Italian Spaghetti Meat Sauce

February 10, 2021April 2, 2022 by Peter In Cooking 2 Comments

The most delicious meat sauce you’ll ever have!

Another recipe named after the seasoning used, this is my family’s all-time favorite. No meal prep (just opening cans), 30 minutes of cooking, and the tastiest leftovers make for a winning combination. Plus, the protein from the ground beef and the nutrients from all the beans and veggies make for a very wholesome meal. Anyone who’s ever had my meat sauce always asks for the recipe, so here it is…enjoy!

Ingredients

• Ground beef, approx. 6 lbs
  • Try to get something around 90% lean
• Black beans, 1 can (approx. 15 ozs)
• Chick peas, 1 can (approx. 15 ozs)
• Pinto beans, 1 can (approx. 15 ozs)
• Red kidney beans, 1 can (approx. 15 ozs)
• Sweet peas, 1 can (approx. 15 ozs)
  • Substitute with cut green beans if out of sweet peas
• Whole kernel sweet corn, 1 can (approx. 15 ozs)
• Crushed or diced tomatoes
  • I tend to use two cans of Tuttorosso Crushed Tomatoes With Basil (28 ozs per can), but if I’m out I substitute with four cans of diced tomatoes (approx. 15 ozs per can)
• Tone’s Italian Spaghetti Seasoning Blend

Here are links to the seasoning and crushed tomatoes:

Step 1: Set the stovetop burner to just under Hi/Max and add the ground beef

Step 2: Season and stir 3 times

Add an initial dose of seasoning, relatively liberally (I use the “pour” flap on the seasoning bottle, not the “sifter shaker” flap) and stir, like this:

Once the meat has cooked enough where you need to stir again (a few minutes), season and stir once more.

Do this a third and final time, then put away the seasoning.

Step 3: Occasionally stir until the ground beef is fully cooked

Let the meat cook, with occasional stirring so it doesn’t burn. It will take about 15-20 minutes from when you initially added the ground beef to the pot for it to fully cook. Once you don’t see any pink/red in the meat, you’re ready to move on to the next step. It should look like this:

While the meat is cooking during this step, you can open up all the cans of beans, veggies, and tomatoes. I pour the beans and veggies into a strainer and rinse them, like this:

Step 4: Add the crushed or diced tomatoes

I add the tomatoes first to get a little extra liquid in the pot, which is probably getting pretty hot by now. Stir once until the tomatoes are fully mixed in with the ground beef. It should look like this:

Step 5: Add the beans and veggies

After stirring in the tomatoes, immediately add in the beans and veggies.

Step 6: Occasionally stir until the beans and veggies soften

This step will take about 10 minutes. Keep stirring every so often until the beans and veggies soften up a bit.

Step 7: Garnish and serve!

I serve the meat sauce either on a bed of spaghetti (pictured) or rice. Either way, I usually add avocados (or guacamole) and cheese. While not pictured, this Asiago, Romano, and Parmesan cheese blend is absolutely delicious:

This recipe is easily adaptable. Swap in your preferred beans and veggies and ditch any you don’t like.

Enjoy!

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Did you try this recipe? How did it turn out? Let me know in the comments below!

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