Spaghetti Sauce Italiano
This is the best spaghetti sauce recipe you'll ever taste. It's flavorful, hearty, and perfect for a family meal.
This is the best spaghetti sauce recipe you'll ever taste. It's flavorful, hearty, and perfect for a family meal.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup chopped onion
- serve with
- 8 ounce sweet chicken italian sausage from trader joes
- 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 16 ounce can tomatoe sauce
- 12 ounce tomato paste
- 1 package (8 oz) sliced fresh mushrooms i dice most finely & leave some big so kids don't know they are there
- 3/4 cup chopped sweet pepper
- 1/2 cup dry red wine or water i use a cheap merlot or pinot
- 2 1/4 ounce sliced pitted ripe olives drained
- 1 1/2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
- 8 cups hot cooked spaghetti (1 pound)
- parmesan cheese finely shredded
- salad (like ceasar or garden)
- garlic or cheesy bread
- Carbohydrate 40.5010192727137 g
- Cholesterol 29.20000880925 mg
- Fat 8.8577197001095 g
- Fiber 3.21058624704752 g
- Protein 15.5338390062811 g
- Saturated Fat 3.02803753878219 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (203g)
- Sodium 712.366528028773 mg
- Sugar 37.2904330256662 g
- Trans Fat 0.985524568484919 g
- Calories 311 calories
Step-by-step
- Remove sausage from casing. In a large skillet cook ground beef and sausage over medium heat until brown. Drain off fat.
- Transfer meat mixture to a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker. Stir in all ingredients except spaghetti, Parmesan cheese, salad, and bread.
- Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 9 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 41/2 to 5 hours. (I usually start mine out on high for about 3 - 4 hours and then turn it on low, it really doesn't matter if it cooks longer than 9-10 hours as long as your slow cooker isn't super hot (some of the old ones are), Then I will turn mine to warm until serving time)
- Serve meat sauce over hot cooked spaghetti. If desired, sprinkle each serving with Parmesan cheese. Serve with a salad and bread. Makes 16 servings. (I usually have enough left over sauce to stick in the freezer for another meal or to use as the sauce for lasagne!)
Swapping the dry red wine for water alters the final acidity, requiring an extra pinch of sugar to balance the canned tomatoes. Browning the ground beef and sweet chicken sausage over medium heat first creates the Maillard reaction, developing savory compounds that slow-cooking alone cannot achieve. Drain the rendered fat completely before transferring the meat to the slow cooker to prevent an oily layer from separating during the long cook time.
Scaling for Yield
Adjusting this recipe requires caution with liquids. Halving the batch means reducing the tomato paste to 6 ounces and the canned liquids proportionally, but keep the garlic and Worcestershire quantities nearly identical to maintain punchy aromatics. If doubling the ingredients to feed a crowd, use a 10-quart slow cooker and extend the low-heat cooking window by one hour to ensure heat penetrates the larger mass.
Chemical Flavor Development
Acid from the tomatoes breaks down the connective tissues in the meats over the course of nine to ten hours. Long simmer times allow the natural glutamates in mushrooms, beef, and tomatoes to bond, producing a richer umami profile. Red wine introduces tartaric acid, which cuts through the heavy fats of the sausage and cheese.
