The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Introducing our tried and true homemade spaghetti meat sauce recipe that I’ve used for decades. This tomato-based meat sauce made with red wine, ground beef, herbs and parmesan cheese.

Combined with chewy pasta, and topped with more parmesan cheese, this is simple pasta meat sauce makes for a hearty and cozy pasta dinner. It is comfort food you need in your back pocket.

If you love pasta, don’t forget to also check out Classic Lasagna with Béchamel Sauce, Lemon Garlic Parmesan Pasta, Baked Chicken Spaghetti, Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with Garlic and Olive Oil) – other popular pasta recipes on the blog!

The Best homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce

This spaghetti meat sauce is a tried and true recipe that took a long time to perfect. I started making this ground beef spaghetti sauce for fun, just because I was craving spaghetti and there was no pre-made sauce in the house.

I quickly realize that spaghetti meat sauce made from scratch is even better than store bought sauces, so I stopped buying them and started making my own.

Nothing is quite like making it homemade from scratch. Nothing beats the fresh ingredients and the slow simmering to really bring out the best flavors.

Over the years, I perfected this pasta meat sauce bit by bit every time I make it again.

What sets this apart from many other spaghetti sauces is this – we infuse that sauce with fresh basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, and of course…good quality red wine.

Red wine is just one ingredient, but it is so flavorful when cooked it brings on flavors that is typically achieved with a handful of ingredients. It bumps the flavor of a dish up many notches.

If you don’t like the taste of red wine or alcohol, don’t worry – we are actually cooking down the alcohol so what’s left in the pasta sauce are the best parts, without the alcoholic taste. Trust me. Trust the process.

I LOVE cooking pasta meat sauce with red wine. It’s an ingredient that is used very commonly in nice Italian restaurants to give amazing flavors to their pasta dishes.

Don’t be intimated to make your own homemade spaghetti meat sauce. It is actually really simple. Throw everything into one big pot and just let it cook down – done in under 35 minutes.

Ingredients

Here are the full ingredient list for my homemade meat sauce for spaghetti:

• Spaghetti: you can try other kinds of pasta too, such as penne or rigatoni.
• Red wine: avoid sweet red wine or old wine. There’s no need to get super expensive wine, just use something you do not mind drinking. If you really don’t want to cook with red wine, use beef bouillon to deepen the flavor of the sauce.
• Fresh basil: fresh is always the best, but in a pinch, dried basil works as well.
• Fresh garlic: again, fresh is best. I do not recommend substituting with garlic powder as it just doesn’t taste as good.
• Lean ground beef: you can do half ground beef and half Italian sausage if you want
• Whole peeled canned tomatoes: San Marzano’s are my favorite, but other kinds work as well
• Tomato sauce: unlike store bought pasta sauce, tomato sauce is usually mostly pureed tomatoes and doesn’t have extra seasonings or other ingredients.
• Oregano: an herb commonly used in Italian cuisine.
• Marjoram: less common but can also be found in Italian dishes. If you really cannot find it or don’t want to buy it just for this recipe, you can skip it.
• Olive oil: use olive oil for best flavor. Alternatives include vegetable oil, avocado oil etc.
• Parmesan cheese: we have a block of parmesan cheese at home and grate it when ready to eat. If possible, get parmigiano reggiano for best flavor.
• Sugar: balance out the acidity of the meat sauce.
• Salt: not just to add saltiness, but also to bring out the other flavor layers.

How to Make Meat Sauce From Scratch

I like to cook my red wine meat sauce in a Dutch oven or large pot, so Step 0 is to get that out and onto the stove!

step 1: cook pasta

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. You want to cook it till al dente – not too mushy, yet not too hard.

When cooked, toss pasta in olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking together. Do NOT drain with cold water as that will wash away the starch that helps the sauce cling to the pasta.

Step 2: make Pasta sauce

A lot of times I start making the meat sauce while the spaghetti is cooking to save time.

To make it, add olive oil and minced garlic to a large pot or Dutch oven, and cook under medium heat. Once garlic is fragrant, add ground beef. Break ground beef into small pieces, then season with some salt. 

Continue to cook until beef is no longer pink. Seasoning your meat here will ensure that some flavors are seared into the meat, and not just in the sauce.

Add whole peeled canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, red wine, chopped basil, oregano, marjoram, sugar, and salt.

Stir and bring that whole mixture to boil, then lower to medium-low heat and let it cook for 20-25 minutes. This is where we let the flavors come together, and cook down the alcohol in the red wine.

The meat sauce will also reduce significantly…going from a watery liquid to more paste-like texture.

Add parmesan cheese to sauce, stir, then add salt to taste. Note that salt is used to open up the flavors, so if your sauce is flat, try adding a bit of salt.

At the end sauce should have thickened, and flavors should be rich and bold.

step 3: put it all together!

Once the meat sauce for spaghetti and the pasta are done, it’s time to eat!

Serve the sauce over spaghetti and enjoy!

Ah spaghetti with red wine meat sauce, a.k.a. the BEST meat sauce ever.

Elegant, delicious, sophisticated, flavorful, amazing. All the verbs you can find to describe a dish that you love with your whole dang heart.

Yet so doable and simple. It doesn’t take much more work than a plainer traditional spaghetti sauce. So my question to you is: WHY SETTLE??

We are going into another couple of weeks with busy weeknights, and I need to not cook for a few nights, but I still want to eat yummy foods. Because I always do.

I know I will be dreaming about eating Spaghetti and Meat Sauce on those nights, so I’m preparing ahead. This is meal prep at its yummiest. 😉

GRAB A FORK, people! 🙂

Variations and Substitution

Here are other ingredients you can add to the meat sauce to jazz it up and make it your own:

• Meat substitutions: You can use ground turkey, ground chicken, sausage, pork, or a combination of meats for a different flavor or a leaner option.
• Use more aromatics – onions and shallots can be used to deepen the flavor of the sauce. Add them when you are sautéing the garlic.
• Add vegetables – pack the sauce with vegetables and fibers to enrich it, adding carrots, celery, bell peppers, mushrooms etc. Chop them finely so they incorporate into the sauce.
• Try different kinds of pasta: Don’t limit yourself to just spaghetti! This ground beef meat sauce goes with penne, rigatoni, linguini…each bring unique textures to the dish, so try them out and see which ones you like! If you are carb conscious, use chickpea or whole wheat pasta instead.
• Spice it up: Add red pepper flakes for a spicier sauce and to give the sauce a kick.

Make Ahead, Storage, and Reheating

Storage: Meat sauce stores very well as leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer. Let sauce cool completely…before transferring it to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. For longer storage, clearly label and freeze for up to 3 months. Store pasta separately from the meat sauce.

Reheating: Reheat in a saucepan over medium heat until warmed through, stirring occasionally. For a quicker method, microwave in a suitable container covered with a splatter guard, stirring halfway through. Frozen sauce need to be completely thawed before reheating. Pasta can be reheated in the microwave. Add a few drops of water to it before reheating if it is very dry.

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More Pasta Dishes

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• Cherry Tomato and Basil Pasta with Chicken
• Baked Ziti
• Creamy Sundried Tomato Pasta with Chicken
• Creamy Tomato Gnocchi
• Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta