Italian Meat Sauce | Easy Pasta Sauce Recipe (2024)

This is seriously the best homemade Italian Meat Sauce. Every time I make it, friends and family ask for the recipe. It is rich. It is savory. This is the sauce you dream of!

Made with both ground beef and sweet Italian sausage this traditional bolognesesauce is slow-cooked to perfection which brings out the sweetness of the San Marzano tomatoes and the savory notes of the aromatics and Mediterranean herbs.

This Italian Meat Sauce recipe is not difficult for beginners and uses basic cooking techniques to sear, sauté, deglaze, and simmer to coax every bit of flavor possible from each ingredient.

When this hearty meat sauce has finished cooking, mix it into your favorite cooked pasta to serve immediately. Or refrigerate it in sealed containers for future use.

About This Recipe

My recipe came from my Mom, who got the recipe decades ago from her Italian neighbors, Alex and Teresa, in San Francisco. The only changes I've made to the recipe are to not use ground veal (I never eat, buy, or use veal) or to include rosemary. I personally think rosemary overpowers the dish, but that is my preference. If you love rosemary by all means add a tablespoon of fresh, crushed leaves when you add the other herbs.

You can buy the ingredients for my Italian Meat Sauce at most grocery stores. There is nothing exotic and you might already have on hand most of the ingredients. Even San Marzano whole tomatoes are at my local Walmart and Trader Joe's. But if you cannot find this type of canned tomatoes, use your favorite brand. Because San Marzano tomatoes tend to be ever so slightly sweeter than regular tomatoes, add a scant teaspoon of white granulated sugar to the batch of sauce as it simmers.

Ingredient Notes

Here's what you need to make Italian Meat Sauce:

• Ground Beef - I prefer 85% lean which has great flavor. But you can use leaner blends of ground beef. (Not shown in the image.)
• Sweet Italian Sausage - The name simply means the sausage is not spicy hot and is not pastry sweet. I purchase bulk sausage which can be used quickly from the package. (Not shown in the image.)
• Olive Oil - (Optional) Extra virgin is my favorite and I also use one that is aromatic rather than lighter oils that are less flavorful. (Not shown in the image.)
• Onions - Sweet yellow onions are preferred but you can use red onions. However don't use white onions, which have a sharp flavor.
• Garlic - You can't make a great sauce without fresh garlic. Finely mince or press the cloves and you can't go wrong.
• Fresh Basil Leaves - Another key ingredient is fresh basil leaves that bring green herbal notes and a slight licorice flavor to the sauce.
• Dried Oregano - This is the one spice you can add that is dried. It brings a flavor to the sauce that can't quite be explained. It is both sweet and sour, herbal and minty.
• Red Wine - Any full-bodied red wine will work well in this recipe. Consider using Malbec, Merlot, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Bordeaux, and red blends like a Claret.
• San Marzano Canned Whole Tomatoes - The magic in any red meat sauce is the tomatoes and San Marzano's are absolute alchemy. They are mild in acidity and slightly sweet. No other plum tomato tastes like them.
• Tomato Purée or Sauce - A good tomato sauce will help add body to the sauce. You can use your favorite brand.
• Fine Sea Salt - Salt makes everything delicious and the quantity in this recipe is a guideline. After the sauce has simmered for at least 1 hour, you may need to add more after tasting the sauce.
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper - Flowery and piquant, freshly ground pepper is 100 times better than pre-ground black pepper.
• Lemon (Optional) - You may need a small squeeze of lemon to balance the flavor of the sauce.

Please see the recipe card for the exact quantities.

How to Get More Flavor

One thing to know about any sauce or savory dish is that it is not just the quality of the ingredients that matter. It is also how you cook them. Which might make you wonder, "How can I get the most flavor from any recipe?"

I like to tease every little bit of flavor from a dish. So, I follow the rules of sear, sauté, and deglaze whenever I can!

Instructions

Prepare Ingredients.Using a cutting board and knife, chop onions into small and thin dice. Mince garlic and cut basil using the chiffonade method of rolling several leaves together and then thinly slicing the basil. Roughly chop the tomatoes and reserve the sauce. Set all aside.

Sear the Meat. Heat a large Dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and brown well. Use a large slotted spoon to break up the meat as you turn and brown all sides. Remove browned meat to a medium-sized bowl.

Add sweet Italian Sausage to the pot and cook until browned. Continue to use a large slotted spoon to break up the meat as you continue to turn and brown it on all sides. Remove the browned Italian sausage to the bowl containing the browned ground meat.

Sauté.Check the pot to see if there is enough oil from the meat to properly cook the aromatics. If there is very little or no fat, add two tablespoons of olive oil to the pot. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the diced onion. Cook onion until transparent and the fond from cooking the meat has partially released from the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook and stir until the garlic and herbs are fragrant.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add the diced onion. Cook onion until transparent and the fond from cooking the meat has partially released from the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook and stir until the garlic and herbs are fragrant.

Add the garlic, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook and stir until the garlic and herbs are fragrant.

Deglaze with Wine.Push the aromatics to one side of the pot. Increase heat to medium and add red wine. Stir and scrape the remaining fond from the bottom of the pot and cook gently for 2 to 3 minutes until the alcohol has burned off and the mixture is slightly reduced.

Add Tomatoes.Add the chopped tomatoes including the sauce from the cans of the tomatoes, the can of tomato sauce, and the browned ground beef and Italian sausage. Stir well.

Simmer.Bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to low heat and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Skim foam, if necessary. After, simmering for an hour, taste the sauce and add lemon juice and additional salt, if needed. Continue to simmer for 1 hour more.

Serve or Store.The sauce is now ready to be served or stored. Serve with your favorite cooked pasta. Or to store, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate promptly.

Now, you might be wondering why on earth you want to spend two-plus hours making a homemade meat sauce. Because it is worth it!

This recipe makes 12 cups of sauce, which for me means 4 dinners. I typically equally portion the sauce into containers to freeze. So, I make this beauty of a sauce one time and get 4 meals from it!

You can spoon this sauce over your favorite cookedpasta or add the pasta plus ½ pasta water to the pot of sauce and bring the pasta and sauce to a simmer. Either way, it is delicious and is even better with a grating of parmesan cheese and a few fresh leaves of basil.

You can also use this meat sauce to make lasagna and other baked pasta dishes.

My Top Tips

♡ Be sure to withhold some of the pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce. Pasta water has some of the starch from cooking the pasta and when added in small quantities, helps to keep the body of the sauce from becoming too thin.

♡ Use this sauce with a heartier pasta, like cut rigatoni, penne, bucatini, pappardelle, or fettuccine. Its rich thick texture is best with these types of pasta. But it is also fantastic in baked pasta dishes like lasagna.

Substitutions & Variations

• Substitution for Italian Sausage - Use Half Ground Beef and Half Ground Pork.
• Substitute Tomato Paste- If you do not have tomato puree or tomato sauce you can substitute tomato paste and water. Use 1 part tomato paste to 3 parts water.
• Add Fennel - Thinly sliced fennel bulb can be added with the diced onions.
• Add Mushrooms - Sliced baby portabella mushrooms can be added with the diced onions.
• Add Fresh Rosemary - Chopped fresh rosemary can be added with the rest of the seasonings. (My Mom’s special touch)
• Make it Vegetarian - This Italian sauce can also be made meatless. Add 3 tablespoons of butter at the finish of the sauce.
• Make it Vegan - A vegan variation can be made with mushrooms and no meat and no butter.

Make-Ahead & Storage

This Italian Meat Sauce gets even better when made ahead. It will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

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