Quick Tomato Sauce
by Chungah
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This tomato meat sauce is a weeknight miracle dinner made in 30 min! Fast, easy, and budget-friendly using ground beef and canned tomatoes!
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Why you’ll love this quick tomato meat sauce
- Family-friendly weeknight staple. Made in 30 min start to finish, this easy spaghetti meat sauce is truly a weeknight hero. Serve over freshly cooked pasta for the whole family to enjoy!
- Restaurant-worthy. Skip the store-bought tomato sauce. Without the added preservatives, the homemade version is so much more flavorful and fresh.
- Reheats and freezes so well. Spaghetti sauce can keep in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 3 months. This is a great recipe to double or triple to keep prepped meals on hand, creating a quick pasta dinner for the months ahead.
What is the difference between tomato sauce and bolognese sauce?
- Tomato sauce: also known as meat sauce or spaghetti sauce, is a tomato-based sauce typically made with crushed tomatoes, garlic, and various dried herbs such as oregano and basil, served over spaghetti pasta
- Bolognese sauce: while also a meat-based sauce, bolognese is a type of ragu originating from Bologna, Italy. Bolognese sauce typically includes milk, yielding a thicker and richer sauce, and uses less tomato than tomato sauce.
How to make tomato sauce
- Crumble the beef. Add the ground beef to a large stockpot or Dutch oven and crumble until the meat is fully browned, draining off any excess fat and grease.
- Sauté the aromatics. Stir in the garlic, oregano and basil, then stir in the tomato paste until it turns into a dark red color.
- Deglaze the pan. Stir in the wine (or beef stock), lifting up all the caramelized brown bits stuck to the bottom.
- Simmer. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, petite diced tomatoes, and sugar, then gently let it bubble and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Pro tip: let the sauce cool, then freeze in individual freezer bags.
- Finish. Stir in the Parmesan, butter, salt, and pepper.
- Serve. Serve warm over freshly cooked al dente pasta.
Storing, freezing and reheating
Storage
Leftover sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Reheating
Gently reheat on the stovetop with a splash of water, stirring often, until warmed through, about 10 minutes.
Freezing
Let cool completely; portion into individual freezer bags, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Lay the bags flat in a single layer in the freezer (this will help them freeze quickly). Label, date, and freeze up to 3 months.
Reheating after freezing
To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring often, until heated through.
what to serve with tomato meat sauce
Tools For This Recipe
Quick Tomato Sauce: Frequently Asked Questions
Ground beef, Italian sausage, or a 50/50 mix of the two are all excellent options.
The red wine adds richness and depth, but beef stock can be used for red wine as a non-alcoholic substitute. Stock will be less acidic and more mild in flavor than red wine.
The sugar is not necessarily added for sweetness, but rather to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. Alternatively, you can add 1 chopped carrot for its natural sweetness.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, gently reheating on the stovetop with a splash of water, stirring frequently, until warmed through.
Yes! Tomato meat sauce is very freezer-friendly for up to 3 months, ideal for leftovers and meal prep.
Quick Tomato Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 celery rib, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- ¼ cup dry red wine
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted petite diced tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add ground beef, onion and celery, and cook until beef has browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in garlic, oregano and basil until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in tomatoes and sugar. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until flavors have blended, about 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat; stir in Parmesan and butter until melted, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with desired pasta.
Equipment
Notes
- Deglaze the pan. This will lift up all the flavorful browned bits (fond) from the bottom of the pan, building a rich, thick tomato sauce.
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry red wine (cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir or merlot) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Simmer for longer. For a thicker sauce, simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes, reducing some of the liquid and yielding a thicker consistency. Alternatively, for a thinner sauce, reduce the simmer time as needed.
- Mix it up. Use a combination of ground beef and Italian sausage, or add 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes for a subtle kick of heat.
- Freeze as needed. Portion and freeze in individual freezer bags up to 3 months, thawing overnight in the fridge and gently reheating on the stovetop until warmed through.
Did you make this recipe?
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Can this be canned in a pressure cooker to preserve longer?
This sauce is delicious. My family loved it. Will definitely be making it again soon!
Amazing – Quick & Easy! Great flavor and a good excuse to buy a bottle of wine. 😉
Enjoy!
Simple yet delicious! I tried this sauce recipe for making pasta and it turned out amazing. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Would like to suggest a 50% brisket 50% sirloin mixture for the best of both worlds as a ground beef mix
Omitted the meat and used the sauce over Chicken Parmesan the first night. Than I grilled pork chops and thought “why not put sauce over them?”. I did and they were GREAT!!
Could I leave out the fire roasted tomatoes in this recipe? I don’t like chunked tomatoes in my sauce. Any other suggestions, would be appreciated
Thanks, Janet
Smelled and tasted great. Family enjoyed. Thank you for the recipe.
This recipe works perfectly with Quorn too, for those of a vegetarian persuasion! I also omitted the red wine and it was still perfectly tasty in the lasagne I made for us.
This tomato sauce is my favorite and it’s a very tasty sauce
Another winner! Subbed out ground beef with Beyond Italian Sausage..which, while not great on it’s own, sautéed with the veg, a lil extra basil, fennel, and red pepper flakes-was great in this sauce. The small amount of sugar in your recipe really adds to the balance of acids. I’ve always been disappointed in previous attempts at homemade pasta sauce, as the effort never seemed to exceed the convenience, or ultimately taste of good jarred-this recipe is exceptional! Fresh, full flavor, and easy to whip up while getting your pasta and sides sorted. Thank you!
Yum! Can’t wait to make a big pot of this tomato sauce for lazy days. Thank you for the great recipe!
This sauce as delicious, and quicker than my regular “Sunday sauce”. Nice bright flavor and easy ingredients. This will definitely be in my regular rotation. Damn Delicious recipes have been brightening our quarantine days….well, your recipes and your corgis! Thank you for what you do!
Made this! So good! We had lunch and I got two jars into the freezer for future meals. This makes a whole lot of sauce. The only thing I did different was to double the seasonings, but we like that punch of basil and oregano.
Hi there,
I made this last night, it was really good. I would highly recommend it.
Thanks so much!
Lynne
If you like sweeter sauce, add some shredded carrots too. You’ll barely notice the texture but add some natural sugars.
It looks yummy I will try it at home
Looks good but what of you don’t have red wine? What is a good substitute?
I’d probably use broth or another liquid, otherwise just leave it out.
Beef broth, grape juice.
How would the cooking times and methods change if we were to substitute turkey for ground beef? I agree that beef would be tastier but trying to be on the healthy side. Would you rather use ground chicken instead of turkey?
It’s a delicious recipe with or without the beef. You have several options on how you would like to use the tomato sauce. Thank you for the recipe especially during this time.