Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

5 from 6 votes

This homemade spaghetti sauce recipe is incredibly flavorful and comforting. It makes a huge batch that's ideal for freezing so your family can grab a cozy meal anytime!

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 5

Total Time1 25

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Italian American

Keyword: best spaghetti sauce, homemade spaghetti sauce recipe, ragu bolognese, spaghetti meat sauce

Servings:

Author: Natasha Bull

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
4 sticks celery chopped small
3 medium-to-large carrots peeled & chopped small
4 cloves garlic minced
16 ounces mushrooms (I used cremini) chopped small
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard optional
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28 fluid ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices
1 (14 fluid ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup beef broth
1 cup dry white wine or red wine
1/2 cup heavy/whipping cream or more, to taste (optional but recommended)
Salt & pepper to taste
Serve with: spaghetti, freshly grated parmesan cheese, and chopped fresh parsley and/or basil (optional)

Instructions

Add the oil, onion, celery, and carrots to a large pot over medium-high heat. Sauté for about 10 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and mushrooms, and continue sautéing for another 5-7 minutes or until the mushrooms release their water and cook down a bit.
Add in the beef and pork and break the meats up with your spoon. Continue cooking, stirring fairly often, until the meats change color (about 10 minutes).
Stir in the Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, and oregano.
Stir in the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, and wine.
Increase the heat to high and bring the sauce to a gentle boil. Give it a good stir, then reduce the heat and simmer (you want a steady bubble but not a furious boil) for 45 minutes, pot covered with the lid slightly ajar. I recommend checking on it periodically. This sauce should cook fairly slowly so the flavors infuse, but you don't want the liquid to get too low. Add a splash more beef broth or wine if this happens.
Stir in the cream and give the sauce a taste and season with salt & pepper as needed.
Serve over spaghetti and then top with parmesan cheese and chopped fresh basil and/or parsley.

Notes

This sauce is quite forgiving, so don't worry about exact measurements, and feel free to play with it a bit. Blog post contains more info on substitutions.
Makes around 10-12+ portions, but depending on portion size this can vary. This sauce freezes well.
As with any recipe, cooking times are a guideline and pots and stoves vary. You can definitely simmer the sauce for longer than 45 minutes to develop even more flavor or to reduce the liquid a bit longer if needed. I don't recommend going too much under that suggested cooking time, however.
This sauce is inspired by my mom's recipe that I grew up with.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Salt & Lavender makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.

Nutrition