What meat should be used in this sauce?

I use ground beef the majority of the time. However, you can use any ground meat, such as ground turkey, chicken, pork, sausage or lamb.

Other ingredients to use in this sauce:

Bolognese sauce is usually made with some sort of pork product, such as pancetta or bacon. Cut it into small pieces and brown with the beef. You can add some wine to this sauce. You can use dry red wine or dry white wine, adding it to the skillet after cooking the vegetables, cook it on high heat for 5-10 minutes, then reduce the heat to low, add the meat and tomatoes and proceed with the recipe. I've also added mushrooms here, as well as grated zucchini and/or bell peppers.

Can you freeze meat sauce?

Yes! This is the beauty of this recipe. Freeze the sauce in an airtight container or freezer ziplock bag for 3-6 months. It's so handy to have it ready to be used for many meals.

Use this tomato meat sauce recipe as a foundation for many other recipes.

It is fantastic to be used in Lasagna , Lazy Lasagna , Stuffed Shells, Cabbage Rolls , Stuffed Peppers and more. This is why I make a big batch, because it's so easy to make more and save myself a lot of work in the future.

Quick and Simple Meat Sauce For Pasta

Name: Quick and Simple Meat Sauce For Pasta
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 2 Tablespoons olive oil; 1 - 1 1/4 lb ground beef; 1 large onion; 2 carrots; 2 celery stalks; 4-6 garlic cloves, minced; 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes; 2-3 Tablespoons tomato paste, optional; 2 Tablespoons dry herbs, such as Italian seasoning, granulated onion/garlic, dry parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, chives, paprika, etc.; 1/4 cup heavy cream (or half n half), optional; 1-2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, basil, chopped; 1/4 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated; 2 lbs pasta (spaghetti, fettuccine, rigatoni, fusilli, orecchiette, campanelle, penne, etc.); salt, pepper (to taste)

Quick and Simple Meat Sauce For Pasta

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This quick and simple tomato meat sauce for pasta is really satisfying. In the amount of time that it takes to bring water to a boil and cook a pot of pasta, you'll have the meat sauce finished. The ground beef and caramelized vegetables - onion, carrots, celery and garlic give so much flavor to the tomato sauce.

Author: Olga's Flavor Factory
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 35 min
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 8 1x
Category: Entree

Ingredients

Scale

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 - 1 1/4 lb ground beef
1 large onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
2-3 Tablespoons tomato paste, optional
2 Tablespoons dry herbs, such as Italian seasoning, granulated onion/garlic, dry parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, chives, paprika, etc.
1/4 cup heavy cream (or half n half), optional
1-2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, basil, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 lbs pasta (spaghetti, fettuccine, rigatoni, fusilli, orecchiette, campanelle, penne, etc.)
salt, pepper (to taste)

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Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil to cook the pasta.
Heat the oil in a large skillet or a dutch oven and add the ground beef. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on high heat for 3-5 minutes until the meat is browned. Set the meat aside.
Coarsely chop the onion, carrots and celery. Place them in a food processor and pulse several times until the vegetables are uniformly chopped into very small pieces. Press the garlic through a garlic press. (Or you can finely mince the onion and celery and grate the carrots on the small holes of a box grater.)
Add the vegetables to the same skillet you used to cook the ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 8-10 minutes, until the vegetables are softened and starting to turn golden. (Add a little water to the skillet if the vegetables start to stick before cooking through all the way.)
Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, if using. Season once again with salt and pepper and dry herbs. Add the browned meat. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, covered, for about 10-15 minutes. Add the cream, if using, and the fresh herbs.
Meanwhile,cook the pasta according to your liking. Drain the pasta, reserving about a cup of pasta water.
Mix the sauce with the pasta and add some Parmesan cheese. Add some of the reserved pasta water, if you need to loosen it up a bit. You may want to use more or less pasta, depending on how much sauce you like with your pasta.
Garnish the pasta with more of the Parmesan cheese.

Notes

This sauce is wonderful to serve over pasta, but you can also use it in so many other recipes, such as lasagna, ziti, stuffed shells and more.

Since this recipe makes a lot of sauce, feel free to halve the sauce. However, I recommend that you go ahead and make the full batch and freeze half of it to use later.

I usually serve half of the sauce with 1 lb of pasta.

Find it online: https://www.olgasflavorfactory.com/recipes/weeknight-dinners/quick-simple-meat-sauce-pasta/