This easy homemade spaghetti sauce recipe is simple and delicious. It costs less than store bought spaghetti sauce and freezes well too!
Growing up, my Mom always made homemade spaghetti sauce for our spaghetti. I might have taken it for granted back then. She’d make a big pot with lots of hamburger. We’d eat some for dinner and Mom would package the leftovers in various Tupperware containers for the freezer. To this day, I still remember all her containers filled with sauce and taped on labels in the upright freezer in the garage.
My kids love to eat pasta. So do I! For a long time, I bought jars of pasta sauce until I remembered my mom’s spaghetti sauce recipe. When I started making it, I realized that this recipe was almost as easy as opening a jar of sauce – and it had no added ingredients either. I overlooked this recipe for far too long. Now I make homemade sauce on a regular basis!
Another bonus? Spaghetti sauce is a very frugal recipe. Cans of tomato paste and tomato sauce are cheap. I always have them in my pantry so I can stir together sauce whenever I need it.
This is one of the easiest spaghetti sauce recipes around – and it tastes delicious! It’s not too sweet but also has just a tiny bit of kick to it, thanks to the unusual addition of chili powder. It may sound odd but it works! My kids don’t think it is spicy, and kids generally notice that.
This homemade spaghetti sauce is easy to double or half – if you don’t want to freeze some. Plus, as I’ve already mentioned, this spaghetti sauce freezes wonderfully. Sometimes I make half a recipe quickly when I realize we are out of spaghetti sauce. Sometimes, I make a full recipe and freeze it in canning jars for later. Most of the time now, I make spaghetti sauce without hamburger since my kids prefer it this way. You can easily add hamburger or meatballs to this recipe when serving, too. It really is up to you!
Homemade spaghetti sauce is something you can easily adjust to your own preference. If you want your sauce spicier, add more chili powder. If you want it sweeter, add more brown sugar. If you want it chunkier, add diced tomatoes. The possibilities of your homemade spaghetti sauce are endless!
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Ingredients:
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (16 ounce) can water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 clove garlic
2 pounds hamburger, browned, optional
1 medium onion, diced, optional
Directions:
Combine tomato products in a large saucepan. Add water. Stir in seasonings. If desired, add meat browned with diced onions. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
Allow spaghetti sauce to cool before storing it in the fridge and / or freezer.
Additional Notes:
You can freeze this sauce in plastic containers or ball canning jars. Be sure to leave a bit of space in your jars when freezing. You can also portion it out into quart size bags and freeze the sauce flat if that fits in your freezer better.
This sauce is delicious with or without hamburger. It is simply a matter of your preference.
How do you like your spaghetti sauce?
This easy homemade spaghetti sauce recipe is simple and delicious. It costs less than store bought spaghetti sauce and freezes well too!
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 1 (16 ounce) can water
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 pounds hamburger, browned, optional
- 1 medium onion, diced, optional
Instructions
- Combine tomato sauce and tomato paste in a large saucepan. Add water.
- Stir in seasonings.
- If desired, add meat browned with diced onions.
- Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Allow spaghetti sauce to cool before storing it in the fridge and / or freezer.
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