Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef

There’s nothing like classic spaghetti and meat sauce to bring people together around the dinner table. This homemade spaghetti sauce with ground beef recipe will satisfy all your comfort food cravings.

How to Make Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef

Restaurant-worthy spaghetti sauce with ground beef is just a few steps away. You’ll find the full recipe below, but here’s a brief overview of what you can expect:

Cook Beef and Veggies

Cook ground beef in a saucepan over medium-high heat with garlic, onion, and green pepper. Stir until the meat is brown and crumbly. The vegetables should be tender.

Add Tomato Products and Season

Stir diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the beef mixture. Add oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Simmer until thick and aromatic, then serve over cooked spaghetti noodles.

Troubleshooting Spaghetti Sauce

If your spaghetti sauce didn’t turn out exactly how you wanted it to, don’t worry! There’s probably an easy fix.

How to Thicken Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe should result in a perfectly thick spaghetti sauce. But things happen! If you somehow end up with a runny consistency, there are a few ways to thicken it. You could simmer the sauce for a few more minutes — this will reduce some of the liquid and leave you with a thicker sauce.

For a quicker fix, make a slurry with one part water and one part cornstarch. Stir the slurry slowly into the sauce until you’ve reached the desired thickness.

What Herbs to Add to Spaghetti Sauce

This top-rated recipe calls for garlic, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. However, you can certainly adjust, eliminate, or add seasonings to suit your taste. To make this spaghetti sauce your own, you could add parsley or spice things up with crushed red pepper. Just remember to taste the sauce every time you add an ingredient so you don’t accidentally add too much or too little.

How Long to Simmer Spaghetti Sauce

We love the texture and flavor of this spaghetti sauce when it simmers for about an hour. If you’d like your sauce a little thinner, reduce the time a bit. Meanwhile, if you like it a little thicker, let it simmer for a bit longer.

What Goes With Spaghetti?

Looking for something delicious to pair with your spaghetti and meat sauce? Try one of these irresistible ideas:

How Long Does Spaghetti Last In the Fridge?

Store your cooked noodles and your spaghetti sauce with ground beef separately. The spaghetti noodles will last for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge. The ground beef sauce, meanwhile, will last for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Can You Freeze Spaghetti Sauce?

Yes! You can absolutely freeze spaghetti sauce. It’s a great way to deal with leftovers and meal prep at the same time. To freeze spaghetti sauce, ladle it into zip-top freezer bags in serving-sized portions. Squeeze out the excess air, seal, label with the date, lay flat in the freezer, and freeze for up to six months.

How to Reheat Frozen Spaghetti Sauce

Refrigerated spaghetti sauce can be reheated in a couple different ways. Microwave in 10-second increments (stirring between increments) or reheat on the stove, stirring frequently.

Thaw frozen spaghetti sauce in the fridge overnight. Reheat thawed sauce on the stove, stirring frequently.

Allrecipes Community Tips and Praise

“Very good ‘go-to’ recipe for traditional spaghetti sauce,” according to Polly G. “I had all the ingredients on hand and the flavor was great — even better the next day. It made a good batch so I was able to freeze some for a quick dinner. I’ll definitely be making this again!”

“What more can I say about this recipe that hasn’t already been said,” raves sheribdb. “I did toss in some fresh mushrooms, but otherwise it’s perfect just the way it is. It’s absolutely delicious!”

“I’ve been looking for a simple yet robust sauce to try,” says Stellar912. “This is perfect! And with all the ingredients on hand, this was easy. I added two onions and a huge green pepper because I like my sauce zesty.”