20 Minute Spaghetti Sauce
Delicious spaghetti sauce in 20 minutes. My family loves this sauce. I make this recipe and freeze or can the leftovers.
Delicious spaghetti sauce in 20 minutes. My family loves this sauce. I make this recipe and freeze or can the leftovers.
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium green bell pepper chopped
- 1 pound ground turkey or italian sausage
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 1 cup crimini mushrooms sliced
- 4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled pressed
- 2 (30 ounce) cans hunts tomato sauce
- 4 tablespoons italian seasoning or to taste
- Carbohydrate 3.16248333532941 g
- Cholesterol 24.5695867083333 mg
- Fat 2.30670348206249 g
- Fiber 0.585583345637887 g
- Protein 8.70155491270852 g
- Saturated Fat 0.569364959683457 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (64g)
- Sodium 40.886221584155 mg
- Sugar 2.57689998969152 g
- Trans Fat 0.233419678283415 g
- Calories 69 calories
Step-by-step
- In 7qt Dutch Oven or large sauce pan, brown the turkey and drain, then return to pan
- Add onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, salt & pepper, and Italian seasoning to the pan. Sauté until the vegetables are tender (approx 8minutes)
- Once onions and peppers are tender, add the tomato sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add more Italian seasoning if desired.
- Serve over you favorite pasta.
Adjusting Yields Without Ruining Flavor
Scaling a large batch of meat sauce requires monitoring pan capacity closely. Halving the ingredients fits easily into a standard 3-quart saucepan, but doubling the recipe demands a vessel holding at least 8 quarts to prevent overcrowding. Overcrowded mushrooms and peppers steam rather than brown, releasing excess water that dilutes the final simmer. Maintain medium-high heat when reducing large quantities so excess moisture evaporates within the standard five-minute window.
Balancing Freshness and Preservation
Canned tomato sauce provides a consistent, smooth baseline acidity that raw summer tomatoes cannot match without hours of reduction. Fresh garlic and onions introduce sharp, volatile aromatic compounds that soften quickly in hot olive oil. Dried Italian herbs bloom effectively in the fat during the eight-minute vegetable sauté, whereas fresh herbs added at this stage would lose their volatile oils entirely. Preserve leftover sauce in airtight containers for up to four days in the refrigerator or freeze for three months.
Controlling Texture and Fat Content
Ground turkey lacks the rendered fat of traditional Italian sausage, requiring extra vigilance with the initial olive oil addition. Press garlic cloves rather than mincing them to maximize surface area distribution across the chunky mushrooms and peppers. Drain excess liquid thoroughly after browning the protein to ensure the canned tomato sauce binds properly to the vegetables without pooling on the plate.
