I grew up eating homemade spaghetti, as I’m sure most of you did.
Of course, everything we ate was from scratch, because in the jungle back then, we didn’t have access to things like sauce in a jar.
Over the years, the recipe has morphed a good deal, but this is my current version. It works well for us, is simple, tasty and very versatile.
One of my favorite adjustments to my spaghetti sauce is the addition of about 3 times the vegetables. It’s amazing to my how much heartier and tastier it became because I started using piles of peppers and onions.
It is also quite a bit cheaper, since meat is almost unnecessary and I use 1/2 the amount I used to. (Thank you, inflation, for helping me see the light.)
Spaghetti
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
1 hour
Total Time:
1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 Red Bell Peppers
- 1 Yellow/Orange Bell Pepper
- 1 Green Bell Pepper
- 1 Large Onion
- 6 Garlic Cloves or 3 T. Minced or 3 T. Garlic Powder
- 1 lb. Any Ground Meat
- 1 T. Olive Oil
- 4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme or 2 T. Dried Thyme
- 6 Sprigs Fresh Oregano or 2 T. Dried Oregano
- 1 T. Garlic Salt or Salt
- 1 t. Black Pepper
- 1 T. Smoked Paprika or Paprika
- 2 T. Italian Seasoning
- 1/4 c. Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 T. Beef Broth Base or 2 Bouillon Cubes
- 1 T. Montreal Steak Seasoning
- 3 Bay Leaves
- 1 Large Jar Spaghetti Sauce
- 1/2 Large Jar Water
- 1 Large Can Crushed/Diced/Stewed Tomatoes
- 1/2 Large Can Water
- 1 Large Stockpot Water
- 1 T. Olive Oil
- 1 t. Salt
- 1 Package Spaghetti Pasta
Instructions
- Chop peppers and onions. We like to keep our sauce very chunky, so I cut them into about 1″ pieces, but you can chop yours as fine as you like.
- Peel and dice garlic (if using fresh).
- Heat olive oil in large skillet on medium high.
- Add ground beef/meat and cook until mostly browned.
- If you need to drain the meat, this is your moment. I don’t, but I know some people prefer to.
- Stir in garlic, onions and peppers and cook about 1 minute, just to get a little bit of flavor going.
- If you are using fresh herbs, remove the stems before adding leaves to the mixture.
- Add all herbs, spices, seasonings and bay leaves, mixing well.
- Pour in all tomatoes and sauces, including filling the jars/cans with water. This rinses out the remaining sauce and also adds necessary liquid to the spaghetti sauce.
- Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 1 hour. Longer is better, but an hour will do the trick.
- Pasta:
- Bring large stockpot of water, 1 T. oil and 1 t. salt to a boil over high heat.
- This is for flavor and to keep pasta from sticking together.
- Add 1 package of spaghetti noodles (I like using whole wheat thin spaghetti).
- Cover with lid and turn off heat.
- Set timer for 11 minutes.
- Pasta should be perfectly al dente when the timer goes off. Adjust time to suit your taste.
- Immediately drain pasta. If you are afraid it will be overcooked, you can also run cold water over it right away to stop the cooking process.
- Serve with sauce and freshly grated parmesan cheese!
Notes
- This sauce has great flavor and actually uses less meat than my previous recipes because the amount of onions and peppers add so much substance.
- I make this batch and freeze half of it for another meal. It works great!
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LOVED. THIS. RECIPE. Did my best with half the listed ingredients and it still tasted 50x better than my regular sauce. I want to make the globs next!
So glad you enjoyed it! It’s always about doing the best with what you already have, so great job!