Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti is one of my husband’s favorite foods. To be honest, my spaghetti cooking prior to meeting him involved opening a can of Ragu and mixing it with some browned hamburger. Making a more homemade sauce just didn’t seem like it was worth the effort. He made this spaghetti for me while we were dating and on our honeymoon, we even went out and bought the stuff to fix it in our little honeymoon cabin.

There was no real recipe for this to be honest. It was truly one of those “dash of this, dash of that” type dishes. I really wanted to share it on the blog though so I made a point to actually measure things and write up an actual recipe for it.

Homemade spaghetti sauce is actually very budget friendly. We are Costco shoppers and I generally buy the spaghetti, tomato sauce, and hamburger in bulk there. The spices and seasonings are ones that I keep on hand and are easy to find.

Honeymoon Spaghetti Sauce

1 to 2 pounds hamburger*

46 oz can tomato juice

(2) 6 oz cans tomato paste

2 tsp kosher salt**

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

dash of sugar

Brown the hamburger and drain away the fat. Lately, I’ve been browning the hamburger in boiling water to break the meat up into smaller pieces just like I do for my Hot Dog Chili.

Set the browned hamburger aside.

In a large pot, mix tomato juice and tomato paste over medium heat. Stir gently until the tomato paste is dissolved into the juice. Then add all of your seasonings. Stir well then add hamburger. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 to 45 minutes on low heat. Serve with your choice of cooked spaghetti noodles.

Slow cooker version: Brown hamburger and drain. Add to slow cooker. Mix in all of your other ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours.

*You can adjust the amount of ground beef depending upon how “meaty” you like your meat sauce. I typically use a pound.

**I’ve been using kosher salt for cooking lately and that’s what I used here. If you use good ole table salt, reduce down to 1 tsp and adjust according to taste.

This sauce reheats well and is even better the next day!

Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram @mindascooking

From the heart and from the holler,

Minda