Traditional Italian Red Sauce

Traditional Italian red sauce was a weekly staple in our home. Sundays were for pasta, and my parents would start the sauce early in the morning. The sauce simmered on the stove for hours, and we served it at one o’clock pm for “Sunday Dinner”. It was often served alongside my grandmother’s homemade pasta.

The recipe works with or without meat. If you make it without meat, you may want to add a bit of crushed red pepper for a little kick and added flavor. You can add ground turkey/pork/beef or loose Italian sausage to the red sauce if desired. This addition makes a flavorful sauce that is perfect for serving over pasta or your favorite veggie noodles. We also use this sauce as the base to simmer our meatballs and whole sausages.

If adding meatballs, sausage, or other meats, make sure you have enough room in your pot. When I make meatballs for a crowd, I double the recipe and use a really large dutch oven. There is a wide range of prices for dutch ovens. I have a large Staub non stick dutch oven I purchased on sale, and an inexpensive, enameled dutch oven I bought at Kohls years ago. Both work perfectly! You can also use a traditional stock pot or a deep sided large saute pan. The pan should have a lid, as you will want to cover it off and on throughout the process. That bubbling sauce is known to spatter.

Tomatoes can be acidic, so we usually add something to cut the acidity. The recipe calls for carrot, but you can also use a bit of wine or a teaspoon or two of sugar. Feel free to leave the onion, garlic and carrot in chopped form or puree them and add them back in later.

If you have an immersion blender or a small chopper/food processor, take the garlic, onion, and carrot out and pulverize it a bit. Then add it back to the sauce once you have added the tomatoes. The last time I did this, I pulled the veggies out into a small bowl, added a bit of crushed tomato for liquid, and used the immersion blender to puree. After I browned the meat and got the tomato sauce simmering, I added the pureed veggies back in. I found this technique really infused the sauce with a delicious flavor without too much extra effort. It’s how my Italian-American dad makes his sauce!

You will want to layer the spices during the cooking process. I usually add them in two or three rounds, tasting along the way. The amounts in the recipe are approximate. The liquid will cook down and flavors will concentrate, so taste as you go and all will be well.

Italian Red Sauce

Traditional red sauce that can be flavored with meat if desired. I usually add sausage and meatballs, or ground turkey/beef. This sauce cooks for a few hours over a low heat to develop the flavors. This sauce as written is for a single batch and will hold around 20-25 meatballs if desired. Double the recipe and use a very large dutch oven if making 40-50 meatballs for a crowd.

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Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Ingredients

  

• 4-6 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, shredded or diced optional, use for adding a little sweetness
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper optional, use if excluding meat or you want a bit of extra heat
• 1-2 pounds Italian sausage or ground turkey, beef, pork optional. If using sausages chop into 3-4 inch pieces.
• 2 28oz cans crushed or whole peeled tomatoes if using whole tomatoes crush them up
• 1-2 28oz cans water
• 1-2 6oz cans tomato paste
• 2-3 tsp dried basil add more to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-2 tsp garlic powder add more to taste
• 1 tsp oregano optional
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 handful fresh basil, chopped optional
• splash of wine or tsp of sugar optional, use to balance acidity if no carrot
• grated Pecorino Romano cheese for serving

Instructions

 

• Heat olive oil (cover bottom of pan) in large pot with peeled cloves of garlic and crushed red pepper (if using). This step flavors the oil.
• Take the garlic out before it burns and set it aside. You will add this back later.
• Sauté chopped onions and shredded/diced carrot. You now have a choice to make. You can leave the onions and carrot in the pan, or take them out and puree them if you want a smoother sauce. If not pureeing the veggies, leave them in the pan and move on to the next step. *If planning to puree, take out the onions and carrots out and set aside with the garlic.
• If using meat (loose hamburg/turkey/sausage or whole sausage), add it now. Brown the meat. When mostly cooked, chop up your sautéed garlic and add it back in to the meat, onion, and carrot mixture. Saute for just a minute or two, being careful not to burn the garlic. (*If you are planning to puree the veggies, you will add back the garlic later.)

  Feel free to add salt and pepper, especially if you are using ground meat instead of sausage. Plain ground beef or ground turkey need additional seasoning.
• Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and water. This will cook down a bit over time. I usually do 2 large cans crushed tomato, 2 cans paste, and 1-2 large cans of water.
• *If you pulled out the carrots and onions, combine it with the garlic and a bit of tomato sauce and place in high sided small bowl or mini food processor. Puree all together until smooth with an immersion blender or mini food processor. Add pureed veggies back into the pot of sauce.
• Bring it to full simmer, then reduce heat to a low simmer.
• Now it’s time to add the spices (basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and oregano if desired) and sugar/wine (optional). I add a "round" of all of the spices now, then add another round in about an hour. Keep tasting the sauce as it cooks and concentrates and adjust spices until you get to the flavor profile you prefer. If using fresh basil, add during the last 30 minutes of cooking for the most flavor.
• Add meatballs if desired.
• This needs to cook for a while (a few hours) to get all the flavors to develop. It will cook down and concentrate. Be careful and stir often, especially if you have sausages and/or meatballs in there. You don't want them to burn. Low and slow is the key. Sometimes, I add in a handful of Romano cheese before I serve. Not needed, bit adds a bit of salty goodness. Take out the bay leaf before you serve

Notes

So much if the flavor comes from the meat. I prefer to sauté sausages (chopped 3-4 inch chunks) at the beginning, then add meatballs later. You can find my meatball recipe at happyfood.tech.  Let the meat cook for a few hours. 

For the large pot in the photo, a doubled this recipe. 4 large cans tomatoes, 2 cans paste.

If it’s too thick, add more water, if it’s too thin, add more paste or cook it down for a longer time.

Keyword gravy, marinara, meat sauce, pasta, red sauce, tomato sauce

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