The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce. Where spaghetti is cooked al dente, topped with tomato-based sauce made with red wine, parmesan cheese, a blend of flavor-bursting herbs, and perfectly seasoned ground beef. Translation: A SAUCE THAT IS TO DIE FOR.
Never will I look at spaghetti sauce the same way again.
Why I call this The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
This is a tried and true recipe that took a long time to perfect. I actually made this for fun almost a year ago, just because I was craving spaghetti and there was no pre-made sauce in the house.
Over months, I perfected it bit by bit every time I make it again. It became better, and better, and better…to the point where I decided I need to share this with you because it is too good not to share.
I should have known. These are always the best recipes. The ones you weren’t looking for. The ones where you patiently make it until it blossom into something that surprises even you.
You need to know this. When I say it is The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce, I don’t take this naming thing lightly. When I say it is the best, it means the below:
- It has become my staple food that I make again and again because there isn’t another quite like it in the entire universe. NO NOT KIDDING.
- Many people has praised it, loved it, cannot live without either.
- It has become my go-to version of that dish, and I don’t really want to explore other versions because it has arrived at perfection. OH YESSS.
Secret ingredients
The flavor in this spaghetti sauce will blow your mind. What sets this apart from many other spaghetti sauces is this – we infused that sauce with fresh basil, good quality red wine, garlic and parmesan cheese. Four very important ingredients in this sauce.
Wine is 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 alcohol, we are actually cooking down the alcohol so what’s left is delicious flavors, without the alcoholic taste.
I LOVE cooking with wine. It’s an ingredient that is used very commonly in nice Italian restaurants to give amazing flavors to their pasta dishes.
An important thing to note when cooking with wine: do not cook with bad quality or old wine. We will be able to cook down the alcohol, but cooking will not take away the old and bad flavors. There’s no need to get super expensive wine, just use something you do not mind drinking.
Now let’s talk about my other favorite ingredient – fresh basil. Fresh herbs make the best food. It has better flavors, thus making the sauce more flavorful. If you really don’t have fresh basil, you can use dried ones, but I highly recommend using fresh basil if you can find them!
Ah. The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce. 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 regular, plainer spaghetti sauce. So my question to you is: WHY SETTLE??
In case you haven’t notice. Can you tell I am totally passionate about this Spaghetti and Meat Sauce dish?!?
It is NOT just another Spaghetti and Meat Sauce dish. NO NO NO SIREE.
As I finish up this post (it’s Friday late afternoon as I’m writing this), I’m plaining on making a grocery list for next week. And I’m plaining on buying the ingredients for this recipe, making them in bulk and then freezing the sauce.
Because not only does it tastes AMAZING, it freezes very well and is perfect for making food ahead.
We are going into another couple of weeks where schedules are crazy busy, 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 this on those nights, so I’m preparing ahead. 😉
GRAB A FORK, people! 🙂
More Pasta Dishes
- Classic Lasagna with Béchamel Sauce (without ricotta)
- Creamy Tomato Pasta with Italian Sausage
- Baked Ziti
- Creamy Sundried Tomato Pasta with Chicken
- Tomato Basil Gnocchi
- Cherry Tomato and Basil Pasta with Chicken
- Cheesy Tomato Chicken Spaghetti
Love this recipe? Comment below and give us a 5-star rating! Also, take a picture of your creation and tag me on Instagram, because I WANNA SEE!!
The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 4-6 cloves fresh garlic
- olive oil
- 1 lbs lean ground beef
- 28 oz whole peeled canned tomatoes
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1/4 cup fresh basil chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt + more if needed
- 1/8 cup parmesan cheese + more for garnish
- 1 lbs spaghetti
Instructions
- Mince garlic and chop fresh basil into small pieces. Gather the rest of the ingredients.
- In a large pot or dutch oven, add olive oil and minced garlic, and cook under medium heat. Once garlic is fragrant (do not brown or burn garlic), quickly add ground beef. Break it into small pieces, then season with some salt.
- Once ground beef is no longer pink-ish. Add whole peeled canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, red wine, chopped basil, oregano, marjoram, sugar and salt.
- Bring to boil, then lower to medium low heat and let it cook for 20-25 minutes, or until sauce thickens (see Note 1) and red wine is cooked down (no longer has that strong alcoholic taste).
- While waiting for meat sauce to cook, bring out another pot and cook spaghetti based on package instruction.
- When the 20-25 minutes is up, add parmesan cheese to sauce. Stir and taste. If needed, add more salt. Note: Salt is use open up the flavors in addition to adding saltiness. You’ll be surprise how much salt open up the other flavors. If the flavors are not coming through, add more salt.
- Drain cooked spaghetti and combine with sauce.
- Garnish with more parmesan cheese if desire.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Could I cook this in the crockpot
You could but I imagine the consistency would be less thick. The stove top would still be the preferred way to do this for me. You want to be able to boil down the liquid.
Loved this meat sauce – I don’t love tomatoes and this wasn’t over-powering. All of the flavors were balanced.
So glad you enjoyed it, Barbara!