Make One Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce on nights you don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. This recipe is easy to pull together with minimal prep and little clean up.
½cupdry red wineI used a Merlot; use extra beef broth if avoiding alcohol
1(28-oz) cantomato sauce
3cupsbeef broth
1tablespoonbalsamic vinegar
1(12-oz) boxspaghettiuncooked!
fresh basil, fresh parsley and parmesan cheeseoptional
Instructions
Sauté vegetables: Heat olive oil in a large pot or sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes.
Add beef: Add ground beef to the pan and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Drain grease, if you like.
Season: Stir in tomato paste, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, for 30-60 seconds. Then, pour in red wine, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Simmer for one more minute.
Add pasta and cook: Add spaghetti top the pot, submerging in sauce. Add a couple of basil sprigs, if desired. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cover with lid. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Gradually add more broth as needed.
Finish: Remove lid and finish simmering for 5-10 mintues, until spaghetti are done and sauce has thickened. Add more broth if needed. Discard basil and immediately serve with fresh chopped herbs and grated parmesan cheese, if desired.
Notes
Ingredient notes
Ground beef: Feel free to use ground Italian sausage in place of the ground beef. For a lean version, this is also delicious with ground turkey! I only had cheaper, fattier ground beef in the freezer when I made this. I definitely drained a lot of fat from it after browning. Usually, I’d go for lean ground beef here because I like the lighter taste better. If you use a fattier ground beef, I highly recommend draining the grease after browning your meat for a less greasy taste to the sauce.
Spaghetti: Use any pasta shape you like (spaghetti can get messy with little kids!). Different pasta shapes may need different amounts of broth and/or different cooking times. Make sure to gradually add the broth and check on the pasta often if you’re not using spaghetti.
Vegetables: Feel free to use different vegetables. I often add a shredded zucchini to this dish when they grow in abundance in the garden during summer. Adding a diced green pepper instead of the celery makes this feel more homestyle and less Italian, but I love it. You could even substitute finely chopped mushrooms for some of the ground beef. So many ways to make this your own!
Tomato sauce: Since this dish cooks quickly, you really need the tomato sauce to make this come out right. If you only have diced or whole canned tomatoes on hand, please blend them using an immersion blender with 4 tablespoons tomato paste added before adding them to the recipe.
Beef broth: If you only have chicken broth or vegetable broth on hand, feel free to use those. I highly recommend adding a teaspoon each of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce to help with flavor and color if you’re not using beef broth.
Red wine: Feel free to use more broth in place of the red wine if you need to avoid alcohol. The taste will be less rich, but it’s still delicious.
Recipe tips
To save time on vegetable prep: Either shred them on an insanely sharp Microplane box grater or pulse them in your food processor with the blade attachment until finely chopped. This is something I started doing for my skillet lasagna, and now I always use either the microplane or the food processor when I’m short on time but still want to fill our meal with vegetables.
Do not pre-cook the pasta! It really does go in dry and uncooked. Thanks to the pasta cooking in the same pot as the sauce, the entire dish turns into a luscious and decadent dinner – without adding a ton of fat or doing much work at all.
Browning the beef: Don’t stir too much as you’re browning the beef, or you’ll keep it form catching some color. This is really where you can add a ton of flavor without too much work, so I like to take advantage of it and let my beef brown properly.
Do not skip sautéing the tomato paste: Quickly toasting the tomato paste vs just stirring it in with the broth helps to bring out so many flavors. Again, just a little trick to increase the flavor of a quick meal!
Simmering: Make sure to use medium or medium-low heat to simmer the spaghetti (the liquids should be bubbly and simmering, but not cook vigorously). Stir occasionally to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom and gradually add more broth as needed. It’s done when the spaghetti is just ready and the sauce has thickened.
Leftovers
Place the leftovers in a casserole dish
Sprinkle generously with shredded cheese – I like using a blend of parmesan and mozzarella
Bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes, or until the pasta is piping hot and the cheese is bubbly