked al dente
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Crusty garlic bread
• Fresh basil for garnish

Why These Ingredients Work

So here’s the deal with butter versus olive oil—butter makes everything taste richer and almost velvety, while olive oil keeps things lighter and more traditionally Italian. I usually go with butter because I’m not trying to win authenticity awards; I’m trying to make my family swoon at the dinner table.

The two-meat combo is where this recipe really shines. Italian sausage comes pre-seasoned with fennel, garlic, oregano, and all that good stuff. It’s basically doing half your flavoring work before you even start cooking. Ground beef brings this clean, beefy flavor that balances out the sausage so it doesn’t taste too herby or sweet.

That whole extra-large onion gets diced up and basically disappears into the sauce while it simmers. You won’t see chunks of onion in the final dish, but you’ll absolutely notice the sweet, mellow flavor it adds.

Yeah, seven or eight garlic cloves seems excessive until you realize it’s simmering for at least half an hour. All that sharpness cooks off and you’re left with this mellow, almost sweet garlic flavor running through the whole sauce.

Good tomatoes matter more than you’d think. I wasted money on cheap canned tomatoes for years before I finally splurged on San Marzano ones, and wow—what a difference. The sauce went from “pretty good” to “why would I ever order takeout pasta again?”

Fresh basil at the end brightens everything up. Dried basil works fine if that’s what’s in your pantry, but fresh makes the sauce taste alive somehow.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Heavy-bottomed 6-quart pot or Dutch oven (this is important for even heat distribution and preventing scorching)
• Wooden spoon for breaking up the meat
• Sharp knife and cutting board
• Large pot for cooking pasta
• Colander
• Garlic press or microplane (optional, but makes mincing garlic so much easier)

How To Make Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Step 1: Soften the Aromatics

Get your big pot heating over medium and melt the butter in there. Toss in all that diced onion and give it a stir. Now here’s where patience comes in—you want to cook these onions for a solid 5 to 8 minutes until they’re soft and you can almost see through them. If they start getting brown, your heat’s too high. Turn it down to medium-low. I know it’s tempting to rush this step, but soft, sweet onions make such a difference in the final sauce.

Step 2: Add Garlic and Brown the Meat

Add your minced garlic and stir it around for about 2 minutes. Your kitchen should smell amazing right now. Then dump in the sausage, beef, and oregano all at once. Break everything up with your wooden spoon into small pieces—I’m talking pea-sized or smaller. Nobody wants to bite into a golf ball of ground meat. Keep cooking and breaking it up until you’ve got nice brown color all over, maybe 8 to 10 minutes total.

Step 3: Add Tomatoes and Bring to a Simmer

Pour in your tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes. Stir everything together really well, making sure to scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Those bits are pure flavor. Get the whole thing up to a gentle simmer—you should see small bubbles popping on the surface, but nothing crazy.

Step 4: Simmer and Develop Flavor

Put a lid on your pot and let it simmer. How long? Well, that depends on your day. Got 30 minutes? That works. Got an hour or more? Even better. Stir it every 10 minutes or so to make sure nothing’s sticking. The longer it goes, the deeper and richer everything tastes. My sweet spot is around 45 minutes, but I’ve definitely let it go for two hours on lazy Sundays and the flavor just keeps building.

Step 5: Finish with Fresh Basil

Stir in your fresh basil and let it hang out in there for a couple minutes. Now taste the sauce with a clean spoon. Does it need salt? Probably just a little—remember, the sausage and canned tomatoes already have sodium. Does it taste too sharp or acidic? Add a tablespoon of sugar, stir, taste again. Maybe add another tablespoon if it needs it. The sugar doesn’t make it sweet; it just balances out that tomato acidity.

Step 6: Cook Pasta and Serve

Get your pasta water boiling and cook the spaghetti according to the box directions. I always go for al dente—still has a little bite to it when you chew. Before you drain it, scoop out a cup of that starchy pasta water and set it aside. Drain the pasta, then either mix it right into the sauce or plate it up and ladle sauce over top. Hit it with some grated Parmesan, maybe a few fresh basil leaves, and serve it alongside some garlic bread.

You Must Know

Wait to add salt. This is huge. I’ve ruined entire batches by salting too early and ending up with sauce that tastes like the ocean. The sausage has salt. The canned tomatoes have salt. Let everything simmer for at least 30 minutes, then taste and season carefully.

Save some pasta water. That cloudy, starchy water is basically liquid gold for pasta. If your sauce seems thick, add a splash to thin it out. The starch also helps the sauce grab onto the noodles instead of sliding off.

Buy decent tomatoes. I’m not saying you need to spend fifteen dollars on artisanal heirloom tomatoes, but don’t grab the cheapest can on the bottom shelf either. San Marzano tomatoes are worth the extra buck or two.

Personal Secret: Want to know what really takes this from good to restaurant-quality? Finish the pasta IN the sauce. After draining the spaghetti, I dump it right into the pot with the sauce and toss everything together over medium heat for about a minute. The pasta soaks up some of that sauce, the sauce clings to every strand, and everything just melds together.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Don’t crowd your pot when browning the meat. If it looks too full, brown it in two batches. Crowded meat steams instead of browns, and you lose all that delicious caramelization.

