Description
Classic Italian-American spaghetti with meat sauce featuring ground beef and Italian sausage simmered in a rich tomato sauce with garlic, onions, and fresh basil. This hearty, family-friendly recipe makes a large batch perfect for feeding a crowd or freezing for later.
Ingredients
For the sauce:
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3 tablespoons butter (or olive oil for more traditional Italian style)
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1 extra-large red onion, diced (about 2 cups; white onion also works)
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7–8 cloves garlic, minced
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1 pound ground Italian sausage (hot or mild)
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1 pound ground beef (or substitute ground turkey, chicken, or chopped mushrooms)
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1 tablespoon dried oregano (or Italian seasoning)
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2 (28-ounce) cans tomato sauce (or 20 oz tomato paste mixed with 36 oz water)
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1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (high quality)
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1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (or 1–2 tablespoons dried basil)
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1–2 tablespoons sugar (optional, if sauce tastes too acidic)
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Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
For serving:
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1 pound spaghetti or pasta of choice, cooked al dente
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Grated Parmesan cheese
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Crushy garlic bread
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Fresh basil for garnish
Instructions
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Notes
Use a potato masher to break up the meat if you prefer a finer texture. Some people love chunky meat sauce; others want it more uniform. Both are delicious!
Toast your dried oregano in the pot for 30 seconds before adding the meat. This wakes up the oils and intensifies the flavor.
If you don’t have fresh basil, add dried basil with the oregano at the beginning instead of at the end.
Layer your Parmesan! Toss some into the sauce at the very end, then add more on top when serving. It adds a salty, umami richness throughout.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40–70 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop, Simmering
- Cuisine: Italian-American