This spaghetti with meat sauce recipe has been passed down to me from my mom, and it’s the only spaghetti sauce I ever make! It’s a simple scratch sauce that takes just a few minutes to prep, and a low simmer on the stove gives it an intensely rich, meaty flavor.
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This Spaghetti Sauce Uses 1 Secret Ingredient That Makes It “The Best”
When I finished college and moved into my first apartment, I wrote down my mom’s recipe for our favorite family dinner and plopped it into my tattered recipe binder. But it never tasted quite as good as my mom’s.
My sister texted me a picture of her copy of my mom’s spaghetti recipe, as seen below. I then realized I was missing one crucial ingredient that makes this spaghetti and meat sauce recipe better than all the rest: dried cloves!
Cloves aren’t typically found in homemade meat sauce but they add so much flavor and shouldn’t be skipped.
This is the ultimate Sunday, long-simmer dinner that you can easily have at the ready thanks to a simply stocked pantry and a few foundation refrigerator ingredients I can always find at my local Smith’s Marketplace / Kroger store.
I promise you it’s worth the wait!
Enjoy!
My Mom’s Secrets to REALLY Good Spaghetti Sauce
Salt your pasta water generously. You want your pasta to have flavor on its own, so don’t be shy — salt that water like the sea!
While the spaghetti sauce cooks low and slow for 3 hours, stir it occasionally. You don’t want anything sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning, adding a bitter flavor to the meat sauce.
Serve this meat sauce with regular spaghetti noodles. It would be just as good served with any other twirly pasta, tortellini, ravioli, or even as a filler for lasagna.
The Main Ingredients (+ Notes)
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Ground Beef. I use 85% lean ground angus beef for my sauce so it still has flavor but not a lot of fat. You could also use ground turkey.
- Canned tomato products. Mom has always used a blend of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce for a nuanced tomato flavor and perfect texture. Since canned tomatoes are the star ingredient in this spaghetti sauce, make sure to buy from a quality brand or else your sauce could wind up tasting overly acidic or weirdly metallic.
- Beef broth. Adds another layer of meatiness.
- Canned mushrooms. Typically I use fresh mushrooms in recipes, but this is one where I never, ever, ever do.
- Onion, celery, and fresh garlic. They’re always lolling around the refrigerator crisper waiting to be used.
- A splash of wine. Mom says to use the empty mushroom can as your measurement guide. Purchase a variety that is of the same quality you’re willing to drink. I usually use a good boxed blend or Pinot noir in this recipe.
- Spices. Mom’s recipe calls for a blend of dried basil and oregano, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a pinch of sugar for sweetness. Don’t skip out on the bay leaves, they make a huge difference!
- 🤫The secret ingredient — dried whole cloves! My mom learned this trick from her friend Virginia, and adding a few whole cloves is her secret ingredient. She uses 5-6 cloves but my husband prefers 4. The cloves give it an earthy, spiced flavor that’s not often easy to place.
Heidi’s Tip: If you’re out of wine or are opposed to using it, you can add ¼ cup of balsamic vinegar instead to add a little acid and umami.
How to Make Spaghetti with Meat Sauce From Scratch (+ Tips)
- Brown the beef. Ground beef can be fairly fatty, so you’ll want to drain off any excess fat before adding the aromatics to prevent your meat sauce from tasting greasy.
- Cook the aromatics until soft. Add the chopped celery, onion, and garlic to the ground beef and cook for just a few minutes until softened. Try not to let the onion and garlic develop too much color otherwise your sauce might taste bitter.
- Bring to a boil … Dump the rest of the spaghetti sauce ingredients into the pot and bring the mixture to a boil.
- … Then simmer low and slow. Once boiling, reduce the heat and let it simmer on the stove for 3 hours. 3 hours sounds like forever, but that’s how long it takes to make a rich, flavorful meat sauce. Just do what the Italians do, and fuhgetaboutit.
- Cook your spaghetti. Once the sauce has had time to simmer, all that’s left to do is boil the spaghetti noodles according to package instructions and dish it up!