A potato masher works great for breaking up the meat if you want a really fine texture. I prefer slightly chunky sauce myself, but my sister uses this trick and swears by it.

Try toasting your oregano in the pot for 30 seconds before adding the meat. Sounds weird, but it wakes up all the flavor compounds and makes the herb taste way more vibrant.

No fresh basil? Just add dried basil at the beginning with the oregano instead of at the end.

Stir some Parmesan into the sauce during the last few minutes, then add more on top when serving. It adds this salty, savory depth throughout instead of just on the surface.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Lighter version: Swap the beef for ground turkey or chicken. These are leaner, so throw in an extra tablespoon of olive oil so things don’t dry out.

Vegetarian: Replace all the meat with 1.5 to 2 pounds of chopped mushrooms. I like baby bellas for this. They get nice and meaty-tasting and add great umami flavor.

More vegetables: Grate in a carrot or two for sweetness, dice up a bell pepper, or throw in some spinach at the end. My kids don’t even notice the extra veggies.

Restaurant upgrade: Pour in half a cup of red wine after browning the meat and let it cook down for 2 to 3 minutes before adding tomatoes. Adds serious depth.

Spicy version: Use hot Italian sausage or add crushed red pepper flakes with the garlic. My husband likes it hot, so we always go with spicy sausage.

Tangy twist: Add a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar at the end. Gives it this subtle sweet-tangy complexity.

Make-Ahead Options

This sauce legitimately tastes better the next day after all the flavors have had time to hang out together in the fridge overnight.

Make the whole batch up to 2 days ahead. Store it in the fridge in a sealed container, then warm it back up gently on the stove when you’re ready to eat. If it’s gotten thick, add a little water or broth.

You can also brown the meat and cook the onions a day ahead, then finish the sauce the next day. Cuts down your active time significantly on busy nights.

Always cook pasta fresh right before serving. Pasta gets mushy if you make it too far ahead.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

The sauce thickens up as it cools, which is normal. Just thin it back out with pasta water, regular water, or broth when reheating.

This recipe halves easily if you’re feeding fewer people. Or make the whole batch and freeze half—that’s what I usually do.

Some folks like adding tomato paste for extra concentrated tomato flavor. Add it with the oregano and cook it for a minute before adding the canned tomatoes.

Longer simmering doesn’t just develop flavor—it evaporates liquid, giving you a thicker sauce that clings to pasta instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl.

Serving Suggestions

This is hearty enough to be dinner all by itself, but I always make garlic bread because you need something to mop up all that sauce. A Caesar salad adds a nice crisp, fresh contrast.

For fancier dinners, I’ll add roasted asparagus or green beans on the side. Garlic knots disappear fast too.

Put extra Parmesan and red pepper flakes on the table so people can adjust their own plates.

Perfect for Sunday dinners, potlucks, or feeding a crowd without spending all day cooking.

I really hope this becomes one of your family favorites like it is for mine!

How to Store Your Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Refrigerator: Put leftover sauce in a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Keep pasta and sauce separate if possible—pasta absorbs liquid and gets mushy.

Freezer: This freezes great. Let it cool completely, then transfer to freezer containers or heavy-duty freezer bags. Keeps for up to 3 months. I portion it into meal-sized amounts so I can thaw exactly what I need.

Thawing: Move frozen sauce to the fridge the night before you want it. Reheat gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Add water if it’s too thick.

Reheating: Warm on the stovetop over medium-low heat, stirring often, or microwave in 1-minute bursts, stirring between each. Always cook fresh pasta—don’t freeze cooked pasta with the sauce.

Allergy Information

This has dairy (butter and Parmesan) and wheat (pasta). Here’s how to work around that:

Dairy-free: Use olive oil instead of butter and skip the Parmesan or use a dairy-free version. Still delicious.

Gluten-free: Serve over gluten-free pasta, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash, or polenta. The sauce itself is naturally gluten-free.

Egg-free: Most dried pasta is egg-free, but check labels if you have a severe allergy.

Nightshade-free: Unfortunately, this recipe is built around tomatoes, so there’s no way to adapt it for nightshade allergies.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

My sauce is too watery—what happened?

It didn’t simmer long enough. Take the lid off and let it bubble for another 15 to 20 minutes to evaporate excess liquid. Or stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons of tomato paste to thicken it up.

Can I make this in a slow cooker?

Yep! Brown the meat and cook the onions and garlic in a skillet first, then transfer everything to your slow cooker with the tomatoes. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or high for 2 to 3 hours. Add fresh basil in the last 30 minutes.

Do I really need that much garlic?

I know it seems like a lot, but garlic gets mellow and sweet when it cooks for a long time. It’s not sharp or overpowering at all. But if you’re sensitive to garlic, cut it back to 4 or 5 cloves.

Can I use fresh tomatoes instead of canned?

You can, but you’ll need about 4 to 5 pounds of fresh tomatoes, and you’ll have to peel and seed them first. Honestly, good canned tomatoes are picked at peak ripeness and often taste better than fresh unless it’s peak summer. Stick with canned.

💬 Made this recipe? Leave me a comment below and let me know how it turned out! Did you make it spicy? Add wine? I want to hear all about it.