This vegetarian spaghetti sauce is thick, balanced, and made entirely from pantry staples. It comes together quickly, doesn’t require long simmering, and tastes more complete than most store-bought options.
It works as a base sauce for pasta, pizza, or baked dishes, and it’s easy to adapt. Add ground meat if you want a heartier version, keep it vegetarian for a lighter meal, or pair it with meatballs. It’s the kind of dependable sauce that earns a permanent spot in your weekly rotation and always makes enough for leftovers.
We usually adapt it to be meat sauce (you'll find instructions below!), but it's also delicious as a vegetarian sauce or with meatballs!
Why You'll Love This Spaghetti Sauce
This sauce is thick, balanced, and packed with vegetables and herbs. It works with nearly any pasta and comes together quickly, making it practical for weeknights.
It relies on dried herbs instead of fresh ones, so you can make it anytime without an extra grocery run. And because it’s homemade, you control the seasoning. No excess sodium, added sugar, or unnecessary additives, just a dependable sauce you can use again and again.
The Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Canned crushed tomatoes - crushed tomatoes yield a nice, thick sauce
- Canned diced tomatoes - or more crushed tomatoes if you want a less chunky sauce, use more crushed tomatoes
- Tomato paste
- Balsamic vinegar - This adds a nice richness and a hint of sweet flavor.
- Dried herbs & spices - oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper
How To Make Easy Weeknight Spaghetti Sauce
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a heavy bottomed pot (such as a Dutch oven). Add the diced onion and garlic and sauté until softened and fragrant, just a few minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Give it all a good stir.
- Cover and simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, or until you're ready to eat. The more it simmers, the better the flavors will meld. If it gets too thick, add a splash of water to thin it out.
- Stir into cooked pasta or spoon directly on top of pasta on your plate.
How To Make Easy Spaghetti Sauce With Meat
Need meat in your spaghetti sauce? It's super easy to make meat sauce instead of regular tomato sauce!
Instead of using olive oil to sauté the veggies, simply brown a pound of ground beef, ground turkey, or Italian sausage (our favorite!) in the bottom of the hot Dutch oven until cooked through. Then add the onion and garlic and proceed with the recipe.
Tip: If you use a higher fat meat, you may wish to drain the meat before adding everything else. If you use a low fat meat like lean turkey, you'll probably want to use a little bit of olive oil in the pan to brown it.
Freezing Instructions
I love freezing extra spaghetti sauce for later. If you want, you can add it all to a big freezer-safe container, cool to roughly room temperature, and freeze that way. What I prefer to do, though, is to add the sauce to silicone soup cubes in 1-cup portions to freeze. Once frozen, I pop them out and store in a freezer bag so that I can thaw a little bit at a time as needed.
Canning Instructions
You can also can this spaghetti sauce for the convenience of your favorite jarred sauce! You will need a pressure canner, especially if you are making meat sauce. Spoon hot sauce into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Process in a pressure canner:
- Without Meat: 20 minutes (pints)/ 25 minutes (quarts)
- With Meat: 60 minutes (pint)/ 70 minutes (quart)
- Altitude 0-1000 ft: 10 lbs pressure
- Altitude 1001-8000 ft: 15 lbs pressure
Pair It With:
- Any pasta you like, such as spaghetti (of course), tortellini, or lasagna
- Gluten Free Beef & Quinoa Meatballs or Chicken Parmesan
- Healthy Kale Caesar Salad with Homemade Dressing and Bread Crumbs
- Easy Eggplant and Italian Sausage Skillet Baked Ziti
- An easy-drinking red, such as Chianti or Sangiovese, or Pinot Noir
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the comments!
PrintEasy Weeknight Spaghetti Sauce
This flavorful vegetarian spaghetti sauce is incredibly easy to make - even on weeknights! All you need are a few simple pantry ingredients to make thick, homemade pasta sauce that's better than store-bought.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: about 6 cups 1x
- Category: sauce
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian, American
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes (or more crushed tomatoes)
- 3 oz tomato paste
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp dried rosemary, crushed
- ¼ tsp dreid thyme
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed pot (such as a Dutch oven). Add the diced onion and garlic and sauté until softened and fragrant, a few minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Give it all a good stir.
- Cover and simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, or until you're ready to eat. The more it simmers, the better the flavors will meld. If it gets too thick, add a splash of water to thin it out.
- Stir sauce into cooked pasta or spoon directly on top of pasta on your plate.
Notes
To make meat sauce:
- Brown 1 lb ground beef, turkey, or Italian sausage in the bottom of the hot Dutch oven. If using a high-fat meat, drain the meat and return to the pot.
- Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft. Continue with the recipe as written above.
See post above for canning and freezing instructions.
Keywords: easy spaghetti sauce, weeknight spaghetti sauce, easy vegetarian spaghetti sauce, easy spaghetti sauce with meat
This post was originally published January 2016 and has been updated.
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