The Best Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

a plate of spaghetti noodles with sauce on top.

This Homemade Spaghetti Sauce is so easy and delicious, you will never buy the jarred kind again! Try it and you will see why I call it the Best Ever!

Course Main Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 2

Total Time 2 10

Servings

Calories 270

Author Ashlyn Edwards | Belle of the Kitchen

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds ground beef or pork sausage
1 large onion chopped
1 large green pepper chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
3 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups water or beef broth

Instructions

In a dutch oven cook meat, onion, green pepper, and garlic until meat is browned and vegetables are tender. Drain off fat.
Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, oregano, salt, basil, thyme, and bay leaf.
Stir in the water or beef broth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until sauce is of desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf. Serve over hot cooked spaghetti.

Video

Notes

Try to use good quality tomatoes if you have access to them. My favorite brand of tomatoes is Tuttorosso tomatoes, Muir Glen, or Pomi tomatoes. I like the Pomi tomatoes because they come in a box rather than a can, which is nice if you're looking to avoid BPA.
Don't skip the brown sugar. Adding a bit of sugar to your homemade spaghetti sauce helps to cut the natural acidity of the tomatoes and helps to balance the sauce.
For an extra kick, add a sprinkling of red pepper flakes to your sauce. Only add this if you like some spice, though!
Meat substitutions: you can replace the lean ground beef with ground turkey or pork sausage. You can also leave it out completely for a meatless, vegetarian spaghetti sauce.
Let it simmer. I like to let my sauce simmer for at least an hour and a half, but longer is better (up to 2-3 hours.) The more time you allow your sauce to simmer, the richer the flavor will be. You can also transfer the sauce to a crockpot after preparing it on the stove and allow it to cook over low heat for a few hours. If your sauce is too thick after cooking, add a little more water to thin it out.

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