Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe (2024)

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Balancing Flavors in a Recipe

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to train with a professional chef. I learned so much from him in the short time we worked together, but perhaps the most important thing I learned was about balancing flavors in a recipe.

This is an important step at the end of making any recipe. Sometimes you need just a little salt, which can bring out the flavors in a recipe, but sometimes you need to balance things. For example, if you make my crockpot chili and it ends up being too spicy for you, you can add a tablespoon of brown sugar and it will balance the heat. If you make my pea soup and the peas bring almost too much sweetness to the soup, you balance it with a little acid or some lemon juice

In this recipe, we are using canned tomatoes. Tomatoes that are fresh from the garden and turned into a sauce that simmers all day will be perfectly sweet. That just isn’t the case when it comes to canned tomatoes. They can have a bitter or acidic taste to them. Because of that, I suggest adding two teaspoons of sugar at the end of the recipe. You can start with less, add it, and see the taste profile of the sauce change. Try it one time, I think you will love it!

Sugar in Spaghetti Sauce

As mentioned above, sugar is being used here to balance the acidic taste of canned tomatoes. The sugar in this sauce is very minimal. We are using just enough to neutralize the taste of the acid, if the sauce is sweet after, you have added too much sugar. This is not an Elf with the maple syrup situation.

We are only using 2 teaspoons of sugar which results in .16 teaspoon per serving or .8 grams of carbs per half cup of sauce.

Variatons

• Add onions to the sauce. This is the most obvious variation, and I totally support it. I made this for the non-onion lovers in my house, but onions really are perfect in spaghetti sauce. Add a finely diced small yellow onion and an extra tablespoon of oil when you add your garlic and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes before adding the tomatoes.
• Add vegetables. This is a great way to sneak more veggies into your kids’ diets. Load this up with diced carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, and red peppers. Use an extra tablespoon of olive oil and sauté in step one for 5 to 7 minutes before you add the tomatoes. Keep in mind that you will need to simmer for longer than 15 minutes because the vegetables will add a lot more liquid to the sauce. Simmer for about five extra minutes.
• Throw in some fresh herbs. At the end of the simmering time, add some fresh herbs for a bright pop of color and flavor. I would recommend 1/4 cup finely diced fresh parsley or fresh basil.
• Skip the tomato pieces. A lot of picky eaters struggle with texture over taste. An easy solution in this recipe is to swap out the can of diced tomatoes for a second can of crushed tomatoes.
• Make this a meat sauce. It is so easy to add ground beef, ground turkey, or Italian sausage to this great sauce recipe. See my link below for my very popular Meat Sauce recipe.

How to Use

This is named a spaghetti sauce, but of course you can pour it over any type of pasta. As mentioned above you can top my meatballs with it or add it to my lasagna.

• Italian Meatloaf: This is a great twist on the traditional meatloaf.
• Stuffed Shells with Meat: Or you can use this sauce to make my Cheese Stuffed Shells.
• Italian Stuffed Peppers: This is one of my kids’ favorite dinners! So flavorful.
• Baked Chicken Parmesan: We love this recipe, it even wins over my picky eaters.

FAQ

What to Serve with Easy Spaghetti Sauce

This over some pasta with some sausages is a go to dinner for our family. Here are a few ideas to round out dinner.

• Garlic Bread
• Chopped Salad
• Italian Green Beans

If you make my easy spaghetti sauce recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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