Grandma Barb’s Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
“Homemade spaghetti sauce recipe: An easy and quick family spaghetti sauce full of flavor.”
Watch me make Grandma Barb’s Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe from start to finish!
When Grandma Barb passed last year, I was the person in the family that received all of her handwritten recipes. It was such an honor to have my family trust me with these priceless gems. I spent this past weekend putting the enormous collection into photo albums for safekeeping.
I’ve looked through the collection so many times over the past few months and feel so blessed and thankful that she took the time to write out our family’s favorite recipes.
I can’t tell you what a comfort it is to be missing her and be able to whip up one of her pound cakes and have it taste exactly like how I remembered.
Back in September when I was searching through her recipes it dawned on me that I never got a chance to get her homemade spaghetti sauce recipe and nobody in the family had it either.
I was devastated because I’ve always LOVED her simple spaghetti sauce and she hadn’t changed the recipe since I was little. I still remember the smell of her making this pasta sauce in huge batches and stashing it in gallon freezer bags in the freezer. It lasted for months and she used it to make lasagna, ziti, and even simmer it down for manwiches on occasion.
Family Spaghetti Sauce Recipe for the win!
I combed over her recipes meticulously several times hoping I was in there but with no luck. Well one day when my husband joined me in looking through her recipes for her lemon pound cake, guess what we found???
Her homemade spaghetti sauce recipe!!! My heart dropped! How in the world did I miss that?? I smiled and said “thank you mama!” because I couldn’t help but feel like she’d snuck that in there for me.
I made it for dinner the same day and my boys said, “can we have this spaghetti sauce every time we have spaghetti?” lol It seemed like just yesterday that I was sitting at my grandma’s table doing homework and eating this spaghetti sauce and now here I am serving it to my own kids.
Time flies. Passed-down recipes are such a blessing.
What’s so good about this Spaghetti Sauce?
What I love about my Grandma Barb’s easy spaghetti sauce recipe is that’s it’s so quick, easy, full of flavor, and simple enough to make on the weekdays. It’s super chunky and full of fresh onions, garlic, herbs, and the perfect blend of spaghetti sauce spices.
No need to ever buy the jars! This is a very basic spaghetti sauce recipe that you can easily tweak to your family’s liking.
If you’re looking for a classic homemade spaghetti sauce recipe give this one a try!
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Ingredients
- Olive Oil
- Yellow onions, diced
- Garlic, minced
- Grass-fed ground beef
- Tomato sauce
- diced canned tomatoes, undrained (basil, garlic, and oregano)
- thyme
- paprika
- black pepper & salt
- red pepper flakes
- Fennel seed
- Celery salt
- granulated sugar
- dried basil
- dried parsley
- dried oregano
- garlic powder
- onion powder *optional
- bay leaf
- fresh basil
- fresh parsley
How to make Grandma Barb’s Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
- Heat olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onions and cook until tender and then add garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add ground beef, chopping the beef with a rubber spatula or. ground meat chopper to spread it out in the skillet. Season beef.
- Cook until beef is done and then drain off the fat.
- To the skillet, add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. (You can chop up the tomatoes if you prefer them smaller)
- Combined all the spices (except for fresh basil and fresh parsley ) and stir them into the sauce.
- Add the bay leaf.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
- Simmer for 20-30 minutes. If you want to simmer long or want to thin out the sauce, add a bit of water or chicken broth (Now’s a good time to make your spaghetti noodles)
- Stir in the fresh basil and parsley and simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
- Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings (go easy on the salt if you plan on serving with parmesan cheese) Sauce will taste even bolder the next day.
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Add-In Ideas
- Pepperoni
- Red wine
- Black olives
- Parmesan cheese
- Hot Italian Sausage
- Fresh herbs
- Shredded carrots (for natural sweetness/thickness if you don’t want to use sugar)
- Red & Green Bell Pepper
FAQ’s
Can I replace the ground beef? For this spaghetti meat sauce, you can go meatless and leave out the ground beef or you can replace it with Italian sausage, ground turkey, or ground chicken.
Does this spaghetti sauce have tomato paste? Although most homemade spaghetti sauces include tomato paste, this sauce does not. So if you don’t have any on hand, no worries! Although if you prefer a deeper tomato flavor you could mix in a tablespoon or two of tomato paste.
How do I store this spaghetti sauce? Store leftover sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. It also freezes well.
Want to make homemade meatballs? Try these delicious basic turkey meatball recipe!
Want to make spaghetti sauce using fresh garden tomatoes? Try this recipe!
What to serve with this Spaghetti Sauce
Make it a meal by pairing this sauce with spaghetti noodles. I like to dress up my noodles by tossing them lightly in garlic-infused olive oil, and fresh parsley. Add a side salad and cheesy garlic bread. Don’t forget the sweet iced tea!
Enjoy!
Get the Recipe: Grandma Barb's Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion, diced
- 2-3 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 1 lb. seasoned ground beef (see note)
- 2 (14 oz cans) diced tomatoes (I used the basil, garlic, and oregano flavor from Hunt's brand)
- 1 (30 oz can) tomato sauce ( I used Hunt's brand)
Spice Mix
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder, (optional addition but I love it!)
- 1 generous pinch fennel seed
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 bay leaf
- 2-4 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onions and cook until tender and then add garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add ground beef, chopping the beef with a rubber spatula or a ground meat chopper to spread it out in the skillet. Season beef. (see note)
- Cook until beef is done and then drain off the fat.
- To the skillet, add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. (You can chop up the tomatoes if you prefer them smaller)
- Combined all the spices (except for fresh basil and fresh parsley ) and stir them into the sauce. (See NOTE)
- Add the bay leaf.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
- Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. If you want to simmer longer or want to thin out the sauce, add a bit of water or chicken broth (Now's a good time to make your pasta)
- Stir in the fresh basil and parsley and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings (go easy on the salt if you plan on serving with parmesan cheese). The sauce will taste even bolder the next day.
- Serve sauce on top of pasta.
Does it come out liquid? Seem like it would with no paste. I really want try this for tonight
No, it’s a hearty sauce just as shown in the video and pics. You can certainly add paste if you’d like.
This is classic and delicious at the same time. Even though I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand(celery salt and fennel seed), it was still so good. Thank you very much for sharing this treasured recipe from a precious gem named Grandma Barb!xoxo#Donewithjarredspaghettisauce
Did you ever find the lemon cake recipe and will you share it?
Wow!!! Reading the story compelled me to make this one. What an amazing and lucky find from Gramma Barb. This was AMAZING. I’ll never go jarred again!!!! I know how sick I was when my Gramma Minnie passed. Thankfully most of my momma’s and auntie’s recipes are from her.
I changed NOTHING, followed to the tee. It was flavorful. Next time, I’m adding those turkey meatballs. #RIPGRAMMABARB #LLBARB
Definitely will try this recipe. But just wanted to say I love reading about Grandma Barb. Unfortunately, my maternal and paternal grandmothers passed away before my parents were even married. So this type of tradition of handing down recipes from 1 generation to the next is not a part of my family. My mom is an amazing cook but she cooks from her head and heart. And will tell us “you need to watch me make this and write it down for yourself” — lol.
PS — enjoying your cookbook and stories about grandma, your mom, sisters, etc. Keep up the good work — you’re my favorite cook.
I have everything but celery salt. So will add a pinch of celery seed instead. This reminds me of my Grandmothers recipe. She owned the first restaurant at what was called Charlie Brown Airport in Atlanta off I-20. It was a typical 60s diner and I used to spin in circles on the seat.
And all recipes were lost by one of my aunts. Looks like you have a new pan. I love it. It really looks non-stick. I need that pan.