Pasta Meat Sauce Recipe
The best meat sauce for pasta is homemade. This simple and delicious recipe is the perfect meal idea for a pasta lunch or dinner at the cottage.
Kathy’s Homemade Pasta Meat Sauce
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 3 hours
Makes: Enough for a large lasagna
The Ingredients You Need
Meat
1/2 pound (230 grams) of ground lean beef
1/2 pound (230 grams) of ground lean pork
Onions, garlic, celery leaves
1 large yellow cooking onion – chopped (1 – 1.5 cups)
3 cloves of garlic – chopped (1 tablespoon)
Celery leaves – chopped (1 tablespoon)
Spices
1 teaspoon of oregano
2 teaspoons of basil
1 teaspoon of savoury
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 “pinch” of chili peppers
3 bay leaves
Other
1 can of tomato sauce (23 fl oz or 680 mL)
1 can of tomato paste (13 fl oz or 385 mL)
2.5 cups of chicken broth
1 tablespoon of olive oil
The Gear You Need
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Small bowl
Medium bowl
Wooden spoon
Large cooking pot
Crock pot (optional)
Can opener
How to Make the Meat Sauce
Sauté the onions
Add the tablespoon of olive oil into the pot and place it on medium-low heat.
Add the onion, celery leaves and garlic to the pot.
Cook until tender and then set aside in a small bowl. (we don’t want to “brown” them – just sauté them)
Brown the meat
Place the beef in the pot and cook until brown. Remove and set aside in the medium bowl.
Place the pork in the pot and cook until brown.
Note: The beef and pork can be browned together at the same time if the pot is big enough. We brown them separately to keep the meat from “stewing”. Browning the meat is necessary to give the sauce the right flavour and colour.
Add it all together
Add the beef back to the pot with the pork and stir.
Add the sautéd onions and stir.
Add the spices and stir.
Add the can of tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes – stirring often.
Add and stir in the tomato sauce until blended well.
Add the 2.5 cups of chicken broth and stir it all together.
Cover the pot and simmer on low heat for about three hours. Stir occasionally to keep the sauce from sticking on the bottom.
Special tip: You can do a taste test periodically and add salt, pepper or more spices to suit your preference. To thin out the sauce a bit you can add some water or more chicken broth.
For spaghetti, you might want the sauce to be a bit thinner. For a lasagna the sauce can be kept thick.
Pre-cook option
Making the sauce ahead of time in the city and then freezing it is another good option. The frozen sauce is easy to transport to the cottage and can be heated to go with any pasta meal you plan for the weekend at the cabin.
Go to the Planning Cottage Dinners page.
Go to the How to BBQ at the Lake page.
Check out all of our simple and tasty cabin recipes on the Cottage Meals page.