This delicious red sauce cooks quickly and deliciously. The meatballs or sausage poach in the sauce, adding great flavor.
Thank God that Marco Polo had the foresight to bring some noodles back to Europe when he travelled the Silk Road. The Italians took those noodles and have done some wonderful things with them. Not that Asian noodles aren’t great. They are.
But, pasta.
Doesn’t that sound lovely?
I really can’t go wrong cooking pasta around here. The Best Lasagna Ever. Macaroni and Cheese that will “transform your life” — and your waistline. Chicken and Bowties. We’ve been blessed to have found some killer pasta recipes over the years.
One recipe that we love is this red sauce. It is simple and delicious. It freezes well and complements meat dishes beautifully. A friend shared her version with me years ago, and I’ve tweaked it to fit our family and the ingredients that I normally buy.
One of the secrets to the rich flavor of this red sauce is cooking the sausages or meatballs in the sauce for several hours. It really does But, Rachael Ray taught me a great shortcut: stir in beef broth if you don’t have the time for that. Works in a pinch.
I’ve also cooked this sauce for less time, knowing I was going to freeze it and reheat later. It’s delicious and goes great in lasagna.
To freeze the sauce in jars:
This supply of homemade red sauce lasts us about 5 weeks once frozen. I store it in plastic containers with lids or in mason jars in the freezer.
The trick to using mason jars for freezing is a little, well, tricky. I make sure that I leave plenty of head space, freeze with the lids OFF. I also make sure the jars have plenty of breathing room in the freezer and that they don’t touch the sides of the freezer. Once the sauce is frozen solid, I gently put the lids on. Your mileage may vary. If you prefer, just store the sauce in plastic containers.
Red Sauce with Meats
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 onions diced
- 4 clove garlic chopped
- 4 28-ounce cans tomato puree (or one large 106 oz can)
- 2 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoon dry parsley flakes
- 2 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 lb Italian sausage links or meatballs
Instructions
- In a large heavy pot heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onions and garlic, and cook 5 to 7 minutes until the onion has gone translucent. Stir in the tomato puree, the tomatoes, the salt, parsley, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes. Add water to reach your desired consistency. Add the sausage or meatballs to the pot and simmer for about 2 hours.
- Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon. Chill the sauce completely before storing the sauce in covered containers in the freezer.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published March 5, 2009.
Xara
I’m about to make this and am wondering why the meat needs to be removed at the end. I want to leave my meatballs as part of this sauce. 🙂
Jessica Fisher
You aboslutely can. However it makes A LOT of sauce, so if you remove the meat, you can portion out the sauce for future meals and then just serve as much meat as you need for the first meal. Then freeze the rest of the meat in meal size portions.
Tracy
I’m wondering if we could adapt this to do in an instant pot? I might have to play with that!
Jessica Fisher
8 to 10 minutes on manual should do it. Let me know once you try it?
Elisabeth
How long to cook in the crock pot? I live for crock pots! Lol
Jessica Fisher
4 to 6 hours should be good.
Heather
Is the oregano in your recipe dried or fresh? I assume dried since it’s a long cook time, but I do have oregano fresh growing in my garden so I wanted to double check. Going to try freezing in the jars since I try to avoid plastics. Love the sausage/meatball tip. That was new to me 🙂 Thanks!
Jessica Fisher
Yes, I use dried, but you can use fresh. A general rule of thumb is 3 times as much fresh as you would dried. So for 1 teaspoon of dried, you can substitute 1 tablespoon fresh.
Carla
I freeze mine in food saver bags. I leave them open at the top and stand them up next to each other in the freezer. After they have frozen I go ahead and seal them to get the air out. I have found that they last a lot longer this way and they are easy to share spur of the moment with friends and neighbors who need a quick meal. It also saves them from having to return a container.
Thanks for the beef broth tip.
Jessica Fisher
Great strategy for the bags. Do yours leak when they thaw? That’s why I moved away from bags.
Katie
I’m concerned that by showing the sauce in those jars, then mentioning freezing it (even though you say you freeze it in plastic containers), someone will try freezing it in canning jars. Unless you freeze in no-shoulder jars, they will likely break from the expansion of the sauce. Even leaving the lids off until frozen will not stop the breakage.
One of the commenters asked about canning this delicious sauce and if you use a pressure cooker (only!) it would preserve it perfectly.
Jessica Fisher
I actually do freeze it in jars just as pictured. Thanks for mentioning that. I updated the post with the method I use to freeze in jars. Leaving off the lids does work for me.
Brandette W.
Thank you so much for sharing this again! I have made this in the past, but sorta forgot about it. I have cans sitting in the pantry to make this very soon. The only thing I do differently is I let it simmer all day in my huge crockpot, that way if I am not going to be home (ie: school pickup), it’s doing it’s thing simultaneously. I also don’t usually add the diced tomatoes and only add a small amount of water/beef broth since we like our sauce a thicker consistency. But, that’s what I love about this recipe. You can very easily customize it to what you have on hand or what your family prefers that particular time.
One of our favorite pasta dishes that I have made so many times actually comes from Lynn @ Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures. It is another pantry staple recipe and is so tasty! http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2011/08/creamy-bacon-and-tomato-pasta.html
Jessica Fisher
So glad you love both of our recipes. Lynn is one of my best friends. 😉
Lori Hurley
Just curious, have you ever pressure canned this one. I have made this sauce before and I’m making it again today. I think I’m going to can the leftovers. it’s acidic enough, but I was wondering about the wine. Maybe I should leave that out. Anyone can this???
Lori Hurley
Oh shoot… I mean to write “OIL” and typed “wine.” Lol… clearly you can tell what’s on my mind this evening. Hahahaha…..
Jessica Fisher
I’m sorry I didn’t get to replying sooner. I’ve never pressure canned, so I’m no help. What did you end up doing?