Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce
I love store bought spaghetti sauce, even though my mother didn’t even know it existed until we were nearly teens. Once she tried it, she was hooked on the ease and the quality. She says “I figure those companies put thousands and thousands of dollars and years of research into perfecting those recipes and who are we not to use them!”. Of course, I love that way of thinking! Still, I like to dress mine up a bit. This both customizes the flavor a bit but also serves to make your sauce go further.
Making your sauce go further is important because I REALLY want you to have some leftover spaghetti sauce. It is VERY important for my next tutorial that you have some leftover because I am going to bring you a great recipe for using it up that everyone in my family loves.
You’ll need: 2 Jars or cans of spaghetti sauce, can of diced tomatoes, can of tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning. I am absolutely not loyal to any particular brand of sauce. I got this on sale, buy one get one free.
You’ll also need ground beef. Mine is already cooked, drained, and waiting in the freezer. I use a little more ground beef for this larger batch of sauce. I am using about a pound and a half.
If you’d rather, you can substitute sausage or shredded chicken for the beef. This will work fine for this recipe as well as the other one I’m going to give you for the leftovers.
Dump everything in the slow cooker. Sauce, tomato sauce, tomatoes, and beef. If you have fresh tomatoes, by all means cut up a few of those and put them in there instead of the canned.
You absolutely do not have to cook this in a slow cooker. I just like the convenience of having it cook all day and then all I have to do is boil my pasta to have supper!
Be sure you put a few tablespoons of water in the sauce jar and give it a good shake to get the last bits out, too! Now you’ll want to save this jar because spring is here (in Alabama at least!) and you know the kids are going need something to catch bugs in soon…
~clears her throat and steps up onto her soap box~
Catching bugs is a great past time and all kids need to do it. When I was a little girl, I had an entire “zoo” in the back yard made up of various plastic butter bowls filled with the critters I had found. I used to love it when I got my mama to visit my little zoo! I was big time, I’m tellin’ ya!
Here is a bit of advice though, don’t let your kids bring their zoo into the house. My son slipped a container of yard critters past me a few summers back. After being awakened in the night when some exotic beetle ventured into our bedroom and proceeded to get trapped between the headboard and the wall, we learned this the hard way. We also learned that certain beetles are a wee bit claustrophobic and set into a fluttering, buzzing panic mode when trapped.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen…
Add some Italian seasoning. I am using about a tablespoon and a half.
And I always add about a tablespoon of sugar to help bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes.
Give it a stir, cover and cook on low all day.
If you’d rather cook this on the stove top, I recommend bringing it to a boil and then reducing the heat to low and simmering for about thirty minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 cans or jars of Spaghetti Sauce
- 1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 - 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 T Italian Seasoning
- 1 T sugar
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, browned and drained
Instructions
- Dump all ingredients into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low all day. Serve over freshly cooked pasta.
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Ingredients
- 2 cans or jars of Spaghetti Sauce
- 1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 - 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 T Italian Seasoning
- 1 T sugar
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, browned and drained
Instructions
- Dump all ingredients into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low all day. Serve over freshly cooked pasta.
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Reserve about two cups of this for Spaghetti Lover’s Soup! Click here.
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Mar 9 2009. Filed under Crock Pot, Main Course, Quick&Easy.
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Lordy if y’all had my homemade sauce you would never eat that jar stuff. My granny came from Italy when she was a child and this would never do. Christy, I love everything else, just not this.
I’d love to have your recipe!
i would love to know how to make a real italian sauce recipe!
I have been looking a wonderful spaghetti sauce. I would love to try yours.
I hope you get a chance to soon Lillian. And I hope you like it!!
Ahhh, my favorite part of this recipe is “DUMP all ingredients into slow cooker”!
I don’t do jarred sauce either. Too much sodium.
I like SOME fresh ingredients in mine, like onions, garlic, or mushrooms. Fresh herbs are good too. I am ok with doctoring up the ragu or using canned tomatoes because of the antioxident lycopene and because it saves me time!
I’d leave out the sugar too. American pasta sauce is sweet but Italian’s don’t do that. I lived in Italy and it took me a while to get used to the sauce without sugar but now I prefer it.
I cannot WAIT for the emails next week! I always menu plan for the week (even though other Mama’s laugh at me for it). I feel it saves time and money! Can’t wait to read your ideas!!
I’m making this right now, except I’m simmering it on the stove top. I added a couple of bay leaves, because I love the flavor they add to Italian dishes.
Yummy Michelle! Have some for me!!
[...] #1.Spaghetti. I LOVE Spaghetti and you just can’t get anything like spaghetti at home when you’re on the road. Everyone wants to dress it up or put some odd meat in it. I just want plain old spaghetti with ground beef. This is the meal I make most on those days I’m home in time for supper. [...]
Christy, canned spaghetti sauce Rocks! I use tomato paste instead of sauce, but my husband says it is too strong. Oh well. I’ll try the sauce next time. I also add little of that packet spaghetti seasoning. It adds a little bit of zing.
I could live on pasta and I like the idea if having left over sauce to freeze for
the next time. BTW -@jenrenko – I am married to an Italian – he says a
little sugar is always used — but either way, I’m all for it.
Instead of using regular sugar in your tomato sauce, use brown sugar. It still brings out the flavor of the tomato and will sweeten the sauce with out the after taste of the sugar in the background. Trust me! This works better!!!!
Thanks for sharing this tip John!!
The “zoo in the backyard” reminds me of my oldest daughter, when she was about3-4 (she is now 37)….she wanted a pet really bad, a dog, cat, rabbit,gerbil anything pet-like. I did not want to take care of it and I knew she wouldn`t/couldn`t take care of one. Plus our landlord would not have approved….anyway, she came in one day with a ladybug and asked (in a rather exasperated voice) Can I keep this pet bug?”…. it was so cute! I gave her a butter dish and we poked holes in the lid and she put grass clippings in it….I can`t remember what happened to it, but she was happy for a day or 2.
And the spagetti sauce…I thought I was the only one that doctored-up the jar stuff to make an original taste.
Margaret