Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

red meat sauce for pasta

(26 ratings)
Blue Ribbon Recipe by
Renata McAdams
Raleigh, NC

I am pictured here with my 100 year old native Italian mother. She has been my life inspiration with her amazing talents in the kitchen and in all other areas. I have taken her pasta sauces over the years and added my own touch. Enjoy!

Blue Ribbon Recipe

I just tried this sauce and let me tell you, it is incredible!  It is a very thick meat sauce that tastes oh-so authentic. I prepared this the day before serving, and I think it's even better the second day. True to how they used to do it in the old days, Renata has left the seasoning measurements up to the cook. This is a great way to make the sauce your own by simply adjusting the spices to your family's tastes. I started out with light seasoning - about 1 teaspoon of each of the dry spices - then kept adding until it was to my liking. In the end, I used 2 teaspoons of each of the dry spices and about 1/2 cup of both the fresh basil and oregano. You may like even more spice. Give it a taste and let us know what works best for you!

— The Test Kitchen @kitchencrew
(26 ratings)
yield 8 serving(s)
prep time 45 Min
cook time 2 Hr
method Stove Top

Ingredients For red meat sauce for pasta

  • 5 lb
    roma tomatoes
  • 2 lg
    cans tomato puree
  • 1 lb
    ground beef
  • 1 lb
    ground pork
  • 10 clove
    garlic
  • 8 oz
    mushrooms, fresh
  • 1 c
    onions, vidalia, peeled
  • 1 c
    green bell pepper
  • oregano, fresh
  • basil, fresh
  • italian parsley
  • olive oil, extra virgin
  • salt and pepper
  • garlic powder
  • onion powder
  • paprika, sweet mild
  • old bay seasoning

How To Make red meat sauce for pasta

  • 1
    Wash and chop tomatoes. Peel 5 cloves of garlic. Chop oregano, basil and Italian parsley. Put all in blender or food processor and puree.
  • 2
    In a large sauce pan pour blended ingredients and add the two large cans of tomato puree. Bring to a boil, stir and reduce heat to simmer; continue to stir as needed.
  • 3
    In a frying pan cook ground beef and pork, drain all of the grease, set aside on a plate.
  • 4
    Peel and dice 5 cloves of garlic, dice 1 green bell pepper, 1 vidalia onion and 8ozs of mushroom. In same frying pan add extra virgin olive oil to coat the pan and saute vegetables.
  • 5
    Put meat back in frying pan with vegetables. Add salt, pepper, garlic power, onion powder, paprika, Old Bay Seasoning to taste. Stir everything so that meat, vegetables and spices blend.
  • 6
    Then add to sauce pot and stir. Simmer 1 to 2 hours.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT