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Two ingredients in the spice blend of this delicious, Easy Spaghetti Meat Sauce recipe make it stand out from the rest and will have your guests asking for more.
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This Easy Spaghetti Meat Sauce is loaded with fresh vegetables, ground beef, tomato sauce and spices. But so are almost all of the meat sauce recipes out there, so you might be wondering what’s so special about this recipe? Well I believe it’s a couple of the spices that I include when seasoning the sauce.
When adding the spices to my meat sauce, I include the usual oregano, basil and bay leaves, but I also include ground cumin and coriander (the dried seed of cilantro). These spices make the sauce super flavourful and really make it stand out from the rest.
Can you make a spaghetti meat sauce from jar sauce?
Another ingredient that I add to this sauce is a ready-made organic tomato and basil pasta sauce instead of a plain tomato sauce or canned crushed tomatoes. I don’t know why it feels like I’m committing some kind of culinary infraction when I do this? But when I think about it, there isn’t much difference between using a really good quality jarred tomato pasta sauce and using a can of plain tomato sauce which I will need to add more seasoning to anyways. I like to think of it as a practical short cut, like using ready-made broth instead of always making it from scratch.
Easy Meat Sauce with Jar Sauce
When choosing your jarred sauce make sure to check the amount of sodium and sugar, it can vary greatly from one brand to another. But what’s great about this recipe is that it’s completely up to you to use the sauce that you prefer. You could also use plain tomato sauce, but you’ll have to add extra seasoning.
What I love about sauces like this one, is that after you’ve made the sauce once, you can adjust it to your liking by playing around with the spices, adding more or less, or omitting one all together. This recipe makes quite a bit of sauce, I like to make a large batch that I can then portion and freeze, it makes life easier on busy weeknights. But if you prefer a smaller batch you can easily cut this recipe in half. I rely on this easy meat sauce often when making pasta, I especially like to use it on spaghetti and in my lasagna. Enjoy!
More Delicious Pasta Recipes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion large
- 3 garlic cloves large
- 2 carrots
- 3 celery stalks
- 1 sweet pepper red or green
- 227 grams fresh mushrooms one package
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 6 cups pre made pasta sauce your favourtie brand
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes more to taste
Instructions
- Wash vegetables and peel garlic, onions and carrots.
- Cut all vegetables into chunks that will fit into your food processor.
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- Start by adding the onion and garlic to the food processor, when vegetables are chopped to your liking, add them to the saucepan and give them a quick stir.
- Continue to process the rest of the vegetables and add them to the pan as you go. Stir and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
- Raise the heat to medium high and add the ground beef, sauté and break up the large chunks of meat. Cook until the ground beef is no longer pink, about 10 min.
- Add the tomato sauce and all the seasonings, reduce heat, stir and let simmer.
- After the sauce has simmered for approximately 30 min, taste and adjust the seasonings.
- Reduce heat to low, and let simmer for two to three hours, stirring occasionally and adding tomato juice, beef broth or water if too much liquid has evaporated.
- When ready to serve, taste sauce one more time and adjust seasonings, remove bay leaves.
- Serve over pasta of your choice, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley (or basil) and freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional).
Notes
Nutrition
Andrea Broom says
January 14, 2017 at 10:39 AMThis looks so good! Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
January 15, 2017 at 7:59 AMThanks Andrea, it’s my favourite pasta sauce, I hope you enjoy it!
Karen says
April 27, 2016 at 4:15 PMI can’t wait to try your meat sauce recipe as your spices are some of my favorites…very creative.
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 27, 2016 at 6:34 PMThanks so much Karen, I hope you enjoy it!
Nancy says
April 21, 2016 at 9:34 AMNo culinary infractions committed here, Fida. Now if you simply opened the jar of sauce, at left it at that, it wouldn’t be much of a recipe then. 😉 However, you’ve taken a humble, basic sauce and turned it into something fabulous! If it’s even half delicious as it looks…you’ve created a masterpiece!
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 30, 2016 at 10:19 PMThanks so much Nancy, I’m so glad others feel the same way 🙂
Lucy @ Globe Scoffers says
April 8, 2016 at 7:47 AMThis is so easy to make which is great for a mid week dinner and it looks incredibly delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 8, 2016 at 3:49 PMThat’s one of the things I love so much about this sauce, thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment!
Louise Crosby says
April 6, 2016 at 11:09 AMFida, I love the idea of adding cumin, coriander and even cinnamon to meatballs and meat sauces. It makes the flavours more complex. So I will definitely give this recipe a try. Thanks!
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 8, 2016 at 3:47 PMThanks so much Louise, I agree I find myself using those particular three spices so much. Take care 🙂
nagimaehashi says
April 5, 2016 at 9:20 PMI adore your photos!!! You honestly had me believing for a second that I could grab that fork loaded with pasta!!! 🙂 Love the addition of cumin and coriander too, I get what you mean. My secret ingredient is soy sauce!!
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 6, 2016 at 9:20 PMThanks so much Nagi! Soy sauce, really? Now I’m curious, I’ll have to try it next time I make my sauce!
Alex says
April 5, 2016 at 1:17 PMTried this the other day, great meat sauce and so easy to make.
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 5, 2016 at 9:23 PMHi Alex, so happy to hear you gave this a try already and liked it!
HapaNomNom says
April 5, 2016 at 1:23 AMSpaghetti with meat sauce is a childhood favorite. In fact, when I visit my parents I put in a special request 🙂 This looks like such an amazing and incredible bowl of comfort!
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 5, 2016 at 9:21 PMI know it’s such a good comfort food, definitely one of my favourites and now my kids love it too.
Amanda | Yum In Your Tum says
April 4, 2016 at 2:39 PMThis spaghetti looks amazing! I have been craving spaghetti lately so I am literally drooling over the screen right now. I love that you added mushrooms. This is a must try! 🙂
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 5, 2016 at 9:17 PMThanks Amanda, I love mushrooms in my spaghetti sauce. Thanks for stopping by!
nancyc says
April 3, 2016 at 1:22 PMThis meat sauce sounds so good–I love all the spices you used in this!
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 3, 2016 at 10:07 PMThanks Nancy, the spices really make the sauce!
C. M. says
April 1, 2016 at 10:15 AMLooks great, will definitely give this recipe a try!
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 1, 2016 at 10:20 AMThanks so much, hope you enjoy it 🙂
Lynz Real Cooking says
March 31, 2016 at 10:06 PMLooks wonderful!
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 1, 2016 at 9:53 AMThanks so much Lynz, have a great weekend!
Lynz Real Cooking says
April 1, 2016 at 10:02 AMyou too!
Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
April 1, 2016 at 10:18 AMThanks 🙂