Fall is just around the corner and so are those warm meals that you love cooking on the stove or in the crock pot all day. Of course I think spaghetti is good any time of year though! To me it has always been one of those classic comfort foods. I was thinking back to when my husband and I were first married and how we would just open a jar of sauce, to now having a yummy family recipe that we love! I often think that homemade is so much better in just about everything and this sauce definitely does not disappoint!
This sauce is very easy to assemble and then you just let it simmer for about 4-5 hours on the stove. To start you will brown your ground beef (or turkey) and sausage in a large pot. Season to taste with onion and garlic powder. I usually use ground turkey and sausage, the flavor is amazing, but you can just use two pounds of ground turkey or two pounds of ground beef. I notice that when I am not including sausage in the recipe I will often need to up all my seasonings a little to make up for the lack of flavor from not using the sausage.
When the meat is browned add in your crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water. Give it all a stir. Then add in your sugar, thyme, salt, pepper, basil, and oregano and stir. I usually use dried thyme but I actually had some fresh from my garden so I just chopped up some of that.
Always feel free to adjust any of the seasoning as needed. Like I said above you may need to add more if not using the sausage.
Now you could technically totally stop here, bring it all to a boil, and then simmer for 4-5 hours. But to me that still wouldn’t be my sauce. My favorite part is adding in a bunch of veggies that just blend right in and only enhance the flavor. The kids don’t even know they are there! So here is what I usually add, zucchini, yellow squash, red pepper, and carrots, but of course any of these would be better than nothing! I don’t count the carrots I just shred some and put them in. Here I only had baby carrots.
I use my fine shredder on my cheese grater for the carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash, and I just finely chop up the red pepper.
Then add all the veggies to the pot and give it a stir. Cover and simmer 4-5 hours. Just remember to stir every so often.
So easy and other than boiling the spaghetti noodles later on dinner is ready. Fun to serve with a salad and garlic bread too!
This makes a ton of sauce so I often will freeze half of it for a quick dinner at a later time.
Here is your printable recipe! Enjoy!
- 1 pound ground beef or turkey
- 1 pound mild ground Italian sausage
- garlic powder to taste
- onion powder to taste
- 1 large can crushed tomatoes
- 2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 2 small cans tomato paste
- 2 cans water (tomato paste cans)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 heaping tablespoon basil
- 1 heaping tablespoon oregano
- 1 zucchini shredded
- 1 yellow squash shredded
- 1-2 carrots shredded
- 1 red pepper diced small
- Brown your ground beef (or turkey) and sausage in a large pot over about medium heat. Season to taste with garlic and onion powder.
- When the meat is browned add in your crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water. Give it all a stir.
- Add in your sugar, thyme, salt, pepper, basil, and oregano and stir.
- Shred up your zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots with the fine shredder on your cheese grater.
- Chop up your red pepper. Add all the veggies to the sauce and give it a stir.
- Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer on low for 4-5 hours stirring every so often.
- Serve over spaghetti noodles.
* I love the combo of ground turkey and sausage but if you omit the sausage you may need to up the seasonings.
*You can omit the vegetables or add any combo of them but I love the flavor they add and getting the extra vegetables in our diet.
Tea With Jennifer says
Yum! Your version sounds delicious!
You’re most of welcome to drop by for a cuppa,
Jennifer
Jen says
Thank you so much!!
Kristen says
This sounds like a perfect recipe! Thank you for sharing.
Jen says
Thank you so much!
Cheapcialis says
Thank you just what I needed this morning.
Jen says
You are welcome!
Valerie says
I’ve actually never made my own spaghetti sauce! Thanks for sharing this recipe, I’m going to have to give it a try. 🙂
Jen says
Yes, you totally should! It is not hard and you will be so glad you did!
Miz Helen says
Your Spaghetti Sauce looks amazing, make me hungry! Hope you are having a great week and thank you so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday!
Miz Helen
Jen says
Thank you so much! We sure do love it! Have a great week!