Heidi’s Tip: You can ditch the spaghetti noodles altogether and use the meat sauce to make lasagna, stuffed shells, and so much more.
Storing, Freezing, and Reheating
If you wind up with leftovers, you can easily reheat them the next day. I recommend reheating leftover spaghetti in a covered saucepan over medium-low heat. (You may need to add a splash of beef broth to loosen up the pasta.)
You can also freeze the sauce separately and then make fresh spaghetti noodles when you’re about to eat it. To reheat, first defrost the sauce in the refrigerator for 1 day, or, add to a large pot, cover, and heat on medium to medium-low until thawed.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
THE BEST Spaghetti and Meat Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound 85% lean ground beef
- 1 yellow onion , chopped
- 4 stalks celery , chopped
- 4 cloves garlic , minced or pressed
- 29 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 29 ounces tomato sauce
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 14 ounces canned sliced mushrooms (NOT fresh!)
- 1 cup red wine (I prefer Pinot Noir)
- 15 ounces can beef broth
- 4-6 whole cloves (we prefer 4)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (or 4 teaspoons dried)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound dried spaghetti noodles
- grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Brown the beef. In a large heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef until browned, about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the rendered fat and add the meat back to the pot.
- Cook the aromatics. Add the chopped onion, celery, and garlic and cook until the vegetables soften, about 5-7 more minutes.
- Simmer low and slow. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the spaghetti noodles and Parmesan), stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer, stir and cover with a lid, and cook for at least 3 hours on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Cook the spaghetti. Follow the package directions and be sure to generously salt the water. Drain and then mix into the spaghetti sauce.
- Garnish and enjoy! Serve with grated or ground Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
What to Serve with Homemade Spaghetti
We always serve this with a super crunchy iceberg salad tossed with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes and dressed in my favorite red wine vinaigrette and a few slices of buttery garlic bread.
If you’re looking for a little bit more, here are a few side dish ideas to make your meal.
More Easy Spaghetti Recipes
- Pasta Pomodoro — the authentic sauce I learned how to make in Italy!
- Homemade Pesto Pasta
- Spaghetti Carbonara
- Spaghetti with Meatballs
- Crab Spaghetti with Lemon Gremolata
- Stanley Tucci’s Zucchini Pasta
- Pasta Puttanesca
- Mediterranean Tuna Pasta
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Diane
Great recipe!
Thank you Diane! Your comment reminds me it’s time to make it!!
Ellen Olsen
I never comment on anything,but I must say this is my absolute favorite recipe for gravy. I have made it many times over the past couple of years and it also my family’s favorite.Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful mom’s recipe ♥️♥️
That’s great to hear Ellen! So glad you love it too.
Cathy
Delicious
Glad you enjoyed Cathy!
Claire
I’m going to make this tomorrow, in a crockpot. That way, won’t have to watch so closely. Sounds very good
Hope it turned out for you Claire!
Lynn
Best meat sauce I’ve ever made and I’ve been looking for years. I left out the cloves, and because I don’t care for sweet sauce, I left out the sugar. Next time I’ll add a bit more ground beef. Excellent recipe.
My mom would be very happy you agree with how tasty it is! Thanks Lynn.
Kevin
Made this last night and it was fantastic. Didn’t have any cloves so will have to make again to see what that adds, but it’s terrific without them. Simmered for three hours and the sauce was thick and rich! Been looking for a good meat sauce recipe for forever and now that search is over ;)
Hayley
Thank you for sharing, Kevin. We’re so happy you enjoyed it! :)
Cindy
I don’t know how to work with cloves it taste super strong. Probably a fail for us.
Hayley
We’re sorry to hear this didn’t work for you, Cindy! Feel free to leave it out next time–it’s not for everyone.
Margie Rovira
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I just made it for dinner and we loved it! I used a tea strainer bag for the cloves, and it worked great. We will add this to our dinner rotation for sure!
Hayley
Thanks for taking the time to try this and for leaving a comment, Margie. We’re so glad to hear you and your family loved it!
Susan
I had planned making saghetti when we visit my brother-in-laws family next month. I have never heard of putting cloves, carrots or celery in spaghetti, my mother always did put some pickle juice in it though. I will use this recipe with the cloves, carrots and celery – and think I will use some sausage too. The men in our families appreciate food, and are always willing to try new things so I am anticipating a positive response. Thanks for the ideas to make something a little different!!
Hayley
Thanks, Susan—we hope you love it! Please do let us know what you think!
Sally
This is my family’s favorite meat sauce. Just love it!! We double the amount of meat just bc my guy likes it meaty. As a result I’m heavy handed with the spices. Sometime in the future I might add some Italian sausage along with the beef to switch it up. It really takes the 3 hours to bring out the flavors. I read some of the comments about fishing out the cloves. I think the cloves add so much to this recipe but it’s not fun if you bite into one. I was wondering if I first heated the beef broth with the cloves if that would impart enough of the clove flavor, though it might take a while for the clove flavor to incorporate into the broth. Your thoughts on this?
Hayley
Hi Sally! Thank you for sharing, and we’re so happy you and your family love this! Hmm, we haven’t tried just steeping the cloves in the hot beef broth before, but think it’s worth a try. Maybe let them steep for just 15 or 20 minutes? If you try it, definitely let us know how it turns out!
Nancy
Similar to my mom’s spaghetti sauce – except she’d cook hers all day. Makes such a difference.
Hayley
Mom knows best! :)
Alicia Scanlon.
I followed exactly what the recipe says but mind came out very watery..just didn’t look like spaghetti sauce to me..so not sure what went wrong.
Nancy
Let is cook down – I cook mine for hours. Makes it nice and thick and really melds the flavors.
Nikhil manandahar
very cute looking spaghetti
Duckie
I’ve never EVER made bolognese sauce from scratch in my life because A. I’m lazy B. Didn’t think I could whip up something truly magical with my current skills so I always added few extra ingredients to the bottled sauce and was happy with that. What a true eye opener this recipe is! Its truly easy and tastes absolutely phenomenon! Thank you for sharing your mums recipe and this has given me more confidence in the kitchen!!
I’m happy you enjoyed and it was a success!
Hayley
We’re so happy you loved it, Duckie! thanks for giving it a try!
Tom S
Smells and tastes superb so don’t think it will disappoint, although I’ll keep the cloves a secret, cause my wife’s not a fan!
Warren
I tried this recipe in a Dutch oven yesterday. Exactly as specified. I have been trying to find a dish like I used to eat and enjoy, and remember. And I’m still looking. What I found to be true, is that almost all spaghetti recipe’s seem to use the same ingredients, and they all are missing what I want, whatever that is.
And they all taste pretty much the same, as did this one. I’m glad so many people enjoyed it, but still not what I want. I’ll keep looking, or just give up. This was not great and not bad, so I’ll rate it in the middle.
Abc123
try Worcestershire sauce! trust me….it’s the missing secret ingredient that u r searching for!
james Goacher
As I was reading through the recipe and the ingredients I began thinking to myself that with the addition of finely chopped Carrots this would make a very good meat part of a Cottage pie. Then I came to the Bolanaise/Spagetti Sauce bit.
This looks wonderful. I tend to Batch Cook, eat one portion and freeze the reaminder in portions. This is a great candidate. Thank you.
Chris
How would it turn out without beef broth, I brought some but it’s missing and still want to make it
Salina Gasparyan
Very flavorful but it came out too watery:/
I made this recipe exactly as posted so not sure what went working…
If you don’t have beef broth, try vegetable broth, chicken broth, or even water.
Shauna Harris
My family loved the spaghetti recipe but I added some things to it bell peppers Italian seasoning tomato basil sauce Garlic Salt tony’s seasoningI will be cooking this recipe again and I will be giving this recipe to many friends and family
Ray E Jones
Im sure its good but that much time and work ,I could do a pot roast. Guess I was looking for something easier. Keep up the good work and time. If I didn’t have a job, I’d be all over it…
Ana
I made this the other day and must say it was delicious! The cloves add a really nice spice to the sauce. I added 3 small carrots since I needed to use them up and it worked well! Thanks for the recipe!
Happy you enjoyed Ana!