Spaghetti with meat sauce is an easy dinner recipe that the family will love. The meat sauce is made with ground beef, mushrooms, onion, mince garlic, and jarred pasta sauce. This simple meat sauce recipe mixed into spaghetti noodles makes a great pasta dinner idea.
On busy weeknights most often I find myself looking for a quick and easy ground beef recipe. This recipe for Spaghetti with meat sauce is many times my go-to recipe. If you want to be able to make it even faster try our Instant Pot Spaghetti recipe.
A spaghetti sauce that is made with meat is often called meat sauce, sometimes bolognese, but a lot of time it's called spaghetti. Or at least in our house when I say we are having spaghetti for dinner it means there is a meat sauce mixed in with noodles. Generally, I make the meat sauce with ground beef. However, you can substitute the ground beef with ground turkey.
To be considered a bolognese the sauce would have to be thicker than what is used in this recipe. Plus you would use wider pasta noodles for a bolognese recipe.
The jarred pasta sauce that is used in this ground beef sauce depends on you and what you prefer to use. Typically I like to use Ragu or Prego pasta sauce.
This was one of the first recipes that my dad taught me how to make. When I got home from school there would be a note on the table. With what to make for dinner and the directions on how to do it. Now that my dad has passed away I wish I would have kept those handwritten notes, but this simple recipe will always remind me of him.
Spaghetti With Meat Sauce Recipe
The first thing I do when making spaghetti for dinner is to get a large pot of water on so it can boil. Since the pasta will take the longest to make it's the best place to start. Once the water comes to a full boil add the pasta into the pot.
Normally I put the noodles in whole but breaking them in half is also fine. Cook the noodles according to the back of the package. This will take about 8- 9 minutes to get tender noodles. As the noodles cook you will want to stir them around a bit to help them from sticking. You can also add a splash of olive oil to the water to help minimize the noodles from sticking.
When the noodles are fully cooked drain the water off of them. I prefer to use the thinner spaghetti noodles, if you use the thicker noodles cooking times may vary.
In a large frying pan start cooking the ground beef. As the ground beef starts to brown I will season it with black pepper, seasoning salt, and Italian seasoning. After a few minutes of the meat browning, I will add finely chopped onion, minced garlic, and sliced mushrooms into the ground beef.
When the ground beef is fully cooked it's time to add the pasta sauce into the meat. I have a couple of preferred jar pasta sauces that I use. My favorite is Prego but I will also use Regu. I tend to but whichever is on sale
My Tips For The Sauce
When it comes to ground beef the choice is yours. However, depending on the meat to fat ratio you may need to drain any fat drippings from the meat. Under my kitchen sink, I keep a soup can that I use to drain the fat drippings from meats. Draining the fat drippings down the sink will cause some drain issues.
The best ground beef to use would be ground round. Ground Round is normally made from 90% lean meat and 10% fat. Making it a healthier choice but also will be a bit more costly.
A couple of changes you can make to the sauce would be to eliminating ingredients. I have a couple of kids that don't like mushrooms so sometimes I don't add the mushrooms. If you are not an onion or garlic fan then you can omit them as well. However, I feel these ingredients add to the flavor of the meat sauce.
When adding the pasta sauce into the meat I found that 2 jars of sauce worked best.
Once the sauce and noodles are fully cooked you can sever the spaghetti one of two ways. One way would be to place the meat sauce on a bed of spaghetti noodles. Or my favorite way is to mix the meat sauce into the spaghetti noodles.
To make this a complete dinner you can sever with a simple side salad and our recipe for French Garlic Cheese Toast.
My Creative Manner is answering the question "what's there to eat" ~ Jen
Other My Creative Manner recipes you may enjoy are:
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Spaghetti With Meat Sauce
Spaghetti with meat sauce recipe is the answer to what's for dinner tonight. This recipe is quick and easy to make with pantry staples.
Ingredients
- 8 Cups Water
- 16 Ounces Spaghetti I use thin noodles
- 1 ½ Pounds Ground Beef
- 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Seasoning Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- ¼ Cup Onion finely chopped, optional
- 1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic optional
- 1 Cup Sliced Mushrooms fresh, optional
- 23 Ounces Pasta Sauce I used 2 jars
Instructions
Cooking The Pasta
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Add water into a large pot. Bring water to a full boil then add the spaghetti noodles into the boiling water. Cook for 8-9 minutes or until noodles are to desired tenderness. Drain water from the pasta using a pasta strainer. Place strained noodles back into the saucepan, by this time the meat sauce should be ready to add.
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While the pot of water is on to boil stat the ground beef. In a large frying pan add the ground beef. Season with black pepper, seasoning salt, and Italian Seasoning.
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Brown the meat for a bit and then add finely chopped onions, minced garlic, and sliced mushrooms. Continue to cook until ground beef is fully cooked. Drain any fat drippings from the meat.
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Add pasta sauce into the ground beef, cook on medium-low until the sauce starts to bubble.
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Stir meat sauce into the saucepan with the spaghetti noodles, mix until all the ingredients are mixed together.
Recipe Notes
Cooking time may vary depending on which type of spaghetti noodles you use.
I used the thinner spaghetti noodles so if thicker noodles are used the cooking time may vary.
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