Pasta Sauce

This meat sauce is the best pasta sauce! The key to this one is patience. You have to let it simmer and cook for at least an hour if not longer. But I promise, the results are worth the wait.

This is the sauce that I use for spaghetti and it is the star of my Mom’s lasagna. Yum!

Pro tip - Make a double batch of this sauce and freeze it so you can have it on hand when you need a quick meal.

Recipe for My Mom’s Pasta/Lasagna Sauce:

Ingredients Needed:

1 lb ground beef (you can use turkey or chicken also if you prefer)⁣

1 medium onion diced ⁣

1 medium tomato diced ⁣

1 can tomato sauce (16oz)⁣

1 large can of crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

3-4 bay leaves ⁣

2-3 teaspoons minced garlic ⁣

2-3 celery stalks⁣ cut into 1/2

2-3 whole carrots cut into 1/2

1 jalapeño⁣ pepper

Salt to taste⁣

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon⁣ oregano flakes

1/2 teaspoon dried basil flakes

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Optional: red chili pepper flakes ⁣

Servings Made: 1 medium pot of sauce

Time to Prep: 10-15 minutes

Time to Cook: 60-90 minutes

How to Make:

In a large pot, heat oil and add garlic and chopped onions. Cook for a few mins until garlic fragrant and onions soften. Add ground beef and cook for about five minutes. Add remaining ingredients (except celery and carrots) - tomato, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, jalapeño, oregano, basil, Italian seasoning and salt and cook for about 10 mins over medium heat.

Add your celery and carrots now. You don’t need to chop these up as you will remove these as well as the bay leaves before serving. They are in here for flavor as you cook the sauce. Taste for salt and add more if needed. If you want the sauce more spicy, add an extra jalapeño and some red chili flakes.

Let the sauce simmer for 60-90 minutes stirring occasionally. ⁣Once sauce has simmered for the suggested time, turn off heat and carefully remove bay leaves, celery and carrots.

Pro tip - make sure you know how many bay leaves you added to your sauce so you can remove all of them before serving!

Serve over spaghetti or use as a lasagna sauce.

Enjoy!