I’ve made a lot of variations of pasta sauce over my nine years of blogging, but I think this latest version wins the title of The Best Weeknight Pasta Sauce. Why? Because it’s incredibly easy and uses only a few ingredients, yet has a wonderfully rich and hearty flavor. I first posted this sauce in my Roasted Eggplant with Meat Sauce recipe, but the sauce itself was definitely the star of the show and deserves a post of its own. In fact, I loved this sauce so much that the last time I made it I found myself digging into the leftovers with a spoon, like it was some sort of chili. I skipped the pasta and just went straight for the good stuff. 🤷♀️
Looking for a vegetarian pasta sauce? Check out our Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce.
What is in This Weeknight Pasta Sauce
It’s SO SIMPLE, yet so very good. This pasta sauce includes: ground beef, olive oil, onion, butter, crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning blend, and salt and pepper. That’s it. No fancy ingredients needed to make it taste incredible, and totally approachable for a busy weeknight.
How to Use this Sauce
This sauce is, of course, awesome with any shape of pasta. Or over roasted vegetables! You don’t have to do a whole eggplant like I did in the past, I would love this sauce ladled over a pile of cubed roasted vegetables for a delightful low-carb meal (check out my Roasted Eggplant with Meat Sauce), or you can add a medley of summer vegetables and use it to make our Summer Vegetables in Red Sauce.
Why is it Good for Weeknight Dinners?
This sauce is incredibly simple and doesn’t require much attention as it cooks. What makes this sauce so good when it’s so simple? Two things: butter and a minimum 30 minute simmer. The 30 minute simmer is the key to dulling down the overly bright acidic flavors of the crushed tomatoes and helps caramelize the natural sugars into a deep, subtle sweetness. The butter adds body and a slight creaminess, which again, helps balance the natural acids in the tomatoes. You need both elements to make this sauce. Without one or the other you’ll just have a run of the mill red sauce and, well, that’s just nothing to write home (or blog) about.
The Best Weeknight Pasta Sauce
Servings 6 (about ¾ cups each)Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. ground beef ($2.65)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
- 1 small onion ($0.32)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.13)
- 28 oz. crushed tomatoes ($0.89)
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning blend ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
- Salt, to taste ($0.02)
Instructions
- Add the ground beef and olive oil to a pot and sauté over medium until the beef is cooked through (about 5 minutes). If you’re using a higher fat content beef (10% or higher), you may want to drain the excess fat once the beef has browned.
- While the beef is cooking, finely dice the onion. Add the diced onion and butter to the cooked beef. Continue to sauté until the onion is soft and translucent (about 5 minutes).
- Next, add the crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning blend, and some freshly cracked pepper (10-15 cranks of a pepper mill). Stir everything to combine.
- Place a lid on the pot and allow it to come up to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce the heat to low and let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes.
- After a minimum of 30 minutes simmering, add about 1/2 tsp salt, stir to combine, then taste and add more if needed. The flavor of the sauce will deepen and the complexities will pop once the salt is added. Serve over pasta or your favorite roasted vegetables.
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Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Weeknight Pasta Sauce – Step by Step Photos
Start by adding 1/2 lb. ground beef and 1 Tbsp olive oil to a pot. Sauté the beef over medium until it’s cooked through (about 5 minutes). If you’re using a higher fat content beef, you may want to drain the excess fat once it’s cooked through. While the beef is cooking, finely dice one small onion. Add the onion and 2 Tbsp butter to the cooked beef, and continue to sauté until the onions are soft and translucent (another 5 minutes or so).
Next, add a 28oz. can crushed tomatoes, 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning blend, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir until everything is combined, place a lid on top, and let it come up to a simmer. Once simmering, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes.
After simmering for 30 minutes the sauce will be much less acidic and slightly more sweet, but to make the flavor really pop, you need to add salt. I would start with 1/2 tsp, give it a taste, then add more to your liking.
And that’s all! Seriously, SO easy. And while the sauce is simmering away for its 30 minutes, you can prepare your pasta or whatever else you plan on eating with your sauce that night. ;)
It’s the only sauce I need and really, I only need the sauce. Pasta optional. 😂
It says minimum 30min simmer, but is there a maximum?
