I love pasta for quick weeknight dinners, and this spaghetti tossed with my quick and easy meat sauce fits the bill! You can use any ground meat for this sauce. I love ground turkey, but ground beef, pork, and chicken are all excellent in this recipe. Of all the pasta recipes on Inspired Taste, my family makes this one the most. If you prefer meatballs over meat sauce, see our spaghetti and meatballs. I also love our delicious baked spaghetti and this quick chicken Alfredo is also perfect for weeknights!
Key Ingredients
Spaghetti: I love spaghetti for this recipe, but you can use any pasta shape you love. To cook spaghetti, check the package directions. The box should have an approximate cooking time listed. Set a timer 1 to 2 minutes less than the suggested cooking time, and check your spaghetti. I often find that pasta is perfectly al dente before the recommended cooking time. Ground meat: Really any ground meat will work in this recipe. Ground turkey and chicken are usually a bit leaner, while ground beef and pork will have more fat. Use what you have and love. For a vegetable pasta sauce, see this veggie spaghetti recipe. Tomatoes and tomato paste: These make the base of our spaghetti sauce. I use canned crushed tomatoes to keep things easy, but you can use store-bought spaghetti sauce or this homemade red pasta sauce (both add more flavor, but in the very best way). Onion, garlic, and spices: These add flavor to our sauce. I keep things as simple as possible since this is an easy everyday kind of recipe. Most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry. For a more intensely flavored sauce, see our homemade bolognese.
How to Make the Best Spaghetti
You’ll start by making the easy meat sauce. Brown your meat in a bit of oil, and then stir in onions until they soften. Then add lots of flavor with garlic, tomato paste, oregano, and red pepper flakes. To finish the sauce, add a bit of water (or broth) and crushed tomatoes. Our easy sauce simmers for about 25 minutes, so about 15 minutes before it is ready, you can cook your spaghetti. For the best spaghetti, cook it in salted water. Pasta water should taste salty. I add a lot of salt to our pasta water (it makes the pasta taste delicious). I add about one tablespoon of salt for every four quarts (16 cups) of water, which is perfect for cooking one pound of pasta. If you still have it, check your package instructions. If you’ve tossed the package already, spaghetti takes 8 to 12 minutes. We recommend setting a timer for 8 minutes and then checking your spaghetti to see if it needs longer. There’s no need to rinse spaghetti after cooking, especially if you plan to toss it with a sauce. Rinsing removes the starch, which helps our sauce cling to the noodles. My only caveat to this is when I’m making cold pasta dishes, like pasta salad or macaroni salad. When your spaghetti is ready, toss it with your delicious homemade meat sauce and serve with some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Yum!
What to Serve with Weeknight Spaghetti
This spaghetti recipe is on regular rotation in our house. Our family loves serving it with cheese garlic bread or this roasted garlic bread. I also love adding a salad on the side. Caesar salad is classic, but you can toss your favorite salad greens into a bowl and toss with one of our homemade salad dressings. I especially love our simple balsamic vinaigrette. If you want to reduce the carbohydrates in your dish, swap half or all of the pasta with zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash. Here’s our recipe for zucchini noodles, which includes a tutorial for turning zucchini into pasta. Here’s our tutorial for how to cook spaghetti squash. 1 pound (450g) lean ground meat like ground beef or ground turkey 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup (130g) chopped onion 3 garlic cloves, minced, 1 tablespoon 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano Pinch crushed red pepper flakes 1 cup water, broth, or dry red wine 1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes Salt and fresh ground black pepper Handful of fresh basil leaves, plus more for serving Parmesan cheese, for serving 2Add the meat and cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat into smaller crumbles as the meat cooks. 3Add the onions and cook, stirring every once in a while, until softened, about 5 minutes. 4Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring continuously for about 1 minute. 5Pour in the water and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any bits of meat or onion stuck to the bottom of the pot. 6Stir in the tomatoes, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and a generous pinch of black pepper. 7Bring the sauce to a low simmer. Cook uncovered for 25 minutes. As it cooks, stir and taste the sauce a few times so you can adjust the seasoning accordingly (see notes for seasoning suggestions). 8About 15 minutes before the spaghetti sauce finishes cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Then, cook the pasta according to the package directions, but check for doneness a minute or two before the suggested cooking time. 9Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the basil. Toss in the cooked pasta and leave for a minute so that it absorbs some of the sauce. Toss again, and then serve with grated parmesan cheese on top.