I haven’t tested the limits of the simmer time, but it could easily simmer on low for an hour with no problem. Make sure to stir occasionally. :)
Great sauce! I used ground turkey and added garlic in with the onion. Perfection 👌
totally amazing thanks for the recipe
After seeing how simple this was, I gave it a try and my family loved it! My two boys (4 and 6) don’t usually like sauce on their pasta and they gobbled it up. Thanks for this delicious and easy meal! This taste so much better than pasta sauce from a jar and it’s not much more work.
Pasta is never good and authentic without garlic. It’s the corner stone of pasta.
So….. Add it then? Hope you felt better getting that off your chest.
Hi Beth!
Do you have any recommendations for storage containers for freezing the sauce, and how long do you think these will be able to freeze for? StillTasty.com says tomato sauce can last a couple months in the freezer, but I’m not sure how the addition of cooked meat alters that time frame.
Thanks! Love your site!
Yep, I agree with the couple of months estimate. Storage times are always just an estimate, though, as the quality of frozen foods can depend on a lot of things, like how full your freezer is, the temperature setting, etc. Once the sauce is cooled you can transfer it to quart-sized freezer bags, or sometimes I like to use those blue topped Ziploc containers.
So I’m assuming you just take the lid off momentarily to see if it’s simmering and then put the lid back on for the 30 minutes, or do you simmer it for the 30 mins. with the lid off?
I have glass lids, so I can see without removing the lid, but it won’t do any harm to remove the lid once in a while to stir and make sure it’s still simmering. :) You can simmer without the lid, but you will probably get sauce splashed all over your stove top! Haha, and the sauce will be a bit thicker due to evaporation.
I don’t cook often, usually my roommate cooks. Her spaghetti is a household staple, I’ve always praised it. But I was bored at work and pulled Budget Bytes up and saw the picture of this and HAD to have it. The only thing I needed was crushed tomatoes and mushrooms which I decided to put in. And French bread, cause you can’t have spaghetti without garlic toast.
SO easy to make. And a huge hit. My roomie looked t me after tasting it and pronounced me as the new spaghetti maker.
Thanks, Budget Bytes, for creating more work for me. :)
Fortunately this spaghetti is so cheap and delicious and easy to make that I don’t mind.
You had my attention at $4.35 for the whole recipe. Definitely worth a try. I am adding it to the weekday meal list. Thanks!
So I have a fam of five, big meat lovers, and I’m wondering if I should scale the quantity up to make enough. But the ingredients don’t really lend themselves. Doubling all ingredients would be too much, I think. But I hate to use just part of another can and almost a pound of beef or whatever.
But if I put a whole pound of meat in, I’m afraid that will change the flavor balance.
Ideas?
I think your best bet would be to double everything and then freeze any leftovers you may have. :)
Thanks, sounds right.
I used a pound of turkey and it was great. At 20 minutes I add more seasoning if needed and turn the heat down to low to keep the liquid from absorbing too much.
This looks delicious! Any thoughts on making it in an Instant Pot?
I haven’t tried making a tomato sauce in the IP yet, so I’m not sure how the pressure cooking affects the acidity compared to stove top. It’s definitely worth a try, though! :)
I think this would lend itself very well to the instant pot. I prefer to make my tomato sauces in the IP now because of how well the flavors get melded. It’s like a 2 hour simmer in 30 minutes.
Geeves – do you have any tips for doing tomato sauces in the IP? I’ve tried making Bolognese in it a couple times, and it just refuses to come up to pressure.
Made this tonight-so easy and so tasty! This was so convenient for me to make since I usually have all these ingredients on hand. I made the recipe for two and of course I added garlic ( : Will continue to make again and again…there isn’t one recipe of yours I don’t love! Thank you Beth!
Made this tonight with some garlic and suntan cubanelle peppers. It was so delicious, the peppers gave a more acidic tangy flavor.
I’ve made this… I added a bit of sugar to cut the acidity a bit…easy and delicious!
this sounds just plain wonderful and I can’t wait to make it this week.